Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Connectivity and protocols.
For personal-area networks, local-area networks and
wide-area networks, multiple alternatives exist. For an approach where multiple
products, application and services have to collaborate, choices have to be made.
CONTINUA, for example, has made their version 1 specification the choice for
Bluetooth, USB and WiFi.
Products in the personal-area network or local-area network might still have an
alternative or even proprietary technology as a kind of peripheral interface to sensors as
long a control unit supports the connection to the PAN or LAN network. A home-
control unit can for instance have a X10 interfaces to sensors or switches and a WiFi
interface to an application hosting device.
Data exchange.
The exchange of data is very important when systems and services
have to collaborate, to enable workflow support between different tasks not only for the
clients but especially for care givers in a trans-mural setting, e.g. in the context of
managing patients with chronic diseases but also in proactively managing safety and
assistive systems. To enable usable data exchange, agreements on messaging formats
and data models within the message are important. In the healthcare domain, especially
for healthcare IT and tele-monitoring, standards are available but they are not in use
everywhere; interoperability and integration of systems of tele-monitoring devices in a
home environment remains a significant issue (in January 2009 the first CONTINUA
compliant monitoring device came on the market). In other domains, such as home
control, safety, and alarm systems, this kind of standards are evolving.
Much work still needs to be undertaken in this area both in research as well as in
increasing acceptance.
Understanding of data.
The understanding of other authority's data is important when
systems and services have to collaborate, to enable workflow support between different
tasks, to reason about the data. This is for example important in the area of proactive
safety and assistive systems and for management of chronic patients.
To understand data, vocabularies, unit codes, and ontologies have to be defined. For the
healthcare domain such standards are available, but they are not in use everywhere.
Especially in trans-mural settings, interoperability and integration of systems remains a
significant issue. In other domains, such as home control, safety, and alarm systems.
This kind of standards is evolving.
Some ontologies, vocabularies and coding systems exist: from the healthcare sub-
domain: SNOMED, ICD and LOINC, and also: Standard Ontology for Ubiquitous and
Pervasive Applications (SOUPA), Context Ontology (CONON), The Unified Code for
Units of Measure.
Much work remains to be undertaken in this area both in research as well as in
increasing acceptance.
Activities related to interoperability.
Activities related to interoperability that play an
important role are:
CENELEC SmartHouse activities, the document “SMARTHOUSE PHASE 4
II DRAFT CODE OF PRACTICE” covers the following aspects:
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the Service Provider aspect;
content, broadcasting (narrowcasting), DRM and security;
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the Network Operators´ aspect and Broadband delivery;
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