By Roland Piquepaille
Computer scientists at Lancaster University in England have built a smart device named Pendle which is carried around the neck and permits to interact with computers as easily as with people. The system consists of a computer, a wireless transmitter and several sensors. In this story, Technology Research News (TRN) says that the Pendle will allow "screens near a user to display Internet-based information that the user is likely to prefer" and also control audio devices. Such systems should be available in two to five years.Before going further, here is how looks the Pendle device around a user's neck (Credit: Lancaster University).
Let's move to the TRN story.
The system hinges on the Pendle, a device that can be worn around the neck. The Pendle contains a computer, wireless transmitter, acceleration sensor and touch sensor. It automatically transmits user preferences to nearby computers and can also be taken in hand to perform command gestures, said Nicolas Villar, a research associate at Lancaster University.
The other components of the system -- wireless receivers, display devices and a computer that locates appropriate content -- are connected to a local area network. Simply by wearing the device, a user is able to inform computers in the environment of his preferences so that the environment can best tailor its behavior to match the user's interests, said Villar.
Here is the Pendle architecture (Credit: Lancaster University).
How does this work?
The Pendle stores lists of keywords and Internet addresses chosen by the user and transmits these to receivers placed around the room. The nearest receiver forwards the information along with its own identification to a computer that locates the display device nearest the user.
If the information transmitted by a user's Pendle is an Internet address, the display locates the address and shows the page or clip. If the Pendle transmits a list of keywords, the computer searches the Internet for relevant information and forwards an appropriate Internet address to the display device.
When the user picks up the Pendle, its touch sensor switches the device to command mode. Holding it up causes the nearest display to access the next Internet address stored in the Pendle. Shaking the Pendle removes the current information from display.
This is not the first attempt to build such a device, but this one is different.
The Lancaster researchers' system is different because it combines these capabilities to give people both passive and active means of personalizing display information, according to Villar. The result is a way to proactively display preferred information but also allow a person to override the system and explicitly control the display.
The research work was published in the December 2003 issue of Computers & Graphics under the name "Interacting with proactive public displays." Here is the abstract.
In this paper we describe the design and architecture of an adaptive proactive environment in which information, which reflects the communal interests of current inhabitants, is proactively displayed on large-scale public displays. Adaptation is achieved through implicit communication between the environment and personal sensor devices worn by users. These devices, called Pendle, serve two purposes: they store and make available to the environment user preferences, and they allow users to override the environment's proactive behavior by means of simple gestures. The result is a smooth integration of environment-controlled interaction (experienced by the user as implicit interaction, triggered by their presence) and user-controlled explicit interaction. Initial results show that user-controlled adaptation leads to an engaging user experience that is unobtrusive and not distracting.
For even more information, you can read the full report (PDF format, 8 pages, 370 KB)
Sources: Eric Smalley, Technology Research News, January 28/February 4, 2004; Computing Department, Lancaster University
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