Introduction into Ubiquitous & Context-aware Computing

1. Daniel Kornev
Program Manager
Microsoft Russia

2. Agenda
• Ubiquitous Computing
• Great Moments in Ubiquitous Computing
• Devices
• Concepts & Research Areas
• Context-aware Computing Systems
• History
• Real-world scenarios
• Industry & Academia interest
• Q&A

4. Ubiquitous Computing
• Ubiquitous Computing
• Computers everywhere
• Interconnected
• Human doesn’t “see” computer but focus on solving his problem

5. Great Moments in UbiComp
1991 – Mark Weiser (1952-1999) (Xerox PARC) introduces “ubiquitous
computing” in Scientific American article
1993 – Xerox PARC introduces PARCTAB
1999 – First International Symposium on Handheld and Ubiquitous Computing
(HUC) Mark Weiser
1999 – DARPA Invisible Computing Initiative funds five university projects in
ubiquitous computing
2001 – HUC changed to Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp)
2001 – Intel opens four “lablets” with primary emphasis on pervasive
computing
2002 – First issue of IEEE Pervasive Computing
2003 – Fifth UbiComp conference (Seattle)
PARCTAB

6. Ubiquitous Computing: New Form
Factors
Smart Devices Entirely New
Tabs (wearable cm-sized devices) Dust – miniaturized devices without visual
output displays, e.g., MEMS (Micro
Pads (handheld decimetre-sized devices) Electro-Mechanical Systems) – from
Boards (meter sized interactive display nanometers through micrometers to
devices) millimetres
Skin – non-planar display surfaces like
OLED – for clothes – networked surfaces
of MEMS
Clay – 3 dimensional shapes – networked
surfaces of MEMS

7. What Is It?
Ubiquitous Computing ≈ Pervasive Computing ≈ Invisible Computing
≈ Sentient Computing
System is applicable in every real of daily activity, in every location and every context
System is aware of all activities user is participating in
UbiComp Technology Taxonomy
Privacy
Context Sensing
(location, activity, goals)
Modeling
UI
Data Availability
(Web, personal server, OceanStore) Automatic Behaviors
Mobile Devices Device Association
Ethnographic Studies Applications

8. Ubiquitous Computing: Concepts
• System is applicable in every real of daily activity, in every location and
every context
• System is aware of all activities user is participating in
Research Areas
• Sensor Networks
• Mobile Computing
• Context-aware Pervasive Systems
• Ambient Intelligence
• Distributed Computing
• Etc.

9. Research Area: History & Definitions

10. History

11. First definition - 1994
Context-aware computing system is a software that adapts according to its
location of use, the collection of nearby people and objects, as well as
changes to those objects over time.
in Disseminating Active Map Information to Mobile Hosts Bill N. Schilit, Marvin
M. Theimer, 1994.

12. Dey & Abowd’s definition - 2001
Context is any information that can be used to characterize the situation of
an entity. An entity is a person, place, or object that is considered relevant to
the interaction between a user and an application, including the user and
application themselves.
(Dey, Abowd, 2001, in Providing architectural support for building context-
aware applications)

13. ISO Standard - 2006
Context: Users, their goals and tasks, infrastructure (hardware, software,
materials), physical and social environment in which the product is used.*
* As defined by ISO 9421-11

14. Windows / PC3 Definition - 2007
context
–noun
the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, or
situation.
(Greg Parks; Brownbag on Windows Context Platform; July 2007; Microsoft
Corporation)

15. Intel’s Definition - 2008
Context-aware system can be aware of: Platform Context
• Location
Environmental Contexts • Motion
• Physical environment • Network
• Devices • Batter Status
• Services • Platform Features
• Running Apps
User context • Memory usage
• Identity
• Physical state
• Physiological state
• Activities
• Contacts
• Preferences
© Intel 2008, “Context Aware User Interface”, Intel Developer Forum

16. Sensors – Industry & Academia
Interest

17. Sensors
Sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal
which can be read by an observer
Sensors make possible for computer devices to detect elements of contexts that
are hard to impossible to discover by using traditional methods.

