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The article reports that tangible user interfaces (TUIs) incorporate physical objects as sensors and effectors that, when manipulated, modify computational behavior. To enable the construction of TUIs, systems distinguish and identify physical objects, determine their location, orientation, or other aspects of their physical state, support annotations on them, and associate them with different computational states. To do this, TUIs use technologies such as radio emitters, bar codes, or computer vision. The first tangible paper system, the DigitalDesk, incorporates paper via computer vision. The DigitalDesk could copy and paste printed text or numbers from paper into digital documents, enabling the user to manipulate the information electronically. The article also describes that with flexible multimodal interfaces users can take advantage of more than one of their natural communication modes during human-computer interaction, selecting the best mode or combination of modes that suit their situation and task.

This article offers an overview of papers presented at the Third International Conference on Information Systems held in Ann Arbor, Michigan from December 13 to 15, 1982. Abdel-Hamid and Madnick focused on the problem of estimating resource requirements and schedules for software development projects. Hart Wills explored the idea of a single, unified interface to provide auditors with the access they need in computer-based accounting environment. The paper by Mason and Carey is concerned with the area of information systems design.

The technique of building prototypes on paper and testing them with real users is called low-fidelity prototyping or "lo-fi" for short. The value of prototyping is widely recognized, but value is not always gained in practice. Lo-fi prototyping, which requires little more in the way of implementation skills than the ones learned in kindergarten. Paper prototyping is potentially a breakthrough idea for organizations that have never tried it, since it allows to demonstrate the behavior of an interface very early in development, and test designs with real users. If quality is partially a function of the number of iterations and refinements a design undergoes before it hits the street, lo-fi prototyping is a technique that can dramatically increase quality. It is fast, it brings results early in development and allows a team to try far more ideas than they could with high-fidelity prototypes. For years software developers have used everything from demo-builders to multimedia tools to high-level languages to build prototypes.

Different battery chemistries perform better on different axes, such as energy density, cost, peak power, recharge time, longevity, and efficiency. Mobile system designers are constrained by existing technology, and are forced to select a single chemistry that best meets their diverse needs, thereby compromising other desirable features. In this paper, we present a new hardware-software system, called Software Defined Battery (SDB), which allows system designers to integrate batteries of different chemistries. SDB exposes application programming interfaces (APIs) to the operating system, which controls the amount of charge flowing in and out of each battery, enabling it to dynamically trade one battery property for another depending on application and/or user needs. Using microbenchmarks from our prototype SDB implementation, and through detailed simulations, we demonstrate that it is possible to combine batteries which individually excel along different axes to deliver an enhanced collective performance when compared to traditional battery packs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Touché sensor project of the Disney Research group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that has developed a Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing technique that distinguishes kinds of touch on various surfaces. Topics include the touchscreen market, government regulations regarding radio frequencies, possible applications of the sensor technology, and the analysis of data collected from a machine learning system. The research paper "Touché: Enhancing Touch Interaction on Humans, Screens, Liquids, and Everyday Objects" is mentioned.

The article discusses innovative computer displays. Emerging technologies, as well as creative use of existing ones, will make possible displays far more versatile than traditional, solid, rectangular devices. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) require no backlighting and could well form the basis for future displays capable of being bent or twisted. Flexible electrophoretic displays in irregular shapes have already emerged. Discrete light-emitting diodes can be distributed over flexible substrates to create bendable media.

The relational model of data, the XRM Relational Memory System, and the SEQUEL language have been covered in previous papers and are reviewed. SEQUEL is a relational data sublanguage intended for ad hoc interactive problem solving by non-computer specialists. A version of SEQUEL that has been implemented in a prototype interpreter is described. The Interpreter is designed to minimize the data accessing operations required to respond to an arbitrary query. The optimization algorithms designed for this purpose are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNIX is a general-purpose, multi-user, interactive operating system for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11/40 and 11/45 computers. It offers a number of features seldom found even in larger operating systems, including: (1) a hierarchical file system incorporating demountable volumes; (2) compatible file, device, and inter-process I/O; (3) the ability to initiate asynchronous processes; (4) system command language selectable on a per-user basis; and (5) over 100 subsystems including a dozen languages. This paper discusses the nature and implementation of the file system and of the user command interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text is not the only data that needs editing; for example, file deletion utilities edit directories. If all "editors" used the same command language, they would be easier to learn, remember, and code. This paper describes a generalized editor that edits text, directories, binary core images, and certain operating system data with a single user interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a description of a fusion-based multimodal map system called Sketch-Thru-Plan (STP), that enables the rapid creation of operational plans with command and control (C2) software for military ground operations. Topics include the Deep Green program of DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency); user interfaces such as Graphical User Interface (GUI) and mobile interfaces that utilize speech, touch and handwriting; and the training requirements for various interface systems.

