Imagine the scene. You are sitting at home and want to go to the bank before you do a spot of shopping.

There are a few letters to write before you set off on the shopping spree and you need to have a three-way conversation with friends about the holiday you would like to book with them.

You may also want to set the oven going for a meal later in the day and set some of the lights to come on as it gets dark.

Normally all that would take hours. But soon you will be able to do it all very quickly using your TV remote control and a set-top box being developed by Bradford hi-tech firm Pace Micro Technology.

The company, based at Salts Mill, Saltaire, is at the leading edge of the interactive set top boxes which are going to bring about a lifestyle revolution.

Digital television will not only lead to a choice of 200 TV channels and interactive services such as home banking and shopping, access to the Internet, use of e-mail and video conferencing, but also in the home of the future domestic appliances such as heating, lighting, security alarms and cookers could be controlled remotely.

It means that a relative could phone from Australia and their face appear on the screen and at the same time a friend could send you an e-mail while you are watching television.

Another thing the set-top box could do would be to allow a viewer watching a car advert on the TV to click on the remote control and link up with the nearest dealer giving them a message saying you would like a test drive.

Pace has won contracts to make set-top boxes providing digital services from Sky Digital, Ondigital, Cable & Wireless Communications, NTL and Telewest.

Andy Trott, director of network engineering at Pace, said: "The smart home, something which up until now has been the domain of science fiction, may not be as far away as some people think. The convergence between information technology, telecommunications and the Internet on a single digital set-top box brings this futuristic landscape a step closer to reality."

The digital set-top box can accept and divert signal-based instructions to the relevant appliance, linked through a 'wired' home.

The Pace set-top box will be plugged into the home's telephone socket along with the aerial or satellite dish - depending on what sort of television the consumer has. The viewer will use a sophisticated remote control which could open up to give it additional functions which will appear on the TV screen.

"As we move ever closer to Internet-based communications, making it work is simply a case of integrating new technology into domestic appliances and linking each device through cables back into the digital set-top box," Andy Trott added.

Pace is currently working with American firm Cisco and other technology companies to make the dream a reality.

The result can be displayed on a TV, PC or passed to a telephone, enabling the consumer to watch TV, use interactive services or see and talk with other users simultaneously, anywhere in the world.

It is currently also developing services with British Interactive Broadcasting who plan to launch the Open interactive digital service this autumn.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.