Mobile Multimodality: A Theoretical Approach To Facilitate Virtual Device Environments

摘要

The classical strategy of multimodal interactions is to simultaneously utilise several modalities offered on a 'single' device. However, practical restrictions appear, especially in mobile communications, due to the limitations of device's interfaces and the continuously changing communication conditions. Taking multimodality out of this single-device scenario, this paper introduces a theoretical framework for dynamic Multi User Interfaces-Device Binding (MID-B). MID-B facilitates dynamic adaptation and customisation of physically distributed devices (and their user interfaces) into one 'virtual' multimodal environment, thus introducing ambient awareness into user interfaces. In MID-B, one device assumes the role of a "controller" which detects and binds the interfaces and modalities available on devices in the vicinity. After discovery, it binds these modalities to deliver the actual mobile service.