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Tack-Don Han1, Cheolho Cheong2, Jae-Won Ahn3, Jong-Young Kim4, Hyung-Min Yoon5,. Chang-Su ... test bed for U-Campus has been constructed to support.
Implementation of New Services to Support Ubiquitous Computing for Campus Life Tack-Don Han1, Cheolho Cheong2, Jae-Won Ahn3, Jong-Young Kim4, Hyung-Min Yoon5, Chang-Su Lee6, Hyon-Gu Shin7, Young-Jin Lee8, Hyoung-Min Yook9, Myoung-Hoon Jeon10, Jung Soo Choi11, Joo-Hyeon Lee12, Young-Woo Sohn13, Yoon Su Baek14, Sang-Yong Lee15, Eun-Dong Shin16, WooShik Kang17, SeongWoon Kim18 Dept. of Computer Science1 2 3 4 5 6 7, Dept. of Clothing & Textiles 8 12, Dept. of Psychology13, Graduate Program in Cognitive Science 9 10, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering11 14, Yonsei University, ColorZip Media Inc.15 16, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology17 18, Seoul, Korea {hantack1, bright2, yoonhm5}@kurene.yonsei.ac.kr, {oioim9, philart7710}@hotmail.com, {chrisahn3, irunachim4, kocs64556, ulyody7, ylee8, ljhyeon12, ysohn13, ysbaek14}@yonsei.ac.kr, [email protected], {yslee15, shin16}@colorzip.com, {wskang17, seongwoon.kim18}@samsung.com

Abstract Many new services have emerged to realize ubiquitous computing environments, owing to the increasing supply of mobile devices and more widespread Internet and wireless network facilities. This paper introduces the U-Campus (Ubiquitous computing for Campus) service. This study has been conducted through interdisciplinary research by four participating departments. The U-Campus Project is part of the UTOPIA project (Ubiquitous computing TOwn Project: Intelligent context Awareness), which covers town- and city-wide environments. Currently, a test bed for U-Campus has been constructed to support various services such as U-Profile, U-Messaging and U-Campus Tour Guide services. Students, professors, school staffs, and campus visitors can easily access the various available campus services by using imagebased sensors and mobile devices such as CDMA cellular phones or WiFi smart phones. The major purpose of this research is to provide a context-aware U-Campus environment to users by utilizing sensors and mobile devices currently available in the public sector and the marketplace.

computing provides a novel conceptual computing environment through the convergence of real physical space and virtual electronic space [1]. In the past, ordinary life and computing activities were separable; however, electronic information has become more influential owing to a rapid supply of mobile devices and the wide spread of the Internet, wireless networks and sensor networks. These trends have brought ubiquitous computing to the attention of the public, not just for IT (Information Technology), but also for supporting a new information environment integrated with a new lifestyle. Hence, the importance of interdisciplinary research for developing real applications and system models for ubiquitous computing cannot be overemphasized. Accordingly, the UTOPIA (Ubiquitous computing TOwn Project: Intelligent context Awareness) project team at Yonsei University was established to construct the test bed to evaluate various new services for 2003

Street Street Information Information Service Service

UU-Campus -Campus

Entertainment Entertainment Service Service

Entertainment, Entertainment, Information Information Service, Service, Location-based Location-based Service Service

UU-Town -Town U-Commerce, U-Commerce, Context-based Context-based Intelligence Intelligence Dynamic Dynamic Information Information Sharing Sharing

Location-based Location-based Service Service

1. Introduction Recent ubiquitous computing environments increasingly impact on our lives using the current technologies of mobile communications, sensor networks and wireless LAN services. Ubiquitous

UU-City -City Smart Smart Information Information Providing Providing Context-based Context-based Intelligence Intelligence Global Global Access Access

Event Event Information Information Service Service U-Commerce U-Commerce Service Service

