Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
8.1 Introduction
There is a need for computing systems that naturally support users in their
daily life. One of the most promising approaches toward this is ubiqui-
tous computing, which is considered an integration of mobile computing
and pervasive computing [1]. In mobile computing, much effort has been
devoted to the design and implementation of computing architectures
that enable anywhere and anytime computing. Pervasive computing takes
another approach aimed at enhancing interaction between the user and
the computer, or between users through computer(s), by taking the user's
situation into account. Our interest goes toward this pervasive computing
aspect.
Most of the ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing systems express
information visually. It is obvious that vision plays an important role in
interaction but is not the only channel. We focus on audition, which is
another important channel through which the user perceives his or her
environment.
Several auditory pervasive computing systems have been proposed. We
classify those systems into four sections according to their size: gadgets,
boxes, tables, and rooms. The first three are analogous to tabs, pads, and
boards, respectively, proposed by Weiser [2], while the last one is particular
to auditory pervasive computing.
Gadgets are the smallest machines of embodied virtuality [3-6]. The
best example would be museum guide systems. The movement of a visi-
tor triggers a guiding message or a sound related to that artifact(s) nearest
the visitor. It is mentioned that such auditory information is presented in
most cases to each individual visitor through a headphone or earphone they
would wear.
Boxes are small tangible computers [7]. They are for the personal use as
gadgets are, but differ from gadgets in that their spatial manipulation, such
as rotation in a physical space, is allowed.
Tables are three foot in size multimodal computers [8]. Interaction and col-
laboration with others in a shared physical space are encouraged. They may
support a video displaying facility as well, so that users can share their ideas
with each other through both visual and auditory channels.
Rooms are indoor, ambient computing machines [7,9,10]. For users, this
room-sized interaction space is too large to entirely monitor information.
Audio cues to the users stay in the peripheral background to avoid too much
attention. In other words, they form an ambient soundscape that supports
opportunistic interactions and awareness.
In this paper, we propose a table-type, shared sound display, called Sound
Table, in which 16 speakers are mounted in a 4 × 4 layout. Sounds are pre-
sented at any position on the table by controlling the loudness of the speakers.
