Jack's day
Vision
Rethinking of location-based services (LBS)
- If your phone has an integrated GPS receiver, this allows you to navigate
somewhere or to find the nearest restaurant. If your phone has a continuous data
connection, your friend will be able to check and determine your current location
and you will be able to receive messages from them or from people around you. If
your child has a mobile unit with required capabilities, you will be able to check
if he/she is at the school or not. Someone who needs help, just have to push a button
on the phone and you can perform the necessary actions.
- The main problem is that with a location-based service, you get only
a GPS coordinate, with the rethinking of LBS you will get a semantic context, with
a sentence saying 'Kate has just arrived to school.' They are not the same things
at all. Or can you show where is the old women who has just pushed the red button,
asking for help: on the 1st floor or on the 51st one? It is not easy.
- Your phone has connected to a public Wi-Fi at a pub. Okay, you are
at the pub. But why are you there? Are you a worker at that place? Or do you just
want to have a drink?
Story
Antecedents
Our protagonist, Jack is an ordinary man. With his family he lives in Nashua, New
Hampshire, in a small town, not far from Boston.
His weekdays are spent customary, after work he goes home, where he usually plays
with his children, reads the news, and afterwards takes out his family for
dinner.
In the evenings he reads his e-mails, then goes to sleep.
NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA 14. January 2009.
The last two weeks have been very exciting. For Christmas he got a mobile phone
from his wife, Jane.
Jane has already bought one for herself, just because it was so nice.
Of course he has heard about the device before, but he didn't assign great importance
to it.
"After all there are lots of gadgets in the house, for sure this is just a new phone,
full of unnecessary functions."
What turned him on is that he had got a Cloubble with it as well. Let's see what
is happening...
6:30 am
His phone alarm rings, that he had set up previously. Jack picks up the phone, whereof
the ringing ceases. After some seconds, the window shutters open up (note). He cannot escape from the sunlight, he
has to get up finally. He sleepily walks into the kitchen to drink his coffee, as
usual. While the coffee is perking, he sits to the kitchen table and takes his phone
into his hand.
He notices that he got a message not to forget to call his brother, Tom. Sure, because
he had set the phone, to give a notification when he wakes up (note). The coffee is ready. While he is sipping it, he starts
calling Tom. Before the connection would realize, his phone unobtrusively warns
him that Tom is still sleeping, is he sure that he wants to wake him up (note)? No, it wouldn't be nice, if he woke him
up too early on his birthday.
Answering the request of the phone, he sets it with one click to get a notice if
his brother wakes up (note).
Short after, he gets ready with his morning duties and he sets to work. He sits
into his car, he reverses from the garage and hits the highway that leads to Boston
(note). In a few minutes his phone
rings, and he answers it by pressing the button of the speakerphone. It's George,
Jack's best friend.
- Hello Jack! I can see that you are on your way to work, I just wanted to ask that
what's the score for Tom's birthday party for tonight?
- Hi George, yes, I have arranged most of the things, it will be a huge surprise
party!
- Ok, then I will manage the things you asked me to. Bye!
- See you!
The traffic is getting heavier but...
- No problem - thinks Jack, - there won't be a traffic jam, while my phone would
have signaled it to me. I will be at the meeting sharp (note).
He is almost there when the familiar sound signals, the sound of the notice of his
phone and in the bubble the following sentence: 'Tom woke up!' He dials his brother's
number immediately (note).
- Hello Jack - says Tom sleepily... I just woke up.
- Hi Tom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY brother! I wanted to be the first one who congratulates
to you!
- Thanks Jack. It is really kind of you!
- OK, I don't want to disturb you now, just drink your coffee.. But you know what?
Drop by our house in the evening for some minutes!
- All right, I will do that on my way home. See you!
- Bye!
Jack arrives to his workplace. He stops his car, and runs into his office. Until
the meeting he has half an hour. He turns on his computer, reads through his e-mails
and gathers his files, docs for the meeting. When he goes into the meeting room
greets everybody, sits down and turns his phone upside down (note).
11:45 am
It is almost noon when the meeting finishes.
- Huh, it was long, thinks Jack. His stomach signs that it's time to have lunch.
Where should he go to eat?
As this questions pops into his mind, a bubble pops up on his phone with three daily
menus from his three favorite restaurants that are nearby the office (note). Jack likes the daily menu of La Notte
and the Chinese restaurant the most. As he is checking the display, it turns out
that at the Chinese restaurant there are no free tables, therefore he chooses La
Notte.
The menu of La Notte is quite pleasing 'Chicken soup, grilled chicken with mashed
potatoes and French pancakes', this is perfect - thinks Jack and acknowledges the
message.
Another message appears that George was looking for him while he was at the meeting
(note).
- 'Probably about the evening party...' - thinks Jack. With one touch he would call
his friend, but his phone indicates that 'George is having lunch at La Notte.' (note)
- 'Perfect! I will talk to him, there', thinks Jack and heads to the restaurant.
Soon after, they are sitting together at lunch and discussing the details and to
dos for the evening party.
Jack's phone rings, he picks it up. It is Jane.
- Hi honey, I can see on my phone that you and George are having lunch together,
please tell George to bring more Chinese lamps, because I can see that it won't
be enough (note).
- Ok Jane, I will tell him. Please write together your shopping list!
- Ok, I will do it.
- Great! It is so good, that I have a phone as well. See you in the evening! Miss
you!
- Miss you too!
4:00 pm
It is 4:00 pm, Jack still has a workgroup to take part in. On his phone the familiar
sound and in the bubble of the display a short sentence: 'Seiko arrived at the office'
(note).
After 15 minutes the following message is waiting for him: 'Start workgroup with
Seiko'.
He has received a signal about his Japanese colleague Seiko, who has just start
work in Tokyo (quite early). They can start the workgroup. They work together a
lot, and because of the time lag the Cloubble on the phone is a great help.
The workgroup is coordinated by Jack by using the videophone function on the phone.
6:00 pm
After he can see the picture of his house on the display of his phone, where a cartoon-figured
Jack (stick figure) is walking inside, he starts smiling (note). When he gets this cartoon notification his heart always
fills with coziness because he is still a child deep inside. He likes these cartoon
graphics, what the phone sends for indicating a situation. Besides, although he
likes his job, he is happy that it is the end of his workday and his brother's birthday
party is beginning soon.
He gets another message in a bubble, where there is a thermometer in a house on
which it shows 66 Fahrenheit. This indicates the temperature of their house (note).
He presses 75 instead because his whole family is always cold and he starts towards
the office garage (note).
As he sits in his car, he can see on the phone that his wife has just gone for the
kids to the kindergarten. He acknowledges it with a smile (note).
Jack gets to a lamp on the road. Again the familiar sound is heard. A boost arrived
showing that Barnes & Noble have a special offer for the latest book of his favorite
writer Paul Auster. It also contains the instructions that he should turn right
on the third street and he will find there the closest Barnes & Noble. The supply
of the special priced Auster book takes only 3 minutes and he is standing at the
cashier desk (note).
- Hi JACK! Cash, check, credit card or phone? - asks the cashier.
It still surprises him that the cashier can see that it is him, who is standing
in front of the desk.
- Hi! I can pay with my phone here as well?
- Yes, if you are Cloubble member then you may pay with your phone -informs him
the young woman behind the desk (note).
- Then I would like to pay with my phone - answers Jack pleased.
- This way you get 5% discount.
- This is incredible!
- If the amount is Ok, please approve it with your phone - says the cashier woman.
- All right - Jack approved the shopping.
- Thank you! Have a nice evening!
- You too!
Jack is out of the Barnes & Noble. He rushes towards the shopping center, which
is the closest to their house. He gets there in 10 minutes.
When he arrives, the phone signals that Jack's shopping list has been updated which
had been on his phone (note).
- This way that Jane has checked and completed my list, I am sure I won't forget
anything for Tom's birthday.
As he reads through the list he can see that George has completed two things and
Katie has also written in something.
- Well, this won't be as quick as I thought.
- Jane has written in mayonnaise, mustard and olives. George has written in a candle-set
and Katie has completed it with a chocolate ice-cream cake. For Tom it will be a
surprise from her, because that's his favorite.
The shopping doesn't take more minutes than half an hour with the queuing. He pays
again with his phone, what he likes a lot, because it is quick and he doesn't need
to carry around his credit cards with him.
He quickly packs out the content of his shopping cart, and he is on the road again.
In 10 minutes he arrives home. While he is driving to the ramp of his garage its
door is opening up for him, because the "house" and the "garage" know that he has
arrived (note). The children and
Jane are waiting for him to help to unpack everything he has bought. They know that
their Dad is approaching because they were watching it on their Mom's phone.
8:00 pm
Everybody is together in the house, the lights are off. At 8:05 pm Tom arrives,
without knowing that his friends are there. Tom is very surprised and happy that
he has a surprise party which he had never had before. He gets all his presents
and pictures are taken of the unforgettable moments. Since the pictures are taken
by Jack's phone, the photos are immediately downloaded to their mother's digital
photo-frame. Claire, their mother lives in Chicago, Illinois. She is very happy
the next morning when she can see the smiles of her children and their family (note).
Behind the scenes
There are some notes below about the Cloubble technology.
Note #1
The alarm turned off when the movement sensor signed. A paraphrase with 'Jack woke
up.' generated, and sent to the Cloubble server. The clients who subscribed for
Jack's event and approved by Jack, got the paraphrases, such as Jack's Home Automation
system, which is set to open the shutters when Jack is awake.
Note #2
The Calendar application on the phone can support paraphrases too. You can set reminders
not only for a specific time, but a situation either. Now the calendar gets the
paraphrase 'Tome woke up', and sends a reminder.
Note #3
As the Calendar, the Contact list (or the phone) application also can support the
PPHML. When a user starts a phone call, the application can check the actual situation
of the called party. You can determine, whether your partner is on a meeting or
sleeping, etc.
Note #4
Here you can set up an automatic reminder for the specific situation.
Note #5
The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) of the Cloubble client can decide that Jack
is driving. It can be done with the event of connecting the Bluetooth hands free
set of the car or the GPS, etc. So the paraphrase 'Jack is going to his workplace
by car.' is generated.
Note #6
This can be done with the help of other 3rd party applications such as Google Maps,
etc. If there is an appropriate interface to generate or process PPHML, everything
can be connected.
Note #7
It is the same reminder then what is going up when Tom's paraphrase is arriving
from Cloubble server.
Note #8
Common tasks, such as silent mode of the phone can be controlled by the movement
sensor. For instance, if you turn it upside down, it can be handled like a silent
mode.
Note #9
There is a tag in the PPHML that is called: boost. It can hold several pieces of
information like advertisements. If you allow it, it can be a pop-up on your Cloubble-bubble.
In this situation, Jack allowed the boost of the restaurant which are the daily
menus and the occupancy of the tables. The boost is only paid by advertiser if the
user clicks on it on his phone.
Note #10
It is a simple message of the missed calls.
Note #11
You can see the actual situation of your family members and friends, who allowed
it to you. The relationship of people can be set up automatically from one ore more
social network sites, via OpenSocial.
Note #12
The same event, Jane can see the actual situation of her husband and his friend.
Note #13
Another feature of situation based services, when you work together with people
far away from you. You can receive your workgroup members' situation if you subscribe
to it.
Note #14
Thanks to the 3rd party Cloubble Notifier translating situations to spoken languages,
there is a possibility, that these messages aren't restricted only to texts. It
can be either graphics or speech or anything else like these implemented by anybody.
Note #15
This information is generated by the home automation system. It can be implemented
on the system to generate paraphrases as well.
Note #16
Jack here opens the phone's browser and calls the home page of his home automation
system. He can set the parameters regarding to that on this web page.
Note #17
This is an example of situation dependent boost. It is an advertisement. As we planned,
first only a simple notification comes, and when you choose to see the details,
it will be shown to you. There is a cooperation of the software of several vendors,
because the phone can tell you the way to that shop as well.
Note #18
As we planned, there should be a possibility for payment with the phone. It can
be handled through online payment (PayPal or something like this). The Cloubble
is only a possible connection between the systems.
Note #19
Common tasks can be shared to several people. In this example the common task is
the shopping list. It is a shared document. In the future, it can be handled as
a sheet, and the prices and availabilities can be filled by a grocery store. He
got his updated shopping list now, because he arrived to the shopping center.
Note #20
This is another sample for the interconnection of Cloubble client and the home automation
system. The identifier is Jack's situation.
Note #21
There is a Cloubble Client on their mother's digital photo-frame. It is subscribed
for the pictures taken by Jack. The actual image is travelling in the paraphrase
data tag.
Concept
GPS is not enough
- Nowadays the location-based services are built on GPS position, on
GSM cell or on Wi-Fi information as primary source data. The application envisioned
in this documentation will be able to do much more than telling someone's current
position. The goal is to give someone's current situation correctly at any time.
Collecting as many information as possible
- Because the concept of the phone where an application is able to access
core mobile device functionality, it is possible to collect not only GPS information
but all relevant data. In order to describe user's current situation correctly,
these data have to be comprehensive enough. It means that the client application's
background service on the phone is always on and continuously checking the state
of the device, looking for events and gathering actions taken by user.