The article discusses innovations in user interfaces. Advances in such technologies as electrophoretic ink, light-emitting polymers, and organic thin-film circuits will make possible an exciting new generation of digital devices. Three emerging themes in particular stand out. The future will see computing technology that incorporates both input and output functions within a single interface. Flexible electronic media will make possible output displays of any shape. In addition, this flexibility will enable a single device to assume different shapes.

The article discusses computer coding education, particularly focusing upon the need for the development of values, pedagogies and educational strategies that benefit students. It discusses the use of programming interfaces such as Scratch, student motivation as it relates to coding, and presents four guiding principles of creative learning.

The article examines the relationship between computer software and architecture and discusses how innovations in software can influence architectural advancement. Particular attention is given to improvements in the hardware/software interface.

The article discusses a networking architecture, called software-defined networking (SDN), which uses standardized application programming interfaces (API) to enable network programmers to reconfigure the handling of data or resources within a network. Topics covered include the use of API in network applications, the attention received by SDN from players in the virtualization and cloud computing sector, and the use of northbound API interface in SDN. It also provides a chart illustrating the architecture of SDN.

The article discusses the development of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies which can be used to help paralyzed individuals interact with their environment, communicate, and move. The author examines problems in laboratory logistics, data-processing systems, and working with team members who come from separate disciplines such as neuroscience, physics, and electrical engineering. Research scientist Dawn Taylor discusses her work on systems which use brain signals to cause movement in individuals with damaged spinal cords, while Gerwin Schalk, who directs the BCI2000 project, looks at the development of noninvasive sensors.

The article discusses OpenSocial API computer software suite, a program interface that can create interoperable application software within the context of multiple online social networks. The OpenSocial's standard can be used by a social network to give third-parties access to the network's social graph. The applications are based on gadget architecture and standard Web technologies. Social networking platforms can offer People and Relationships and Activities and Notifications services with OpenSocial API.

The article reports that state-of-the-art multimodal interfaces can process two or more combined input modes using recognition-based technologies in order to accurately identify users or to interpret their communicative intent. There are several classes of multimodal systems that are relatively mature, including ones that process speech and manual input, audiovisual speech input, and multibiometric input. In many important ways, these new interface designs emulate basic biological principles and systems, including the coordinated multimodal communication patterns that have evolved so impressively in humans. During multimodal communication, people's multisensory perception can achieve remarkable accuracy through fusion of different information sources.

The article focuses on the notion of human capital and discusses the role of learning in the development of interface loyalty by users. The authors found by their research that users acquire skills that are easily transferable from one interface to the other. It was also found that non-transferable skills result in a greater relative preference for the incumbent interface. Elaborating the human capital model, the authors state that users direct their search activities to maximize the gain of their accumulated expertise. It is viewed that the human capital model should act as an important principle in design of electronic interfaces for online shopping. The authors suggest that non-transferable user skills should be encouraged to promote user loyalty.

This article argues that designing a search system and interface may best be served and executed by scrutinizing usability studies. Unfortunately, most studies of search behavior are inconclusive about how to improve the system, but some consistencies do emerge about what works. This article summarizes which search features tend to work well, and which fail, in practice. Throughout this article, the assumption is that the user population consists of people who do not specialize in search and who have only basic knowledge of how to use computers. First and foremost, most users engaged in directed searchers are not interested in search for its own sake; thus systems that make users focus on the operations for performing search are seldom successful. Feature found to work well across studies are color highlighting of search terms in result listings; sorting of search results along criteria such as date and author; and grouping search results according to well-organized category labels. Certain features are helpful in principle, but only work in practice if the underlying algorithms are highly accurate and if the interface is carefully designed. Some examples of such features include spelling correction, automated term expansion, and simple relevance feedback, in which the user selects one item and the system shows items that are similar in scope along several dimensions.