18. Sensors and context-aware solutions
are on the market already
Research
organizations Industry Sensors Vendors
+ +
Universities Partners
Research Institutes Software Developers

19. Real-World Scenarios

20. Real-World Scenarios
• Location
• Navigation, Location-aware Printing
• Augmented Reality
• Navigation (ARDemo), Games (AR Counter Strike)
• Home Automation
• Security & Privacy
• Location Privacy, Login, etc.
• Social Context
• Natural User Interfaces
• UI orientation changes (Apple iPhone, ZuneHD, ARDemo), Object Recognition (Surface), Multi touch (Surface/iPhone/Zune
HD/Windows 7), Speech Recognition
• Presence
• Digital Assistant
• Outlook, Sound Profiles in HTC Touch Pro
• Search
• Collaboration
• Productivity
• Context-aware Tabs in Office 2007
• Context-aware Computations

21. GPS and location-based applications
Context-Aware User
Experiences:
Detection of user’s location
Contextual information –
POIs near user
Directions
Traffic and auto-correction of
trip
Show user’s friends location
on map in real mode

22. Apple iPhone
Natural User Interface: Context-Aware Interfaces:
Gestures UI Orientation (changes when
physical orientation changes)
Zoom in/out
Light-aware UI
Physical inertia applied to digital
objects Screen uses presence sensor to
automatically turn off while on call
Automatic switching between
tasks with applying priorities
(media player pauses while on call
and after call resumes playing)

23. Contextual tabs in Office 2007
Natural User Experience:
Ribbons for editing special
objects like images, charts,
tables etc appear only when
these objects are selected
by user

24. Sound profiles in HTC Touch Pro
Sound Profiles:
Alarm can wake you even if you
turned off system sound off
Sound profiles –
normal/vibration/without sound
Special profile “Automatic” –
switches app behavior to
“Vibration” while on meetings
(data is populated from
Calendar)

25. Location-aware Printing in Windows 7
Location-aware
Printing:
Default printer is
chosen automatically
based on current
mobile computer’s
network location

26. Security & Privacy
Device Association (HP) – use laser instead of RF
broadcast to target intended device
User Login (U. Aarhus, Denmark) – augment password
and smart card with proximity for login/logout
Location Privacy (IT U. of Copenhagen & Intel) – cell
phone users are surprisingly willing to be tracked in
return for useful location-based services

27. Other existing examples
Ambient Light Sensors in cars
GPS and location-aware applications
IM Presence (Skype/Messenger/ICQ)
Changing screen layout depending on device’s physical orientation (iPhone)
Contextual Tabs in Microsoft Office 2007
Sound Profiles in HTC Touch Pro
Contextual Conversations in Office Communicator
Location-aware Printing
…

28. Russian Context-aware Computing
Incubation Team: Scenarios
• Location & AR
• Campus Navigation System - ARDemo
• Natural User Interfaces
• Context-aware User Interface – “Project Universe”
• Interruption Management System (in progress)
• Presence
• Changing presence based on max/normal window (busy/available)

29. AR Demo
By Russian Context-aware Computing
Incubation Team

30. Scenario
4. viewing 3. taking
pictures pictures
1. trip
2. walking
planning

31. Map follows your view direction
• Magnetic declination obtained from compass is used
to align map rotation
N N

32. Device orientation changes UI
• Pitch angle calculated from accelerometer data is
used to define change between two UI modes
• Map mode if UMPC is • AR mode if UMPC is
parallel to the ground orthogonal to the ground

33. Augmented reality mode

34. Augmented reality mode

35. Custom hardware board
Logitech Fusion
Web camera
Freescale JM
Badge Board
• 3-axis accelerometer
• ambient light sensor
• capacitive touch sensor
Honeywell HMR3300
digital compass
Pharos iGPS-500
GPS receiver

36. Video

37. Project Universe – Demo/Motivation

38. What Do Users Want?
Sensed Less
Control
Loved More
automated
behavior