HAVi Companies Demonstrate Technology Advances at CES.Business Editors/High Tech Writers LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2001 Concurrent with the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, HAVi Inc. presented several demonstrations of HAVi network functionality to selected members of the consumer electronics industry and press. Numerous companies collaborated to organize and exhibit four demos that highlighted benefits and features of a home entertainment network based on the Home Audio Video interoperability The capability of two or more hardware devices or two or more software routines to work harmoniously together. For example, in an Ethernet network, display adapters, hubs, switches and routers from different vendors must conform to the Ethernet standard and interoperate with each other. (HAVi) architecture. HAVi, Inc. was originally formed by eight leading CE manufacturers that developed the original specification over a multi-year period, and debuted the v.1.0 at last year's CES. Since then, the roster of member companies has grown to almost 50, including several new members whose work was on display this year. The demonstrations focused on underlying technology, rather than prototype products, since HAVi member companies are diligently dil·i·gent adj. Marked by persevering, painstaking effort. See Synonyms at busy. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin d focusing on refining refining, any of various processes for separating impurities from crude or semifinished materials. It includes the finer processes of metallurgy, the fractional distillation of petroleum into its commercial products, and the purifying of cane, beet, and maple sugar and testing various implementations of software code based on the v. 1.0 specification, to ensure quality and interoperability prior to productization. Demos included: -- a sample home AV network demonstrating multi-device, multi-vendor Interoperability using HAVi software developed by VividLogic, a Teralogic Cougar DTV development environment, Hitachi HD display, prototype IEEE 1394 AV hard disk drives, and currently shipping digital video cameras. -- A series of prototype HAVi applications developed by Philips that included a "bridge" linking a HAVi network with a Universal Plug & Play network to control home lighting. -- a multi-brand demonstration of loading a Java-based software "Havlet" from one device to another showing forward compatibility or "future-proofing." -- a multi-brand network consisting of a HAVi wired cluster with multiple 5GHz HiperLAN/2 wireless extensions. The network contains DVB receivers, displays, tape and hard disk based storage devices and performs A/V streaming and device control using HAVi within the wired cluster and legacy protocols via the wireless links. This demo and the "Havlet" upload demo were originally developed by the COMMEND consortium, a European project developing a home entertainment demonstrator using HAVi technology. HAVi Board Member Max Artigalas of THOMSON Multimedia explained, "we're happy to be able to show some of the progress HAVi has made over the past year toward our mutual goal of providing a high quality, upgradable home entertainment network solution to make life easier for consumers. We have some very active new member companies aggressively developing software and product concepts, and within the COMMEND com·mend tr.v. com·mend·ed, com·mend·ing, com·mends 1. To represent as worthy, qualified, or desirable; recommend. 2. To express approval of; praise. See Synonyms at praise. 3. project, Grundig, Philips, Sony and Thomson made significant advances through our individual and co-developed engineering efforts." About HAVi, Inc. HAVi began as a joint effort on the part of eight of the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers: Grundig AG, Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, THOMSON multimedia and Toshiba Corporation (company) Toshiba Corporation - A Japanese technology manufacturer with 364 subsidiaries worldwide. Toshiba makes and sells electronics for home, office, industry and health care including information and communication systems, electronic components, heavy electrical apparatus, , which worked together for over two years to develop a common specification for interoperability among networked digital home entertainment products. HAVi Incorporated, a non-profit association, is open to companies and non-profit institutions interested in extending the awareness, knowledge and understanding of the HAVi Specification. Further information about HAVi can be obtained from the organization's web site http://www.havi.org. The HAVi specification (Version 1.0) can also be downloaded from this site. The HAVi name and logo are registered trademarks of HAVi, Inc.. All other third party product or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Backgrounder back·ground·er n. An informal news briefing for reporters by an official often speaking off the record. Noun 1. backgrounder on HAVi and the Home Audio Video interoperability Specification The HAVi version 1.0 Specification, released in December, 1999 and announced in January, 2000 at the Consumer Electronics Show, was developed specifically for home entertainment digital AV networks. It was designed to support high bandwidth for transmitting transmitting, v to send and receive information, signals, and so on; allows a therapist to perceive a client's physical, emotional, and spiritual states. multiple, real-time 1. real-time - Describes an application which requires a program to respond to stimuli within some small upper limit of response time (typically milli- or microseconds). Process control at a chemical plant is the classic example. AV streams and provide easy "plug-and-enjoy" functionality, using the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 1394 digital interface (i.LINK(TM) or FireWire(TM)). The HAVi specification defines a set of APIs and middleware Software that functions as a conversion or translation layer. It is also a consolidator and integrator. Custom-programmed middleware solutions have been developed for decades to enable one application to communicate with another that either runs on a different platform or comes from a capable of: -- automatically discovering devices on the network, -- coordinating the functions of various devices, -- installing applications and user interface software on each appliance A stand-alone hardware device or software environment dedicated to a specific task. See hardware appliance and software appliance. , -- ensuring interoperability amongst multiple brands of devices. The HAVi approach has many characteristics that make it uniquely suited for entertainment applications. It provides for several different levels of connected devices -- ranging from digital products shipping today that have an IEEE 1394 connector (e.g. DV camcorders with i.LINK) which are considered Legacy AV devices (LAVs), to future Full AV devices (FAVs) which can provide advanced network control and a Java Virtual Machine A Java interpreter. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is software that converts the Java intermediate language (bytecode) into machine language and executes it. The original JVM came from the JavaSoft division of Sun. for installing SDD (Software Design Description) The architecture of an information system. See IDD. (self-describing devices) data from "intelligent" BAVs (Base AV) as well as running downloaded programs. In between these levels are IAVs (Intermediate AV) that provide flexibility in meeting different levels of functionality and product price point. The HAVi architecture has the inherent expandability to load new programs or upgraded software (Havlets) to handle new needs and functionality. The reality is that home digital entertainment networks will be incrementally built by consumers over time, and the HAVi architecture ensures devices can be easily added to, or removed from, the network at any time. New products will automatically recognize changes in the network configuration, and identify the available functionality and where it is located, all without interrupting the functioning of the network. A home PC is not required for a HAVi network to operate, nor is it restricted from playing a part. HAVi has been designed to download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. upgraded control programs from the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the and will be able to support wireless AV data streams within an IEEE 1394-based home network. In addition, several HAVi member companies have developed bridges to connect HAVi networks to other home networking sub networks based on UPnP, Jini, and other standards. Because HAVi is an interoperability and networking Specification and not a single code stack, many different but compatible executions have and will continue to be developed. The mission of HAVi Incorporated is to promote the adoption of the HAVi architecture for consumer AV devices and peripherals and to encourage the development of software applications and services to bring new convenience, flexibility and personalization Custom tailoring information to the individual. On the Web, personalization means returning a page that has been customized for the user, taking into consideration that person's habits and preferences. to consumers. There are currently three technical Working Groups as well as a Marketing Working Group, and plans have been announced for a 1.01 enhancement of the current specification. The HAVi Specification, the Test Requirements and HAVi Java API (Application Programming Interface) A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as a database management system (DBMS) or communications protocol. are freely available for consideration and may be downloaded from the organization's web site at www.havi.org. Licensing of the Intellectual Property patents contained in the Spec may be required for any HAVi compliant products shipped. A patent pool has been established to facilitate licensing, and contact information is also available at www.havi.org. The i.LINK name and logo are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation. FireWire is registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. and Jini, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and in other countries. |
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