Context-based Context-based Service Service

Figure 1. Overview of the UTOPIA project

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE

ubiquitous computing by researchers, engineers and officers within various departments of the university and within some companies. The UTOPIA project team has already produced a wearable patrol jacket and a store guide jacket, and suggested many service models using them [2]. Furthermore, it continues to research various new sensor-based service models for implementing ubiquitous computing environments, especially the UCampus project, which provides a ubiquitous computing environment for the general public.GG For this work, the Computer Science Department constructed the service platform with various applications and interfaces using mobile devices and wireless networks. The Clothing and Textiles Department developed and designed the U-ware and various prototypes of the wearable computer for use with U-Campus project. The Graduate Program in Cognitive Science analyzed the user’s behavior model (usability evaluation) and deduced guidelines for user interfaces. The Mechanical Engineering Department developed the various sensors and haptic devices to support new interfaces for ubiquitous computing. ColorZip Media Inc. and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) participated in the research by supporting the development and management of the platform and various services. In addition, the Office of Information Systems at Yonsei University provided administrative support for the UCampus project. In this paper, we present the implementation of new services, such as the U-Profile, U-Messaging and UCampus Tour Guide services that support ubiquitous computing in campus life.

2. Related Works 2.1. Services and Applications Developing meaningful ubiquitous computing environments for a home or a town starts with researchers in universities and companies. For example, EasyLiving is a ubiquitous computing project of the Vision Group at Microsoft Research. EasyLiving is developing prototype architectures and technologies for building intelligent environments [3]. Another example is the CoolTown project of Hewlett-Packard (HP). For several years, HP Labs have been working at the intersection of nomadicity, appliances, networking, and the Web. HP named their vision of the future ‘CoolTown’—a vision of a technology-based future where people, places, and

objects are first-class citizens of the connected world, wired and wireless—a place where e-services meet the physical world, where humans are mobile, devices and services are federated and context aware, and everything has a Web presence. In CoolTown, technology transforms human experience from consumer lifestyles to business processes by enabling mobility. CoolTown is infused with the energy of the online world, and web-based appliances and e-services give what is needed, when and where it is needed, for working, playing, and living. In other examples, there are many existing services that apply to real lives [4].

2.2. Image Based Sensors 2.2.1. Bar codes (1D code): The modern bar code was developed by two graduate students, Bernard Silver and Joseph Woodland, at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia in 1948 [5]. Bar codes, often the cheapest and easiest method for tagging physical objects, “have been used in packaging since 1974, when the first item, a pack of chewing gum, was scanned at a supermarket in Ohio” [6]. Reappropriating that technology for human–computer interaction (HCI), Johnson et al. introduced the idea of a “paper interface” [7]. The bar code is a onedimensional code. For years, bar codes have been promoted as a machine-readable license plate. Each label contains a unique serial number coded in black and white bars that is used as a key into a database containing detailed information. 2.2.2. 2D codes: Two-dimensional (2D) codes store information along the height as well as the length of the symbol. The earliest 2D code was Vericode, a matrix symbol introduced in the early 1980s by Veritec and used in the US space program. This appeared in parallel with the CP code from ID Tech in Japan [8]. A series of works by Sony gives representative examples offering various functions and applications using twodimensional codes (Cyber Code) [9, 10]. Various user interfaces are presented with augmented reality using an image sensor, in the form of a color bar code and a camera. 2.2.3. ColorCode: ColorCode technology was developed by researchers in the Computer Science Department at Yonsei University. Currently, ColorZip Media Inc. is developing various service models using ColorCode that are being applied to services such as printing, entertainment, museum and mobile applications in Korea [11]. ColorCode is a 2D code

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE

No limit (since stored in DB) 17 billion (5x5 code)

About 100 bits

Above 128 bits

Varies by size

Above 1030

Necessary

Unnecessary

Necessary

project is proposed using industry–university cooperation. The current Utopia project creates a ubiquitous computing environment of a certain determined area, visualizes various services and relevant core technologies, and performs human science research. The project has three planned stages, which are (in order) U-Campus, U-Town, and the construction of UCity. In each stage, the intention is to design a ubiquitous computing environment suitable for a space of an appropriate size, to develop available services and expand the boundary of the space by resolving the usability evaluations, and then to apply all accumulated core technologies and cognitive and psychological results accordingly. For the first stage of the UTOPIA project, UCampus has the advantages that space is limited in a certain manner, the range of members are visible, and it takes little time to obtain experts’ opinion in many departments. Therefore, the range of services can be identified clearly by the requirements of campus members, together with the types of services, purposes and the expected effects. Moreover, it is not difficult to perform experiments and observations, or to develop services. Since expert campus members include human science, social science and engineering science staff, technical support is readily available and can be evaluated in many different ways. Furthermore, the technological infrastructure itself is generally well structured to make a future directional service possible with an administrative measures agency.

