Grundig A.G., Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal
Philips Electronics N.V., Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, Thomson multimedia,
and Toshiba Corporation today announced plans to establish a HAVi(TM) (Home Audio-
Video interoperability) licensing program under which the home network architecture
will be made available to the electronics and multimedia industries in Spring 1999.
Philips has been designated to serve as the licensing contact on behalf of the eight
companies.
The eight companies plan to implement a joint patent license program that will enable
interested parties to begin developing HAVi compliant products in the Spring 1999.
The license would cover the use of the HAVi logo as well as patents defined by the
HAVi specification that are owned or controlled by the eight companies and deemed to
be essential for the production of compliant hardware and/or software products.
License holders will be able to develop HAVi compliant software as well as HAVi
compliant digital AV appliances that can be networked across the IEEE1394 digital
interface. The HAVi compliant software acts as consumer electronics middleware
which is capable of automatically discovering devices on the network, coordinating the
functions of the various devices, and installing applications and user interface software
on each appliance.
Once connected as a network, HAVi compliant electronics appliances are immediately
interoperable, sharing their resources and capabilities to offer increased functionality
and greater ease-of-use. Specifically, these appliances will provide the consumer with
the convenience of hot plug-and-play connectivity, appliance interoperability, and
future-proof operation.
Home entertainment networks based on the HAVi specification promise to play an
important role in enabling entertainment providers, electronics manufacturers, and
consumers to take full advantage of a wide range of new interactive services made
possible by the advent of digital technology. Digital content received from digital
broadcast, network, and package media can be distributed throughout the home to any
appliances on the network. Interoperable digital AV appliances- used in conjunction
with the appropriate digital content protection technology- will provide an infrastructure
for many new, exciting services, such as high-speed Internet access, video-on-demand,
and home AV server applications.
<About Version 1.0 of the HAVi(TM) Specification>
HAVi applications will be able to discover and control compliant appliances regardless
of manufacturer. Moreover, the applications can control individual devices within
different appliances regardless of their physical grouping. Examples of electronics
appliances include set-top boxes, digital VCRs, and hi-fi audio equipment. Devices
inside such appliances include tuners, displays, amplifiers, stream converters, clocks,
modems, and Internet access functions.
The HAVi specification has been designed to address all aspects of home networking
in an IEEE1394 based, digital AV environment. The core specification included
components for interchanging messages and events on IEEE1394, registering and
discovering device capabilities across the network, and for managing digital AV
streams and devices. Version 1.0 offers a more efficient, reliable, and secure solution
featuring the following improvements:
- Java(TM) has been adopted as the HAVi bytecode to make it possible to represent
devices and functions through the use of platform independent, object-oriented APIs.
This will allow software developers to create rich, interactive Java based applications
and user interfaces. HAVi compliant applications can be installed in electronics
appliances by the manufacturer or downloaded from the Internet and other sources.
- Version 1.0 incorporates new features, including security that protects against rogue
applications and viruses, an event scheduling element that supports functions such as
programmed recording, and standard programming interfaces that are used to control
device functions.
- The new resource manger component performs a wider variety of operations. It
handles device usage conflicts, coordinates programming of scheduled events (such
as timed recording on a digital recorder), and monitors the network for removal of
reserved devices.
Version 1.0Beta of the HAVi(TM) specification can be downloaded, for evaluation purposes
only, from the following Internet URL: http://www.havi.org/
-Java(TM) is trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the
United States and other countries.
Press Contacts:
Grundig A.G. Sharp Corporation
Roland Stehle Nobuo Minamihori
Tel: +49 911-703-8849 Tel:+81-6-625-3007
Fax:+49-911-703-8500 Fax:+81-6-628-1667
presse@grundig.de minamihori@osa.sharp.co.jp
Hitachi, Ltd. Sony Corporation
Yoshiko Shibato Daniel Lintz
Tel:+81-3-3258-1111 Tel:+81-3-5448-6800
Fax:+81-3-3258-5480 Fax:+81-3-5448-3061
yoshiko@cm.head.hitachi.co.jp lintz@ccom.sony.co.jp
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Thomson multimedia
Yoshihiro Kitadeya Marc Meyer
Tel:+81-3-3578-1237 Tel:+33-1-41-86-5003
Fax: +81-3-3437-2776 Fax:+33-1-41-86-5604
kitadeya@hqs.mei.co.jp meyerm@thmulti.com
Royal Philips Electronics, N.V. Toshiba Corporation
Jeannet Harpe Masao Mochizuki
Tel:+31-40-27-33634 Tel:+81-3-3457-2105
Fax:+31-40-27-32729 Fax:+81-3-3456-4776
Jeannet.Harpe@ehv.sv.philips.com press@toshiba.co.jp
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