Abstract: A practical system and method for the remote distribution of financial services (e.g., home banking and bill-paying) involves distributing portable terminals to a user base. The terminals include a multi-line display, keys “pointing to” lines on the display, and additional keys. Contact is established between the terminals and a central computer operated by a service provider, preferably over a dial-up telephone line and a packet data network. Information exchange between the central computer and the terminal solicits information from the terminal user related to requested financial services (e.g., for billpaying, the user provides payee selection and amount and his bank account PIN number). The central computer then transmits a message over a conventional ATM network debiting the user's bank account in real time, and may pay the specified payees the specified amount electronically or in other ways as appropriate. Payments and transfers may be scheduled in advance or on a periodic basis. Because the central computer interacts with the user's bank as a standard POS or ATM network node, no significant software changes are required at the banks' computers. The terminal interface is extremely user-friendly and incorporates some features of standard ATM user interfaces so as to reduce new user anxiety.

Abstract: This survey describes the state of the art of online handwriting recognition during a period of renewed activity in the field. It is based on an extensive review of the literature, including journal articles, conference proceedings, and patents. Online versus offline recognition, digitizer technology, and handwriting properties and recognition problems are discussed. Shape recognition algorithms, preprocessing and postprocessing techniques, experimental systems, and commercial products are examined. >

Abstract: This dissertation discusses human-computer interaction, and the role of user interfaces in use and design from the point-of-view of human activity theory. Human-computer interaction conducted in purposeful human work is in focus. The main idea is that a computer application, from the user's perspective, is not something that the user operates on but something that the user operates through on other objects or subjects. The contents of the report is the following: Danish Summary; Introduction; Human Activity and Human-Computer Interaction; User Interface Design -- the Empirical Cases; User Interfaces; Methods for User Interface Design; User Interface Design -- Advice to the Designer.

Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus and methods for a multi-dimensional user interface for use in audio visual production. A display system including a central processing unit (CPU) is coupled through appropriate input/output (I/O) circuitry to input devices, such as a keyboard, digital pad and/or track ball as well as a display device. The CPU is further coupled to a hard disk drive for the storage of programs and data, and is also coupled to a network through which the CPU may communicate with a variety of system resource devices such as editors, music synthesizers, graphics generators, scheduling resources, audio enhancement resources, etc. A user viewing the interface on the display may utilize one of the input devices, such as by way of example, the keyboard, to select, incorporate or otherwise integrate the various system resources to develop a unified multi-media production. The user interface of the present invention includes a control frame which in practice substantially fills all of the display screen of the display and is consistent for all user applications. The control frame is comprised of control panels which surround a variety of subwindows and acts as a consistent control area for all users of the interface. Once defined, elements may be selectively placed on an event horizon bar in the control frame. The placement of an element on the event horizon results in the display of timing data for the element, relative to other elements on the event horizon.

Abstract: Hypertext (3), (19), (25) is becoming a popular approach to many computer applications, especially those dealing with the on-line presentation of large amounts of loosely structured information such as on-line documentation or computer-aided learning. There are still many issues concerning hypertext that remain to be resolved, however, many of which are in the user interface area. One of the major usability problems with hypertext is the user's risk of disorientation while navigating the information space. For example, our studies [23] showed that 56 percent of the readers of a document written in one of the most popular commercial hypertext systems agreed fully or partly with the statement I was often confused about ‘where I was. ’ To investigate a number of user interface options in hypertext systems we designed a prototype system in the form of a hypertext report on events at the 1987 hypertext workshop. This system was implemented on an Apple Macintosh with Hypercard as the programming system. (To get a feel for our hypertext system, the reader is encouraged to review Figures 1 to 10 which contain screen dumps of a session with the system and thus constitute a kind of printed demonstration or guided tour.) Hypertext is a very dynamic form of human-computer interaction and can only be fully appreciated in an interactive environment. However, even these figures give a much better understanding of the system than a traditional textual description could give.

