An online approach for the service interaction problem in home automation

Home automation is maturing with the increased deployment of networks and intelligent devices in the home. Along with new protocols and devices, new software services have emerged and worked together releasing the full potential of networked consumer devices. Services may include home security, climate control or entertainment. With such extensive interworking, the phenomenon known as service interaction, or feature interaction, appears. The problem occurs when services interfere with one another causing unexpected or undesirable outcomes. Whereas previous approaches to solving service interaction have focused on the service, the technique presented here concentrates on the device and its surrounding environment, as some interactions may happen through conflicting effects on the environment. The concept of environmental variables is introduced, a variable may be room temperature, movement or perhaps light. Drawing inspiration from the operating systems domain, access to the device and environmental variable is controlled. Using this technique, undesirable interactions are avoided.