Evolving Human-Device Interaction in the Context of Ubiquitous Computing

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering


PhD Thesis Defence


Title: "Evolving Human-Device Interaction in the Context of Ubiquitous 
Computing"

By

Mr. Yongpan ZOU


Abstract

Sensing, computing and communicating are three basic elements of the 
Internet of Things (IoT). Benefited from hardware innovation, present 
devices have been enhanced to such a extent that even a palm-sized device 
can enjoy powerful sensing, computing and communicating performance. This 
consequently promotes the broad applications of ubiquitous computing and 
blurs the boundary between human and device. In such a situation, the 
human-device interaction (HDI) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous around 
us and covers a wide range of applications including context sensing, 
gesture recognition, text entry and the like. In this thesis, we follow a 
line of exploring different approaches of designing human-device 
interactive systems for three main purposes.

Specifically, we propose four novel systems in this thesis covering three 
aspects of human-device interaction from perspective of applications, 
namely, context sensing, gesture recognition and text entry. In the first 
work, we propose a novel system to aid users distinguish in-wall objects 
and map hidden pipeline layout, using off-the-shelf sensors embedded in 
smartphones. In the second work, we design a objects distinguishing system 
named TagFree with commodity Wi-Fi infrastructure, which differentiate 
single object and up to three objects simultaneously with favorable 
performance. Compared with conventional methods, this system removes the 
need of additional devices attached to objects. Following the above work 
in context sensing, we also conduct research in gesture recognition and 
text entry with commercial devices. In the third work, we develop GRfid, a 
novel device-free gesture recognition system based on phase information 
output by COTS RFID devices, which is potentially applied in smart homes, 
museums and art galleries where RFID technology is widely utilized. In the 
last work, we present a novel text entry-system, AcouTexts, aiming at 
dealing with problem of inputting text on devices with tiny screens. With 
AcouText, users can enter texts to a device by  just using a finger even 
without touching the device. We prototype the above systems with commodity 
devices/infrastructure, and evaluate their performances with real-world 
measurements.


Date:			Friday, 20 January 2017

Time:			3:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue:			Room 3494
 			Lifts 25/26

Chairman:		Prof. Pascale Fung (ECE)

Committee Members:	Prof. Lei Chen (Supervisor)
 			Prof. Lionel Ni
 			Prof. Qiong Luo
 			Prof. Xiaojuan Ma
 			Prof. Ping Gao (CBME)
 			Prof. Jiannong Cao (Comp., PolyU)


**** ALL are Welcome ****