Abstract: Computer graphics hardware supporting real-time interactive 3D animation has the potential to support effective user interfaces by enabling virtual 3D workspaces. However, this potential requires development of viewpoint movement techniques that support rapid and controlled movement through workspaces. Rapid movement through large distances avoids wasted work time; controlled movement near target objects allows the user to examine and interact with objects in the workspace. Current techniques for viewpoint movement typically use high velocities to cover distances rapidly, but high velocities are hard to control near objects. This paper describes a new technique for targeted viewpoint movement that solves this problem. The key idea is to have the user indicate a point of interest (target) on a 3D object and use the distance to this target to move the viewpoint logarithmically, by moving the same relative percentage of distance to the target on every animation cycle. the result is rapid motion over distances that slows as the viewpoint approaches the target object. The technique can be used with 2D and multidimensional input devices. We also extend the technique to move objects in the workspace.

Abstract: Many users of online and other automated information systems want to take advantage of the speed and power of automated retrieval, while still controlling and directing the steps of the search themselves. They do not want the system to take over and carry out the search entirely for them. Yet the objective of much of current theory and experimentation in information retrieval systems and interfaces is to design systems in which the user has either no or only reactive involvement with the search process. It is argued here that the advanced information retrieval research community is missing an opportunity to design systems that are in better harmony with the actual preferences of many users—sophisticated systems that provide an optimal combination of searcher control and system retrieval power. The user may be provided effective means of directing the search if capabilities specific to the information retrieval process, that is, strategic behaviors normally associated with information searching, are incorporated into the interface. There are many questions concerning (1) the degree of user vs. system involvement in the search, and (2) the size, or chunking, of activities; that is, how much and what type of activity the user should be able to direct the system to do at once. These two dimensions are analyzed and a number of configurations of system capability that combine user and system control are presented and discussed. In the process, the concept of the information search stratagem is introduced, and particular attention is paid to the provision of strategic, as opposed to purely procedural capabilities for the searcher. Finally, certain types of user-system relationship are selected as deserving particular attention in future information retrieval system design, and arguments are made to support the recommendations.

Abstract: This paper examines the evolution of the focus of user interface research and development from the first production of commercial computer systems in the 1950s through the present. The term “user interface” was not needed in the beginning, when most users were engineers and programmers; it may again become inappropriate when more applications are written for groups than for individuals. But there is a continuity to the outward movement of the computer's interface to its external environment, from hardware to software to increasingly higher-level cognitive capabilities and finally to social processes. As the focus shifts, the approaches to design and the skills required of practitioners changes. In this paper five foci or levels of development are identified. Most development today is positioned in the third level and considerable research is directed at the fourth. Some attention is now being given to the fifth: repositioning the interface in the work group or organization itself. Work at the different levels is not entirely independent, so establishing a comprehensive framework may enable us to position existing research and development efforts and plan future work more effectively.

Abstract: An overview of the X Window System is presented, focusing on the system substrate and the low-level facilities provided to build applications and to manage the desktop. The system provides high-performance, high-level, device-independent graphics. A hierarchy of resizable, overlapping windows allows a wide variety of application and user interfaces to be built easily. Network-transparent access to the display provides an important degree of functional separation, without significantly affecting performance, which is crucial to building applications for a distributed environment. To a reasonable extent, desktop management can be custom-tailored to individual environments, without modifying the base system and typically without affecting applications.

Abstract: FLEX a user interface to relational databases, can be used satisfactorily by users with different levels of expertise. FLEX is based on a formal query language, but is tolerant of incorrect input. It never rejects queries; instead, it adapts flexibility and transparently to their level of correctness and well-formedness, providing interpretations of corresponding accuracy and specificity. The most prominent design feature of FLEX is the smooth concatenation of several independent mechanisms, each capable of handling input of decreasing level of correctness and well-formedness. Each input is cascaded through this series of mechanisms until an interpretation is found. FLEX is also cooperative. It never delivers empty answers without explanation or assistance. By following up each failed query with a set of more general queries, FLEX determines whether an empty answer is genuine, in which case it suggests related queries that have nonempty answers, or whether it reflects erroneous presuppositions on the part of the user, in which case it then explains them. >

Abstract: Disclosed is a computer system user interface that includes a window frame with a window title bar icon. The title bar icon replaces the conventional window title bar and it increases the usable client area of the window without decreasing the number of functions available to the user.

