When Ambient Intelligence meets the Internet: User Module framework and its applications

Advances in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) technologies, when combined with user-centric computing, present major opportunities for building new communication pathways between end-users and traditional computer networks. We propose to explicitly take the end-user into account by defining a new functional module called the User Module across the layers of the Internet protocol stack. This new User Module empowers end-users to improve network performance and enhance the end-user Quality of Experience (QoE) based on their interaction activities. To successfully capture the significant interaction information of end-users, we leverage on the well-established Human Information Processing approach to build the end-user model. Subsequently, we present two exemplary User Module applications addressing the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), respectively. Both applications illustrate how the User Module operates to effectively improve the underlying network performance and eventually enhance the end-user QoE.

[1]  Robert W. Proctor,et al.  Handbook of Human Factors in Web Design , 2009 .

[2]  Akiyoshi Sugiki,et al.  Tuning mechanisms for two major parameters of Apache web servers , 2008 .

[3]  John R. Anderson,et al.  ACT-R: A Theory of Higher Level Cognition and Its Relation to Visual Attention , 1997, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[4]  David D. Clark,et al.  Tussle in cyberspace: defining tomorrow's internet , 2005, TNET.

[5]  Markus Fiedler,et al.  A generic quantitative relationship between quality of experience and quality of service , 2010, IEEE Network.

[6]  M. Motani,et al.  Cross-layer design: a survey and the road ahead , 2005, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[7]  M. Betke,et al.  The Camera Mouse: visual tracking of body features to provide computer access for people with severe disabilities , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[8]  Amine Naït-Ali,et al.  An Adaptive Algorithm for Eye-Gaze-Tracking-Device Calibration , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[9]  Donald F. Towsley,et al.  Modeling TCP Reno performance: a simple model and its empirical validation , 2000, TNET.

[10]  Richard M. Young,et al.  The Role of Cognitive Architecture in Modeling the User: Soar's Learning Mechanism , 1997, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[11]  H. Zimmermann,et al.  OSI Reference Model - The ISO Model of Architecture for Open Systems Interconnection , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[12]  J. Lachman,et al.  Cognitive Psychology and Information Processing: An Introduction , 1979 .

[13]  Markus Fiedler,et al.  Quality of Experience from user and network perspectives , 2010, Ann. des Télécommunications.

[14]  Brian N. Bershad,et al.  Receiver based management of low bandwidth access links , 2000, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2000. Conference on Computer Communications. Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (Cat. No.00CH37064).

[15]  Peter Reichl,et al.  The Logarithmic Nature of QoE and the Role of the Weber-Fechner Law in QoE Assessment , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[16]  Mor Harchol-Balter,et al.  Web servers under overload: How scheduling can help , 2006, TOIT.

[17]  Avideh Zakhor,et al.  Receiver-driven bandwidth sharing for TCP and its application to video streaming , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

[18]  Diego López-de-Ipiña,et al.  Theme issue: “ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence” , 2011, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[19]  Andrew Sears,et al.  The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies, and Emerging Applications (Human Factors and Ergonomics Series) , 2007 .

[20]  Jeffrey C. Mogul,et al.  The case for persistent-connection HTTP , 1995, SIGCOMM '95.

[21]  Ian Witten,et al.  Data Mining , 2000 .

[22]  Fulvio Risso,et al.  An architecture for high performance network analysis , 2001, Proceedings. Sixth IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications.

[23]  Van Jacobson,et al.  TCP Extensions for High Performance , 1992, RFC.

[24]  Ian H. Witten,et al.  Data mining: practical machine learning tools and techniques, 3rd Edition , 1999 .

[25]  Mehul Motani,et al.  Intelligent network design: User Layer architecture and its application , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[26]  T. V. Lakshman,et al.  The performance of TCP/IP for networks with high bandwidth-delay products and random loss , 1997, TNET.

[27]  Paul Barford,et al.  A performance evaluation of hyper text transfer protocols , 1999, SIGMETRICS '99.

[28]  Paul Barford,et al.  Generating representative Web workloads for network and server performance evaluation , 1998, SIGMETRICS '98/PERFORMANCE '98.

[29]  D E Kieras,et al.  A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance: Part 1. Basic mechanisms. , 1997, Psychological review.

[30]  Jerome H. Saltzer,et al.  End-to-end arguments in system design , 1984, TOCS.

[31]  Raj Jain,et al.  Architectures for the future networks and the next generation Internet: A survey , 2011, Comput. Commun..

[32]  Joseph D. Touch,et al.  The TIME-WAIT state in TCP and its effect on busy servers , 1999, IEEE INFOCOM '99. Conference on Computer Communications. Proceedings. Eighteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. The Future is Now (Cat. No.99CH36320).

[33]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings. , 1981 .

[34]  R. Jain.  Quality of experience , 2004, IEEE MultiMedia.

[35]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  A cautionary perspective on cross-layer design , 2005, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[36]  Jing Liu,et al.  Survey of Wireless Indoor Positioning Techniques and Systems , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C (Applications and Reviews).

[37]  A. Newell.  Unified Theories of Cognition , 1990 .

[38]  George N. Rouskas,et al.  The SILO Architecture for Services Integration, controL, and Optimization for the Future Internet , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[39]  David D. Clark,et al.  The design philosophy of the DARPA internet protocols , 1988, SIGCOMM '88.

[40]  Dylan D. Schmorrow,et al.  Foundations of Augmented Cognition , 2013, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[41]  Andrew Sears and Julie A. Jacko.  The human-computer interaction handbook , 2013 .

[42]  Allen Newell,et al.  The psychology of human-computer interaction , 1983 .

[43]  Erich M. Nahum,et al.  A method for transparent admission control and request scheduling in e-commerce web sites , 2004, WWW '04.

[44]  Peter Brooks,et al.  User measures of quality of experience: why being objective and quantitative is important , 2010, IEEE Network.