NOVEL APPLICATIONS FOR EMERGING MARKETS USING TELEVISION AS A UBIQUITOUS DEVICE

Arpan Pal

Publikation: Ph.d.-afhandling

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Abstract

According to Mark Weiser, who is known as the father of ubiquitous computing, the most profound technologies are those that disappear and disappearance of technology is the fundamental requirement for ubiquity. Ubiquitous computing is more about computing for the purpose of communication and for the purpose of information access anytime everywhere. As we enter the ubiquitous computing era, the main aspect of ubiquity will be how these computing devices disseminate information to end-users. As of today, there are three ―main screens‖ in our life that can be used for such information dissemination – personal computer (including laptop and tablet), television and mobile (including smart phone). For emerging market countries like India, personal computers are not yet affordable to masses and most of the people are not savvy or skilled enough to operate a personal computer. Mobile phones, though being low-cost, pervasive and easy-to-use, suffer from the problem of having very small screen real-estate where very little useful information can be disseminated. Television however is a truly pervasive device that has penetrated the homes of the masses in these countries. If one could make the television connected to the internet-world in a low-cost manner, it has the potential of becoming the ―Ubiquitous Computing Screen‖ for the home.
The emerging markets are characterized by some unique issues like low bandwidth / low Quality-of-Service (QoS) of the available wireless networks, extreme cost-consciousness of the users and lack of computer literacy among masses. The technological challenges arising from these issues are lack of reliable and low complexity protocols and security schemes for multimedia content delivery over low-bandwidth low quality wireless networks and the lack of low-cost and easy to use solutions for seamlessly blending Internet with broadcasting content.
To this end, in this thesis a novel application development framework is proposed first on top of a low-cost over-the-top box that uses television as a ubiquitous device with a focus on emerging markets. Then an end-to-end solution with relevant applications is created using the framework for deployment in the real-world to gather user feedback. The user feedback is analyzed in context of the above-mentioned challenges typical of developing countries and is translated into a set of problem requirements.
Based on these requirements, the thesis further introduces a set of novel low complexity protocols and security schemes that addresses the low bandwidth / low-QoS network issues and low-computing power issues of the device. The thesis also proposes an intelligent blending of broadcast television and internet through channel logo detection and optical character recognition for addressing the ease-of-use issue. The thesis finally introduces a novel text entry scheme in television using infra-red remote controls through an innovative on-screen keyboard layout to address ease-of-use issue for non-computer-savvy users.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
ISBN'er, trykt978-87-7152-005-7
StatusUdgivet - 2013

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