Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
multi-modal devices. So this enabler comprises two strands - federation of
devices, and evolution of multi-modal devices in terms of the richness
(width/modalities and depth/fidelity) of the interaction that they support.
•
Robust media acquisition and rendering - intelligent use of sensing capabilities
in devices to automatically adjust configurations and parameters of media
input and output devices. Simple examples include adjusting screen brightness
based on detecting the ambient lighting (this exists today), automatic on-the-
fly deblurring and other image filtering, automatic echo detection and
cancellation, automatic noise filtering, and adjusting haptic effects like
vibration based on the general situation or the position of the device.
Battery capacity, power consumption and easy charging - while these are not
intrinsic interaction technologies, they heavily affect the availability of
suitable interaction devices in mobile situations.
•
In summary, this vision provides interaction using an optimal configuration of
available devices that maximizes multi-modality and media richness, while keeping
within constraints set by the capabilities of the user.
Today, the interaction configuration is almost always static and adapted to the
user's capabilities and expressed preferences. Content is typically not scalable, except
for scaling media in terms of size, resolution, volume and fidelity. Each service session
or information interaction uses a single device.
Some progress can be expected in the near-term within scaling of information and
services, and federation of devices as a model can be foreseen. Battery capacities and
power consumption of mobile devices are improving, and wireless charging is
emerging.
In the long term, affective computing may be sufficiently advanced to create
interaction middleware that automatically adapts to the user's intentions in most
situations, adapting also to measured or estimated user perception, cognition and
physical capabilities of the user.
5.5. Communicating
Because AAL is based on ideas from ambient intelligence, it means that infrastructures
are becoming pervasive, with an increasing number of distributed devices that can
communicate between themselves as well as with centralized services. Moreover, in the
context of mobility, temporary co-location of such devices can be exploited to build
networks dynamically without a pre-existing infrastructure, or to complement existing
infrastructure by an ad-hoc one. Important issues in this context are the discovery of
devices by others, and processes for devices to join a network, e.g. pairing.
Sensors and actuators are connected to one or more aggregating or reasoning
systems which in turn might be connected (including dynamically, e.g. a person
moving from home to vehicle to some public space) to other systems with optional
additional actuators connected to them. Next, there is communication between people
in the context of certain tasks or activities and the communication of people with local
and remote systems or services. Communication is more than just connectivity: it also
involves the exchange of information and the ability to understand the information
leading to the following list of issues.
