Distributed interface bits: dynamic dialogue composition from ambient computing resources

This paper discusses a particular issue in the context of disappearing computing, namely, user mobility. Mobile users may carry with them a variety of wireless gadgets while being immersed in a physical environment encompassing numerous computing devices. In such a situation, it is most likely that the number and type of devices may dynamically vary during interactions. The Voyager development framework supports the implementation of ambient dialogues, i.e., dynamically distributed user Interfaces, which exploit, on-the-fly, the wireless devices available at a given point in time. This paper describes the Voyager implementation, focusing on: device discovery and registry architecture, device-embedded software implementation, ambient dialogue style and corresponding software toolkit development, and a method for dynamic interface adaptation, ensuring dialogue state persistence. Additionally, this paper presents two ambient dialogue applications developed using Voyager, namely, a game and a navigator.