A Modular and Unified Approach to Environmental Con- Trol Functionality for Disabled and Elderly Persons Covering Consumer Electronics and Smart Home Busses

Environmental Control Systems (ECS) are of vital importance for severely motor impaired persons and for older persons in order to empower them to live a self-determined and independent life. Currently, environmental control functionality is often focusing on consumer electronic devices (TV, VCR, CD etc.) which provide a standard infrared interface for handheld remote control. The emerging smart home technology brought additional possibilities but also an enormous increase of complexity concerning set-up and maintenance. This paper describes an approach for a unified interface layer which allows configuring the ECS in an intuitive way regardless of the complexity of the controlled system.