The article focuses on the evolution of in-vehicle entertainment equipment for automobiles. The author focuses on how Apple computer's CarPlay, along with information services company Google’s Android Auto, allow owners of personal wireless devices to bring their own device and pair it with automobiles built by different automakers. Topics include the design of in-vehicle entertainment systems, integration with mobile phones, and other technologies being added to automobiles that are designed to reduce driver distractions.

The article focuses on issues facing the Distributed Mission Training (DMT) community and ways that the High Level Architecture (HLA) supports the development of simulation systems. The article states that flexible, interacting simulations provide a foundation for successful DMT applications. HLA, for simulation systems is designed to facilitate reuse and interoperability of a wide range of virtual and live systems in DMT. HLT is formally defined by three component namely, the interface specification, the object model template and High Level Architecture rules. The motivation behind HLA is that a common architecture allows leveraging investments in simulation capabilities to meet changing user needs. HLT is based on the premise that no single simulation can satisfy requirements of all uses and users. An individual simulation or set of simulations developed for a purpose can be applied to another application under the HLA concept of federation, a composable set of interacting simulations. The intent of HLA is to provide a structure that will support reuse of capabilities available in different simulations.

An approach for implementing a "smart" interface to support a relational view of data is proposed. The basic idea is to employ automatic programming techniques so that the interface analyzes and efficiently refines the high level query specification supplied by the user. A relational algebra interface, called SQUIRAL, which was designed using this approach, is described in detail. SQUIRAL seeks to minimize query response time and space utilization by: (1) performing global query optimization, (2) exploiting disjoint and pipelined concurrency, (3) coordinating sort orders in temporary relations, (4) employing directory analysis, and (5) maintaining locality in page references. Algorithms for implementing the operators of E. F. Codd's relational algebra are presented, and a methodology for composing them to optimize the performance of a particular user query is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on issues concerning the growth of high performance computing. The ability and capacity of computing systems continue to increase at an ever-quickening pace. This trend is perhaps most evident in desktop computers where increased performance manifests itself as a proliferation in the number and types of services available. Such computers now found in tens of millions of homes and business around the globe. The emergence of the World Wide Web has produced another trend, the dynamic use of multiple physical computer systems viewed by the end user as a single system. These kinds of systems are considered as continuous. A third trend is the implementation of interfaces that abstract the use of the computer from details of its hardware and software configuration, a quality that might be called "pervasiveness." Supercomputer, large scientific instruments such as electron microscopes and multiterabyte scientific databases, data archives and digital libraries are also becoming ubiquitous, continuous and pervasive.

The article explores the role of virtual reality (VR) in scientific visualization. Scientific visualization is the user of computer graphics to create visual images that aid in the understanding of complex numerical representations of scientific concepts or results. Such numerical representations, or data sets, may be the output of numerical simulations. VR displays aid in the unambiguous display of these structures by providing a rich set of spatial and depth cues. Virtual reality interface concepts allow the rapid and intuitive exploration of the volume containing the data, enabling the phenomena at various places in the volume to be explored, as well as provide simple control of the visualization environment through interfaces integrated into the environment. Virtual reality and scientific visualization are well matched for several reasons, in addition to inherently three-dimensional display and control. Virtual reality application developers can identify scientific visualization problems that can immediately benefit from a virtual reality interface with the current state of the technology.

