I've been thinking about a computer-world interaction scenario for over a year now and I'm planning to enable our main server in "Das Werkstatt" to interact with the real world - in our case, a whole room.
I'm interested in other people's feedback and ideas regarding the hardware / software solution for this idea.
Short: All computers connected to the LAN will be remote controllable by a special client/server application and other electronic appliances will be controlled by special self-made hardware.
It will be voice-controlled and the computer-feedback will be done by using pre-recorded voice samples.
Computer-World interaction
controlling external appliances
For controlling external gadgetry, I've built a prototype which is able to switch 3 relays by changing the bit-state of the LPT port's data-pins.
Of course, this would only allow a max. of 8 devices to be switched on/off, so I've figured out a more sophisticated way of using those 8 bits with a minimum effort considering the necessary hardware:
The controllable switch would consist of a PLD and one flip-flop with an external clock-pin. By connecting the Q' output to the input pin, it'd be in an inconsistent state, flipping its state each time the clock-pin is triggered. The PLD would interpret the incoming bit pattern as an identifier-number for each device and output "1" to the flip-flop if its number is matching, thus switching the device on or off - depending on its current state.
Of course, this would only allow a max. of 8 devices to be switched on/off, so I've figured out a more sophisticated way of using those 8 bits with a minimum effort considering the necessary hardware:
The controllable switch would consist of a PLD and one flip-flop with an external clock-pin. By connecting the Q' output to the input pin, it'd be in an inconsistent state, flipping its state each time the clock-pin is triggered. The PLD would interpret the incoming bit pattern as an identifier-number for each device and output "1" to the flip-flop if its number is matching, thus switching the device on or off - depending on its current state.
I2C bus based controlling
What disturbs me about the PLD+flipflop solution is, that it would need let's say 8 wires for the communication bus, which would be 6 wires data and 2 wires voltage. 2^6=64 different devices individually addressable which I'd consider a reasonable number.
Of course I'd prefer less wires for the bus to keep it expandable, but this would require some bus protocol which would then probably require microcontrollers for each device which would be faaaaaaar more expensive, even though some I2C chips seem affordable.
Please, if anyone has any ideas of how to usefully implement such thing post a reply!
Of course I'd prefer less wires for the bus to keep it expandable, but this would require some bus protocol which would then probably require microcontrollers for each device which would be faaaaaaar more expensive, even though some I2C chips seem affordable.
Please, if anyone has any ideas of how to usefully implement such thing post a reply!