Networking home entertainment devices with HAVi

Networking home entertainment devices such as digital television receivers facilitate resource sharing and information exchange so that new applicatio ns can coordinate the control of several devices simultaneously. The increa sing connectivity of home audio-video devices requires interoperability so that products from different vendors can comply with well-defined connectio n and communication protocols. The home audio/video interoperability (HAVi) architecture is a set of appli cation programming interfaces (APIs), services, and an on-the-wire protocol specified by an industry initiative. HAVi facilitates multivendor interope rability between consumer electronics devices and computing devices, and si mplifies the development of distributed applications on home networks. The HAVi architecture, discussed and explained in this article, also facili tates the innovation and introduction of new features or refinements. A key feature is that each physical device has an associated software proxy, Add ing new proxies to a home system makes new features or devices accessible e ven to applications running on older devices.