Distribution

Via prints

Via prints

Confined to tags

3.2. Technologies for the UTOPIA Project

Security

Low

Medium

High

that represents data using either four or more colors, or three or more gray levels. It consists of a data area, a parity area and an orientation detection area. The strengths of ColorCode are its scalability, its low device dependency and the uniqueness of its design [12]. Table 1. Color formation of ColorCode [11]

Code type

5u5 ColorCode

5u8 ColorCode

Color

4 colors

4 colors

Unique patterns

17 billion (4u417)

72,057 trillion (428)

5u5 GrayCode 3 level gray

5u8 GrayCode 3 level gray

43million (316)

23 trillion (328)

Table 2. Comparison chart [11] ColorCode

Recognition device

Volume of information Number of patterns Communication environment

General readers

Bar code

RFID

Dedicated and expensive readers

Dedicated and expensive readers; distance is important

3. Utopia Project The aim of the Utopia project is to research and implement a human-centered ubiquitous computing environment by studying computing technology and human behavioral patterns.

In this research, we use an image-based sensor, ColorCode, and a mobile device embedded with a camera as fundamental technology to implement UCampus. ColorCode is applicable to any device with optical cameras. It expands from a desktop environment to a smart phone, cellular phone, or other mobile device. Time delays from inputs and error conditions need to be minimized to utilize the application with the smart phone used in this research.

3.1. UTOPIA Project and U-Campus Project Concepts In order to popularize and realize ubiquitous computing environments, users, applications, price, administrative actions and technologies are primary cues that must be supported by researchers and officers in various fields. It is for this reason that the UTOPIA

Figure 2. U-Campus services: (left) U-Profile service; (middle) U-Messaging service and (right) U-Campus Guide [11]

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE

Traditional input from a keyboard, direct input from character recognition, and optical character recognition techniques are not desirable for these mobile devices. To accomplish this goal, image-based sensors such as ColorCode and other interfaces are a good method for accessing information for simple code recognition [13].

4. Implementation of U-Campus service We focus on the development of various easy-touse service applications for students, professors and campus visitors. U-Profile, U-Messaging and U-Tour Guide services are implemented. The U-Profile service provides individual information in the form of videos and texts. The U-Messaging service provides transmission of videos, voice and texts. The U-Campus Tour Guide service provides location information and an introduction to buildings in the form of videos and texts. Figure 2 presents each service separately.

4.1. U-Profile Service In our daily lives, people give and take business cards and gather individual information about other people. For this reason, it is quite likely that applying computing technology to the personal information area is a good application for the public. From this viewpoint, the U-Profile service provides personal information and related applications using business cards with ColorCode, together with mobile devices. G

G

Users can retrieve personal information in cyberspace by recognizing business cards as a physical medium printed with ColorCode and using a mobile device. ColorCode itself becomes a tangible interface for merging physical space and cyberspace. U-Profile is composed of personal information in cyberspace, business cards embedding a tag interface in physical space, and an image-based sensor interface linking physical space with cyberspace and other users. Business cards with sensors present many information processing functions and much related personal information. For example, in the case of location information for offices linked by ColorCode, route information based on a GIS (Geographical Information System) from the current location to the office can be presented though GPS (Global Positioning System) using the camera of the user’s mobile device. In addition, the virtual association for this physical document provides personal information that includes textual information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and webpage addresses, along with videos and photo image information, without manual input. Figure 3 shows an example of the U-Profile service.

4.2. U-Messaging Service The U-Messaging service is designed to help officers leave messages using the ColorCode, and enables sending and receiving messages without infringing privacy. Sometimes a professor or a staff member is not available when a visitor wants to meet with them. In this case, a message can be easily transmitted to them through the U-Messaging service, allowing the host (the message receiver) to check it anywhere through the network service. Moreover, if there are events or calls for participation on a notice-board, applicants can download appropriate forms through the U-Messaging service and can complete and send them accordingly, while employers or advertisers have the advantage of managing applicants’ information much more easily.

Figure 3. U-Profile service: (upper left) Scanning ColorCode on the business card through mobile device; (upper right) Displaying individual information on screen of mobile device; (lower left) Sending e-mail using individual information on screen; (lower right) Displaying linked video [11].

Figure 4. U-Messaging service: (left) Scanning the name plate using ColorCode; (center) Transmitting text and voice message; (right) Retrieving voice and text information through e-mail [11].

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE

Visitors can scan images from nameplates or notice boards using a mobile device’s built-in optical camera, before sending voice and text messages. Later, a host can retrieve and review the visit or application record and can send messages through e-mail. At Yonsei University, ColorCodes have been attached to the nameplate of each professor’s office near the entrance door. This system was begun in the Department of Computer Science, and was later extended to the entire university. The U-Messaging service allows users to implant data in electronic space using ColorCode, and allows other users to utilize it, so that conventional physical space is smoothly connected with electronic space.

4.3. U-Campus Tour Guide Service Although there are numerous buildings scattered around, and occasionally many visitors on campus, it is very difficult for these visitors to browse information relevant to buildings and monuments. Therefore, the U-Campus Tour Guide provides various items of information on buildings and monumental objects for users at the campus by helping them to access such information in real time. The U-Campus Tour Guide service provides information about building locations, additional information about the building, and even videos if the selected item is a monumental building or architectural feature. A partial path-finder service can be implemented simply by adding ColorCode to direction signs, but practical location-based services (LBSs) using GPS or other sensors can be expected in the future. An example of the U-Tour Guide service is shown in Figure 5. G

Mobile Device

pk

Server

jkth

ColorCode Manager

”–‹œ“Œ j–“–™j–‹ŒGpk

Service type Identifier

U-profile interface

ColorCode Decoder

CDMA Service Provider

Service Type Locater

ColorCode Database

p•›Œ™•Œ›

U-Messaging interface

Scan ColorCode

ID check

Service Application

U-Tour Guide interface

w™–“Œ o{ts p”ˆŽŒ ~t}

Service Manager

Database

U-Profile Manager

Profile

U-Messaging Manager

Message

U-Campus Tour Guide Manager

Guide

ColorCode

Figure 6. System architecture for the U-Campus service [11]

5. System architecture In the U-Campus service, user interactions can be performed through image-based sensors. Many components are required to execute these services. One of the key components is the service platform shown in Figure 6. This service platform can include an application server to provide the requested service to users. Another solution in our service platform is to use the mobile carrier, such as KTF and SKT (SK Telecom). The mobile carrier provides the 802.11b network and the CDMA IMT-2000 network. The other components are mobile devices to read the sensors. We are using Samsung’s MITs-400 that has the smart phone functions shown in Table 3. With a ColorCode decoding module, this smart phone can read the image-based sensor. In the next stage of the UTOPIA project, we are extending the service platform to support the various street activities in town- and city-wide environments. Currently, we are expanding the service to support RFID and other logistics projects, such as a door-to-door delivery project. Table 3. System specification for the client [14] Components Scanning device Display screen Audio Access to DB

Figure 5. U- Campus Tour Guide service: (upper left) Scanning a ColorCode on the guide map using the smart phone; (upper right) Displaying local map and textual information; (lower left) Scanning the ColorCode on the information board; (lower center, lower right) Displaying linked video [11].

