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Enrico Rukzio

Contact:

Dr. Enrico Rukzio
Office C40
Computing Department
InfoLab21
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4WA / UK

Email: rukzio [at] comp.lancs.ac.uk
Tel: +44 1524510358
Fax: +44 1524510492

Latest news:

The Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2008
Our demo "Touch & Interact: Applied to a Tourist Guide Prototype" got the first place in the NFC Forum Global Competition

MULTITAG
The MULTITAG project, a cooperation between Lancaster University and DoCoMo Euro-Labs started in 01/2008.

Funded projects

Since 01/2008   MULTITAG project (funded by the NTT DoCoMo Euro-Labs
Since 10/2006 Intermedia - Interactive Media with Personal Networked Devices (partly founded by the European Union)
10/2005-09/2006   Perci (PERvasive serviCe Interaction) project (funded by the NTT DoCoMo Euro-Labs
02/2004-02/2006 Simplicity - Secure, Internet-able, Mobile Platforms Leading Citizens Towards Simplicity (partly founded by the European Union)
10/2002-01/2004 @virtu - Partizipative Entwicklung diagnostischer Frühwarnsysteme für die Arbeit in virtuellen Unternehmen (founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research)
02/2001-09/2002 Contigra (Component-oriented Three-dimensional Interactive Graphical Applications)

Research sub-projects

Projector Phones

It is expected that projector phones (mobile phones with an integrated pico projector) will hit the market in the next few years. So far no research exists regarding how mobile applications should be designed when using a projection and which applications will profit from such a large high-resolution display. In this project we analyse different application areas like photo browsing or map interaction, develop corresponding prototypes, develop software and interface widgets for such system, and provide guidelines and best practices for the development of applications for projector phones.

References:

Touch & Interact

Using Touch & Interact, a person is able to touch a corresponding screen with their mobile device in order to perform interactions. The approach is comparable to a touch screen but the mobile phone replaces the finger during interaction. Consequently, the mobile phone can be utilized throughout the interaction offering: an auxiliary display, audio and haptic feedback, storage capabilities and connectivity for Internet access.

References:

Automatic Form Filling on Mobile Devices

Filling out forms of web based services on mobile devices is a very time consuming and frustrating task for users because of the limited text input capabilities. This is a critical point to get a wide acceptance of such services, especially mobile commerce that often requires filling user data. We developed an architecture based on a local proxy on a mobile device and a lightweight algorithm for a comprehensive analysis of forms, which leads to the highest probable user data to be filled in, driven by an initial rule set. The references below discuss our implementation and the evaluation results of the algorithm as well as the usability of the prototype.

References:

Rotating Compass

In the rotating compass interaction technique that aims at public spaces, we combine a public display that shows directions with a synchronized output on a personal device. In this system a compass with a rotating needle is shown on the public display . When the compass needle points in the desired direction, the mobile device of the user vibrates. This unobtrusive cue, allows the user to navigate without listening to or looking at the mobile device.

References:

Contextual Bookmarks

Using our Contextual Bookmark system a user can define a snapshot with her mobile phone consisting of a picture, time stamp and location. Such a bookmark can then be stored on the mobile phone, exchanged with friends, and in particular be used to access related videos, web pages, and other services. This helps the user to bridge the gap between the virtual and the real world in order to use related services. By combining content and context analysis objects are recognized without any visual markers or electronic tags.

References:

Mobile Interaction in Smart Environments

Other work has shown that mobile devices can act as universal remote controls for interaction with smart objects but, to date, there has been no research which has analyzed when a given mobile interaction technique should be used. In this project we analyzed the appropriateness of the three interaction techniques touching, pointing and scanning as selection techniques in smart environments.

References:

PMIF (Physical Mobile Interaction Framework)

The Physical Mobile Interaction Framework (PMIF) was developed to support the rapid development of mobile applications and services based on physical mobile interactions. PMIF supports different implementations of the interaction techniques touching, pointing, scanning and user-mediated object selection. Furthermore it is possible to easily integrate new interaction techniques through a plug-and-play mechanism. In addition to that provides PMIF a simple and uniform stream metaphor to communicate with augmented objects.

References:

Perci (PERvasive serviCe Interaction)

In order to facilitate and leverage mobile interaction with services, a generic framework that combines Semantic Web Service technology and Physical Mobile Interaction was developed. This interaction paradigm uses mobile devices to extract information from augmented physical objects and use it for a more intuitive and convenient invocation of associated services. The framework exploits Web Service descriptions for the automatic and dynamic generation of customizable user interfaces that support and facilitate Physical Mobile Interaction. This generic approach to mobile interaction with services through the interaction with physical objects promises to meet the complementary development of the Internet of Things. A user study with a prototype application for mobile ticketing confirms the concept and shows its limits.

References:

Context-aware Mobile Services

In this project a novel adaptation architecture as well as a process for the development of policy based adaptive services for mobile commerce was developed. The architecture is based on three basic requirements and defines the four core elements context, policies, policy decision point and policy enforcement point. The feasibility of the architecture as well as of the process is shown based on a prototype which implements a typical scenario for an adaptive mobile service.

References:

Mobile Services for Near Field Communication

Using physical objects as entry points to data and services can ease mobile information access. Near Field Communication (NFC), which is an extension of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, has the potential to bring mobile devices and physical objects together. This project assesses the capabilities NFC technology offers. We report on a study that we have implemented and tested with users which demonstrates the new possibilities for physical mobile interactions.

References:

Privacy and Curiosity in Mobile Interactions with Public Displays

Personal multimedia devices like mobile phones create new needs for larger displays distributed at specific points in the environment to look up information about the current place, playing games or exchanging multimedia data. The technical prerequisites are covered; however, using public displays always exposing information. In this project we look at these issues from the privacy as well as from the curiosity perspective with several studies showing and confirming users reservations against public interactions. Interactive advertisements can exploit this best using specific types of interaction techniques.

References:

JaGD - An Photo Oriented Learning and Gaming Platform for Mobile Phones

Mobile phones with camera and network connections are ubiquitously available. In this project we developed a platform for photo oriented games and learning applications that make use of such devices. The system consists of a web based authoring tool and a runtime environment on the mobile phone. Games and learning applications are made up of a set of tasks that have to be carried and documented with the phone camera. Results are uploaded to a server. The server supports discussion and voting on pictures.

References: