Remote I/O: Freeing the Experience from the Platform with UPnP Architecture

Increasing adoption rates of home networking solutions raises the possibility of using the Personal Computer (PC) to remotely extend its power and capabilities into all areas of the home. A new specification to be developed under the auspices of the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) Forum will allow home applications to be controlled and experienced with remote, network-connected devices. When adopted, this standard will enable the development of whole new classes of software applications that power new user experiences within the digital home. In this paper, we present two usage scenarios that illustrate new capabilities that would be enabled with this proposed standard. We discuss the foundational architecture of UPnP technology for home networking solutions and highlight its efficacy as a basis for constructing new, remote Input/Output (I/O) software services standards. Finally, we describe the technical challenges of the proposed standard and contrast this standard with existing and comparatively incomplete schemes for remote desktop and similar functionality.