1. What Can Internet Do For Us:

"The network computer, also known as the Internet toaster, Internet appliance or Internet device, is the

low cost, no maintenance desktop device."

2.Building a POP Toaster:

"A POP toaster receives mail for authorized users and lets them pick it up through the network.

A POP toaster has three essential components:
Mailbox storage: saving incoming messages on disk.
Mailbox service: letting users pick up mail through the network.
Account management: setting passwords for authorized users. "

 

 

 

 

The FAQs of Life Online:"I heard someone hooked a toaster to the Internet?! Really?

There really was an Internet toaster. Dan Lynch, President of the Interop Internet networking show, told John Romkey at the 1989 show that he would give him star billing the following year if he connected a toaster to the Internet. Who could have resisted a challenge like that?

Working together with his friend Simon Hackett, John Romkey rose to the occasion and connected a Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control Toaster to the Internet, becoming the hit of the 1990 Interop.

The toaster was connected to the Internet with TCP/IP networking, and controlled with a Simple Networking Management Protocol Management Information Base (SNMP MIB). It had one control, to turn the power on, and the darkness of the toast was controlled by how long the power was kept on.

However, a human being still had to insert the bread. At the 1991 Interop a small robotic crane was added to the system, also controlled from the Internet, which picked up a slice of bread and dropped it into the toaster, automating the system from end-to-end.

 

 

Network Working Group                                       L. Masinter
Request for Comments: 2324                                 1 April 1998
Category: Informational

         Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)

Status of this Memo

  This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
  not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
  memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

  This document describes HTCPCP, a protocol for controlling,
  monitoring, and diagnosing coffee pots.

1. Rationale and Scope

  There is coffee all over the world. Increasingly, in a world in which
  computing is ubiquitous, the computists want to make coffee. Coffee
  brewing is an art, but the distributed intelligence of the web-
  connected world transcends art.  Thus, there is a strong, dark, rich
  requirement for a protocol designed espressoly for the brewing of
  coffee. Coffee is brewed using coffee pots.  Networked coffee pots
  require a control protocol if they are to be controlled.

  Increasingly, home and consumer devices are being connected to the
  Internet. Early networking experiments demonstrated vending devices
  connected to the Internet for status monitoring [COKE]. One of the
  first remotely _operated_ machine to be hooked up to the Internet,
  the Internet Toaster, (controlled via SNMP) was debuted in 1990
  [RFC2235].

  The demand for ubiquitous appliance connectivity that is causing the
  consumption of the IPv4 address space. Consumers want remote control
  of devices such as coffee pots so that they may wake up to freshly
  brewed coffee, or cause coffee to be prepared at a precise time after
  the completion of dinner preparations.

  This document specifies a Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol
  (HTCPCP), which permits the full request and responses necessary to
  control all devices capable of making the popular caffeinated hot
  beverages.

  HTTP 1.1 ([RFC2068]) permits the transfer of web objects from origin
  servers to clients. The web is world-wide.  HTCPCP is based on HTTP.
  This is because HTTP is everywhere. It could not be so pervasive
  without being good. Therefore, HTTP is good. If you want good coffee,
  HTCPCP needs to be good. To make HTCPCP good, it is good to base
  HTCPCP on HTTP.

  Future versions of this protocol may include extensions for espresso
  machines and similar devices.

2. HTCPCP Protocol

  The HTCPCP protocol is built on top of HTTP, with the addition of a
  few new methods, header fields and return codes.  All HTCPCP servers
  should be referred to with the "coffee:" URI scheme (Section 4).

2.1 HTCPCP Added Methods

2.1.1 The BREW method, and the use of POST

  Commands to control a coffee pot are sent from client to coffee
  server using either the BREW or POST method, and a message body with
  Content-Type set to "application/coffee-pot-command".

  A coffee pot server MUST accept both the BREW and POST method
  equivalently.  However, the use of POST for causing actions to happen
  is deprecated.

