Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
pieces of information into “context information”, and make this context information
available to other services so as to enable these services to become context-aware.
Situation ontologies will need to be developed, as a starting point; this roadmap
uses a structure for describing situations with the type of location as its major
dimension:
@home
•
@work
•
@mobile
−
•
@car
@cycling
−
@bus
−
@train
−
etc.
−
5.4.3.
Interaction Constraints
Device context
The device context is much more deterministic than the user context, since information
about nearby devices can in principle be both complete and certain.
Nowadays, most devices in the home are standalone. Each product has its own
unique user interface, and end users need to learn how to use each new product. Device
connectivity is significantly improving due to the rise of low cost wireless networks in
the home including WiFi and Bluetooth, and Mobile Internet expansion towards 3G
and 4G and becoming available in a wider range of devices.
It is expected that devices will be increasingly multi-service, and federated in such
a way that users can choose any available interface device based on the context of use
and can then access most if not all of his/her AAL services, and the system can choose
any combination of nearby devices to act as a single multi-modal device. For example,
a user might use the mobile phone for dietary advice, or use the television screen to
order groceries, or the system can provide simultaneous access to a service on a
stationary touch screen, a handheld device and also using auxiliary speakers and
gesture detecting camera devices.
Devices can be oriented towards interaction using virtual interfaces that mirror the
concepts and real-world artefacts to be manipulated by the user. Devices can also be
oriented towards tangible interfaces where the user uses physical artefacts to control
concepts in computer models.
Novel mobile and tangible interfaces are important to support intelligent
interaction. An example of this is using positioning (GPS and digital compass sensors),
accelerometers and near-field communication (NFC) to use a mobile device as a
tangible interface, for instance by invoking a communication link by placing the phone
on an image of a family member. In effect, communication can be simplified by using
tangible interaction techniques and mobile/pervasive computing. The expected
introduction of the breakthrough Near Field Communication (NFC) technology will
enable mobile phones to activate on-site AAL services by simply touching a service tag,
or to easily peer with nearby devices by just moving them within a distance of a few
centimetres.
Over time, devices will evolve from standalone devices with virtual interaction
towards devices with more tangible interfaces (with Brain-Computer Interfaces
