Hyun Sang Cho

Appliance Recognition from Electric Current Signals for Information-Energy Integrated Network in Home Environments

We are developing a novel home network system based upon the integration of information and energy. The system aims to analyze user behavior with a power-sensing network and provide various life-support services to manage power and electric appliances according to user behavior and preferences. This paper describes an electric appliance recognition method using power-sensing data measured by CECU (Communication and Energy Care Unit) which is an intelligent outlet with voltage and current sensors to integrate legacy appliances (which are incompatible with a communications network) with the home network. Furthermore, we demonstrate a prototype home energy management system and examples of services based upon appliance recognition.

Determining location of appliances from multi-hop tree structures of power strip type smart meters

Recently, energy management has become one of the emerging services in the area of residential network service. A smart meter is the most essential component of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) that connects the home energy management system of individual residences and a smart grid that optimizes the production, distribution, and consumption of electric power. Power strip type smart meters can be used to not only monitor but also control the electric power consumption at individual power outlet ports in the power outlet directly. They can be used to control and effectively reduce standby power consumption by the application of the direct power supply control. A smart multi-power tap (SMPT) is an advanced multi-outlet power strip type smart meter that provides important contextual information such as the identity and location of electric home appliances on the basis of the temporal power consumption data and the control of power supply to the appliances. However, the SMPT cannot be used to determine the location of appliances when the connections among SMPTs form a tree structure. In this study, we develop a mathematical model of cascade connections among SMPTs and propose a solution for obtaining the location information of the tree structure. The proposed method helps realize real applications of the SMPT for providing activity-based context-aware home network services and energy management services.

Simple and robust method for detecting the electrical appliances using markers and programmable logic devices

The detection of appliances and their location is important for the efficient management and automatic operation of appliances and their power consumption. In this paper, we describe a simple and robust method of detecting appliances based on their location by using programmable logic devices (PLDs). The results of simulation and implementation are also included.

Ambient Lamp Display in the Active Home Ubiquitous Computing Environment for Relaxing and Mediation

This paper describes the design and implementation of Tea Place. Tea Place is an ambient lamp display placed above a tea table in the ActiveHome ubiquitous computing environment. This ambient display system is intended to enhance a traditional tea table with multimodal interfaces for user relaxation and mediation. It detects user context (such as the color of tea in a cup) and displays abstract animation images using LED array reflected on the surface of tea, ambient sounds and wind blowing. It makes users to concentrate on drinking and increasing their intimacy on the table at home.

Learning cooperation in a tangible moyangsung

Tangible Moyangsung is a collaborative virtual heritage environment that employs tangible interfaces to encourage group social interaction and cooperation. It is designed for a group of users to play fortification games for reconstructing a Korean war-defensive castle in virtual reality. This paper describes a historical background and cultural meanings of Moyangsung, and details in design, implementation and a user study of the Tangible Moyangsung system. The study results showed that collaborative work using tangible interfaces helped users to be more engaged in the task and learn cooperation to produce better performance.

A POWER CONSUMPTION ACTIVITY BASED HETEROGENEOUS SOA FRAMEWORK FOR CONTEXT-AWARE HOME SERVICES

The home network is one of the emerging areas from the last century. However, the growth of the home network market is stationary at present. This paper describes the limitations of the home network system and the requirements for overcoming the current limitations. Also described is a new home network service system known as COWS and its easy installation and scalable operation. COWS consists of power consumption monitor and control devices along with a service server that is a complementary combination of Open Service Gateway initiative (OSGi) and web services. A home network system has a dynamic, heterogeneous, distributed, and scalable topology. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been proposed as a solution that satisfies the requirement of a home network, and OSGi and web services are two successful SOA-based frameworks. An included service server has a flexible architecture that consists of a core and extendable service packages. A power consumption monitor and control function provides useful context information for activity-based context-aware services and optimizes the power consumption. The system can be installed easily into existing and new houses to solve the current barrier of the popularization of home network services.

Tea table mediator: a multimodal ambient display on the table exploiting five senses convergence

In the past, many tabletop systems have used the traditional table augmented with digital technologies to enhance collaborative works such as faceto-face or remote meeting and working. In this paper, we describe the Tea Table Mediator, a multimodal ambient tabletop display designed for five senses convergence experience combined with tea drinking. This ambient display enhances a traditional tea table with multimodal interfaces forintimate small group interaction. This paper describes the design considerations, the details on system implementation, and the discussion of a preliminary user evaluation.

A System for Enhancing Relationship between Intimate Group Members with Story

Modern society generates and shares great amount of information with rapid development of information and communication infrastructure. The development, however, makes people too busy to communicate enough time with families and accelerates separation of families in a sense of physical and social location. In this paper, we describe two concepts of stories for messages of the communication. The stories are generated from dynamic context information and story template. Then we describe an implementation of a system that enhances inter-communication among intimate group members such as families and friends by providing opportunities of story exchanges for keeping in touch with them. The system helps for improving individual’s Quality of Life (QoL) and social health.

Effects of virtual reality display types on the brain computer interface system

This paper presents the study of evaluating VR display types on Brain Computer Interface (BCI) performance. In this study, a configurable virtual reality BCI system was used for users to control the virtual environment to execute the ubiquitous computing home facilities. The study evaluated various VR display types: 2D arrow cue, 3D virtual reality, 3D fully immersive CAVE system, and 3D CAVE cue. The task involved users to imagine left or right arm movements for rotating the direction in the virtual environment and move forward by using a direction locking device. The result shows that there was no significant improvement on BCI classification rate even by enhancing the immersion of VR displays. Instead, the level of simulator sickness was increased. This result indicates a new improved display type is needed for the ubiquitous computing environment control BCI system.

A BCI based virtual control testbed for motion disabled people

This system was designed for motion disabled people to navigate and interact with the virtual environment that also triggers actions in the real environment. The testbed consists of the BCI using motor imagery brain signals, the communication module, the brain signal analyzer and the virtual world linked with a physical miniature model of real home. The testbed is developed to provide motion disabled people to control real home facilities. In a preliminary test, we found that our BCI testbed produces a reasonable usability in VR.