Vlad Stirbu

Remote Access to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) Devices Utilizing the Atom Publishing Protocol

The universal plug and play (UPnP) Forum has specified protocols which enable consumer electronics devices, computers and smart appliances to discover and use each others services. This is possible when devices are connected to the same network, usually that being a home network. Currently, UPnP does not specify any method for remotely accessing the services of home devices, from devices that are connected on another, external, network. In this paper we propose a solution that utilizes web syndication protocols, such as the IETF Atom, for enabling remote usage of UPnP devices, without major modifications to the end-user UPnP applications.

A RESTful architecture for adaptive and multi-device application sharing

In this paper we introduce a practical approach to share the user interface of MVC compatible interactive applications with remote devices that have the ability to adapt the user interface to their specific look and feel. We present the system architecture and the methodology to model the user interface as a set of RESTful resources. The remote user interface and the application state are synchronized using an Web-based event-driven system.

Home media atomizer: remote sharing of home content - without semi-trusted proxies

This paper proposes a solution that allows home hosted content, located on home PCs or UPnP media servers, to be offered to remote clients, for consumption. The system is based on a proxy residing on the home network that exports the multimedia content to a Web syndication feed following the Atom protocol, which is then accessed from compatible remote clients. A prototype of the system was built, with the proxy functionality implemented on a home PC and the remote clients running on mobile phones. Special attention has been paid to the social aspects of content sharing, for allowing the home owner to also invite other external users to remotely access specific, home-based media containers, with very simple and secure device configuration.

Experiences Building a Multi-Display Mobile Application for Exploring Mirror Worlds

In this paper we experiment with multi-display mobile applications that can be used in an environment where multiple smart phones are co-located within the same space. Utilizing Remote User Interface techniques and the REST architectural style we propose a solution that follows the Remote Model-View-Controller model, in such a way that client devices do not need to have application specific software pre-installed. We demonstrate the system with the Panorama Bricks application, for displaying, in a multi-display expanded view, street-view style mirror-world panoramas, in a synchronized manner. The architecture proves that such enhanced application scenarios are possible to implement even today, utilizing off-the-shelf mobile smart phones.

A survey of techniques for remote access to home networks and resources

Consumer Electronics devices are becoming network enabled, and along with smart phones and personal computers, they are all interconnected in home networks with broadband Internet connectivity. This sets the opportunity of making the home network, its devices and content accessible from the Internet, allowing the home owners to remotely access their connected home any time, any place, using any device. This paper provides a holistic overview of the “Remote Acces” topic, presenting all the problems and issues that make it challenging in different contexts, and most importantly analyzing six techniques and methods for enabling the remote access scenarios. It is a guide created by the combination of scientific research, extensive industrial experiences and first hand participation in relevant standardization activities.

Hypermedia-Driven Framework for Scalable and Adaptive Application Sharing

This chapter describes our experiences designing a solution for scalable and adaptive sharing of desktop and mobile applications, using a lightweight network-based system compliant with the REST architectural style. The system delivers consistency of the rendered user interfaces with the state of the application logic using a stateless networking substrate. We describe the architecture focusing on how to model the user interfaces as a set of web resources. Then, we present the prototype that implements the functionality as an extension of the Qt framework, which works with different Qt-based user interface toolkits. Finally, we present a multi-display and multi-user Texas Hold’em application that shows how the system is used in practice.

A Lightweight Platform for Web Mashups in Immersive Mirror Worlds

Cloud City Scene is a lightweight platform that enables visualizations of Web mashups in an immersive mirror-world environment in which annotations blend in with buildings, terrain, and objects, letting users interact with the underlying real-world scene.

Open and decentralized platform for visualizing web mash-ups in augmented and mirror worlds

Augmented reality applications are gaining popularity due to increased capabilities of modern mobile devices. However, existing applications are tightly integrated with backend services that expose content using proprietary interfaces. We demonstrate an architecture that allows visualization of web content in augmented and mirror world applications, based on open web protocols and formats. We describe two clients, one for creating virtual artifacts, web resources that bind together web content with location and a 3D model, and one that visualizes the virtual artifacts in the mirror world.

The location graph: towards a symbolic location architecture for the web

In this paper we outline a unified architecture for representing locations of people, places and things in real or virtual worlds, called realms, on the web. Our architecture is based on the location graph that encodes web-level containment and connectedness relationships between locations. The architecture provides an information processing model that allows realm independent queries such as position, range and path, and realm specific queries, such as distance. We present existing systems that are enablers for the proposed architecture. With this architecture we enable a common way to develop location based services and applications across real or virtual realms, avoiding fragmentation.

Panoramic Street-View Exploration using a Multi-Display Mobile Application

In this paper the authors experiment with multi-display mobile applications that can be used in an environment where multiple smart phones are co-located within the same physical space. Utilizing Remote User Interface interaction metaphor and the REST architectural style they propose a solution that follows the Remote Model-View-Controller model, in such a way that client devices do not need to have application specific software pre-installed. The authors demonstrate the system with the Panorama Bricks application, for displaying, in a multi-display expanded view, street-view style mirror-world panoramas, in a synchronized manner. The architecture proves that such enhanced application scenarios are possible to implement even today, utilizing off-the-shelf mobile smart phones. Their evaluations prove that responsiveness levels are high, even in scenarios where multiple objects are overlaid on top of the mirror-world panoramas.