An application of a context-aware file system

Ubiquitous computing environments stretch the requirements of traditional infrastructures used to facilitate the development of applications. Activities are often supported by collections of applications, some of which are automatically launched with little or no human intervention. This task-driven environment challenges existing application construction and data management techniques. In this paper, we describe a file system that organises application data based on contextual information, imports user data based on its physical presence, and supports format conversions to accommodate device context. We describe several applications that we have developed within our ubiquitous computing infrastructure and show how they leverage the novel features of our file system to simplify their complexity.

COMUNICAR: designing a multimedia, context-aware human-machine interface for cars

The European Union co-funded COMUNICAR (communication multimedia unit inside car) project designed and developed an integrated multimedia human–machine interface (HMI) able to manage a wide variety of driver information systems (from entertainment to safety). COMUNICAR proposed an innovative information provision paradigm, in which the on-vehicle HMI is able to tailor the delivery of the information in real time according to the actual driving context and the drivers workload. COMUNICAR adopted a user-centred design process involving an iterative development based on extensive user tests since the early phases of the project. This approach was particularly useful to define and improve the layout of the user interface and specify the rules that decide the scheduling and the modalities of the delivery of the information messages to the driver. This paper introduces the COMUNICAR concept and the user-centred flow of design. Then, a concrete case of user-test driven, iterative improvement of a systems functionality is presented. We also briefly describe two software tools that we have designed to enhance the development process in a user-centred perspective. Finally, the future evolution of the concept of smart and safe information scheduling is sketched and discussed.

---

Security and privacy for multimedia database management systems

This paper describes security and privacy issues for multimedia database management systems. Multimedia data includes text, images, audio and video. It describes access control for multimedia database management systems and describes security policies and security architectures for such systems. Privacy problems that result from multimedia data mining are also discussed.

Modeling contextual security policies

As computer infrastructures become more complex, security models must provide means to handle more flexible and dynamic requirements. In the Organization Based Access Control (OrBAC) model, it is possible to express such requirements using the notion of context. In OrBAC, each security rule (permission, prohibition, obligation or dispensation) only applies in a given context. A context is viewed as an extra condition that must be satisfied to activate a given security rule. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of different types of context and investigate the data the information system must manage in order to deal with these different contexts. We then explain how to model and evaluate them in the OrBAC model.

Multimodal support to group dynamics

The complexity of group dynamics occurring in small group interactions often hinders the performance of teams. The availability of rich multimodal information about what is going on during the meeting makes it possible to explore the possibility of providing support to dysfunctional teams from facilitation to training sessions addressing both the individuals and the group as a whole. A necessary step in this direction is that of capturing and understanding group dynamics. In this paper, we discuss a particular scenario, in which meeting participants receive multimedia feedback on their relational behaviour, as a first step towards increasing self-awareness. We describe the background and the motivation for a coding scheme for annotating meeting recordings partially inspired by the Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis. This coding scheme was aimed at identifying suitable observable behavioural sequences. The study is complemented with an experimental investigation on the acceptability of such a service.

---

Supporting ordering and consistency in a distributed Event Heap for Ubiquitous Computing

The Stanford Event Heap has been shown to provide appropriate support for constructing interactive workspace applications. Given this success it is natural to consider the Event Heap as a platform to support other classes of Ubiquitous Computing applications. In this paper we argue that the distributed, spontaneous nature of these applications places additional demands on the Event Heap that require extensions to both the engineering and API. Suitable extensions are described and their use to support a typical Ubicomp application is discussed.

---

Evolution of 3D mobile games development

3D computer graphics have been an important feature in games development since it was first introduced in the early 80s and there is no doubt that 3D based content is often viewed as more attractive in games than the more abstract 2D graphics. Many games publishers are keen to leverage their success in the console market into the mobile phone platform. However, the resource constraints of mobile phones and the fragmented nature of the environment present considerable challenges for games developers. In this paper we consider some of the current constraints together with current and, probable, future developments both in the software and hardware of mobile phones. As part of this process we benchmark some of the latest and most prevalent software and hardware devices to ascertain both the quality of the graphics produced and the effects upon battery life. Whilst our test results highlight that the current market does indeed present challenges, our research into the future developments highlights the fact we are approaching greater standardization, which will be an important factor for the successful development of 3D mobile games.