Abstract: An advanced user interface for use with a computer system operating on an integrated operating environment. The integrated operating environment allows a plurality of application programs to be running simultaneously, one of which is designated the active application program to which all input data is directed. The advanced user interface allows a user to select among user-friendly input devices to operate any application program according to his individual preferences without change to the application program code. The advanced user interface includes alternate input modules which translate the input signals transmitted from the various input devices into input messages useable by the rest of the interface. The advanced user interface also includes interface profiles which contain mappings of the input messages against corresponding commands useable by the application programs, the integrated operating environment or other modules of the advanced user interface itself. An environment link module refers to the interface profiles and matches the input message against the corresponding command for the application program active at the time the input signal was transmitted and send the corresponding command to that application program.

Abstract: The ITS architecture separates applications into four layers. The action layer implements back-end application functions. The dialog layer defines the content of the user interface, independent of its style. Content specifies the objects included in each frame of the interface, the flow of control among frames, and what actions are associated with each object. The style rule layer defines the presentation and behavior of a family of interaction techniques. Finally, the style program layer implements primitive toolkit objects that are composed by the rule layer into complete interaction techniques. This paper describes the architecture in detail, compares it with previous User Interface Management systems and toolkits, and describes how ITS is being used to implement the visitor information system for EXPO '92.

Abstract: S system and method is disclosed for enabling a plurality of computers and associated computer resources, some or all of which may be of heterogeneous configuration, to cooperatively process a variety of applications such that the execution is transparent to the user regardless of where the application is actually executing. This distributed applications architecture performs an information distribution service between multiple transaction processing systems by working with a transaction processor via communication channels to other hosts within the network and a dialog manager (26) which uses a transaction processor interface (78) to communicate with the transaction processor. Additionally, the architecture employs a map service (36,40) to provide an editor to allow application programmers to create the maps (40) for the application panels, a compiler to generate the maps into linkable form, and a linkable interpreter which translates the linkable form into the screen presentation format for that platform. Furthermore, to distribute an application, the source code for the procedures (32), views (38) and panels are moved as a block to the new system. This is possible because once the application source code is complete, all of the application logic, user interface control tables, view definitions, and other application-specific tables for one transaction definition are packaged by the present invention in a single load module on the system where the application will reside. The load module is then compiled using the target system's compiler, link editor, and bind process. Thus, all environment-dependent variations of import/export, including network protocol, operating systems, processor types, etc., are automatically integrated with the application at load module bind time. Therefore, no source code changes are necessary.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for creating and displaying adaptive user interfaces are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a user interface by an application development environment, the application development environment providing the ability to allow authoring of a user interface that adapts to a screen size with any first abstracted size class value and any second abstracted size class value. The method then includes creating an application including the user interface wherein the application is configured to: determine a screen size of a device, the screen size including a first abstracted size class value and a second abstracted size class value; adapt the user interface according to the screen size including the first abstracted size class value and the second abstracted size class value; and display the adapted user interface on the device.

Abstract: A toolkit known as apE is presented. Originally, this was an acronym for animation production environment, but apE has become known as a software designed for more than just animation. Previous work is briefly reviewed, and the processing of designing the system is discussed. Common elements in building any graphics system as well as elements particular to building a large system are examined. The design and construction of apE 1.1 and apE 2.0 are described. The policy governing the distribution of apE and the advantages of academic software development are discussed. >

Abstract: An interactive computer system for converting user interface presentations from a first application specified format to a second user specified format. The system accepts application program output designed to be displayed on a target type of computer system terminal and, converts the display to a user specified form prior to display. Through conversion apparatus and process the user may specify a customized format for presentation of the data from the application program to take advantage of the capabilities of a particular display device employed by that user. The system analyses the application program output, and converts the output to a form required by the customized interface and display the resulting output on the user display device. The system is able to accept data input and commands from the user display device, convert them into a form required by the application program and transmit that input or command to the application program. The application allows adaptation from one format to another and from one language to another. All changes are accomplished without changing the base application program.

Abstract: Peridot is an experimental tool that allows designers to create user interface components without conventional programming. The designer draws pictures of what the interface should look like and then uses the mouse and other input devices to demonstrate how the interface should operate. Peridot generalizes from these example pictures and actions to create parameterized procedures, such as those found in conventional user interface libraries such as the Macintosh Toolbox. Peridot uses visual programming, programming by example, constraints, and plausible inferencing to allow nonprogrammers to create menus, buttons, scroll bars, and many other interaction techniques easily and quickly. Peridot created its own interface and can create almost all of the interaction techniques in the Macintosh Toolbox. Therefore, Peridot demonstrates that it is possible to provide sophisticated programming capabilities to nonprogrammers in an easy-to-use manner and still have sufficient power to generate interesting and useful programs.

