Transcript HCI Lecture 28 Ubiquitous computing.ppt

Ubiquitous
Computing
Lecture 28
Topics we shall Cover today

Introduction to Ubiquitous Computing
 History
 Definition
 Need
 Phases

Challenges and Researches in Ubiquitous
Computing.
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The Trends in Computing Technology
1970s
1990s
Late 1990s
Now and Tomorrow ?
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Pervasive Computing Era
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Computing Evolution
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The Major Trends in Computing
Mainframe (Past)
1:N
one computer shared by many people

Personal Computer (Present)
one computer, one person


N:1
*Internet - Widespread
Distributed Computing*
1:1
Ubiquitous
Computing
Nk:1
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Phase I - The Mainframe Era
Computers were a scarce resource
run by experts behind closed doors.
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Phase II - The PC Era

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
In 1984 the number of people using PCs
surpassed that of people using mainframe
computers.
PC Era: You have your computer, it contains
your stuff, and you interact directly and
deeply with it.
The PC is most analogous to the automobile.
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Transition Phase - The
Internet
The Internet brings together
elements of the mainframe
era and the PC era.

Client = PC
Server = Mainframe
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Phase III - The UC Era


The UC era will have lots of computers
shared by each one of us.
UC is fundamentally characterized by the
connection of things in the world with
computation.
Frequently used related terms:
Pervasive computing, Wearable computers,
Intelligent environment, Things That Think (T³),
Wearware, Personal Area Networking (PAN).
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Ubiquitous Computing
Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC 1988
 “Ubiquitous computing enhances
computer use by making many computers
available throughout the physical
environment, but making them effectively
invisible to the user.”

Source: Weiser, 1993a
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Pervasive (Ubiquitous)
Computing Vision
“In the 21st century the technology
revolution will move into the everyday,
the small and the invisible…”
“The most profound technologies are those
that disappear. They weave themselves
into the fabrics of everyday life until they
are indistinguishable from it.”
Mark Weiser (1952 –1999), XEROX PARC

Small, cheap, mobile processors and sensors
in almost all everyday objects
on your body (“wearable computing”)
embedded in environment (“ambient intelligence”)
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Related Topics

Several terms that share a common vision
 Pervasive
Computing
 Sentient computing
 Ubiquitous Computing
 Ambient Intelligence
 Wearable Computing
 Context Awareness
 ...
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What is Ubiquitous Computing?


Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) integrates
computation into the environment, rather than
having computers which are distinct objects.
The idea of ubicomp enable people to interact
with information-processing devices more
naturally and casually, and in ways that suit
whatever location or context they find
themselves in.
~from Wiki
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Goals of Pervasive (Ubiquitous)
Computing

Ultimate goal:
 Invisible
technology
 Integration of virtual and physical worlds
 Throughout desks, rooms, buildings, and life
 Take the data out of environment, leaving
behind just an enhanced ability to act
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What UC is NOT





It is not science fiction (SF),
though it relies a great deal on it.
It is not impossible.
It is not Virtual Reality (VR).
It is not a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
It is not a personal agent (PA).
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Phases of
Ubiquitous
Computing
Pervasive Computing Phase I

Phase I
 Smart,
ubiquitous I/O devices: tabs, pads, and boards
 Hundreds of computers per person, but casual, lowintensity use
 Many, many “displays”: audio, visual, environmental
 Wireless networks
 Location-based, context-aware services

Using a computer should be as refreshing as a
walk in the woods
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Smart Objects


Real world objects are
enriched with information
processing capabilities
Embedded processors



Communication capability



in everyday objects
small, cheap, lightweight
wired or wireless
spontaneous networking
and interaction
Sensors and actuators
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Smart Objects (cont.)

Can remember pertinent events
 They

have a memory
Show context-sensitive behavior
 They
may have sensors
 Location/situation/context
awareness

Are responsive/proactive
 Communicate
with environment
 Networked with other smart objects
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Smart Objects (cont.)
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Pervasive Computing Enablers

Moore’s Law of IC Technologies

Communication Technologies

Material Technologies

Sensors/Actuators
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Moore’s Law
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Years
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Computing power (or number of
transistors in an integrated circuit) doubles
every 18 months
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Moore’s Law
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1965
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Years
Computing power (or number of
transistors in an integrated circuit) doubles
every 18 months
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Generalized Moore’s Law

Most important
technology parameters
double every 1–3 years:
 computation
cycles
 memory, magnetic disks
 bandwidth

Problems:
• increasing cost
• energy
Consequence:
 scaling
down
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2nd Enabler: Communication

Bandwidth of single fibers ~10 Gb/s
 2002:
~20 Tb/s with wavelength multiplex
 Powerline
 coffee maker “automatically” connected to the Internet

Wireless
 mobile
phone: GSM, GPRS, 3G
 wireless LAN (> 10 Mb/s)
 PAN (Bluetooth), BAN
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Body Area Networks
Very low current (some nA), some kb/s
through the human body
 Possible applications:

 Car
recognize driver
 Pay when touching
the door of a bus
 Phone configures itself
when it is touched
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Spontaneous Networking

Objects in an open, distributed, dynamic
world find each other and form a transitory
community
 Devices
recognize that
they “belong together”
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3rd Enabler: New Materials

Important: whole eras named after materials
 e.g.,

“Stone Age”, “Iron Age”, “Pottery Age”, etc.
Recent: semiconductors, fibers
 information

Organic semiconductors
 change

and communication technologies
the external appearance of computers
“Plastic” laser
 Flexible
displays,…
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Interactive Map

Foldable and rollable
You are here!
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Foldable Cell Phone
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Smart Clothing
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Conductive textiles and inks
 print electrically active
patterns directly onto fabrics
Sensors based on fabric
 e.g., monitor pulse, blood
pressure, body temperature
Invisible collar microphones
Kidswear
 game console on the sleeve?
 integrated GPS-driven
locators?
 integrated small cameras (to
keep the parents calm)? 32
Solar Coat – Smart Clothings
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Smart Glasses

By 2009, computers will disappear. Visual
information will be written directly onto our
retinas by devices in
our eyeglasses and
contact lenses
-- Raymond Kurzweil
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Google Glass
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4th Enabler: Sensors/Actuators
Miniaturized cameras, microphones,...
 Fingerprint sensor
 Radio sensors
 RFID
 Infrared
 Location sensors

 e.g.,

GPS
...
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Example: Radio Sensors

No external power supply
 energy
from the
actuation process
 piezoelectric and
pyroelectric materials
transform changes in
pressure or temperature
into energy


RF signal is transmitted via an antenna (20 m
distance)
Applications: temperature surveillance, remote
control (e.g., wireless light switch),...
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RFIDs (“Smart Labels”)
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Identify objects from distance
 small IC with RFtransponder
Wireless energy supply
 ~1m
 magnetic field (induction)
ROM or EEPROM (writeable)
 ~100 Byte
Cost ~$0.1 ... $1
 consumable and disposable
Flexible tags
 laminated with paper
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Past, Present and Future
Researches of Ubiquitous
Computing
Computing with natural interfaces
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Ubicomp inspires “off-the-desktop” applications


Needs “off-the-desktop” means of interaction
Speech, gestures, writing

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More accessible
Easier to use???
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Computing with natural interfaces
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Error prone interaction
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Permit new and numerous mistakes
People do not have perfect recognition
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Recognition accuracy == user satisfaction??
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As low as 54%; cursive handwriting 88%; printed handwriting
96.8%
Not really: complexity of error recovery dialogues and valueadded benefit of any given efforts
Entering a command vs. writing journal entries
Several research areas


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Error reduction (about 5-10%)
Error detection
Reusable toolkit for error handling
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Context aware computing

Current Systems
 Generally
using position and identification of objects
 Still do not provide a complete context
 Definition of context is limited

Research areas
 Context toolkits
 Toolkit for sensing environment
 Explicit use of sensed information is up to program
 What
is context?
 How is context represented?
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What is context?

Who

Currently generally tailored to one user
 How important are others in determining our behavior


How could this be captured?
What

Attempt to figure out what is currently happening
 Sense environment, use calendar software etc.

Where

Location based information, e.g., GPS
 Most explored context information

When

Easily obtained information -- Computer is good at remembering time


Although determining when one event stops and another begins is not easy
Why

Even harder than the “what” question, biometric sensors might help (e.g., body
temperature, heart rate, etc)
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Toward context aware computing
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Context representation

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Requires universal context schemes or toolkits with
standard context representations
Context sensing and fusion


How to make context-aware computing “ubiquitous”?
In practice, there are few truly ubiquitous, single-source
context services

E.g., GPS does not work indoors; different indoor localization
schemes have different characteristics (e.g., cost, range)

Like sensor fusion, context fusion handles seamless
handling of sensing responsibility between boundaries of
different context services
 Combining multiple context sources can increase the
accuracy of context information
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Automated capture and access
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Recording information and data as it occurs
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Computers are inherently good at recording, people are not
People freed up to summarize and understand
Most work in academic/ classroom settings
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Time stamping lectures, digital whiteboards
Challenges in “capture and access”

Sometime we don’t know we want to capture something until after its
already happened
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
How could the computer know that?
If it captures everything then we need a system of sorting and filtering
(access)
Access is a problem because capturing of raw data can be
burdensome for sifting through; systems need to recognize important
events facilitate access
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Everyday computing

Continuous interactions (i.e., no clear beginning or end)



Both fundamental activities like communication and long-term
endeavors do not have predefined starts and ends; information from
past can be recycled
Very different traditional HCI design which assumes “closure” with clear
goals like spell checking, dialogue, etc.
Interruption is expected:

People are constantly interrupted
 Computer systems must recognize interruption and change state

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Also computers must appropriately inform users
Multiple activities operate concurrently:

People multitask and rapidly switch task based on external
unpredictable environment
 Systems need to adapt to this opportunistic behavior and change
accordingly
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Toward everyday computing
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Develop continuously present interface


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No current model of continuously present interfaces, even
people are not continuously present
Create an interface that doesn’t get annoying (e.g., wearable
devices)
Determine what information should require my attention
and what should be display peripherally
Connect events in the physical and virtual worlds (e.g.,
face to face vs. email, document, webs)
Modify/fuse existing HCI schemes to efficiently support
everyday computing (but evaluation is challenging and
laborious)
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System evaluation challenges

Hard to evaluate Ubicomp Systems
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Little publish on ubicomp evaluation
Systems often required to be fully connected leading to systems
that are hard to build
Lack of development toolkits make system creation difficult
Systems often need to be integrated into peoples lives which
using big clunky prototypes does not lead itself well too
Task/Goal centric approaches don’t work in ubicomp
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Example Projects

Pervasive computing projects have emerged at major
universities and in industry:





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Project Aura (Carnegie Mellon University)
Oxygen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Portalano (University of Washington)
Endeavour (University of California at Berkeley)
Place Lab (Intel Research Laboratory at Seattle)
For illustration let us look at Project Aura
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Example Projects : Project Aura (1)

Aura (Carnegie Mellon University)

Distraction-free (Invisible) Ubiquitous Computing.
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Example Projects : Project Aura (2)

Moore’s Law Reigns Supreme
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Processor density
Processor speed
Memory capacity
Disk capacity
Memory cost
...
Human Attention
Glaring Exception

Human Attention
Adam & Eve
2000 AD
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Example Projects : Project Aura (3)

Aura Thesis:


The most precious resource in computing is human attention.
Aura Goals:



Reduce user distraction.
Trade-off plentiful resources of Moore’s law for human attention.
Achieve this scalably for mobile users in a failure-prone,
variable-resource environment.
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Example Projects : Project Aura (4)

The Airport Scenario

Jane wants to send e-mail from the
airport before her flight leaves.



She has several large enclosures
She is using a wireless interface
She has many options.

Simply send the e-mail


Compress the data first


Are the old versions around?
Walk to a gate with more bandwidth


Are reservations available?
Send the “diff” relative to older file


Will that help enough?
Pay extra to get reserved bandwidth


Is there enough bandwidth?
Where is there enough bandwidth?
How do we choose automatically?
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Example Projects : Project Aura (5)

The Mobile Task Scenario
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Aura saves Scott’s task.
Scott enters office and gets strong
authentication and secure access.
Aura restores Scott’s task on desktop
machine and uses a large display.
Scott controls application by voice.
Bradley enters room.
Bradley gets weak authentication,
Scott’s access changes to insecure.
Aura denies voice access to sensitive
email application.
Scott has multi-modal control of
PowerPoint application.
Aura logs Scott out when he leaves the
room.
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Other Scenarios of Ubiquitous
Computing

Buy drinks by Friday (1)

Take out the last can of soda

Swipe the can’s UPC label, which
adds soda to your shopping list

Make a note that you need soda for
the guests you are having over this
weekend
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Other Scenarios

Buy drinks by Friday (2)

Approach a local supermarket

AutoPC informs you that you are
near a supermarket

Opportunistic reminder: “If it is
convenient, stop by to buy drinks.”
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Other Scenarios

Buy drinks by Friday (3)
-
Friday rolls around and you have
not bought drinks
-
Deadline-based reminder sent to
your pager
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Other Scenarios

Screen Fridge

Provides:









Email
Video messages
Web surfing
Food management
TV
Radio
Virtual keyboard
Digital cook book
Surveillance camera
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Other Scenarios

The Active Badge

This harbinger of inch-scale computers contains a small
microprocessor and an infrared transmitter.

The badge broadcasts the identity of its wearer and so can
trigger automatic doors, automatic telephone forwarding and
computer displays customized to each person reading them.

The active badge and other networked tiny computers are called
tabs.
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Other Scenarios

The Active Badge
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Other Scenarios

Edible computers:
The pill-cam




Miniature camera
Diagnostic device
It is swallowed
Try this with an
ENIAC computer!
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Other Scenarios

Artificial Retina

Direct interface with
nervous system

Whole new
computational
paradigm (who’s the
computer?)
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Other Scenarios

Smart Dust

Nano computers that couple:

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

Sensors
Computing
Communication
Grids of motes (“nano
computers”)
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Summary
Moving our focus of interaction away from
the traditional two-dimensional graphical
user interface on the desktop presents
many exciting and new challenges to the
field of HCI.
 Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing
was human-centered, and many years
later, it still presents a grand challenge for
those who wish to address this new
interaction paradigm.

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