PALplates: An Experiment in Ubiquitous Computing

Vision

Wouldn't it be great if computers were better integrated into our work environment providing access and information where and when it is needed.

Currently information that may or may not belong to our desktop computers is being collected on them. It contributes to, what is generally referred to as the information overload problem. Why not change from the "information management from your desktop computer" approach to "handling information where it belongs" approach?

Scenarios

Finally, at 2:30 am in the morning you finish your report which your boss wants to see first thing in the morning. You walk up to the printer to pick-up your printout. The printer runs out of paper. Where is paper stored ...
You leave your office for a meeting in room 100. You forward your phone to the phone number in that room. Well, room 100 is already occupied and you land up in room 105. Should you walk back to your office to change the forwarding on your phone ...
You walk up to Bob's office. Bob is not there. Where could he be ...

Solution

What if your company had PALplates by the printers/copiers/fax machines, in the hallways, on office doors, and all over the building? A PALplate is a sleek touch screen electronic device that conveys information where and when it is needed. A user can obtain relevant on-site information, or access their personal PALplate, or navigate to other PALplates in the office area. PALplates are a point-of-use information system for the office.

Features of a PALplate

  • Has a web-like interface for ease of navigation.
  • Is touch sensitive, so people can use it with their fingers.
  • Has a microphone.
  • Has a earphone jack/speaker.
  • Is roughly the same size as a typical nameplate at office doors.

    • Scenarios Revisited

    Finally at 2:30 am in the morning you finish your report which your boss wants to see first thing in the morning. You walk up to the printer to pick-up your printout. The printer runs out of paper. Where is paper stored ... Just press the touch screen button "Supplies" on the PALplate on the wall next to the printer. Now you know that paper is stored in room 432451 under the second table on left hand side.
    You leave your office for a meeting in room 100. You forward your phone to the phone number in that room. Well, room 100 is already occupied and you land up in room 105. Should you walk back to your office to change the forwarding on your phone ...Just authenticate yourself to the PALplate outside room 105 and change the settings for your phone as well as on your room's PALplate regarding your location. Good thing that the PALplates, computers and phones are on the same network. You press the "Forward Phone" button and since PALplate has your authentication it knows which phone to forward to the phone number in room 105.
    You walk up to Bob's office. Bob is not there. Where could he be ...Just press the touch screen button "Public Messages" on the PALplate on Bob's office door. Now you know that he is in room 432460. You could go there or you can just leave a message by pressing the "Leave-a-message" button on his PALplate.

    More Scenarios

    You go to pick-up a printout. You notice that there is only one sheaf of paper remaining in stock. Will you remember to send an e-mail or call the purchasing officer ...You don't have to. Just press the "Purchase Request" button on the PALplate by the printer. Step through the simple ordering process. The order is e-mailed to the purchasing officer when you finish.
    You are at the printer to pick-up a printout. You realize that you forgot to print chapter 2 of your book. Do you have to walk back to office and then come back to the printer room ...No. Just flash your office id-card to the PALplate hanging on the wall next to the printer. You see the familiar home page from your directory. You sift down a few directories and select chapter 2 to be printed.
    What a rush? But things are finally under control. You are now in the airport terminal waiting for boarding any time soon. Shoot!! You completely forgot to tell Prof. Forgetall that you will not be in office. He probably is already on his way. A simple note on your door could have directed the professor to Mr. Noall for signing the contract to release his research findings. Do you drive back to office .. No, you don't have to. Call on the phone and leave a voice message for the professor on your PALplate.
    You are walking by Cathy's office. You walk-in to tell her that tomorrow is good for lunch. She is not in her office. You do not have any paper to leave her a message on, you do not certainly see any that you could use from her office. Will you remember to call her from your office after the 3 hr. long meeting starting in a minute... You don't have to. Press the "Audio Messages" button on her PALplate and just talk into it.
    A visitor takes the elevator up to your office floor. He wants to visit you. He has your office number 432410 but how to get there does not look obvious...Fortunately there is a PALplate hanging on the front wall. He presses the "Floor Map" button. Your office is clearly the third room on right hand side after turning on the first left.
    The HP-Way is certainly popular. How do you get to hear what your employees really think? Everyone may not be very comfortable in talking to the management...Putting a "Suggestions" button on the PALplates in the coffee room seems like a good solution.
    You are in the coffee room. You have a meeting to go to in the conference room but you do not remember what time exactly is the meeting going to start. You think it is somewhere around now! Are you going to walk back to your office and lookup your folders of email messages to locate old messages...You don't have to. Just press the "Schedules" button on the PALplate in the coffee room and now you know that you have another 15 minutes before the meeting.
    You just finished a meeting with researchers in your group. People are a bit tired. Everyone thinks another meeting is necessary to solve the issue at hand. Is the room available at 9:30 tomorrow morning...Simple. Press the "Schedule" button on the PALplate outside the conference room. Good thing you checked this conference room is busy all day tomorrow. You press the Up button and navigate your way to the Yuki conference rooms UI. Press the reservations button and luckily find it available at 9:30 tomorrow.
    Diane sends information about Aki's schedule to everyone. Roughly 30 messages are delivered whether they are used by receiver's or not, at that time. Can one easily get to the mail message when he/she wants to find out if Aki is in town...Not always. Simply access Aki's PALplate calendar and you can find out. Diane has to only keep the calendar updated.

    Tasks by Location

    PALplates have a location dependent, customized user interface to meet the requirements of a particular location.

    All PALplates have: Public Announcements, Suggestion box, Administration, Up button and Internet phone.

    PALplates allow one to authenticate themselves and access their personal PALpages with Private calendar, Check voice mail and other location dependent functions

    Printer: Print files by accessing your personal filesystem, Display the print queue, Remove a job from queue, Supplies information, Order supplies, Complaints, On-site help/manual.

    Fascimile: Fax files by accessing your personal filesystem, Customize fax cover sheets, Supplies information, Order supplies, Complaints, On-site help/manual.

    Copier: Supplies information, Order supplies, Complaints, On-site help/manual.

    Multifunction Devices: Supplies information, Order supplies, Complaints, On-site help/manual.

    Meeting/Conference/Auditorium Room: Phone forwarding, Conference room schedule, Conference room reservation, Audio/Video equipment request, Controls information.

    Coffee Room: News, Supplies, Order food, Conference room schedule, Phone forwarding.

    Visitors Entry-way: Interactive floor/building maps, People, Art work, Conference room schedule.

    Personal Offices: Public calendar, Accept voice mail, Messages for visitors, Phone forwarding. (many types)

    Library: Search for books/articles, Check-in, Check-out, Conditional recall.

    Stores:

    Filing Room:

    Patio: Conference room schedule, Phone forwarding.

    Lobby: Conference room schedule.

    Tasks by Action

  • Send email from fax machines regarding arrival of faxes for others.
  • Give print commands to printers at site or other locations.
  • Remove tasks from print queue.
  • Keep audio messages.
  • Keep location specific schedules/calendars.
  • Display maps and animations of directions.
  • Act as a suggestion box.
  • Keep location relevant information e.g: paper storage information near copiers/printers/faxes.
  • Accept location dependent commands, e.g: order paper from printer sites.
  • Accept location independent commands, e.g: reserve conference room from anywhere.
  • Make internet phone calls.
  • Print at the nearest printer by walking up to it, without knowing the name of the printer.
  • Access calendar/schedules of remote sites e.g: Aki's calendar.

    • Strategic

    PALplates fit in the realm of office of the future. In the short term they are manifestations of office information systems. They allow a new distributed, point-of-access model of office information management. In the long term, they represent a step towards ubiquitous computing. It is perhaps possible to think of them as next generation of telephones. People could use them to call up their offices and do more than just talk to others.

    PALplates will be a unique technology from FXPAL. An experiment tried at PARC called 'PARC pad' has an apparent resemblance to this idea. However, PARC pads were designed as an experiment in mobile computing with laptop size devices in mind. These pads have not been designed with office information system and information where-and-when it is needed ideology in mind. They run X windows and do not lend to the web-like interface envisioned for PALplates.

    PALplates is an experiment and the challenge is to make it successful in a real office.