Directions in ubiquitous computing: a position statement

One of the visions of ubiquitous computing is the ability to use arbitrary interactive devices such as cell phones and handheld computers to interact with arbitrary remote networked appliances such as TVs, printers, and EKG machines. There are many potential practical benefits of controlling a network appliance using a remote user interface on a mobile computer rather than directly using the native, physical user interface offered by it. Users can control appliances from arbitrary locations, for instance, people on vacation can set their home water sprinklers. Moreover, an interactive mobile device can be used as a true universal control, accessing arbitrary devices such as TVs, thermostats, and light switches. Furthermore, a mobile device can offer user interfaces that are more sophisticated than the physical user interfaces offered by the appliances directly. For instance, it can offer a single command to shut off all lights in a building. User interface generation is a promising research direction in ubiquitous computing because it allows a mobile device to interact with an arbitrary appliance without incurring the problems of downloading and classifying user interface code. On the other hand, the generation approach offers limited presentation styles. We believe this is not a serious drawback, for three reasons which are outlined.