Department of Computer EngineeringDepartment of Electrical and Electronics Engineering2024-11-0920071084-804510.1016/j.jnca.2006.04.0012-s2.0-33846337439http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2006.04.001https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/15206Powerful microcontrollers are used as parts ofmost home and office appliances of today. IntegratingwebserverstotheseintelligentdeviceswillaidincontrollingthemovertheInternetand alsoincreatingeffectiveuserinterfacesintheformofwebpages.Assigningmultiplefunctionalities toasinglebuttononanappliancehelpmanufacturerseconomizeuserinterfaces,but,thiscaneasily createconfusionfortheusers.Sincethecostofweb-basedinterfacesisconsiderablylow,theycanbe usedtoprovide the infrastructure for thedesignof simpleandmoreuser-friendly interfaces for householdappliances.Also,awebpagebasedinterfaceismucheasiertochange,whenneeded,as comparedtoahardware interface.Thispaperpresentsanovel approachtocontroldeviceswith embeddedwebserversovertheInternetandtoformdevicenetworkssuchthattheircomponentscan makeuseofoneanother’s servicesandfunctionswhile improving theuser interfaces.Themain benefitsofthisapproachincludeitslightweightdesign,automaticconfiguration,and,utilizationof widelyavailableandtestednetworkprotocolsofTCP/IPandHTTP.Thevalidityof theapproach hasbeenverifiedthroughaprototypesystemworkingwithrealappliances. r2006ElsevierLtd.All rightsreserved.Computer scienceHardware architectureEngineeringSoftware engineeringJournal Article245508600005Q13029