1. Ambient Computational Environments Sprint Research Symposium March 8-9, 2000 Professor Gary J. Minden The University of Kansas Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

2. This is a Road-Donkey Carries all computer and communications devices with him Deals with multiple network connections (is it a Hotel-9 or Hotel-8?) Mentally reconciles multiple versions of tomorrow’s presentation Spends more time making the computer/communication complex work, than working

3. This is an ACE Use and command local resources Individual portals to computational workspaces Authenticated and authorized access Computational resources built-in

4. Ambient Computational Environments n Long-lived, widely accessible workspaces n Computational resources are available throughout the environment via access ports n Users co-opt local resources n Secure and private n Multi-modal interaction n Speech, gesture, tactile

5. ACE Technology Robust, available, persistent state Location independent processing, dynamic network services, agent services Individual and environmental access

6. ACE — Research Challenges n Programming Environments n Programming Languages n Cooperative Task Negotiation n Contextual Information Retrival n Disambiguation n Networking Architecture

7. ACE — Programming Environments n What is the division of functionality between a Personal Interaction Device (PID) and the ACE? n How is context named/identified within the ACE? n How does one use the PID to manipulate a potentially significantly larger surrounding environment? n In a shared context with other owners/PIDs, how does one negotiate for screen space and objects? n How do we build a user interface for PIDs that is comfortable with minimal training? n How do we manage the potentially large number of active computations, resources, and environments with a modestly sized interface?

8. ACE — Programming Languages n What programming language abstractions are useful and necessary in an ACE? n How do you determine your location within the ACE? n How do you find and connect to other programming contexts? n How do you name, index, and search for resources within an ACE? n If we allow persistent Contexts, how do we update such Contexts over time? n If we wish to upgrade part of the physical infrastructure, how do we "tell customers to leave the facility" and "close the door"? n How do we account for system usages?

9. ACE — Cooperative Task Negotiation n How does one define collaboration workspaces? n What functions are necessary for combining individual workspaces into collaborative workspaces? n How do individuals establish independent views of shareable workspaces and environments? n How do PIDs represent and communicate workspaces and negotiate? n What are negotiable resources? n How do Workspaces and Contexts describe themselves to be recognizable? n How can I interrupt the execution of any program, pick up the intermediate state, and move it somewhere else to run?

10. ACE — Contextual Information Retrival n Support a wide range of search criteria, including timeliness, information quality, media, computational resources available. and location and time n Infer the appropriate search criteria from the user's workspace n Integrate multiple documentation formats for search and retrieval

11. ACE — Disambiguation n Resolution in Spoken Natural Language Understanding n Resolution in Context of Robot Vision n Resolution with Machine Learning n Resolution in Deductive Reasoning and Planning n Resolution with Memory Systems n Resolution in Tactile Sensing and in Robotic Actuation

12. ACE — Network Architecture Application OS API Today’s approach Application OS Keyboard Network Display ACE — Applications linked through Network connedtions

13. ACE — Vision n Pervasive Embedded Resources n In buildings, people, vehicles n Interconnected with dynamic network services n Multiple, rich resource types - displays, computations, communications, information management,... n Long-lived, widely accessible workspaces n Maintain distributed, available, consistent state n Multiple location and information services n Secure and private n Active connections based on current context n Disassociate process/task execution from physical location and network address n Enables mobile and replicated tasks n Implement tasks as services with multiple access mechanisms, e.g. network, video, sensor, actuator

14. ACE — Key Technologies n Human/Computer Interaction n New techniques, new devices, new mobile communications n Programming Languages and Systems n High level abstractions, mobile and persistent tasks, long- lived workspaces n Resource recognition, task negotiation, co-opt local resources n Contextual Information Management n Disambiguation in multi-modal interaction

15. ACE Personnel n G. Minden (PI) n A. Ambler (HCI, Programming languages and systems) n F. Brown (AI systems) n J. Evans (Networking and Computing Systems) n C. Tsatsoulis (Expert Systems, agent systems, and case based reasoning) n A. Agah (Robotic Systems) n S. Gauch (Information Retrieval) n D. Niehaus (Distributed Systems and Real-time) n J. Miller (Graphics) n J. Gauch (Video Information Systems) n J. Grzymala-Busse (Learning Systems) n T. Schreiber (Human Information Retrieval) n S. Speer (Psycholinguistics) n W. P. Alexander (System design) n J. James (Distributed Systems)

16. Ambient Computational Environments Information and Telecommunications Technology Center Electrical Engineering and Computer Science