Location awareness is an important capability for mobile computing. Yet inexpensive, pervasive positioning—a requirement for wide-scale adoption of location-aware computing—has been elusive. We demonstrate a radio beacon-based approach to location, called Place Lab, that can overcome the lack of ubiquity and high-cost found in existing location sensing approaches. Using Place Lab, commodity laptops, PDAs and cell phones estimate their position by listening for the cell IDs of fixed radio beacons, such as wireless access points, and referencing the beacons' positions in a cached database. We present experimental results showing that 802.11 and GSM beacons are sufficiently pervasive in the greater Seattle area to achieve 20-30 meter median accuracy with nearly 100% coverage measured by availability in people's daily lives.

/pdf/place-lab-device-positioning-using-radio-beacons-in-the-wild-3np5z7aajm.pdf

Place lab: device positioning using radio beacons in the wild

We present steps toward a conceptual framework for tangible user interfaces. We introduce the MCRpd interaction model for tangible interfaces, which relates the role of physical and digital representations, physical control, and underlying digital models. This model serves as a foundation for identifying and discussing several key characteristics of tangible user interfaces. We identify a number of systems exhibiting these characteristics, and situate these within 12 application domains. Finally, we discuss tangible interfaces in the context of related research themes, both within and outside of the human-computer interaction domain.

/pdf/emerging-frameworks-for-tangible-user-interfaces-254dznxose.pdf

Emerging frameworks for tangible user interfaces

An electronic device has a display and has a touch sensitive bezel surrounding the display. Areas on the bezel are designated for controls used to operate the electronic device. Visual guides corresponding to the controls are displayed on the display adjacent the areas of the bezel designated for the controls. Touch data is generated by the bezel when a user touches an area of the bezel. The device determines which of the controls has been selected based on which designated area is associated with the touch data from the bezel. The device then initiates the determined control. The device can have a sensor for determining the orientation of the device. Based on the orientation, the device can alter the areas designated on the bezel for the controls and can alter the location of the visual guides for the display so that they match the altered areas on the bezel.

Electronic device having display and surrounding touch sensitive bezel for user interface and control

This paper describes our design and implementation of a computer augmented environment that allows users to smoothly interchange digital information among their portable computers, table and wall displays, and other physical objects. Supported by a camera-based object recognition system, users can easily integrate their portable computers with the pre-installed ones in the environment. Users can use displays projected on tables and walls as a spatially continuous extension of their portable computers. Using an interaction technique called hyperdragging, users can transfer information from one computer to another, by only knowing the physical relationship between them. We also provide a mechanism for attaching digital data to physical objects, such as a videotape or a document folder, to link physical and digital spaces.

/pdf/augmented-surfaces-a-spatially-continuous-work-space-for-2zz5xi71zo.pdf

Augmented surfaces: a spatially continuous work space for hybrid computing environments

Improved approaches for users to with graphical user interfaces of computing devices are disclosed. A rotational user action supplied by a user via a user input device can provide accelerated scrolling. The accelerated nature of the scrolling enables users to scroll or traverse a lengthy data set (e.g., list of items) faster and with greater ease. The amount of acceleration provided can be performed in successive stages, and/or performed based on the speed of the rotational user action. In one embodiment, the rotational user action is transformed into linear action with respect to a graphical user interface. The resulting acceleration effect causes the linear action to be enhanced such that a lengthy data set is able to be rapidly traversed.

Method and apparatus for accelerated scrolling

An information processing apparatus having a relatively small display screen, and in particular to a small information processing apparatus of a type adapted to be held in the hand of a user and that can switch the mode for displaying data on a display screen between a portrait mode and a landscape mode. More specifically, the present invention retains to a small information processing apparatus that provides appropriate scroll functions for both display modes, i.e., the portrait mode and the landscape mode, using a hand manipulable input device.

Small information processing apparatus

This paper addresses users’ experiences with an ambient display for the home. We present the design and in situ evaluation of the CareNet Display, an ambient display that helps the local members of an elder’s care network provide her day-to-day care. We describe the CareNet Display’s design and discuss results of a series of in home deployments with users. We report how the CareNet Display was used and its impact on elders and their care network members. Based on our findings, we offer lessons about how ambient display technologies could be improved to further benefit this growing user community.

UbiComp 2004: Ubiquitous Computing

Peek-A-Drawer is a new communication device that uses furniture to support lightweight communication between people. It provides virtual shared drawers that connect family members who are located at a distance. When a user puts something in the upper drawer and closes it, a photograph is taken automatically and the image appears in the lower drawer at a distant place. The operation is as simple as using a drawer, allowing even children to communicate with their grandparents. As the camera only takes pictures of objects inside the drawer, privacy is assured.

Peek-a-drawer: communication by furniture

This paper describes the design of a digital fork and a mobile interactive and persuasive game for a young child who is a picky eater and/or easily distracted during mealtime. The system employs Ubicomp technology to educate children on the importance of a balanced diet while motivating proper eating behavior. To sense a child's eating behavior, we have designed and prototyped a sensor-embedded digital fork, called the Sensing Fork. Furthermore, we have developed a story-book and persuasive game, called the Hungry Panda, on a smartphone. This capitalizes on the capabilities of the Sensing Fork to interact with and modify children's eating behavior during mealtime. We report the results of a real-life study that involves mother-child subjects and tested the effectiveness of the Sensing Fork and Hungry Panda game in addressing children's eating problems. Our findings exhibit positive effects for changing children's eating behavior.

/pdf/persuasive-technology-to-improve-eating-behavior-using-a-28s8wghta9.pdf

Persuasive technology to improve eating behavior using a sensor-embedded fork

We introduce an inexpensive position input device called the FieldMouse, with which a computer can tell the position of the device on paper or any flat surface without using special input tablets or position detection devices. A FieldMouse is a combination of an ID recognizer like a barcode reader and a mouse which detects relative movement of the device. Using a FieldMouse, a user first detects an ID on paper by using the barcode reader, and then drags it from the ID using the mouse. If the location of the ID is known, the location of the dragged FieldMouse can also be calculated by adding the amount of movement from the ID to the position of the FieldMouse. Using a FieldMouse in this way, any flat surface can work as a pointing device that supports absolute position input, just by putting an ID tag somewhere on the surface. A FieldMouse can also be used for enabling a graphical user interface (GUI) on paper or on any flat surface by analyzing the direction and the amount of mouse movement after detecting an ID. In this paper, we introduce how a FieldMouse can be used in various situations to enable computing in real-world environments.

Itiro Siio

Papers

Small information processing apparatus

UbiComp 2004: Ubiquitous Computing

Peek-a-drawer: communication by furniture

Persuasive technology to improve eating behavior using a sensor-embedded fork

Real-world interaction using the FieldMouse