A novel system for remote control of household devices using digital IP phones

The idea of using a phone as a remote control for household devices is not new. However, new digital technologies such as voice-over-IP and signaling protocols such as SIP enable new methods of integrating the user interface of a phone with the digital IP infrastructure being deployed in the home. We developed and deployed the key press markup language and SIP event package (KPML) to address the need for a signaling-layer protocol for transmitting user stimulus from low-power, consumer devices such as IP phones to control household consumer devices.