Project Description
About the Group
Description
Proposal
Parts List
Update 1
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Abstract
The scrap device project is an effort to further bring invisible computing into reality. As our world begins to fill with ubiquitous computing devices, the attachment of data to devices and need to individually configure devices becomes a major obstacle to natural work.Thus, the goal of this project is to create an infrastructure environment where the user's data is device independent. In this environment, devices are automatically configured to the user using the device. This allows devices to be multiplexed within an environment, allowing sharing of computing devices everywhere. Furthermore, to free the user from mundane authentication tasks, device authentication detection is done automatically based on the user's proximity or touch. By making the physical action of picking up or standing next to a computing device to be the authentication, the user's environment becomes an unbroken computing resource, allowing greater focus on the task at hand.
Scenario
ScrapTech is a high tech company that internally has a scrap device capable infrastructure. Within the company are several video walls, and many scrappable PDA devices. We will briefly follow two employees, John and Lisa.Lisa comes to work, and after authenticating her identity, puts on her authentication pin (i.e. the radio beacon). After walking by her mailbox to check for any snail-mail, Lisa picks up a scrappable PDA. Instantly, the PDA is configured with Lisa's profile. Lisa checks her messages and schedule, and proceeds to attend her scheduled meetings.
John comes to work, authenticates himself, and puts on his pin. John is on his way to discuss project plans with Lisa when he happens to meet her in the hallway as she was leaving her meeting. John and Lisa walk to the nearest video wall. As Lisa walks up to the video wall, it automatically configures to her settings. Lisa brings up the latest project status document, and discusses it with John.
After the discussion, Lisa and John decide to set a meeting time for next week's status report. Since Lisa no longer needs her PDA, she hands it to John. Invisibly, the PDA becomes reconfigured with John's profile. Lisa arranges a meeting time on her schedule using the video wall, and John does the same on his PDA.
Lisa returns to her office to do some coding, and John is on his way to meet a customer off-site. John can leave the corporate infrastructure, and the active profile data that is on the PDA will stay on the device. When John returns, the data will be re-synchronized with his profile in ScrapTech's system.
Elements
- small, low power authentication beacon worn by users.
- a scrappable video-wall device, with only a touch screen interface.
- one or more scrappable personal data devices to access information.
- an environment server infrastructure to store the user's profile information, and facilitate inter-user messages.
- mini-XML data format for ubiquitous data transport and flexible support at the application level.
University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering