Presentation of "Distributing User Interfaces" as invited talk by Prof. Dr. Ricardo Tesoriero on the 4th Workshop on Distributed User Interfaces in the 14th International Conference on Web Engineering ICWE 2014

1. Distributing User
Interfaces
4th Workshop on Distributed User Interfaces and Multimodal Interaction
14th International Conference on Web Engineering ICWE 2014
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Tesoriero
ISE Research Group
University of Castilla-La Mancha

2. Index
 Introduction
 Motivation
 Characterizing the Distribution of User Interfaces.
 User Interface Distribution Capabilities
 User Interface Distribution States
 Proxywork
 Proxywork Distribution Primitives
 Conclusions
 Future Work. Open Issues

3. Why distributing user interfaces is
important?
Motivation

4. User interfaces
Multi-purpose mobile devices

5. User interfaces
Multi-purpose stationary devices

6. User interfaces
Specific devices

7. User Interface EcoSystems
See on deviceNotification
User interface
L. Terrenghi, A. Quigley y A. Dix, «A taxonomy for and analysis of multi-person-display
ecosystems,» Personal Ubiquitous Comput., vol. 13, nº 8, pp. 583-598, 2009.

8. Distributed User Interfaces
vs.
Distributing User Interfaces
The User Interface Distribution Dichotomy

9. Case 1: Distributing the article section
of the Web Page
 Imagine this scenario…
 Suppose that you are browsing information on the Internet using your
Smartphone
 You go to your favorite Web Site and you start reading an interesting article
while you are on the bus, train or metro on your way home

10. Case 1: Distributing the article section
of the Web Page
 When you arrive home you find your flatmates watching the Smart TV
 As you tell them about the article you have read, they suddenly got
interested in it.

11. Case 1: Distributing the article section
of the Web Page
 To quickly share this information with them, you “transfer” the article from
the Smartphone to the SmartTV
 You DISTRIBUTE the article section of
the Web page from the Smartphone to
the Smart TV

12. Case 2: Distributing a menu section of a
Web Page
 You are projecting a Web page on the Wall to show event participants
information
 You use the laptop keyboard and pad to get the information

13. Case 2: Distributing a menu section of a
Web Page
 As you want to control pages to be displayed by the projector remotely, you
“transfer” the menu section to the Smartphone

14. Case 3: Continuity
 You are filling a Web form using your Laptop, but you have to catch the train!
 “Transfer” (Distribute) the Web form of the Web Page to the Smartphone
(including the information you have already entered when using the Laptop)

15. Characterization of the User Interface
Distribution
 How do we describe these characteristics on an Ecosystem of User Interfaces?
 There are many models to describe the User Interface. However, most of them (i.e.
AUI Model of the CRF or IFML) employ a Tree based structure where Interaction
Objects have a single parent, if any (root).
 How can we characterize the user interface distribution if a component can
be hosted by more than one container?
G. Calvary, J. Coutaz, L. Bouillon, M. Florins, Q. Limbourg, L. Marucci, F. Paternò, C.
Santoro, N. Souchon, D. Thevenin y J. Vanderdonckt, «The CAMELEON reference
framework,» Deliverable 1.1, CAMELEON Project, 03 Septiembre 2002. [On Line].
Available: http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/model-based-
ui/wiki/Cameleon_reference_framework. [last access: 12/06/13].
OMG. IFML: The Interaction Flow Modeling Language. URL= http://www.ifml.org/

16. How can we characterize the distribution
capabilities of user interfaces?
Metamodel defined in ECORE
enriched with OCL
Pedro G. Villanueva, Ricardo Tesoriero, José A. Gallud. Revisiting
the Concept of Distributed User Interfaces. Distributed User
Interfaces: Usability and Collaboration. Springer.
Human–Computer Interaction Series 2013, ISBN 978-1-4471-5499-
0, pp 1-15.

17. Graphical UI Distribution Model Editor
• Technology
• Eclipse Plugin
• EMF
• GMF
• Characteristics
• Graphical DSL
• Model Validation
• UI Distribution
Capabilities
Video

18. Platform
 The combination of Hardware and OS that supports the user interface
 Tables / Smart phone running Android or iOS
 Laptops running Windows or Linux
 Etc.
 What about the Web?
 The Web Browser is considered as part of the platform
 Two Web Browsers running in the same machine are two different platforms
 Two Web Browser Tabs (even in separate Windows) are the same platform
 What about multiple monitors
 Monitors are considered devices that are connected to the same platform
 N monitors connected to the same computer belong to a single platform

19. Interaction object
 The Interaction Object plays the same role as the Abstract Interaction Object
defined by the Cameleon framework.
 On concrete implementations they may play the role of Windows, Panels, Text
Fields, Buttons, etc.
J. M. Vanderdonckt y F. Bodart, «Encapsulating knowledge for intelligent automatic
interaction objects selection,» de INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems, Amsterdam, 1993.
G. Calvary, J. Coutaz, L. Bouillon, M. Florins, Q. Limbourg, L. Marucci, F. Paternò, C.
Santoro, N. Souchon, D. Thevenin y J. Vanderdonckt, «The CAMELEON reference
framework,» Deliverable 1.1, CAMELEON Project, 03 Septiembre 2002. [On Line].
Available: http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/model-based-
ui/wiki/Cameleon_reference_framework. [last access: 12/06/13].

20. Hosting
 Defines a relationship between two Interaction Objects (Host and Guest)
 It represents that the Guest Interaction Object can be hosted in the Host
Interaction Object during the execution of the User Interface
 A Guest Interaction Object can be hosted in more than one Host Interaction
Object
 All Guest Interaction Objects must be hosted in at least one Host Interaction
Object during the User Interface lifetime.
 The host may change during the User Interface lifetime

21. Interaction Container
Interaction Component
 The Hosting relationship defines Interaction Objects as
 Interaction Containers
 Panels, Layouts, Menus, Submenus, Tables, etc.
 Interaction Components
 Buttons, Labels, Entry Fields, Menu Items, RFID Tags
 If an Interaction Object does not host any Interaction Object then it is an
Interaction Component
 If an Interaction Object hosts another Interaction Object then it “mutates” into an
Interaction Container
 Both Interaction Components and Interaction Container must be contained in
another Interaction Object

22. Implementation
Interaction Surface
 Defines a relationship between an Interaction Container and a Platform
 It represents that the Interaction Container is supported by a Platform
 An Interaction Container is implemented by at most one Platform
 An Interaction Container which is implemented by Platform “mutates” into an
Interaction Surface
 An Interaction Surface might not be hosted on any other Interaction Object.
 Windows, Activities, RFID Panels, Pages, Views

23. Interaction dependency
 Defines a relationship between two Interaction Surfaces (Master and Slave)
 It represents that the lifetime of the Slave Interaction Surface depends on the
lifetime of the Master Interaction Surface
 Floating Toolbars depend on the Main Window

24. Paint .NET
Interaction Components

25. Paint .NET
Interaction Containers and Hostings

26. Paint .NET
Platforms, Implementations, Interaction
Surfaces and Interaction Dependencies

27. User Interface Distribution Capabilities
 Divisible
 A UI System is Divisible iff exists an Interaction Object that can be hosted on more
than one Interaction Surface
 Distributable
 A UI System is Distributable iff exists at least one Interaction Object that can be
hosted on at least two Interaction Surfaces implemented on different Platforms

28. User Interface Distribution States
 We define the User Interface Distribution State as the organization of all the
Interaction Objects that are part of a UI System at a given instant in time.
 Unified State: A UISystem reaches the Unified State iff all Interaction Objects are
hosted on the same Interaction Surface at a given time
 Divided State: A UISystem reaches the Divided State iff it has at least two
Interaction Surfaces which host at least one Interaction Object each at a given
time.
 Distributed State: A UI System reaches the Distributed State iff it defines at least
two Interaction Surfaces that are hosted on different Platforms. As Interaction
Surfaces are Interaction Contaners, they host at least one Interaction Component
each at a given time.
 Single Platform State: A UI System reaches the Single Platform State iff it all
Interaction Objects that are part of the UI System are hosted on the a set of
Interaction Surfaces that share the same Platform.

29. Reflexive UI Distribution Model Editor
Video

30. Quiz
 Capabilities
Divisible
Distributable
 Distribution States
Unified
Divided
Single Platform
Distributed
M. Manca y F. Paternò, «Distributed User Interfaces with MARIA,» de Distributed User Interfaces 2011
(DUI 2011), CHI 2011 Workshop, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2011.

31. Paint .NET
 Capabilities
Divisible
Distributable
 Distribution States
Unified
Divided
Single Platform
Distributed

32. GIMP 2.7
 Capabilities
Divisible
Distributable
 Distribution States
Unified
Divided
Single Platform
Distributed

33. WallShare
 Capabilities
Divisible
Distributable
 Distribution States
Unified
Divided
Single Platform
Distributed
!
Pedro González Villanueva, Ricardo Tesoriero, José A. Gallud: Multi-pointer and collaborative system
for mobile devices. Mobile HCI 2010: 435-438.
Pedro González Villanueva, José A. Gallud, Ricardo Tesoriero: WallShare: a multi-pointer system for
portable devices. AVI 2010: 416

34. RFID Panels
 Capabilities
Divisible
Distributable
 Distribution States
Unified
Divided
Single Platform
Distributed
Ricardo Tesoriero, Pedro G. Villanueva, Habib Moussa Fardoun, Gabriel Sebastian. “Distributed User Interfaces in Public
Spaces using RFID-based Panels”. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. ISSN: 1071-5819. Volume 72. Issue 1.
Pages: 111–125. January 2014.
Pedro G. Villanueva, Ricardo Tesoriero, José A. Gallud, Abdulrahman H. Altalhi. “A Framework to Develop Web Applications Based
on RFID Panels”. International Journal of Universal Computer Science. ISSN: 0948-695x. Volume 19. Issue 12. Pages: 1792-1807. June
2013.
!

35. Think about it…

36. Keep thinking …
See on deviceNotification
User interface

37. IF Distributed UI is an State
AND
IF Distributable is a Capability
THEN
DUI ≠ DeUI
Therefore, when we talk about Distributed User Interfaces, we are really talking
about Distributable User Interfaces!

38. Proxywork : Distributable User
Interfaces for the Web
 Proxywork allows users to distribute the user interface components of Web
applications among a set of displays.
 The distribution is controlled by the user through a set of primitives (i.e. show,
hide, copy, move, etc.) attached to Web page components.
 These primitives are automatically attached to Web page components on runtime
by the Proxywork Web proxy.
 Therefore, Web pages do not require any extra information to be distributed
among different displays.
Pedro González Villanueva, Ricardo Tesoriero and José. A. Gallud.
Distributing web components in a display ecosystem using
Proxywork. BCS-HCI '13. Proceedings of the 27th International BCS
Human Computer Interaction Conference, Brunel University,
London, UK, 9-13 September 2013, art. 28.
URL=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2578048
Pedro González Villanueva. Distributable User Interfaces. PhD
Thesis. University of Castilla-La Mancha. 2014

39. Proxywork Primitives
 Connect / Disconnect (Device)
 Rename
 Clone
 Copy
 Migrate
Video
Copy Clone Migrate

40. Proxywork Limitations
 The Web page should be “well formed”
 Although Proxywork is able to distribute any component; the distribution is
limited to specific Tags (DIVs)
 HTTPS
 User Interface Adaptation
 Cross domain communication
 Etc.

41. Conclusions
 Defines a metamodel to characterize the distribution of User Interfaces
 Graphical Model Editor to build and validate User Interface Distribution
models
 Reflexive Model Editor that characterizes User Interfaces
 Set the difference between User Interface capabilities and states to redefine
the DUI concept as DeUI
 Proxywork transforms Web Pages into Distributable User Interfaces

42. Future Work
 Distributable User Interfaces and Task modeling
 Adapting Distributable User Interfaces
 Controlling Distributable User Interfaces
 Etc.

43. Thank you!
Ricardo Tesoriero ricardo.Tesoriero@uclm.es
José A. Gallud jose.gallud@uclm.es
Pedro González Villanueva pedrogovi@uclm.es