The article focuses on the development of a geometric modeling and animation system for virtual reality (VR). The bottom level of this system infrastructure is the MT Toolkit that provides low-level support for VR applications. The next level of the infrastructure is the Object Modeling Language (OML) that is used to describe object geometry and behavior. The MR Toolkit provides low-level support for the design and implementation of virtual reality applications. OML is similar to the C language, with extensions for geometry, object-oriented programming and behavior specification. The object design process can be divided into two parts: geometrical design and behavior design. Both aspects of the design process are handled by one tool, JCAD+. This gives the designer an integrated enviromnent for object production. JCAD+ provides a programmer-oriented interface that allows the user to enter the OML code for behaviors. The behavior design techniques used in JCAD+ and similar tools are good for simple behaviors, but can be quite difficult to use for more complex ones.

his article will bring Communications readers up to date on the legal developments affecting compatibility. The principal reason copyright lawyers perceive a big difference between user interfaces and internal interfaces is because these lawyers can see user interfaces of programs whereas they generally cannot see internal interfaces. Since copyright law has traditionally focused on protecting visible things such as texts and images, copyright lawyers can more easily analogize user interfaces to that with which copyright has ample experience. Because of their relative invisibility, internal interfaces are more difficult to assimilate to copyright concepts. Copyright lawyers also conceive of internal interfaces as abstract elements of programs whereas they conceive of user interface elements such as command menus, icons, or windows as having a more literal character. They tend to see some artistry or fancifulness in user interface designs, but generally regard internal interfaces as entirely lacking in artistic character.

Each designer of interactive systems evolves, of necessity, a set of precepts for the creation of user-friendly systems. Examples are, use menus, no more than seven choices, maintain a consistent format, develop error responses that do not provoke anxiety. Research findings are used to support and guide the development of these and the many other existing precepts. Although it may not be immediately apparent, such precepts arise from one basic all-encompassing guideline, an interface which is as attractive and useful as possible is modeled so that it flows in parallel with the cognitive expectations of the target users. Authors label the design of systems so they proceed and interact with the user in a manner parallel to the flow of the user's own thought process Cognitive Match Interface Design. The goal is to make the interface an extension of the user so its use requires no conscious attention. The user is empowered to focus his/her entire concentration on the problem at hand. Although large sums are spent by industry for the purchase of tabular and graphic display packages, and although important decisions are regularly made based on data organized by means of such packages, little uncontested knowledge is available concerning the relative efficacy of tables and the various forms of graphs.

The article analyzes the broader issue of the relation between user preferences and performances across a wide range of computer systems and usage situations, in which the exact measures used as proxies for preference and performance varied according to whatever was most appropriate for specific circumstances of each study. Besides the theoretical interest in how users' subjective experiential feelings reflect their actual performance, the relation between these two usability variables is also of interest from the practical discount usability-engineering perspective. Simply asking users how they like an interface must be one of the cheapest usability-engineering methods available, and it would thus be beneficial if one could expect the users' answers to also reflect their performance, which is normally more expensive to measure. Because of data availability constraints, the present metaanalysis only considers the relation between the average subjective satisfaction of a group of users and the average performance of the same group. It is thus most appropriate for usability-engineering scenarios in which a single choice has to be made for all intended users of a certain group.

This article presents a framework for generating and evaluating names for computer interfaces. The naming problem for computer interfaces is one of choosing labels so that they convey intended meanings. For this communication to succeed, both users and developers must rely on assumptions about what their counterparts know and intend. The experiences with computer systems is that more than one group is involved in their development and use, so not only must dialect differences be considered, but so must the disparate interpretation of names that are shared among groups. Therefore, naming is not a matter of finding the specific name, but rather it is one of finding a set of possible names and choosing what is appropriate based on an understanding of the intended language conventions. The concept underlying pragmatics is that communications depends on assumptions made by language users about what their counterparts know and intend. Good names at minimum should not violate the users' expectations. They should either denote conventional meanings with the conventional form, or they should advertise the arrival of novel meanings with a novel form.

Reports on the application of traditional dialogue design to modern user interfaces. Usability problems in windows, icons, menus and pointing device interface style (WIMP) interfaces; Unnatural elements in a graphical interface; Principles for the design of usable dialogues.

The article discusses how trade secret law, copyright and patent law would treat claims to ownership of computer interfaces, illustrated by the lawsuit filed by Nintendo of America Inc. against Atari Corp. Nintendo claims several intellectual property rights in its interface. It holds a patent for a method of verifying, by software installed in a processing unit in the video game hardware console and in processing units of the individual game cartridges, that the game cartridge has the interface necessary to operate in the Nintendo console. Nintendo also claims copyright protection for the software in both the console and the game cartridges. Nintendo claims Atari has infringed its copyrights because, although Atari's interface program is not identical to Nintendo's, Atari's program produces the same sequence of bits as the Nintendo program, and consequently Atari is said to be singing a Nintendo-owned tune. Nintendo further claims that the detailed internal interface specifications embedded in the software are its trade secrets which Atari obtained unlawfully by making unauthorized copies of the interface programs in order to reverse engineer them, thereby infringing the program copyrights.