Gather higher level of data
- With the help of the use of social networks over OpenSocial allows
getting information about relational situations of others which enables to make
a global social application.
That solution is Cloubble.
PPHML
PPHML acronym stands for Paraphrase Markup Language. It is designed to describe
situations in declarative sentence forms. PPHML documents are XML documents, typically
generated by software engines which use identifiers rather than real words while
producing paraphrases.
Power of PPHML is not depending only on its structural complexity. Amount of resource
identifiers (reference tokens) declared in the schema basically determine the usage
scope of paraphrases.
The main goal of the PPHML is to create a language which is able to describe real
situations in a computer system and the composed paraphrases are human language
independent descriptions.
Multilanguage support is based on the reference tokens vocabulary which is handled
by PPHML.org.
The semantic power of PPHML is depending on the revision of PPHML. At the time of
writing these lines, the PPHML is only in a technical preview state, it is only
prepared for testing.
PPHML stands for composing declarative sentences only. For example it will never
make a question. In the future - by the extension of PPHML - it will be able to
create commands in order to build home automation solutions. (For example, when
I leave my home, shutters are going down.)
There is an important element in the PPHML, the probability tag, which is able to
represent unsure phrases. "Unsure" because of the software engine, which generates
paraphrases, makes more choices of possible situations.
There is a boost tag to describe context sensitive information like advertisements,
menu cards, free messages from a social network connected friend, and so on. Context
sensitive means: "depending on the content of a PPHML paraphrase".
PPHML.org Team is committed to keep PPHML development as an open process. There
will be forums, blogs, and discussion boards at PPHML.org in order to receive ideas
about extending PPHML's usage.
PPHML.org Team was founded when the idea of Cloubble was born.
Cloubble Client
The Cloubble System is a Situation Based Service platform which has a main component
on the phone device, this is the Cloubble Client.
Cloubble Client is an phone application which is the main paraphrases creator component.
The PPHML is the language which used by Cloubble to communicate.
The core of the client is an ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (ANN) based engine. It handles
several inputs of the phone cell phone like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, GSM, and so on.
It has a public input interface on which it can handle 3rd party inputs too. ANN
makes PPHML paraphrases whenever it recognizes a known situation. It can learn the
user's behavior and its use will be way more comfortable. This is why it can predicate
situations and make decisions more precisely.
The client has a main interface to a Cloubble Notifier, which is a free software
component. It is able to translate and show paraphrases in human readable and understandable
forms. It should be a plain text, a short speech, a symbol, a scratch etc. It is
open so it depends on 3rd party. This function with PPHML vocabulary allows the
Multilanguage support for the client.
User is able to setup the Cloubble Client in order to make restrictions about PPHML
paraphrase sending, making filters to inputs and paraphrases, subscribe to events
and so on.
A cell phone owner is able to change his Cloubble Client to a 3rd party software
which is compatible with the Cloubble Server. "Compatible" simply means that 3rd
party software component must use PPHML to communicate.
Cloubble Server
Cloubble Server handles user accounts and makes data interchange possibility.
Cloubble Server receives PPHML paraphrases.
Cloubble Server makes anonym history. If the user allows, the Cloubble Server drops
any e-mail and name fields from all his incoming PPHML paraphrases and stores them
into the Cloubble Anonym History. Of course a restaurant, a pub or a shop are able
to allow the Cloubble Server to store e-mail information.
Anonym history will build a robust knowledge base. ("That is a place where people
go to eat something.", "A huge part of people go to work between 6:49am and 7:23am
in this city.", "Which is the most popular pub at Saturday night?")
User is able to setup his account for enable or disable paraphrase sharing. It means
that every time when the Cloubble Server receives a new PPHML paraphrase from the
user, it will check the setup filter and if necessary, the paraphrase will be rephrased
and sent forward to other Cloubble Clients. It can share information over OpenSocial
with social networking sites.
There should be a search engine on the Cloubble Server which is able to answer questions
like "Chinese restaurant today afternoon". The rank comes from the anonym history.
Cloubble Server can handle commercial accounts, which is able to send (boost) advertisement
to a user depending on his current situation (Situation Sensitive Marketing). Commercial
users are able to set static advertisements or are able to use Cloubble Clients
to set own situations ("There are free tables in this restaurant.")
Cloubble Server is a place where the accepted Cloubble Notifiers will be stored
in free, downloadable forms (with source code) or will be able to call from remotely
via web services.
|