UNIFORM: automatically generating consistent remote control user interfaces

A problem with many of today's appliance interfaces is that they are inconsistent. For example, the procedure for setting the time on alarm clocks and VCRs differs, even among different models made by the same manufacturer. Finding particular functions can also be a challenge, because appliances often organize their features differently. This paper presents a system, called Uniform, which approaches this problem by automatically generating remote control interfaces that take into account previous interfaces that the user has seen during the generation process. Uniform is able to automatically identify similarities between different devices and users may specify additional similarities. The similarity information allows the interface generator to use the same type of controls for similar functions, place similar functions so that they can be found with the same navigation steps, and create interfaces that have a similar visual appearance.

[1]  Anthony J. Hornof,et al.  GLEAN: a computer-based tool for rapid GOMS model usability evaluation of user interface designs , 1995, UIST '95.

[2]  Krzysztof Z. Gajos,et al.  SUPPLE: automatically generating user interfaces , 2004, IUI '04.

[3]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  The case against user interface consistency , 1989, CACM.

[4]  Markus Chimani,et al.  DiamondHelp: a collaborative interface framework for networked home appliances , 2005, 25th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops.

[5]  Charles Wiecha,et al.  ITS: a tool for rapidly developing interactive applications , 1990, TOIS.

[6]  Jeffrey Nichols,et al.  Improving automatic interface generation with smart templates , 2004, IUI '04.

[7]  Lorne Olfman,et al.  User Interface Consistency Across End-User Applications: The Effects on Mental Models , 1998, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[8]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Visual and Textual Consistency Checking Tools for Graphical User Interfaces , 1997, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[9]  Jeffrey Nichols,et al.  Generating remote control interfaces for complex appliances , 2002, UIST '02.

[10]  Phyllis Reisner,et al.  What is inconsistency? , 1990, INTERACT.

[11]  John Rheinfrank,et al.  Design languages , 1996 .

[12]  Daniel S. Weld,et al.  Cross-Device Consistency in Automatically Generated User Interfaces , 2004 .

[13]  Markus Chimani,et al.  DiamondHelp : A Graphical User Interface Framework for Human-Computer Collaboration , 2004 .

[14]  Erhard Rahm,et al.  Similarity flooding: a versatile graph matching algorithm and its application to schema matching , 2002, Proceedings 18th International Conference on Data Engineering.

[15]  Jean Vanderdonckt Advice-giving systems for selecting interaction objects , 1999, Proceedings User Interfaces to Data Intensive Systems.

[16]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Usability engineering , 1997, The Computer Science and Engineering Handbook.

[17]  Lee W. Schruben,et al.  Structural and behavioral equivalence of simulation models , 1992, TOMC.