July 2013 Workshop on user interface development

1.5-day face-to-face meeting in Stuttgart, hosted by Media University Stuttgart (HdM).

Location: Media University (side building), Nobelstr. 5, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany. Date: Mon July 1, 3pm until Tue July 2, 5pm

Participants

• Andrej Grguric (Ericsson, project universAAL)
• Christopher Mayer, Miroslav Sili (AIT, projects AALuis & ibi)
• Christophe Strobbe, Alexander Henka, Andy Stiegler, Gottfried Zimmermann (HdM, projects Cloud4all, openURC)
• Maurice Rekrut, Jochen Britz, Jan Alexandersson (DFKI, projects SUCH, mobia)
• Kai Kreuzer, Thomas Eichstädt-Engelen (project OpenHAB) - by Google Hangout

Workshop Goals

• To see how universAAL, GPII/Cloud4all and AALuis can benefit from each other and to define first action points to do so
• Identify resources (tools, technologies, …) that could be reused in other projects
• Satisfy our funding agencies

Target audience

• User interface developers / technical partners of relevant projects in AAL
• Not for general public, but public report would be good

Agenda

Before the workshop: Distribute some general slides on the project’s technologies upfront

Monday, 3pm-7pm

1. Introduction (Gottfried)
2. Overview of technologies - short introductions, each <= 30min
   • AALuis, https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzKTgvA6I_d1TURocGktVzBmQ3M/edit?usp=sharing
   • URC+Cloud4all, https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1xSmiMx9252S2dWSFFNTWFKRDA/edit?usp=sharing
3. Remote presentation by OpenHAB (Google Hangout at 5pm)
   • openHAB: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-J9yOhe1sAdTlZURXliQ2hPVG8
     • openHAB Event Bus & binding to real hardware (e.g. KNX, RS-232, Bluetooth, MPD)
     • openHAB Item Registry
     • Automation Rules
     • User Interface
     • openHAB Consoles
     • DSL for persistence, connecting to databases
     • openHAB Designer:
       • Definition of items, item groups, active groups, icons, binding to hardware
       • Sitemap: Design of a user interface
       • Rules editor, using Xtext and Xtend project syntax, http://www.eclipse.org/Xtext/
     • REST-API to openHAB gateway
     • jetty as web server
     • Java API "Item Provider"
     • Quality assurance on open-source project releases
     • GPL, but may be EPL in future

Evening: Dinner at Römerhof

Tuesday, 9am-5pm (with lunch break)

Development of user interfaces: Show the development process and tools used in each project

1. Overview of technologies (cont'd)
   • universAAL, https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwnRAkg21LDETE8xSTRvNkNOWHc/edit?usp=sharing
     • OSGi
     • JGroups, http://www.jgroups.org/
     • Apache karaf, http://karaf.apache.org/
     • Service management
     • Context bus (publisher-subscribe)
     • Service bus (call-based)
     • User interaction bus (call-based), UI handlers
     • UI Strategy (rule-based)
     • User model
     • XForms-based user interface description
   • SUCH
     • Secure UCH design & implementation
     • Security by Design, based on scenarios
     • Common Criteria Methodology, ISO/IEC 15408:2009
2. Focus on backend
   • universAAL
   • URC+Cloudall
     • Resource Server
   • AALuis
3. Focus on frontend
   • AALuis
   • URC+Cloud4all
     • UI Socket Builder
     • Webclient + URC-HTTP 
     • UI Options Panel + GPII Preference Set
   • universAAL
4. Discussions: Identify potential items to be reused (tools or other resources) and opportunities for interoperability
5. Other areas of interest (if time allows)
   • UsiXML
   • AALOA
6. Next steps

Lunch break: STEP cafeteria

Discussion & Results

Candidates for re-use	Benefits	Constraints	Actions?
GPII Preference Set & UI Options Panel (ISO/IEC 24751 future release)	Common format for persistent user preferences	Preferences need to get registered (defined) on GPII registry.  Use preferences server or local storage for user profile. Registry currently very sparse.	Gottfried: Invite workshop participants to 24751 editors call.
AALuis preference description	Based on real data: Persona-based preferences based on real user profiles (CURE elderly personas)	Currently based on VUMS cluster preference notion (ICF)	GPII: Create preference sets for personas (for initial setup)?
AALuis Multi-Modality (user interface generation)	User interface built at runtime based on actual context	Service provider must provide all necessary resources for user interface generation (e.g. sign language videos)
AALuis Service Binding & Task Description - ConcurTaskTree  (CTT)	Basis for user interface generation to cater for a broad range of users - get away from "one size fits all" Ensure that all UI platforms have access to all services (e.g. every TV model can receive all TV channels) Nice CTT editor with runtime simulation	Service providers must be familiar with task models We need a mechanism for each UI platform to derive a user interface from  a given task model	Survey on service providers and their acceptance of task models? Build a design tool that semi-automatically derives a task model from a more concrete user interface Investigate if a URC socket can be derived from a task model
SUCH role concept	Make some tasks/actions available to selected users only	Users need to have a role assigned
universAAL AAL Studio (Eclipse-Plugin)	Integrated tool in Eclipse Service-provided communication with user interface layer in an abstract way - just one abstract user interface needed UML support	Runs on OSGi platform UI Bus with pre-defined set of abstract controls
universAAL preferences & editor	Set of user preferences		GPII: Look at preference set universAAL: Look at GPII preference set
openURC Resource Server	Market place for any digital resource Makes user interfaces extensible by third parties Commercialization of user interface resources	Openness of user interfaces wrt third parties	New project of a joint versatile secure resource server?
openURC UCH (discovery mechanism via UPnP RUI)	Making multiple user interfaces and protocols available for one service, dynamically at runtime Discoverable on clients via Bonjour and UPnP discovery	Gateway approach "Resource server" needed	New project for a revised UCH spec?
openHAB Event Bus & binding to real hardware & Java API to Item Provider
openHAB automation rules & designer (editor)
openHAB user interface description language & designer (editor)

Actions

• Describe existing technologies in a systematic way (e.g. design time vs. runtime adaptation, adaptive vs. adaptable) and write a paper on it.  
  • Content: Intro to adaptation approaches, describe current architectures and platforms, compare platforms on the basis of some selected features, map of existing components and features, outlook toward a converging platform with reusable components.
  • Main author: Christopher Mayer.
  • Maybe submit to Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments.  JAISE, http://www.iospress.nl/journal/journal-of-ambient-intelligence-and-smart-environments/
  • And maybe to AAL conference in Jan.
• GPII, universAAL & AALuis: Converge towards a common set of user interface preferences. AccessForAll registry?

References

• Apache Shiro, http://shiro.apache.org/
• MOBIA Projekt, http://www.mobia-saar.de&nbsp;

Accomodation

• Römerhof, Robert-Leicht-Straße 93, 70563 Stuttgart (Vaihingen): within walking distance from the meeting place (ca. 5 minutes)
• Antikhotel Dachswald, Dachswaldweg 120, 70569 Stuttgart - Vaihingen: within walking distance.
• Hotel Garni Drive In, Glockenblumenstraße 1, 70563 Stuttgart: take S-Bahn S1, S2 or S3, bus no. 81 or walk.
• arcona MO.HOTEL: Hauptstraße 26, 70563 Stuttgart: walk or take the bus.

For hotels elsewhere in Stuttgart, check if they are near the S-Bahn lines S1, S2 or S3.