Processor Memory Software

Resources Embedded rotatable digital camera with 300K pixels TFT LCD Touch Screen Panel (240 x 320) Embedded speaker/microphone Using CDMA2000 1X EV-DO Max transmission speed: 2.4Mbps Intel PXA250 300MHz 128MB NAND Flash Memory Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, Pocket Office, Windows Pocket Media Player, ColorCAM for MITs M400 ver. 1.0

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE

6. Conclusion and Future works

8. References

In this study, we have implemented the test bed for U-Profile, U-Messaging and U-Campus Tour Guide services, collectively known as the U-Campus services. The U-Campus services are intended to assist students, professors and campus visitors to access various items of information whenever needed under a user-oriented computing environment. For this purpose, software was designed to sense ColorCode with an image-based sensor, using a smart phone embedded with a camera. Furthermore, a test-bed for a CDMA wireless service has been implemented, and usability evaluation for image-based sensors has been completed. Most of the participants reported gave positive feedback regarding functionality and convenience, but some pointed out difficulties finding a suitable code when it is surrounded with many other codes, and also that it seems to take a long time to activate. The U-Campus service with an image-based sensor is highly applicable and possibly implementable at a reasonable cost. These services are validated through evaluation, but it could be advantageous to represent its service and computing environment before using RFIDs or expensive sensors. In the near future, the required core technologies (including all different sensors) will be added and a more detailed usability evaluation, such as convenience usage, will lead us to a more mature ubiquitous computing environment. Moreover, it could possibly be expanded to the scale of an entire city, to present an image of future human beings who may dwell in upcoming computing environments.

[1] W. K. Ha, D. H. Kim, N. H. Choi, Ubiquitous IT Revolution & the 3rd Space, Electronic Times, Seoul, Korea, 2002, pp.17-50.

7. Acknowledgment This research was supported in part by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Korea Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development (MEHRD) under Grant BK21 (Brain Korea 21) Project in 2003-2004. We would like to thank Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and KTF for providing the smart phones (MITS 400) and the mobile phones (KTF cellular phone). We also acknowledge CDMA network supporting of SKT (SK Telecom) and KTF. Many thanks to the Office of Information Systems, the Informatization Promotion Committee and the Office of External Affairs & Development at Yonsei University for providing administrative support for the U-Campus project.

[2] (Report style) Tack-Don Han, et. al., Design of Intelligent Interface Design based on Wearable Computer, Yonsei Univ., Seoul, Korea, Dec., 2002. [3] Microsoft Corporation: http://research.microsoft.com/easyliving, Aug., 2003. [4] HP, Available: http://www.cooltown.hp.com, Aug., 2003. [5] T&W Enterprises: http://www.twe-online.com/barcode_history.htm, Dec., 2003. [6] Murphy, K., “Bigger Bar Code Inches Up on Retailers”, the New York Times, 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/12/technology/12CODE.html [7] Johnson, W., H. Jellinek, L. Klotz, R. Rao, and S. Card., "Bridging the Paper and Electronic Worlds: The Paper User Interface", In Proceedings of CHI: Conference on Human, April 24-29, 1993, pp. 507-512. [8] ScanTrack South Africa (Pty) Ltd.: http://www.scantracksa.com/a_brief_history_of_2d_codes.htm [9] Jun Rekimoto and Katashi Nagao, "The World through the Computer: Computer Augmented Interaction with Real World Environments", Proceedings of the 8th annual ACM symposium on User interface and software tech, ACM Press, Nov., 1995, pp. 29-36. [10] Jun Rekimoto and Yuji Ayatsuka, "CyberCode: Designing Augmented Reality Environments with Visual Tags", Proceedings of DARE 2000 on Designing augmented reality environments, 2000, pp. 1-10. [11] ColorZip Media Inc.: http://www.colorzip.com [12] Tack-Don Han, et. al., "Machine readable code and method and device of encoding and decoding the same", Japan Patent 3336311, Aug. 02, 2002. [13] Cheolho Cheong, Input Interface Designs for the Networking Environment, Yonsei Univ., M.S. Thesis, 2000. [14] Samsung electronics Co. Ltd.: http://www.anycall.com/i_world/i_view/view_detail.jsp?PFI D=MITs%20M400&real=specification, Dec., 2003.

Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Software Technologies for Future Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems (WSTFEUS’04) 0-7695-2123-1/04 $ 20.00 © 2004 IEEE