(ANSI: New York) -- Because of a new standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission, your washing machine and refrigerator may soon start "talking" to your television. “Home Network Communication Protocol over IP for Multimedia Household Appliances,” IEC 62457—slated for publication this October—links the two separate communications networks established for household appliances and audio-visual equipment.

With the help of the new standard, common household appliances such as your air conditioner and automatic coffee machine can communicate with your personal computer, audio-visual equipment, and other PC-related equipment, without the use of a gateway to facilitate cross-communication.

Products applying the standard’s specifications have already hit the market in Japan.

Compatible with existing home networking standards, IEC 62457 will also enable household appliances to handle text and audio-visual data. Home networks with and without a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) layer can exist under the same home network middleware.

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