GOING BEYOND THE VISION LOSS BOUNDARIES Michal Tvaroek

GOING BEYOND THE VISION LOSS BOUNDARIES Michal Tvarožek, Martin Adam, Michal Barla, Peter Sivák, Mentor: Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology Prof. Mária Bieliková

Presentation outline Motivation ¡ Case studies ¡ SPOT-IT system overview ¡ Marketability / Deployment ¡ Summary ¡ Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Motivation Insufficient information accessibility ¡ Information overwhelming ¡ Demand for contextual information and context aware applications ¡ Intelligent environments Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Target group: Visually impaired people ¡ Substantial social impact l l ¡ Total lack of information l ¡ Worldwide 161 million people suffer from significant visual disability 37 million people are totally blind Sight provides 90% of information Need for information l l l Independence Peace of mind Quality of life Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Visually impaired people: Problems and issues ¡ Dependency on the help of others l l l Getting generic information Shopping Timetables Asking “the darkness” ¡ Dangers ¡ l l Obstacles undetectable with a cane Warning signs Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Case study I – Visiting a doctor A blind person visits a hospital ¡ She listens to office locations, numbers and doctor’s names ¡ She does not slip on wet floors ¡ She knows the locations of lifts, toilets, shops, wending machines, … ¡ Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Case study II – National park A blind person visits a national park ¡ He knows the locations of various sights and amenities ¡ He listens to information guides automatically at the correct places ¡ He receives information about souvenir shops ¡ Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Requirements / Prerequisites ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Light, small and convenient client device Low implementation costs Low power needs, low latency Ubiquitous operation using existing infrastructure Association of information with real-world entities Dynamic messages Interface suitable both for visually impaired and sighted users Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

System overview ¡ Contextual information l l l ¡ Entities (objects / “ideas”) RFID tags Messages (information) Users l l Visually impaired Sighted Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

What is an RFID tag? Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

System operation

Messages Message categories ¡ Critical messages alert of danger ¡ Message cache ¡ l l ¡ Lowers latency and power consumption Enables operation without internet connectivity Dynamic message content Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Messages II ¡ Contextual Information Description Language (CIDL) l l ¡ Validity Structured messages Extensibility l l Support for different languages Links to multimedia/web content Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

RFID Name and RFID Tag service ¡ RNS translates tag data to RTS server addresses l ¡ RTS supplies messages l ¡ Tag migration RTS hosting Central authority oversees l l l RNS servers Abuse of critical messages Updates Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Personalization and customization Operation modes ¡ Message category priorities ¡ l ¡ Too many tags nearby Message filters l l Repeating of irrelevant messages Rogue messages – SPAM Notifications ¡ User interfaces ¡ Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

User interfaces Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Marketability / Deployment ¡ Early adopters l l ¡ Advantages l l ¡ Local authorities, Blind associations Mobile operators Low cost of RFID tags No in-place infrastructure required Extensibility to applications for sighted users Might also use existing RFID tags What is/might be needed? l l Affordable PDAs / Smartphones Integrated RFID readers RFID tag dispensers RNS authority, RTS providers Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

Summary RFID tags associate information with real-world entities/objects ¡ Relevant contextual information ¡ l l l at the place you need it at the time you need it in the form you need A higher quality of life for both the blind and the sighted Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology

GOING BEYOND THE VISION LOSS BOUNDARIES Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology