UbiBus: Ubiquitous Computing to Help Blind People in Public - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

UbiBus: Ubiquitous Computing to Help Blind People in Public Transport

M.Banâtre, P.Couderc, J.Pauty and M.Becus INRIA Rennes (France) Ambient Computing and Embedded Systems Group

Goal

• Ubiquitous computing to provide “spontaneous”

services

Spontaneous :

Explicit interactions between the user and the computers are

reduced at the minimum level

The service is driven automatically by the events of the real

world

Motivations

Improving existing service operation without being intrusive

for the user

Improving the usability of information systems in the context

• f mobile devices
• (ex: the mobile device reflects the close environment)

Overcom ing people disabilities by:

• Providing context triggered help and assistance to the user
• Making the environment and the services aware of the presence
• f disables people

Idea

• A programming model which promotes the design of

spontaneous operation for the application

• How?

By providing programming abstractions directly related to

interactions between physical objects.

• Benefits:

The program is structured around physical objects and

their interactions

Programming is simple because

You don't have to determined what is the context, and then

take the appropriate actions:

You just have to "attach" code to already existing interactions

(in the real world), reflected in the system

Spatial programming / SPREAD

Abstractions:

Physical objects = data symbol (tuple) Physical mobility = data flow Physical space = associative memory Tuple-space Association/ matching based on

Data properties Geometrical properties: the data reside inside a Shape

around the object which publishes the tuple

Synchronization: like a "token-machine", where

"tokens" are represented by physical objects. An action need a set of tokens to be proceeded.

Implementation

A “wireless P2P” architecture, relying only on

autonomous nodes.

Example

Stopping the bus

in Ubi Bus…

Token: < U-STOP, Bus# 16> rd < U-STOP, ‘Bus# 16’>

• ut < S-STOP, ‘Bus# 16’>

rd < S-STOP, ‘Bus# 16’> Notify driver !

Conclusion

A “natural way” to reduce explicit

interactions :

Directly controlling the application with

physical objects

Not only at the user level… … But also at the programming level

UbiBus:

An effective application of this concept Demonstrated to potential users, encouraging

first impressions, especially the simplicity

The user terminal was a problem