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.