Chris Schmandt

Location-Aware Information Delivery with ComMotion

comMotion is a location-aware computing environment which links personal information to locations in its users life; for example, comMotion reminds one of her shopping list when she nears a grocery store. Using satellite-based GPS position sensing, comMotion gradually learns about the locations in its users daily life based on travel patterns. The full set of comMotion functionality, including map display, requires a graphical user interface. However, because it is intended primarily for mobile use, including driving, the core set of reminder creation and retrieval can be managed completely by speech.

Nomadic radio: speech and audio interaction for contextual messaging in nomadic environments

Mobile workers need seamless access to communication and information services while on the move. However, current solutions overwhelm users with intrusive interfaces and ambiguous notifications. This article discusses the interaction techniques developed for Nomadic Radio, a wearable computing platform for managing voice and text-based messages in a nomadic environment. Nomadic Radio employs an auditory user interface, which synchronizes speech recognition, speech synthesis, nonspeech audio, and spatial presentation of digital audio, for navigating among messages as well as asynchonous notific ation of nely arrived messages. Emphasis is placed on an auditory modality as Nomadic Radio is designed to be used while performing other tasks in a users everyday environment; a range of auditory cues provides peripheral awareness of incoming messages. Notification is adaptive and cntext sensitive; messages are presented as more or less obtrsive based on importance inferred from content filtering, whether the user is engaged in conversation and his or her own recent responses to prior messages. Auditory notifications are dynamically scaled from ambient sound through recorded voice cues up to message summaries. Iterative design and a preliminary user evaluation suggest that audio is an appropriate medium for mobile messaging, but that care must be taken to minimally intrude on the wearers social and physical environment.

Indoor location sensing using geo-magnetism

We present an indoor positioning system that measures location using disturbances of the Earths magnetic field caused by structural steel elements in a building. The presence of these large steel members warps the geomagnetic field in a way that is spatially varying but temporally stable. To localize, we measure the magnetic field using an array of e-compasses and compare the measurement with a previously obtained magnetic map. We demonstrate accuracy within 1 meter 88% of the time in experiments in two buildings and across multiple floors within the buildings. We discuss several constraint techniques that can maintain accuracy as the sample space increases.

The audio notebook: paper and pen interaction with structured speech

This paper addresses the problem that a listener experiences when attempting to capture information presented during a lecture, meeting, or interview. Listeners must divide their attention between the talker and their notetaking activity. We propose a new device-the Audio Notebook-for taking notes and interacting with a speech recording. The Audio Notebook is a combination of a digital audio recorder and paper notebook, all in one device. Audio recordings are structured using two techniques: user structuring based on notetaking activity, and acoustic structuring based on a talkers changes in pitch, pausing, and energy. A field study showed that the interaction techniques enabled a range of usage styles, from detailed review to high speed skimming. The study motivated the addition of phrase detection and topic suggestions to improve access to the audio recordings. Through these audio interaction techniques, the Audio Notebook defines a new approach for navigation in the audio domain.

Augmenting a window system with speech input

Some necessary background in speech recognition and window systems is given, with an analysis of how they might be combined. Xspeak, a navigation application, and its operation and a field study of its use are described. With Xspeak, window navigation tasks usually performed with a mouse can be controlled by voice. An improved version, Xspeak II, which incorporates a language for translating spoken commands, is introduced.<<ETX>>

A User-Centered Location Model

Abstract: This paper discusses the user-centered location model used in comMotion. In this context, the location model refers to a set of learned places (destinations), which coincide to a latitude and a longitude, that the user has categorized. It also includes knowledge of the routes between the destinations and the time it takes to travel them. The model is based on user experience, i.e. his patterns of mobility, so no two models are the same. We also discuss the pattern recognition models implemented for route learning, route prediction and estimation of time to arrival.

VoiceNotes: a speech interface for a hand-held voice notetaker

VoiceNotes is an application for a voice-controlled hand-held computer that allows the creation, management, and retrieval of user-authored voice notes—small segments of digitized speech containing thoughts, ideas, reminders, or things to do. Iterative design and user testing helped to refine the initial user interface design. VoiceNotes explores the problem of capturing and retrieving spontaneous ideas, the use of speech as data, and the use of speech input and output in the user interface for a hand-held computer without a visual display. In addition, VoiceNotes serves as a step toward new uses of voice technology and interfaces for future portable devices.

A Conversational Telephone Messaging System

The Phone Slave is an intelligent answering machine, conversing with callers to format messages and relaying personal greetings to identified partles. Its owner can access these voice messages as well as electronic mail via speech recognition or Touch-Tones over the phone network. Access to both lncoming and outgoing messages, an on-line directory, and autodial features are also provided by a touch-sensitive color monitor.

Ubiquitous audio: capturing spontaneous collaboration

Although talkhtg is an integral part of collaborative activity, there has been little computer support for acquiring and accessing the contents of conversations. Our approach has focused on ubiquitous audio, or the unobtrusive capture of voice interactions in everyday work environments. Because the words themselves are not available for organizing the captured interactions, structure is derived from acoustical information inherent in the stored voice and augmented by user interaction during or after capture. This paper describes applications for capturing and structuring audio from office discussions and telephone calls, and mechanisms for later retrieval of these stored interactions.

Dynamic Soundscape: mapping time to space for audio browsing

Browsing audio data is not as easy as browsing printed documents because of the temporal nature of sound. This paper presents a browsing environment that provides a spatial interface for temporal navigation of audio data, taking advantage of human abilities of simultaneous listening and memory of spatial location. Instead of fast-forwarding or rewinding, users browse the audio data by switching their attention between moving sound sources that play multiple portions of a single audio recording. The motion of the sound sources maps temporal position within the audio recording onto spatial location, so that listeners can use their memory of spatial location to find a specific topic. This paper describes the iterative design approach toward the audio browsing system, including the development of user interface devices.