Link
Alexandre Sanguinetti Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Hirohide Haga Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Aya Funakoshi Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Atsushi Yoshida Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Chiho Matsumoto Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing archive
Volume 7 , Issue 3-4 (July 2003) table of contents
Pages: 163 - 168
Year of Publication: 2003
ISSN:1617-4909
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a Fluid Remote Controller, a general-purpose remote controller based on the ubiquitous computing view. FReCon offers remote control features over a wide range of appliances located within a room, with a unique controller implemented on portable devices like PDAs, handheld PCs, mobile phones, etc. More than the controller itself, FReCon means the whole FReely Connected world in which FReCon-enabled users and appliances interact: though acting naturally, the user can freely connect to the desired appliance, control it, disconnect from it and start communicating with another. A prototype implementation in the form of a smart TV remote controller is also described. This simple prototype makes it possible to understand the validity and the limits of our view, and give clues for further improvements.
My Discussion:
The paper starts out allright making its case for a remote control that can control any device the user ends up in contact with in a world where computing is ubiquitous and has recessed into the background. But when in the next section the design requirements include "use small web servers embedded in all the applications to be controlled" and "reduce user's interactions to none but natural ones",[italics mine] without justifying why webservers are required and how the learned behavior of how to use a remote, like that it needs to be pointed at the device or that buttons can be pressed and held, is somehow natural, it looks that the readers are in for a bumpy ride. It is only near the end that the need for a complicated configuration, that includes devices constantly broadcasting over both irDA and bluetooth so that the remote can fetch a page from an embedded webserver in every device, becomes clear: this is a system in which every device to be controlled can send a UI -- as, in this case, a webpage -- to the device being used as a 'remote'. But the limitations their set up runs into (for example, to select which device to control the remote has to be pointed at a device, so no two devices can be located close to each other), limitations bound to become relevant in almost every home with a home theater cluster of AV devices, seriously made me wonder why they bothered implementing their flawed design.
Challenge:: recombinant computing and the speakeasy approach
Alexandre Sanguinetti Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Hirohide Haga Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Aya Funakoshi Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Atsushi Yoshida Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Chiho Matsumoto Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science, Doshisha University, 1-3 Miyakotani, Tatara, Kyotanabe, Japan
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing archive
Volume 7 , Issue 3-4 (July 2003) table of contents
Pages: 163 - 168
Year of Publication: 2003
ISSN:1617-4909
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a Fluid Remote Controller, a general-purpose remote controller based on the ubiquitous computing view. FReCon offers remote control features over a wide range of appliances located within a room, with a unique controller implemented on portable devices like PDAs, handheld PCs, mobile phones, etc. More than the controller itself, FReCon means the whole FReely Connected world in which FReCon-enabled users and appliances interact: though acting naturally, the user can freely connect to the desired appliance, control it, disconnect from it and start communicating with another. A prototype implementation in the form of a smart TV remote controller is also described. This simple prototype makes it possible to understand the validity and the limits of our view, and give clues for further improvements.
My Discussion:
The paper starts out allright making its case for a remote control that can control any device the user ends up in contact with in a world where computing is ubiquitous and has recessed into the background. But when in the next section the design requirements include "use small web servers embedded in all the applications to be controlled" and "reduce user's interactions to none but natural ones",[italics mine] without justifying why webservers are required and how the learned behavior of how to use a remote, like that it needs to be pointed at the device or that buttons can be pressed and held, is somehow natural, it looks that the readers are in for a bumpy ride. It is only near the end that the need for a complicated configuration, that includes devices constantly broadcasting over both irDA and bluetooth so that the remote can fetch a page from an embedded webserver in every device, becomes clear: this is a system in which every device to be controlled can send a UI -- as, in this case, a webpage -- to the device being used as a 'remote'. But the limitations their set up runs into (for example, to select which device to control the remote has to be pointed at a device, so no two devices can be located close to each other), limitations bound to become relevant in almost every home with a home theater cluster of AV devices, seriously made me wonder why they bothered implementing their flawed design.
Link
W. Keith Edwards Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Mark W. Newman Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Jana Sedivy Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Shahram Izadi University of Nottingham
International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking archive
Proceedings of the 8th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking table of contents
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
SESSION: Challenges table of contents
Pages: 279 - 286
Year of Publication: 2002
ISBN:1-58113-486-X
Abstract:
Interoperability among a group of devices, applications, and services is typically predicated on those entities having some degree of prior knowledge of each another. In general, they must be written to understand the type of thing with which they will
interact, including the details of communication as well as semantic knowledge such as when and how to communicate. This paper presents a case for “recombinant computing”—a set of common interaction patterns that leverage mobile code to allow rich interactions among computational entities with only limited a priori knowledge of one another. We have been experimenting with a particular embodiment of these ideas, which we call Speakeasy. It is designed to support ad hoc, end user configurations of hardware and software, and provides patterns for data exchange, user control, discovery of new services and devices, and contextual awareness.
My Discussion:
From a perspective of servicing the user, this paper has it completely backwards. It proposes a framework for making ubiquitous computing extensible, starting off with formulating premisses about what technology should be like to interconnect all kinds of devices with each other to allow users to do things. One of the premisses is even that the users will be ultimate arbiters of what connections will be made and are desireable, since in this extensible framework no functions, capabilities, or permissions can really be defined for new classes of devices and data transfer. The paper then ends with the note in the challenges section that making the UI to this extensible framework will be hard. The paper describing this framework to allow users to navigate the landscape of ubiquitous electronic devices thus proves itself to not be user-centered at all, begging the question whether this framework will actually give the user enough useable, clear, and humane information to make informed decisions about what devices should be connected and how.
W. Keith Edwards Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Mark W. Newman Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Jana Sedivy Trevor Smith Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Shahram Izadi University of Nottingham
International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking archive
Proceedings of the 8th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking table of contents
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
SESSION: Challenges table of contents
Pages: 279 - 286
Year of Publication: 2002
ISBN:1-58113-486-X
Abstract:
Interoperability among a group of devices, applications, and services is typically predicated on those entities having some degree of prior knowledge of each another. In general, they must be written to understand the type of thing with which they will
interact, including the details of communication as well as semantic knowledge such as when and how to communicate. This paper presents a case for “recombinant computing”—a set of common interaction patterns that leverage mobile code to allow rich interactions among computational entities with only limited a priori knowledge of one another. We have been experimenting with a particular embodiment of these ideas, which we call Speakeasy. It is designed to support ad hoc, end user configurations of hardware and software, and provides patterns for data exchange, user control, discovery of new services and devices, and contextual awareness.
My Discussion:
From a perspective of servicing the user, this paper has it completely backwards. It proposes a framework for making ubiquitous computing extensible, starting off with formulating premisses about what technology should be like to interconnect all kinds of devices with each other to allow users to do things. One of the premisses is even that the users will be ultimate arbiters of what connections will be made and are desireable, since in this extensible framework no functions, capabilities, or permissions can really be defined for new classes of devices and data transfer. The paper then ends with the note in the challenges section that making the UI to this extensible framework will be hard. The paper describing this framework to allow users to navigate the landscape of ubiquitous electronic devices thus proves itself to not be user-centered at all, begging the question whether this framework will actually give the user enough useable, clear, and humane information to make informed decisions about what devices should be connected and how.
