User interaction in a shared information space — A pervasive environment for the home

Connected technology in the home is growing rapidly due to advances in modern electronics. The growth of broadband is being followed by an associated uptake in home networks. At present the enabling technology tends to be visible and distinct (PCs, multimedia systems, Televisions, screens, etc). In the future, we predict the home will incorporate embedded systems and even greater networked-enabled shared resources resulting in a pervasive computing environment. Currently, there are a number of challenges to make this a reality. For example, how will users interact with the technology in a way that is intuitive and nonthreatening; how will the wide range of devices communicate and coordinate their requirements and services? This paper describes research which is investigating the concept that as devices in the home become more interconnected and announce their capabilities over a network, a new model will present itself where devices are decomposed into functional components which may then be reused in a much more flexible way. An architecture to support this model is proposed and presents a novel approach to device configuration called Task Oriented Programming (TOP) together with work on meeting the challenge of providing suitable user interfaces in the pervasive home.