Teaching Context to Applications

Abstract:

Although mobile devices keep getting smaller and more powerful, their interface with the user is still based on that of the regular desktop computer. This implies that interaction is usually tedious, while interrupting the user is not really desired in ubiquitous computing. We propose adding an array of hardware sensors to the system that, together with machine learning techniques, make the device aware of its context while it is being used. The goal is to make it learn the context-descriptions from its user on the spot, while minimising user-interaction and maximising reliability.