---

Towards Environment-to-Environment (E2E) multimedia communication systems

We present an approach to connect multiple remote environments over web for natural interaction among people and objects. Focus of current communication and telepresence systems severely restrict user affordances in terms of movement, interaction, peripheral vision, spatio-semantic integrity and even information flow. These systems allow information transfer rather than experiential interaction. We propose Environment-to-Environment (E2E) as a new paradigm for communication which allows users to interact in natural manner using text, audio, and video by connecting environments. Each Environment is instrumented using as many different types of sensors as may be required to detect presence and activity of objects. This object position and activity information is used by a scalable event-based multimodal information system called EventServer to share the appropriate experiential information with other environments as well as to present incoming multimedia information on right displays and speakers. This paper describes the design principles for E2E communication, discusses system architecture, and gives our experience in implementing prototypes of such systems in telemedicine and office collaboration applications. We also discuss the research challenges and a road-map for creating more sophisticated E2E applications in near future.

Methods for quantitative usability requirements: a case study on the development of the user interface of a mobile phone

Quantitative usability requirements are a critical but challenging, and hence an often neglected aspect of a usability engineering process. A case study is described where quantitative usability requirements played a key role in the development of a new user interface of a mobile phone. Within the practical constraints of the project, existing methods for determining usability requirements and evaluating the extent to which these are met, could not be applied as such, therefore tailored methods had to be developed. These methods and their applications are discussed.

---

Interacting with mobile services: an evaluation of camera-phones and visual tags

We present a study of using camera-phones and visual-tags to access mobile services. Firstly, a user-experience study is described in which participants were both observed learning to interact with a prototype mobile service and interviewed about their experiences. Secondly, a pointing-device task is presented in which quantitative data was gathered regarding the speed and accuracy with which participants aimed and clicked on visual-tags using camera-phones. We found that participants’ attitudes to visual-tag-based applications were broadly positive, although they had several important reservations about camera-phone technology more generally. Data from our pointing-device task demonstrated that novice users were able to aim and click on visual-tags quickly (well under 3 s per pointing-device trial on average) and accurately (almost all meeting our defined speed/accuracy tradeoff of 6% error-rate). Based on our findings, design lessons for camera-phone and visual-tag applications are presented.

---

XFlavor: providing XML features in media representation

We present XFlavor, a framework for providing XML representation of multimedia data. XFlavor can be used to convert multimedia data back and forth between binary and XML representations. Compared to bitstreams, XML documents are easier to access and manipulate, and consequently, the development of multimedia processing software is greatly facilitated, as one generic XML parser can be used to read and write different types of data in XML form.

PECOLE: P2P multimedia collaborative environment

PECOLE (Peer-to-pEer COLlaborative Environment) is a fully decentralized multimedia collaborative environment that supports a wide range of collaborative multimedia applications, including chat, shared browsing, shared telepointer, multipoint-to-multipoint audio/video conferencing and multilingual collaboration. PECOLE can intelligently run on very constrained resources, is highly resilient, scalable and does not rely on dedicated servers. Instead, PECOLE is built upon a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) overlay network, using SUN’s JXTA framework and SWT technology. In this paper, we present the architecture and implementation of PECOLE with the performance results of the tests we conducted.

MedSMan: a live multimedia stream querying system

Querying live media streams is a challenging problem that is becoming an essential requirement in a growing number of applications. Research in multimedia information systems has addressed and made good progress in dealing with archived data. Meanwhile, research in stream databases has received significant attention for querying alphanumeric symbolic streams. The lack of a data model capable of representing different multimedia data in a declarative way, hiding the media heterogeneity and providing reasonable abstractions for querying live multimedia streams poses the challenge of how to make the best use of data in video, audio and other media sources for various applications. In this paper we propose a system that enables directly capturing media streams from sensors and automatically generating more meaningful feature streams that can be queried by a data stream processor. The system provides an effective combination between extendible digital processing techniques and general data stream management research. Together with other query techniques developed in related data stream management streams, our system can be used in those application areas where multifarious live media senors are deployed for surveillance, disaster response, live conferencing, telepresence, etc.

