The smart phone: a ubiquitous input device

We show how modern mobile phones (Weiser's tabs) can interact with their environment, especially large situated displays (Weiser's boards). Smart phones' emerging capabilities are fueling a rise in the use of mobile phones as input devices to such resources as situated displays, vending machines, and home appliances. Mobile phones' prevalence gives them great potential to be the default physical interface for ubiquitous computing applications. We survey interaction techniques that use mobile phones as input devices to ubiquitous computing environments. We use smart phone to describe an enhanced mobile phone. Our analysis blurs the line between smart phones and PDAs such as the Palm Pilot because the feature sets continue to converge.     

When Cell Phones Become Computers

Atom-powered cell phones are a likely consequence of the current mobile-processor design trends. By integrating a smart phone with a logical frame-buffer architecture and wireless display, they're well positioned to overcome current user interface limitations, and provide mobile users with a full x86 compatible PC experience. On the other hand, check out all the latest reviews of Moorestown, and judge for yourself. Is Atom just another processor family that will support a market for low-end laptops, or is it a game changer for cell phones that will revolutionize how we think about pervasive computing, and make smart phones even smarter?     

Perceptions of driver distraction by cellular phone users and nonusers

The present study examined the perceptions of cellular phone users and nonusers on issues relating to vehicle control and driver distraction. Participants were asked if they own a cellular phone; if so, how much they use it; and their beliefs regarding cellular phone use while driving, including actions involving the use of cellular phones which could potentially cause vehicular accidents and the need for laws. A total of 330 individuals participated; 72% owned a cellular phone. The results indicate that nonusers of cellular phones believed more strongly than users that cellular phone use while driving negatively affects driving performance and that talking on the cellular phone could potentially cause an accident, and they also had a greater preference for new laws limiting such acts. Cellular phone users, more than nonusers, preferred no laws limiting cellular phone use and believed more strongly that other people driving while using a cellular phone were more dangerous than themselves doing the same. Implications of these results are discussed. Actual or potential applications of this research include interventions that limit driver distractibility.     

UbiPhone: Human-Centered Ubiquitous Phone System

Emerging rich wireless networking modalities facilitate the development of new intelligent, innovative services on smart phones. The authors propose a ubiquitous phone (UbiPhone) system that demonstrates innovative context-aware human-centric phone services, which could become available on smart phones. UbiPhone's features include UbiCall, AnyCall, and an emergency contact service.     

The value of handhelds in smart environments

The severe resource restrictions of computer-augmented everyday artifacts imply substantial problems for the design of applications in smart environments. Some of these problems can be overcome by exploiting the resources, I/O interfaces, and computing capabilities of nearby mobile devices in an ad-hoc fashion. We identify the means by which smart objects can make use of handheld devices such as PDAs and mobile phones, and derive the following major roles of handhelds in smart environments: (1) mobile infrastructure access point; (2) user interface; (3) remote sensor; (4) mobile storage medium; (5) remote resource provider; and (6) weak user identifier. We present concrete applications that illustrate these roles, and describe how handhelds can serve as mobile mediators between computer-augmented everyday artifacts, their users, and background infrastructure services. The presented applications include a remote interaction scenario, a smart medicine cabinet, and an inventory monitoring application.     

Go anywhere: user-verifiable authentication over distance-free channel for mobile devices

Current mobile technology gives us ubiquitous services with personal mobile devices such as smart phones, tablet PCs, and laptops. With these mobile devices, the human users may wish to exchange sensitive data with others (e.g., their friends or their colleagues) over a secure channel. Public key cryptography is a good solution for establishing this secure channel. However, it is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attack, if the entities have no shared information. A number of techniques based on human-assisted out-of-band channels have been proposed to solve this problem. Unfortunately, these works have a common shortcoming: The human users must be colocated in close proximity. In this paper, we focus on how to construct a distance-free channel, which is not location-limited for establishing a secure channel between two users (devices). The proposed distance-free channel provides identification and authentication of the devices at the different locations using taken pictures or pre-stored images. The human user participates in the authentication process by sending and verifying an image. We describe the prototype implementation operated on a smart phone and show the experimental results when actually two smart phones share a common key using Diffie–Hellman key agreement over the proposed distance-free channel.     

Customizing User Interaction in Smart Phones

Emerging input modalities could facilitate more efficient user interactions with mobile devices. An end-user customization tool based on user-defined context-action rules lets users specify personal, multimodal interaction with smart phones and external appliances. The tool's input modalities include sensor-based, user-trainable free-form gestures; pointing with radio frequency tags; and implicit inputs based on such things as sensors, the Bluetooth environment, and phone platform events. The tool enables user-defined functionality through a blackboard-based context framework enhanced to manage the rule-based application control. Test results on a prototype implemented on a smart phone with real context sources show that rule-based customization helps end users efficiently customize their smart phones and use novel input modalities.     