  Coffee pots heat water using electronic mechanisms, so there is no
  fire. Thus, no firewalls are necessary, and firewall control policy
  is irrelevant. However, POST may be a trademark for coffee, and so
  the BREW method has been added. The BREW method may be used with
  other HTTP-based protocols (e.g., the Hyper Text Brewery Control
  Protocol).

2.1.2 GET method

  In HTTP, the GET method is used to mean "retrieve whatever
  information (in the form of an entity) identified by the Request-
  URI." If the Request-URI refers to a data-producing process, it is
  the produced data which shall be returned as the entity in the
  response and not the source text of the process, unless that text
  happens to be the output of the process.

  In HTCPCP, the resources associated with a coffee pot are physical,
  and not information resources. The "data" for most coffee URIs
  contain no caffeine.

2.1.3 PROPFIND method

  If a cup of coffee is data, metadata about the brewed resource is
  discovered using the PROPFIND method [WEBDAV].

2.1.4 WHEN method

  When coffee is poured, and milk is offered, it is necessary for the
  holder of the recipient of milk to say "when" at the time when
  sufficient milk has been introduced into the coffee. For this
  purpose, the "WHEN" method has been added to HTCPCP. Enough? Say
  WHEN.

2.2 Coffee Pot Header fields

  HTCPCP recommends several HTTP header fields and defines some new
  ones.

2.2.1 Recommended header fields

2.2.1.1 The "safe" response header field.

  [SAFE] defines a HTTP response header field, "Safe", which can be
  used to indicate that repeating a HTTP request is safe. The inclusion
  of a "Safe: Yes" header field allows a client to repeat a previous
  request if the result of the request might be repeated.

  The actual safety of devices for brewing coffee varies widely, and
  may depend, in fact, on conditions in the client rather than just in
  the server. Thus, this protocol includes an extension to the "Safe"
  response header:

         Safe                = "Safe" ":" safe-nature
         safe-nature         = "yes" | "no" | conditionally-safe
         conditionally-safe  = "if-" safe-condition
         safe-condition      = "user-awake" | token

  indication will allow user agents to handle retries of some safe
  requests, in particular safe POST requests, in a more user-friendly
  way.

2.2.2 New header fields

2.2.2.1 The Accept-Additions header field

  In HTTP, the "Accept" request-header field is used to specify media
  types which are acceptable for the response. However, in HTCPCP, the
  response may result in additional actions on the part of the
  automated pot. For this reason, HTCPCP adds a new header field,
  "Accept-Additions":

      Accept-Additions = "Accept-Additions" ":"
                         #( addition-range [ accept-params ] )

       addition-type   = ( "*"
                         | milk-type
                         | syrup-type
                         | sweetener-type
                         | spice-type
                         | alcohol-type
                         ) *( ";" parameter )
       milk-type       = ( "Cream" | "Half-and-half" | "Whole-milk"
                         | "Part-Skim" | "Skim" | "Non-Dairy" )
       syrup-type      = ( "Vanilla" | "Almond" | "Raspberry"
                         | "Chocolate" )
       alcohol-type    = ( "Whisky" | "Rum" | "Kahlua" | "Aquavit" )

2.2.3 Omitted Header Fields

  No options were given for decaffeinated coffee. What's the point?

2.3 HTCPCP return codes

  Normal HTTP return codes are used to indicate difficulties of the
  HTCPCP server. This section identifies special interpretations and
  new return codes.

2.3.1 406 Not Acceptable

  This return code is normally interpreted as "The resource identified
  by the request is only capable of generating response entities which
  have content characteristics not acceptable according to the accept
  headers sent in the request. In HTCPCP, this response code MAY be
  returned if the operator of the coffee pot cannot comply with the
  Accept-Addition request. Unless the request was a HEAD request, the
  response SHOULD include an entity containing a list of available
  coffee additions.

  In practice, most automated coffee pots cannot currently provide
  additions.

2.3.2 418 I'm a teapot

  Any attempt to brew coffee with a teapot should result in the error
  code "418 I'm a teapot". The resulting entity body MAY be short and
  stout.

3. The "coffee" URI scheme

  Because coffee is international, there are international coffee URI
  schemes.  All coffee URL schemes are written with URL encoding of the
  UTF-8 encoding of the characters that spell the word for "coffee" in
  any of 29 languages, following the conventions for
  internationalization in URIs [URLI18N].

coffee-url  =  coffee-scheme ":" [ "//" host ]
               ["/" pot-designator ] ["?" additions-list ]

coffee-scheme = ( "koffie"                      ; Afrikaans, Dutch
                 | "q%C3%A6hv%C3%A6"          ; Azerbaijani
                 | "%D9%82%D9%87%D9%88%D8%A9" ; Arabic
              | "akeita"                   ; Basque
              | "koffee"                   ; Bengali
              | "kahva"                    ; Bosnian
              | "kafe"                     ; Bulgarian, Czech
              | "caf%C3%E8"                ; Catalan, French, Galician
                 | "%E5%92%96%E5%95%A1"       ; Chinese
                 | "kava"                     ; Croatian
              | "k%C3%A1va                 ; Czech
              | "kaffe"                    ; Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
              | "coffee"                   ; English
              | "kafo"                     ; Esperanto
                 | "kohv"                     ; Estonian
              | "kahvi"                    ; Finnish
              | "%4Baffee"                 ; German
              | "%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AD" ; Greek
              | "%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%AB%E0%A5%80" ; Hindi
              | "%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%92%E3%83%BC" ; Japanese
              | "%EC%BB%A4%ED%94%BC"       ; Korean
              | "%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B5" ; Russian
              | "%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9F" ; Thai
              )

  pot-designator = "pot-" integer  ; for machines with multiple pots
  additions-list = #( addition )

  All alternative coffee-scheme forms are equivalent.  However, the use
  of coffee-scheme in various languages MAY be interpreted as an
  indication of the kind of coffee produced by the coffee pot.  Note
  that while URL scheme names are case-independent, capitalization is
  important for German and thus the initial "K" must be encoded.

4. The "message/coffeepot" media type

  The entity body of a POST or BREW request MUST be of Content-Type
  "message/coffeepot". Since most of the information for controlling
  the coffee pot is conveyed by the additional headers, the content of
  "message/coffeepot" contains only a coffee-message-body:

  coffee-message-body = "start" | "stop"

5. Operational constraints

  This section lays out some of the operational issues with deployment
  of HTCPCP ubiquitously.

5.1 Timing Considerations

  A robust quality of service is required between the coffee pot user
  and the coffee pot service.  Coffee pots SHOULD use the Network Time
  Protocol [NTP] to synchronize their clocks to a globally accurate
  time standard.

  Telerobotics has been an expensive technology. However, with the
  advent of the Cambridge Coffee Pot [CAM], the use of the web (rather
  than SNMP) for remote system monitoring and management has been
  proven.  Additional coffee pot maintenance tasks might be
  accomplished by remote robotics.

  Web data is normally static. Therefore to save data transmission and
  time, Web browser programs store each Web page retrieved by a user on
  the user's computer. Thus, if the user wants to return to that page,
  it is now stored locally and does not need to be requested again from
  the server. An image used for robot control or for monitoring a
  changing scene is dynamic. A fresh version needs to be retrieved from
  the server each time it is accessed.

5.2 Crossing firewalls

  In most organizations HTTP traffic crosses firewalls fairly easily.
  Modern coffee pots do not use fire. However, a "firewall" is useful
  for protection of any source from any manner of heat, and not just
  fire. Every home computer network SHOULD be protected by a firewall
  from sources of heat. However, remote control of coffee pots is
  important from outside the home. Thus, it is important that HTCPCP
  cross firewalls easily.

  By basing HTCPCP on HTTP and using port 80, it will get all of HTTP's
  firewall-crossing virtues. Of course, the home firewalls will require
  reconfiguration or new versions in order to accommodate HTCPCP-
  specific methods, headers and trailers, but such upgrades will be
  easily accommodated. Most home network system administrators drink
  coffee, and are willing to accommodate the needs of tunnelling
  HTCPCP.