Several letters and responses to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues, including "Pygmalion at the Interface," in the July 1986 issue, one related to software aspects of the Strategic Defense Initiative in the September 1986 issue and one that comments on the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) election results.

This article presents an application support system for managing user interfaces. Application support systems can be categorized as top down and bottom up. The top-down tools suffer from being too far removed from the user, which makes functions that require additional user input problematic. The bottom-up tools, on the other hand, lend to be so far removed from the overall logic of the program that the programmer receives no support for things like command processing. Furthermore, the bottom-up tools that are currently available either provide little functionality or require that a fairly sophisticated, technical person provide the specifications. When both effective bottom-up tools and top-down tools are provided, the resulting application support system enables the programmer to concentrate on the solution to a particular problem and spend far less time than heretofore on the details of the user interaction. The people involved in an application project are the programmer, application manager, and the end user.

A method for reducing semaphore and ready-list contention in multiprocessor operating systems is described. Its correctness is established. Its performance is compared with conventional implementations. A ready list implemented as a ring network is proposed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An algorithm to copy a binary tree in linear time using bounded workspace is presented. The algorithm does not modify the original tree at any time. The copy is constructed in such a way that it can be traversed in a read-only fashion even before the copying process is complete, provided one can distinguish between the original and the copy. The traversal can be carried out in parallel with the copying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future systems that combine computers, digital terminals, and communications equipment present design optimization problems that require reconsideration of the traditional functional responsibilities of the respective subsystems. Several "standard" interfaces, by means of which computers and digital terminals connect to the communications systems will be required. When specifying these interfaces, consideration must be given to problems of coordination, synchronization, error control, signaling, stream multiplexing, and switch control, in addition to minimizing the technological interdependence of specific subsystem designs. A focus on some of the problems is obtained in a discussion of a detailed specification for a particular computer-communications system interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the characteristics of an interactive software system, intended to constitute an interface between designer and computer during various steps of the design process. Features of the two high level user oriented languages, operating at different levels, on which the interaction is based; Application of an interactive software system to computer-aided circuit design.

The article discusses the efforts of computer scientists and companies to improve the gestural, multitouch interfaces on high technology products. Combinations of finger and hand gestures allow technology users to manipulate and display information in new and innovative ways, the article states. The judicious combination of simple finger gestures and screen interfaces that make the iPhone's interface popular with consumers are described. Also discussed is the "Magic Wall" that the Perceptive Pixel company sold to the CNN television network.

The article discusses features of interface devices that provide a richer, more organic user experience. Such organic designs incorporate into the inherently digital realm of computing the analog nature of human motion. A simple example is the computer mouse. More recently, flexible electronic materials have made possible prototypes of mice that provide input by both spatial positioning and physical deformation. Nintendo's Wii gaming device and the iPhone from Apple Inc. are two examples of commercial products that can receive input via motion or touch interactions.

The article discusses the effect of computer technology on intellectual property law. A 1986 appellate court decision gave broad copyright protection to computer software. Those protections were diminished in 1992 by another court decision affecting software interface specifications. A subsequent rulings permitted making copies of software code for legitimate purposes. Although it now appears that only program code and certain aspects of screen display are protected, many patents issues during the 1990s may not be valid today.

Windows/SQL server client server architecture comprises of personal computers running windows applications with SQL server, a relational database management system, as the primary server application. The client application is an executable that runs on top of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The user controls the client application by initiating keyboard and mouse events. These events generate recognizable Microsoft Windows system messages that are trapped by the windows application and are used to trigger application functions. Application functions in turn call DB-Library functions. DB-Library is the application programmer interface (API) to SQL server. It is used to establish and break connections with the server and to submit and recieve data processing requests, primarily in terms of SQL. On the SQL-server side, each server application is made of data, tables, indices and other relational database objects. The server receives requests from the client application through Lan Manager.