Remote switching in Internet network

Abstract

This paper shows the technique of how to connect the required appliances with the local PC. Through proper software programs, the connection can be brought up to the web page to allow remote access for monitoring as well as remote control switching of the desired appliances. The system hardware consists of a control unit to detect the appliance's status and to drive the appliance running either the on or the off state. The system software enables the PC to receive appliance's status data. It also sends control signals to switch the appliance to the desired operating state. When operating the PCs through the web network, the server and client mode plus the TCP/IP programming technique are essential and important. The DART Company TCP/IP driver for Microsoft Win95/98 has been adopted in our system to provide the network connections for the connected PCs. During operation, the DART Company's TCP/IP driver is applied and the desired DART functions are called to implement the data transmission and receiving through the Internet in a smooth and secure manner. A physical unit based on the configuration has been built and tested. The unit works reliably and the response time for the remote switching through the Internet is only 2-3 seconds or less. Hence, the number of terminal points available for establishing the remote control switching session is numerous and it is very convenient for someone using an Internet network to do remote switching to the desired appliance.