Harnessing Language in Mobile Environments

We describe StartMobile, a prototype system that enables users of cellular telephones and other mobile devices to access information, create information and execute commands on the basis of written requests expressed in natural language. Interacting with mobile devices through the use of language offers several potential benefits that include: scalability in handling huge numbers of concepts and operations, substantial device-independence, and opportunities for remote interaction. StartMobile uses the START information access system to perform initial interpretation of requests and to generate responses to general information requests. Requests that require further interpretation and/or fulfillment in the distributed mobile environment are encoded in a new, language-based intermediate representation called Moebius, then conveyed to appropriate devices and systems, where special-purpose software serves to complete the interpretation and fulfillment of those requests.