Making it Easier to Interact with Technology Through Handheld Personal Universal Controllers

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Making it Easier to Interact with Technology through Handheld PersonalUniversal ControllersThis is a standard award. In this project the PI will investigate how a hand-held computer exploiting wireless communications technologies can be used as a Personal Universal Controller (PUC) to control all kinds of home, office and factory equipment. When users point their PUC at a light switch, at a photocopier in an office, at a machine tool in a factory, at a VCR at home, at a piece of test equipment in the field, or at almost any other kind of device, the device will send to the hand-held a description of its control parameters. The PUC will use this information to create an appropriate control panel, taking into account the properties of the controls that are needed, the properties of the hand-held (the display type and input techniques available), and the properties of the user (what language is preferred, whether left or right handed, how big the buttons should be based on whether the user prefers using a finger or a stylus). The user can then control the device using the PUC. The device will not need to dedicate much processing power, hardware, or cost to the user interface, since it will only need to contain a description of its capabilities and storage for the current settings, along with hardware for wireless communication. PUC programs will use intelligent "model-based" techniques to create useful and appropriate interfaces that are customized for each user. The PI's preliminary research suggests that an interface on a hand-held can be significantly better than the interface supplied by the manufacturer, so the PUC should enable people to make more effective use of their equipment, as well as making it practical to add intelligence to a broader range of appliances. The PUC can also facilitate access for people with disabilities, since the interfaces will be customized to the individual's preferences and needs. But this research will have benefits beyond just remote control devices for appliances, in that it will help further the cause of separating the user interface from the application code, which has been a basic goal of user interface software research from the beginning.