| Author: | Lai, Chi-keung Gordon |
| Title: | A study of intelligent home in the next millennium |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Home automation Home computer networks Intelligent control systems |
| Department: | Department of Computing |
| Pages: | 78 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This research is aimed to identify the world trend of Intelligent home, explore the needs, concerns and expectations for both the home appliance users and equipment vendors / Internet Service Providers and property developer towards an intelligent home. The finding would also identify and narrow the gap between intelligent home appliance vendors and their consumers, which in turn shall stimulate the awareness, acceptance and popularity of an intelligent home. To meet the rapid development of e-commerce and t-commerce (i.e. e-Commerce conducted through the television) - though t-commerce was uncommon in Hong Kong at present, on Internet banking, on line shopping, e-learning, virtual office, Internet TV and entertainment at home, my research also explored the functionality and services of Internet-based home automated system rather than studying the technical aspects of home networking standards, service discovery protocols, choices of transmission mediums encountered in an Intelligent home in details. Sample survey strategy has been used with questionnaire sent to families and home appliance users to understand the customer expectation and views on intelligent home. Four hypotheses have been set up prior to designing the questionnaires. All questionnaires have been evaluated and pre-tested before distributed to 500 HK families via e-mail. The questionnaires asked the home respondents to rank the usefulness of home automation features, their concern on intelligent home appliances, the main deterring factors for the growth of Intelligent home and to provide background information about the penetration of PC, popularity of home networking and types of Internet access connection in Hong Kong families. Other than collecting the feedback from the surveyed families and home appliance users, another set of questionnaires for the home appliance manufacturers, computer equipment vendors, property developers and Internet Service Providers was also prepared. I have sent out an invitation letter with this second set of questionnaires to fifty-six leading companies to ask their views on the pricing, functionality, outlook, user-friendliness and interoperability of intelligent home appliances, the uniqueness of home networking standards, the ranking of the importance factors in developing and promoting the concept of intelligent home and the ranking of the main deterring factors for the growth of Intelligent home in Hong Kong (HK). Survey results had strongly indicated that interoperability, price and functionality of intelligent appliances were the key factors that would affect the buying decision of an Intelligent Home appliance. Most home appliance users are expecting that an intelligent home would bring in lifestyle enhancement to them. Remote monitoring / control of home appliances and home surveillance are concluded to be the two most popular and preferable services in an intelligent home. When comparing the mediums of remote control, majority of interviewees preferred mobile access control (e.g. access via PDA, mobile phone) to fixed access control. On the other hand, awareness on the benefits of an intelligent home and user-friendliness of configuring home network are the prime factors that would hinder the progress and success of intelligent home if they were not properly focused on by the appliance vendors. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b17523515.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 5.71 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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