Self-organizable panel for assembling DIY ubiquitous computing

This paper proposes the concept of DIY (do-it-yourself) ubiquitous computing, an architecture allowing non-experts to establish ubiquitous computing environments in the real world. This concept has been implemented in the “u-Texture”, which is a self-organizable panel that works as a building block. While the traditional scheme attaches devices such as computers, sensors, and network equipments externally to make everyday objects smart, the u-Texture has these devices built in beforehand to assemble smart objects. The u-Texture can change its own behavior autonomously through recognition of its location, its angle of inclination, and surrounding environment by assembling these factors physically. This paper describes the design, the implementation, and various applications of u-Textures to confirm that the concept can contribute to establishment of ubiquitous computing environments in the real world without expert users.     

Websigns: hyperlinking physical locations to the Web

HP researchers are developing handheld devices that combine wireless technology and ubiquitous computing to provide a transparent linkage between physical entities in the environment and resources available on the Web. First-generation mobile computing technologies typically use protocols such as WAP and i-mode to let PDAs, smart phones, and other wireless devices with Web browsers access the Internet, thereby freeing users from the shackles of their desktops. We believe, in addition, users would benefit from having access to devices that combine the advantages of wireless technology and ubiquitous computing to provide a transparent linkage between the physical world around them and the resources available on the Web. We are developing devices that augment users' reality with Web services related to the physical objects they see     

Projector phone use: practices and social implications

Phones with integrated pico projectors are starting to be marketed as devices for business presentations and media viewing, and researchers are beginning to design projection-specific applications and interaction techniques to explore a broader array of possible uses. To begin to document how people use projector phones outside the laboratory, we present the results of a 4-week exploratory field study of naturalistic use of commodity projector phones. In our analysis, we consider how context, such as group size, relationships, and locale, influences projector phone use. A key observation is that users can readily exploit the new facilities of these devices to author interesting effects by employing representational techniques such as superimposition, scaling, translation, and motion. Thus, even the “basic” projector phone platform affords novel interaction modalities. Finally, we discuss the social implications of projector phone use for privacy and control, extrapolating from our observations to envision a future in which these devices are ubiquitous. With ubiquity, projector phone use may become problematic in public settings, motivating new rules of etiquette and perhaps laws, yet it may also engender new forms of creative expression.     

Enacting new temporal boundaries: the role of mobile phones

This paper examines how the use of mobile phones influences the temporal boundaries that people enact in order to regulate and coordinate their work and non-work activities. We investigate both the structural and interpretive aspects of socio-temporal order, so as to gain a fuller appreciation of the changes induced by the use of mobile phones. With specific reference to professionals working in traditional, physically based and hierarchically structured organizations, we found that mobile phone users are becoming more vulnerable to organizational claims and that as a result ‘the office’ is always present as professionals, because of the use of mobile phones, become available ‘anytime’. This is enabled by the characteristics of the technology itself but also by users’ own behaviour. In the paper, we discuss the properties of the emerging socio-temporal order and show how mobile phones may render the management of the social spheres in which professionals participate more challenging.     

Diversified users’ satisfaction with advanced mobile phone features

Mobile phones are widely used all over the world, and with their increasing number of value-added features, they are becoming far more than a mere mobile voice communication device. Rather, they provide a powerful platform for accessing information universally. This paper reports a study which scrutinized users’ preference levels with five new mobile phone design features facilitating universal information access through mobile phones: camera, colour screen, voice-activated dialling, Internet browsing, and wireless connectivity (e.g. Bluetooth, infrared, etc.). The survey study involved college students and investigated the degree to which each of the above features impacts the users’ overall satisfaction and enhances the potential of mobile phones to contribute to different aspects of universal access. Our results show that colour screen, voice-activated dialling, and Internet browsing feature can strongly predict users’ satisfaction level, and their preference levels together account for 22.7% of the variance of the users’ overall satisfaction. Users’ satisfaction levels are significantly different between models with colour screen feature and those without, and models with Internet browsing features and those without. Since mobile phone design needs to accommodate the needs and preferences of diversified user groups, the performed study also investigated the difference in users’ preference levels of the five new features for different ethnic groups, and difference in mobile phone owned by different genders. The result indicates that Asian female users in the U.S. market have higher preference level on colour screen feature than Caucasian female users. Significantly higher percentage of male users own phones with camera, Internet browsing, and wireless connectivity features than female users. The empirical study reported in this paper provides a comprehensive picture of how new design features can enhance the mobile phone as a universal access device, and what impact they have brought about. It can also help manufacturers adopt a universal design perspective in view of the differences in preference levels of users with different ethnicity and genders.     

Designing dynamic English: a creative reading system in a context-aware fitness centre using a smart phone and QR codes

Abstract

This article describes the design and development of a context-aware ubiquitous learning (u-learning) system for users to increase fitness-related reading comprehension in a fitness centre. With the use of mobile devices and sensing technologies, practitioners and researchers of ICT and ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) are paying attention to the planning and use of u-learning components to provide users more interactions with authentic learning objects in a real context. Meanwhile, English for specific purposes (ESP) with interaction design has been a focus in recent years; however, few ESP practitioners and researchers have explored fitness-related English with ubicomp. All of the users were satisfied with the use of the smart phones and scanning of QR codes on the machines in the fitness centre to develop their reading comprehension of fitness-related English. Finally, a learning design model for Fitness English reading with u-learning components was developed and elaborated from designers' perspectives.     

