Requirements Elicitation for the Design of Context-aware
Applications in a Ubiquitous Environment
Dan HongDepartment of Computer Science
HK University of Science & Technology
Dickson K. W. CHIUDickson Computer Systems
Hong [email protected]
Vincent Y. Shen Department of Computer Science
HK University of Science & [email protected]
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Introduction Interaction in the future The trend of human computer interaction (HCI)
Beyond desktop computers Ubiquity – so common: anywhere, anytime that no one
would notice their presence Context become important
Any information that can be used to characterize the situation of entities that are considered relevant to the interaction between a user and an application
Big difference in software design Different requirements under different context
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Benefits of Context Reduce input cost, effort, and time Provide exciting user experience through new
and convenient features Better support cooperative application in
different environment by, say, context sharing of partners
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New Software Design Challenges Move from humans vs. computers to humans
vs. context-aware environments Multimodal interactions Multiple devices Specifying and resolving possible conflicts of
requirements Ubiquitous activities are not so task-centric
– more difficult in determining requirements “Knowledge in the world” and sensors
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Extended Notion of ContextComputing
Contexts User Contexts Physical Contexts
Available devicesCPU
MemoryScreen size
EnergyBandwidth
…
PreferencePurpose
User calendarPersonal
informationFacilitiesDisability
…
LocationTime
DestinationTraffic condition
Physical limitationsWeather
…
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A Meta-model for Context-aware Requirements Elicitation
User Context
Physical Context
Computing Context
User
Ubiqitous Application
Context RequirementSessionexecute
interact with
Activity Context-aware Capability
matcb
Context
Context-aware Feature
adapts to
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Requirements elicitation methodology
1. Determine the different target groups of users2. Estimate the typical contexts of these groups (especially those
that possibly affect the system’s interactions)3. For each of these contexts, enlist the requirements specific for
the context.4. Determine the users’ activities during the process of using the
system.5. For each activity, see how different contexts (from step 2) may
impact on its interactions and determine the required adaptation6. For each context-aware feature, detail the desired context-
aware capabilities. 7. Make sure that the context-aware capabilities match and satisfy
all the requirements elicited from step 3. Otherwise, it would mean that some required context-aware feature are missing and we should re-iterate from step 5 to handle those unaddressed requirements.
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Computing Contexts Consideration
Available devices – multimodal, multiple procession
CPU – device limitation => server side Memory - device limitation Screen size – trans-coding, XSL Energy Bandwidth …
=> Often trade-off required=> Fast technology improvement
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User Contexts Consideration Preference Purpose User calendar Personal information Facilities (e.g., vehicle, tools, belongings…) Disability Elderly and children users …
=> Requires “intelligence” in software, e.g., matchmaking, ranking, recommendations, etc.
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Physical Contexts Consideration Location Time Destination Traffic condition Physical limitations Weather …
=> Sensors => “high level” information gathering (e.g., web
crawlers, database interfaces…)
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A scenario in 2010
Weather report:RainstormTemperature: 10~15
。C
Recommendation:Bring an umbrella
7:00am
Weather report: RainstormTemperature: 10~15
。C
Recommendation:Take an umbrella
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A scenario in 2010 (2)
9:00am
Good morning, Alice,login finished
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A scenario in 2010 (3)
11:30am
Reminder:You have an appointment at Restaurant A with Bob at 12:00am.
Where is the way?
Here is the map.Turn left…
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A scenario in 2010 (4)
1:00pm
Office computer
Personal computer
PDA
Cell phone
Wireless network
Sync. Download
. Done.
Wired network
Let’s make another
appointment
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A scenario in 2010 (5)
5:00pm
Reminder:Chris is here.
Recommend a restaurant nearby
Recommendation:Restaurant B Alice curry Chris pizza
I love the food
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A scenario in 2010 (6)
8:00pm
Remote control:Turn on the heat!
Welcome back home, Alice.Turn on the light.
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Open Issues Natural Interface Relationship and conflicts of various contexts Reasoning model Privacy Evaluation techniques
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Conclusion Notion of extended context Requirements elicitation for ubiquitous application
design A meta-model and methodology Reconciling user context requirements under
different contexts with context awareness capabilities of the available features.
Analysis of some typical context-aware requirements and design considerations
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Further and Ongoing work Application in ubiquitous tourist assistance
system MAIS architecture for implementation Three-tier view approach for implementation Ubiquitous collaboration and agent-based
computing
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Q&A
Thank you!