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Research paper : Cyber Assist project as service science (H. Nakashima et al.)−110−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.3 No.2 (2010) Since we put our stress on outcomes (applications to society), we adopted a coordinatorNote 3) from the beginning. His activity was significant and resulted in hiring an industrial designerNote 4) and a head of a patent attorney office as our part-time advisor. A young patent agent attended every CARC meetings to assess patentability of our ideas. Proper management of intellectual properties is essential for joint research with private companies or establishment of venture companies. He also drafted rules for AIST consortiums because the Cyber Assist Consortium was the first one in AIST and there was no rule for it.3 Research scenarioThe Cyber Assist project has two characteristics as “ubiquitous computing” and “service science”. Ubiquitous computing aims at establishing ubiquitous human assist by ubiquitous computers, and it is essential to have interfaces that do not make users aware of the existence of those computers. Vastness of the range of related basic technologies makes it difficult to focus on narrow research areas. The following research topics are therefore not consistently organized nor cover all areas of the Cyber Assist project. Moreover, the project’s emphasis on practice as service science makes the list of technological issues detailed and long. It is difficult to write a traditional research paper with a clear storyNote 5).3.1 Location-based communicationThe research area of CARC is “grounding information world to the real world”. Many kinds of real-world information must be acquired and utilized to ground information content to the real world. Location is far more important and useful as information compared to others. We proposed the concept of “location-based communication” in our early stage of research[5][6]. Location-based communication uses location of devices as the target address of communication, instead of uniquely identifiable addresses such as phone numbers or IP addresses. Use of location can hide the identity of the user for privacy protection at the same time enhancing situated (recently called “context-aware”) support: Current information communication uses ID-based communication in the sense that communication is transmitted toward a uniquely identifiable ID of a user or a device, such as phone numbers, IP addresses, or MAC address of the hardware. To relay communication, there addresses are distributed world-wide. When the ID of an individual person is published as such, privacy cannot be protected. For example, when you pay by electrical means such as a credit card, your identity may be revealed. On the other hand, if you do not have the ID, you cannot even electronically communicate with a person in front of you and the system cannot support your every-day communication needs.To implement useful communication systems for every-day life, while guaranteeing free societal life and economical activities, we need a communication technology that do not use personal or device ID for the target address. At the same time, we have to develop security enhancing technology to prevent malicious use of anonymity to support both privacy and security. (quoted from early CARC home page)Location-based communication is also important for realizing situated user interface. For example, automatic gates at train stations are operated by the principle of location-based services. By physically restricting the space to allow only one person at a time, the system maps a user to payment. If a SuicaNote 6) card is readable from 5 m distance, then the system cannot map the person to the payment, and the service breaks down. If the user’s location cannot be used, then additional authentication is required and the interface of the system becomes more complicated. We claim that use of location information makes the interface simple. A similar idea is adopted in CoBIT system described later (section 4.1).3.2 My-ButtonCARC proposed a conceptual idea of an ultimate situated user interface “My-Button” [7]. It is a personal terminal with only one button (Fig. 4). This concept is rather a show model than a realistic design, to signify the target image of one-bit communication to provide “what I need, here and now”, just like the communication of an old couple who is like a synchronized instrument each anticipating the other’s wishes. The terminal understands and shares the situation with the user and functions properly without detailed instruction from the user. It is proposed as an ultimate image of a simple and natural interface. In practice, we need more than one button although it is still true that a small number of buttons is preferable. The concept at the same time claims that complete automation with no buttons is not good. The final authority must be left to the user.We believe that we need this kind of idealized goal in constructive research that is neither needs-oriented nor seeds-oriented. The research scenario and the application Fig. 3 Organization of Research Teams of CARCUserDeviceMultiagentarchitectureSoftwareIntelligent contentUser interface

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