From Backpacks to Smartphones: Past, Present, and Future of Wearable Computers

Do smart phones render wearable computers obsolete? Where does the rise of the smart phone leave wearable computing research? We answer these questions by examining past, present, and future of wearable platform research.     

Content information desired by Chinese users for effective use of information appliances

Many studies have been conducted to determine how to present information on mobile phones in such a way as to enhance usability, but those studies have not considered what information users need for effective decision making. To investigate what users want from mobile phones, we carried out a content preparation study. A questionnaire was constructed based on prior results from website content research, traditional usability studies on consumer electronics, and extensive study on various types of mobile phones; it was completed by 375 Chinese industrial participants. The statistical results revealed nine major factors of mobile phone content: information relating to input/search, functions, operation, multimedia functions, stored files, phone calls, help/service, accessory functions, and messages. Also, users of different ages and genders evidenced different requirements for mobile phone content, especially concerning accessory and multimedia functions. This study suggests guidelines for mobile phone designers targeted at the Chinese market and provides a base for content study of other information appliances.     

Potential cyberterrorism via a multimedia smart phone based on a web 2.0 application via ubiquitous Wi-Fi access points and the corresponding digital forensics

Cyberterrorism has become a hotly debated research issue in the past decades because of the convergence of mobile computing powers and the fledging multimedia communication computing capabilities. Cyberterrorism is the exploitation of computer network tools to incur malfunction or shut down critical infrastructures with several keyboard punches, which is dramatically different from traditional terrorism. Due to the ubiquitous multimedia communication tools, they have radically transformed the ways concerning data transmission. Unfortunately, it also incurs unprecedented opportunities for committing cyber crimes that we were not able to foresee two decades ago. Undoubtedly, the mushrooming proliferation of mobile phones spectacularly triggers the information security leakage while most people heavily rely on mobile phones for daily communication. As cybercrime or cyberterrorism surges, digital forensics (DF) of mobile communication devices still enormously lags behind than computer forensics. Hence, in this research paper, we provide a hypothetical case review concerning the DF of a potential cyberterrorist attack that was triggered by a mobile multimedia smart phone utilizing a popular web 2.0 application program via ubiquitous Wi-Fi access points. The corresponding DF of the mobile device was conducted in a step-by-step manner as well as the crime scene reconstruction based on the digital evidence collected, analyzed, and preserved.     

Adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled phones in Singapore

The Internet, and more recently mobile phones have seen tremendous growth over the past few years. This paper examines the adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled mobile phones in Singapore. Specifically, we compare users of WAP-enabled mobile phones and non-WAP-enabled mobile phones in terms of profile of Internet users, Internet activities and issues relating to WAP-enabled mobile phones. The results indicate that short messaging system (SMS) and caller ID are popular functions for mobile phone users. Respondent also use the mobile phone for buying cinema/concert tickets and accessing personalised news. These results provide researchers and practitioners with some insights on the adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled mobile phones. For researchers, such insights would be useful in understanding the adoption phenomenon, while for practitioners, such insights would provide some basis for adopting certain policies to promote adoption.     

User interface guidelines for the control of interactive television systems via smart phone applications

There are a growing number of smart phone applications allowing the user to control their television, set-top box or other entertainment devices. The success of these applications is limited. Based on findings from media studies in Austria and France focusing on how people currently use their TV and iTV systems and associated devices, this article describes recommendations for the design of a smart phone application enabling users to control Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) systems including all connected entertainment devices. Recommendations include the need to allow users to control devices that are related to the IPTV experience (not only the set-top box or television set) and the focus on scenarios of usage like supporting listening to music, enjoying a movie or controlling the connected home. Based on similarities and differences found in the two samples, future smart phone applications for controlling TV will only succeed if they provide meaningful functionalities that satisfy the (varying) user needs, support personalisation and personal usage and respect the limitations of mobile phones with respect to possible parallel activities performed.     

Building intelligent environments with Smart-Its

Smart-Its are self-contained, stick-on computers that attach to everyday objects. These augmented objects become soft media, enabling dynamic digital relationships with users and each other. In the Smart-Its project, we are developing technology to realize a vision of computation everywhere, where computer technology seamlessly integrates into everyday life, supporting users in their daily tasks. By embedding sensors, computation, and communication into common artifacts, future computing applications can adapt to human users rather than the other way around. However, it's currently difficult to develop this type of ubiquitous computing because of the lack of toolkits integrating both the required hardware and software. Therefore, we are creating a class of small computers - called Smart-Its - equipped with wireless communication and sensors to make it possible to create smart artifacts with little overhead.     

云计算在手机通信中的应用研究

云计算作为一种新兴的信息技术模型,已经在IT界引来了越来越多的关注.伴随手机的普及,手机用户对手机功能需求的增加,现有的手机功能已无法满足用户的要求.将云计算思想应用于在手机通信中,就可以很好地满足用户日益增长的需求,云计算在手机通信中有着良好的优势,将云计算应用在手机通信中会是一个理想的选择.