DETAILED DESCRIPTION To this end, the invention provides a control system comprising multiple electronic devices interconnected through a task-driven control means for controlling an interaction among the devices.
The control means acts on respective software representations of each respective one of the devices.
Preferably, at least a specific one of the electronic devices downloads its respective software representation to the control means, e.
g.
, upon connection to the control means.
Preferably, each of the respective software representations comprises a device abstraction for representing the respective device at a semantic level common to the representations and at least a particular one of the respective software representations comprises an application of a user-interface to the device abstraction, the application being run on the control means.
In order to be more specific, the invention provides in the field of consumer electronics a control system comprising multiple consumer electronics devices (e.
g.
, a television receiver, a VCR, a CD-player, DVD-equipment, but also a telephone, lighting control system, thermostat, even a PC, etc.
) interconnected through a task-driven control means for controlling an interaction among the devices.
The control means acts or respective software representations of each respective one of the consumer devices.
While the transition to digital content and media brings numerous improvements in delivered quality and inconvenience, the invention now offers the opportunity to provide intelligence in how devices interact with one another, and it offers system-level integration features to the user.
It becomes possible to provide true ease-of-use and system-wide control of a cluster of devices.
The invention allows true plug-and-play.
The invention allows devices that configure themselves automatically to deliver their optimum performance within the context of the system.
To achieve these highly desirable goals, devices must interoperate, i.
e.
, must share a common method of communication and message exchange between themselves, in order to `speak the same language`
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Multiplexer-related 
