Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends
How new technologies are modifying our way of life


lundi 9 février 2004
 

Computer scientists at Lancaster University in England have built a smart device named Pendle which is carried around the neck and permits to interact with computers as easily as with people. The system consists of a computer, a wireless transmitter and several sensors. In this story, Technology Research News (TRN) says that the Pendle will allow "screens near a user to display Internet-based information that the user is likely to prefer" and also control audio devices. Such systems should be available in two to five years.

Before going further, here is how looks the Pendle device around a user's neck (Credit: Lancaster University).

The Pendle device

Let's move to the TRN story.

The system hinges on the Pendle, a device that can be worn around the neck. The Pendle contains a computer, wireless transmitter, acceleration sensor and touch sensor. It automatically transmits user preferences to nearby computers and can also be taken in hand to perform command gestures, said Nicolas Villar, a research associate at Lancaster University.
The other components of the system -- wireless receivers, display devices and a computer that locates appropriate content -- are connected to a local area network. Simply by wearing the device, a user is able to inform computers in the environment of his preferences so that the environment can best tailor its behavior to match the user's interests, said Villar.

Here is the Pendle architecture (Credit: Lancaster University).

The Pendle architecture

How does this work?

The Pendle stores lists of keywords and Internet addresses chosen by the user and transmits these to receivers placed around the room. The nearest receiver forwards the information along with its own identification to a computer that locates the display device nearest the user.
If the information transmitted by a user's Pendle is an Internet address, the display locates the address and shows the page or clip. If the Pendle transmits a list of keywords, the computer searches the Internet for relevant information and forwards an appropriate Internet address to the display device.
When the user picks up the Pendle, its touch sensor switches the device to command mode. Holding it up causes the nearest display to access the next Internet address stored in the Pendle. Shaking the Pendle removes the current information from display.

This is not the first attempt to build such a device, but this one is different.

The Lancaster researchers' system is different because it combines these capabilities to give people both passive and active means of personalizing display information, according to Villar. The result is a way to proactively display preferred information but also allow a person to override the system and explicitly control the display.

The research work was published in the December 2003 issue of Computers & Graphics under the name "Interacting with proactive public displays." Here is the abstract.

In this paper we describe the design and architecture of an adaptive proactive environment in which information, which reflects the communal interests of current inhabitants, is proactively displayed on large-scale public displays. Adaptation is achieved through implicit communication between the environment and personal sensor devices worn by users. These devices, called Pendle, serve two purposes: they store and make available to the environment user preferences, and they allow users to override the environment's proactive behavior by means of simple gestures. The result is a smooth integration of environment-controlled interaction (experienced by the user as implicit interaction, triggered by their presence) and user-controlled explicit interaction. Initial results show that user-controlled adaptation leads to an engaging user experience that is unobtrusive and not distracting.

For even more information, you can read the full report (PDF format, 8 pages, 370 KB)

Sources: Eric Smalley, Technology Research News, January 28/February 4, 2004; Computing Department, Lancaster University


12:41:09 PM   Permalink   Comments []   Trackback []  


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © Copyright 2004 Roland Piquepaille.
Last update: 01/11/2004; 08:56:22.


February 2004
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29            
Jan   Mar


Search this blog for

Courtesy of PicoSearch


Supported by
BigFitness.com

If you're tired to read about technology, it's time to take a break.
Try their exercise and fitness equipment.
Read more


Personal Links



Other Links

Ars Technica
Bloglines
BoingBoing
Daily Rotation News
del.icio.us
Engadget
Feedster
Gizmodo
I4U News
Mindjack Daily Relay
Nanodot
Slashdot
Smart Mobs
Techdirt
Technorati


People

Paul Boutin
Dan Gillmor
Lawrence Lessig
Jenny Levine
Karlin Lillington
John Robb
Dolores Tam
Jon Udell
Dave Winer


Drop me a note via Radio
Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

E-mail me directly at
pique@noos.fr

Subscribe to this weblog
Subscribe to "Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends" in Radio UserLand.

XML Version of this page
Click to see the XML version of this web page.