Ethical regulations on robotics in Europe

There are only a few ethical regulations that deal explicitly with robots, in contrast to a vast number of regulations, which may be applied. We will focus on ethical issues with regard to “responsibility and autonomous robots”, “machines as a replacement for humans”, and “tele-presence”. Furthermore we will examine examples from special fields of application (medicine and healthcare, armed forces, and entertainment). We do not claim to present a complete list of ethical issue nor of regulations in the field of robotics, but we will demonstrate that there are legal challenges with regard to these issues.

---

Next generation networking: distributed multimedia information for healthcare

This paper is derived from a keynote address given that the DMS-03 meeting. It chronicles the need and development of next generation networks (NGN) in the United States. Specific organizational examples are derived from the Internet2-Abilene Network. The technical characteristics of a next generation network versus the Internet are discussed. Examples are given from the point of view of the need for a quality of service based network to deliver distributed multimedia healthcare information to the point of need. The concepts of network trust and of a network based scalable information infrastructure for the reliable delivery of distributed multimedia information is also introduced.

The 2007 IEEE CEC simulated car racing competition

This paper describes the simulated car racing competition that was arranged as part of the 2007 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation. Both the game that was used as the domain for the competition, the controllers submitted as entries to the competition and its results are presented. With this paper, we hope to provide some insight into the efficacy of various computational intelligence methods on a well-defined game task, as well as an example of one way of running a competition. In the process, we provide a set of reference results for those who wish to use the simplerace game to benchmark their own algorithms. The paper is co-authored by the organizers and participants of the competition.

---

E-redesigning of society: towards experiential connectivity of generations in Lithuania

The paper reflects on the unique experience of social and technological development in Lithuania since the regaining of independence as a newly reshaped society constructing a distinctive competitive IST-based model at global level. This has presented Lithuanian pattern of how to integrate different experiences and relations between generations in implementing complex information society approaches. The resulting programme in general is linked to the Lisbon objectives of the European Union. The experience of transitional countries in Europe, each different but facing some common problems, may be useful to developing countries in Africa.

---

Clustering multidimensional sequences in spatial and temporal databases

Many environmental, scientific, technical or medical database applications require effective and efficient mining of time series, sequences or trajectories of measurements taken at different time points and positions forming large temporal or spatial databases. Particularly the analysis of concurrent and multidimensional sequences poses new challenges in finding clusters of arbitrary length and varying number of attributes. We present a novel algorithm capable of finding parallel clusters in different subspaces and demonstrate our results for temporal and spatial applications. Our analysis of structural quality parameters in rivers is successfully used by hydrologists to develop measures for river quality improvements.

Transmission of layered video streaming via multi-path on ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks without centralized infrastructure change their topology rapidly because of node mobility, making multimedia applications difficult to run across wireless networks. Moreover, video transmission over ad hoc networks causes frequent transmission loss of video packets owing to end-to-end transmission with a number of wireless links, and requires essential bandwidth and restricted delay to provide quality-guaranteed display. This paper presents an architecture supporting transmission of multiple video streams in ad hoc networks by establishing multiple routing paths to provide extra video coding and transport schemes. This study also proposes an on-demand multicast routing protocol to transport layered video streams. The multicast routing protocol transmits layered video streaming based on a weight criterion, which is derived according to the number of receivers, delay and expiration time of a route. A simulation is performed herein to indicate the viability and performance of the proposed approach. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed transport scheme is more effective than other video transport schemes with single or multiple paths.

Methodologies for agent systems development: underlying assumptions and implications for design

The area of agent systems design may be safely described as cluttered and disorganized, especially by those that situate themselves outside the “agent community”. Despite the wealth of bibliography on agent systems design and applications, there are few widely acknowledged design methods that have surfaced from testing and practice, mainly in laboratory settings. The paper contributes to the understanding of the field by presenting a critical review of methodologies that have emerged over the last few years to guide and explain agent systems design and development. The perspective for this review has been mainly formulated by posing important research questions in the field, and by attempting to interpret and discover latent hypotheses and underlying assumptions made by methodologies in reference to relevant research, both in agent systems and cooperative information systems practice and theory. The paper identifies significant challenges for agent systems methodologies that, if pursued, can contribute to a new understanding of the field that shifts the foci of current agent systems research, towards holistic design methods that place human users and information systems stakeholders at the centre of interest and involve them in the design process as much as possible.

---