25-07-2012, 04:25 PM
PERVASIVE, HUMAN-CENTERED COMPUTING
PERVASIVE.pdf (Size: 1.48 MB / Downloads: 26)
For forty years, computer systems have catered to machines. Purporting to
serve people, they actually have forced people to serve them. They have been
difficult to use. They have required us to interact with them on their terms,
speaking their languages and manipulating their parts. They have not been
aware of our needs or even of whether we were in the room with them.
In the future, computation will be human-centered: it will enter the human
world, handling our goals and needs and helping us to do more by doing less.
Computation will be pervasive, like batteries, power sockets, and the oxygen in
the air we breathe. Configurable generic devices, either handheld or embedded
in the environment, will bring computation to us, whenever we need it and
wherever we might be. As we interact with these “anonymous” devices, they
will adopt our information personalities. They will respect our desires for privacy
and security. We won’t have to type, click, or learn new computer jargon.
Instead, we’ll communicate naturally, using speech and gestures that describe
our intent (“send this to Hari” or “print that picture on the nearest uncongested
printer”), and leave it to the computer to carry out our will.
New systems will boost our productivity. They will help us automate repetitive
human tasks, control a wealth of physical devices in our environment,
find the information we need (when we need it, without forcing our eyes to
examine thousands of search-engine hits), and enable us to work together
with other people through space and time.
INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES
THAT ADDRESS HUMAN NEEDS
Oxygen enables pervasive, human-centered computing through a combination
of specific user and system technologies.
Oxygen’s user technologies directly address human needs. Speech and vision
technologies enable us to communicate with Oxygen as if we’re interacting
with another person, saving much time and effort. Automation, individualized
knowledge access, and collaboration technologies help us perform
a wide variety of tasks that we want to do in the ways we like to do them.
Oxygen’s system technologies dramatically extend our range by delivering
user technologies to us at home, at work, or on the go. Computational devices,
called Enviro21s (E21s), embedded in our homes, offices, and cars sense
and affect our immediate environment. Hand-held devices, called Handy21s
(H21s), empower us to communicate and compute no matter where we are.
Dynamic networks (N21s) help our machines locate each other as well as the
people, services, and resources we want to reach.
DEVICES AND NETWORKS
People access Oxygen through stationary devices (E21s) embedded in the
environment or via portable hand-held devices (H21s). These universally
accessible devices supply power for computation, communication, and
perception in much the same way that wall outlets and batteries deliver
power to electrical appliances. Although not customized to any particular
user, they can adapt automatically or be modified explicitly to address
specific user preferences. Like power outlets and batteries, these devices
differ mainly in how much energy they can supply.
E21 STATIONARY DEVICES
Embedded in offices, buildings, homes, and vehicles, E21s enable
us to create situated entities, often linked to local sensors and actuators,
that perform various functions on our behalf, even in our absence.
For example, we can create entities and situate them to monitor and
change the temperature of a room, close a garage door, or redirect email
to colleagues, even when we are thousands of miles away. E21s provide
large amounts of embedded computation, as well as interfaces to camera
and microphone arrays, thereby enabling us to communicate naturally,
using speech and gesture, in the spaces they define.
H21 HAND-HELD DEVICES
Users can select hand-held devices, called H21s, appropriate to the tasks
they wish to perform. These devices accept speech and visual input, can
reconfigure themselves to perform a variety of useful functions, and
support a range of communication protocols. Among other things, H21s
can serve as cellular phones, beepers, radios, televisions, geographical
positioning systems, cameras, or personal digital assistants, thereby reducing
the number of special-purpose gadgets we must carry. To conserve power,
they may offload communication and computation onto nearby E21s.