6. System management considerations

  Coffee pot monitoring using HTTP protocols has been an early
  application of the web.  In the earliest instance, coffee pot
  monitoring was an early (and appropriate) use of ATM networks [CAM].

  The traditional technique [CAM] was to attach a frame-grabber to a
  video camera, and feed the images to a web server. This was an
  appropriate application of ATM networks. In this coffee pot
  installation, the Trojan Room of Cambridge University laboratories
  was used to give a web interface to monitor a common coffee pot.  of
  us involved in related research and, being poor, impoverished
  academics, we only had one coffee filter machine between us, which
  lived in the corridor just outside the Trojan Room. However, being
  highly dedicated and hard-working academics, we got through a lot of
  coffee, and when a fresh pot was brewed, it often didn't last long.

  This service was created as the first application to use a new RPC
  mechanism designed in the Cambridge Computer Laboratory - MSRPC2. It
  runs over MSNL (Multi-Service Network Layer) - a network layer
  protocol designed for ATM networks.

  Coffee pots on the Internet may be managed using the Coffee Pot MIB
  [CPMIB].

7. Security Considerations

  Anyone who gets in between me and my morning coffee should be
  insecure.

  Unmoderated access to unprotected coffee pots from Internet users
  might lead to several kinds of "denial of coffee service" attacks.
  The improper use of filtration devices might admit trojan grounds.
  Filtration is not a good virus protection method.

  Putting coffee grounds into Internet plumbing may result in clogged
  plumbing, which would entail the services of an Internet Plumber
  [PLUMB], who would, in turn, require an Internet Plumber's Helper.

  Access authentication will be discussed in a separate memo.

8. Acknowledgements

  Many thanks to the many contributors to this standard, including Roy
  Fielding, Mark Day, Keith Moore, Carl Uno-Manros, Michael Slavitch,
  and Martin Duerst.  The inspiration of the Prancing Pony, the CMU
  Coke Machine, the Cambridge Coffee Pot, the Internet Toaster, and
  other computer controlled remote devices have led to this valuable
  creation.

9. References

  [RFC2068] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H., and T.
  Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2068,
  January 1997.

  [RFC2186] Wessels, D., and K. Claffy, "Internet Cache Protocol (ICP),
  version 2," RFC 2186, September 1997

  [CPMIB] Slavitch, M., "Definitions of Managed Objects for Drip-Type
  Heated Beverage Hardware Devices using SMIv2", RFC 2325, 1 April
  1998.

  [HTSVMP] Q. Stafford-Fraser, "Hyper Text Sandwich Van Monitoring
  Protocol, Version 3.2". In preparation.

  [RFC2295] Holtman, K., and A. Mutz, "Transparent Content Negotiation
  in HTTP", RFC 2295, March 1998.

  [SAFE] K. Holtman. "The Safe Response Header Field", September 1997.

  [CAM] "The Trojan Room Coffee Machine", D. Gordon and M. Johnson,
  University of Cambridge Computer Lab,
  <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/coffee.html>

  [CBIO] "The Trojan Room Coffee Pot, a (non-technical) biography", Q.
  Stafford-Fraser, University of Cambridge Computer Lab,
  <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/qsf/coffee.html>.

  [RFC2235] Zakon, R., "Hobbes' Internet Timeline", FYI 32, RFC 2230,
  November 1997.  See also
  <http://www.internode.com.au/images/toaster2.jpg>

  [NTP] Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (Version 3) Specification,
  Implementation and Analysis", RFC 1305, March 1992.

  [URLI18N] Masinter, L., "Using UTF8 for non-ASCII Characters in
  Extended URIs" Work in Progress.

  [PLUMB] B. Metcalfe, "Internet Plumber of the Year: Jim Gettys",
  Infoworld, February 2, 1998.

  [COKE] D. Nichols, "Coke machine history", C. Everhart, "Interesting
  uses of networking", <http://www-
  cse.ucsd.edu/users/bsy/coke.history.txt>.

10. Author's Address

  Larry Masinter
  Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
  3333 Coyote Hill Road
  Palo Alto, CA 94304

  EMail: masinter@parc.xerox.com

11.  Full Copyright Statement

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