Luka Zebec

Assisted living solutions for the elderly through interactive TV

In this paper we present an application called Med-reminder, which extends the functionality of existing devices providing interactive TV and helps to increase the quality of life for the elderly. The Med-reminder application is used to remind people to take their medicines correctly and on time or to call a relative or a medical person in an emergency situation. Since the graphical user interface was adapted for the elderly, Med-reminder is easy to use without previous training. For evaluating the graphical user interface, navigation and the general usability of the application, and hence the identification of key aspects that increase the adoption rate of assisted living applications among the target population, a methodology for a user evaluation study was designed and conducted. User evaluation study results are presented in the paper.

Bringing click-to-dial functionality to IPTV users [web services in telecommunications, part II]

Architecture for click-to-dial over IP television is discussed, utilizing Parlay X Web services to communicate with telephony network elements. The architecture and individual elements of the system are presented in detail, including a gateway to call servers and telephony switches. The implemented system enables IPTV users to establish calls over mobile or fixed phones by pushing a button on their IPTV remote control. Additionally, we describe a method for automatic phone number recognition from live video that communicates the data to IPTV users via Web services architecture, enabling them to initiate a call easily to any number displayed on the video.

Using presence information for an effective collaboration

Presence service provides users with information about others userspsila availability, willingness to communicate and preferred means of communication. Presence information can serve as an input for innovative applications which act differently depending on the state of the user and their location. In enterprise environments, such information can greatly increase productivity by allowing employees to efficiently manage their meetings, communication and other work-related tasks. In this article, we explain the basic and extended presence system architecture. We demonstrate the architecture for enterprise environment that combines presence information from various sources and provides it to consumers. The central parts of the system are IMS core and presence server. We propose presence server architecture which is Java based and scalable. We present an implementation of presence architecture and demonstrate its usefulness with an application that provides employees with information about coworkerspsila locations and communication capabilities and allows them to instantly start the communication.

Touch to Communicate Using NGN Open Interfaces

This paper presents an award winning solution (NFC Forum 2009 Global Competition 2nd place winner), allowing end users to communicate by touching a tangible user interface with RFID/NFC enabled mobile phone. The pilot prototype is implemented using NGN open interfaces, used for setting up communication actions such as sending SMS, setting up calls or call forwarding, etc. The proposed solution is especially suitable for people with special needs such as elderly and people with disabilities. First, the concept of open NGN interfaces is presented, followed by an outline of RFID/NFC technologies. Later on, the concept of tangible user interfaces is described together with our proposed solution and some usage scenarios.

Personalized Learning Environment E-CHO

Important features of the K nowledge Management Systems, based on the In formation and Communication Technologies (ICT) ar e described in the fir st section. These f eatures emphasiz e the import ance of W eb 2.0 concepts whic h f oster user generated con tent dev elopment as well a s ef fective cont ent filt ering a nd selection capabilities (e. g. R eally Simpl e S yndication – R SS f eeds). The mos t pop ular commun ity port als (blog ging, vide o, etc.) now adays g enerate mor e con tent than ev er bef ore. This new par adigm, wher e user s become activ e participants instead of passive observers, calls for improvements in quality assessment and demands the adaptation of user generated content, so that it could be used f or the wider interested audience. On the other hand, corpor ate or academic environments do not benefit fr om the community orien ted W eb 2.0 adv antages dir ectly. K nowledge Management challeng es in th ese environments lie in the meaningful and tight integration of the Learning Manag ement Systems (LMS) into the existing knowledge resources and information systems. This enables cr eation of personalized learn ing en vironments f or t arget user s, which is described in the second section. Sub sequently, some of the c ase s tudies, which ar e in corporated in to the E -CHO Learning Mana gement S ystem at the F aculty of Electric al Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slov enia, are presented. Conclusions of the paper d escribe future research and development w ork, based on our e xperiences and new learning paradigm, putting learners into the c entre of the educational process.