Context sensitive interaction interoperability for distributed virtual environments

Abstract

The number and types of input devices and related interaction technique types are growing rapidly. Innovative input devices such as game controllers are no longer used just for games, propriety consoles and specific applications, they are also used in many distributed virtual environments, especially the so-called serious virtual environments.In this dissertation a distributed, service based framework is presented to offer contextsensitive interaction interoperability that can support mapping between input devices and suitable application tasks given the attributes (device, applications, users, and interaction techniques) and the current user context without negatively impacting performances of large scale distributed environments.The mapping is dynamic and context sensitive taking into account the context dimensions of both the virtual and real planes. What device or device component to use, how and when to use them depend on the application, task performed, the user and the overall context, including location and presence of other users. Another use of interaction interoperability is as a testbed for input devices, and interaction techniques making it possible to test reality based interfaces and interaction techniques with legacy applications.The dissertation provides a description how the framework provides these affordances and a discussion of motivations, goals and the addressed challenges. Several proof of the concept implementations were developed and an evaluation of the framework performance (in terms of system characteristics) demonstrates viability, scalability and negligible delays. To my great parents and wonderful wife.iii Acknowledgments A five years journey could not have been possible and bearable without great support and love. I went through a lot of tough times, questions and decisions and I could not have made it through all of this without being surrounded by amazing people.I would like to start first to thank my advisor Dr. Denis Gračanin. Dr. Gračanin had always been supportive and pushing the bar for me higher and higher, despite I didn't like it then but looking back I do really appreciate it. Through our long discussions, over Skype when I was back in Egypt and in person when I got on campus, I have learned a lot of invaluable things from him related and unrelated to my dissertation. He taught me that time management is the key and that I should always focus on quality not quantity. I cannot forget to thank him also for all the great chocolate and home made ice cream that we were always looking forward to.I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my dissertation committee. I always look up to Dr. Yong Cao for his exceptional industrial experience and switch to Academia again with great achievements grounded in practical engineering. He was so gracious to always share his insights and experiences with me. Dr. Woodrow Winchester III with the background in Industrial and Systems Engineering (including Human Computer Interaction) provided a valuable feedback from a different yet ...

Middleware mechanisms for interaction interoperability in Collaborative Virtual Environments

“…By using ontologies, the framework binds tasks to the user's preferred interaction techniques and then to available input devices. In other works by the same authors, the framework capabilities are further described (see [9] and [10]). Interoperability is granted by using a standardized taxonomy built with the Ontology Web Language (OWL).…”