Abstract: A fault diagnosis expert system for locating and eliminating sources of a machine trouble. The system comprises a storage part for storing an expert knowledge constructed in a hierarchical search tree structure in which cause-to-effect links connecting high-level effect events to low-level cause events are pre-defined and all possible low-level cause events are pre-enumerated for each high-level effect event, a user interface part for providing a user with questions and responses regarding the state of the machine trouble, an inference part for inferring a cause of the machine trouble with the expert knowledge and the user information, and an outputting part for allowing inference results from the inference part to be displayed for the user. The expert knowledge includes a cause candidate criterion pre-defined as an event used for selection of searching paths when the inference part makes a decision as to which path of the search tree should be traced back. The cause-to-effect links include an identifier indicative of a difference between self-dependency causes and other-dependency causes.

Abstract: A prototype system, the Integrated Building Design Environment (IBDE), has been implemented to act as a testbed for a number of issues that arise from the need to integrate computer aids for the design and construction of buildings. The seven programs that comprise IBDE are briefly described. Issues such as knowledge representation, data organization, intercommunication, implementation and control are discussed.

Abstract: Current user interface too&its provide components that are complex and expensive. Programmers cannot use these components for many kinds of application data because the resulting implementation would be awkward and inefficient. We have defined a set of small, simple components, called glyphs, that programmers can use in large numbers to build user interfaces. To show that glyphs are simple and efficient, we have implemented a WYSIWYG document editor. The editor’s performance is comparable to that of similar editors built with current tools, but its implementation is much simpler. We used the editor to create and print this paper.

Abstract: A post production offline editing system for storing unedited video takes in a random access memory (which is preferably a set of laser video disk players), displaying selected takes (or individual frames from selected takes), and generating an edit list which defines an edited video program The system includes a computer programmed with software providing an integrated software environment which enables a user conveniently to log unedited takes into the system, and to generate an edit list suitable for use in a subsequent online editing operation The system software provides global access to a variety of video post production environments at any point during an offline editing operation The system software presents menus to the user including icons or mnemonic text in windows which may be conveniently selected by the user using a mouse In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes a video special effects unit capable of processing the stored takes to simulate various video transitions between scenes (such as dissolves, fades, and wipes), to enable the user to view a show defined by an edit list which specifies such transitions The user interface includes a convenient means for jogging (and shuttling) the laser disk players using a mouse

Abstract: A simplified simulation module has been developed to calculate the thermal performances of multizone buildings, using modal analysis. This technique reduces the computation time and therefore allows architects to perform accurate simulations using a low cost micro computer (type AT for instance). The thermal calculations are based upon a data structure in which the building is decomposed into elements (thermal zones, walls, windows, materials, ...). Each building element has been modeled as a computer object. Components of higher complexity are linked to simple components via pointers. Thus, if a component is modified, the modification is automatically transmitted through the whole structure. This environment is particularly adapted to connect the thermal calculation module (COMFIE) to an expert interface. At the moment, no expert system or inference engine is implemented, but simple algorithms which work in the following way. The user inputs a project and several characteristics (heat losses, solar gains, ...) are studied by the expert tool, which then proposes alternative designs. The user may test these modifications by repeating the simulation. This tandem simulation/expert interface takes into account the specificity of the project and its climate when applying the expert knowledge. A few expert rules are proposed, in order to enhance the energy savings and the thermal comfort. New expert rules may also be generated and/or validated. This design tool not only provides the user with fast and accurate simulations, but also offers him an opportunity to include the thermal aspects in his design approach with the help of expert rules, and this constitutes a real computer aided design.

Abstract: This paper describes the ideas behind and the use of the FIELD programming environment. FIELD is an integrated environment that is based on UNIX programming tools and that runs on top of the X11 windowing system. It provides a consistent and complete interface to its tools. In addition, FIELD provides a variety of tools for program and data visualization. The key concepts behind FIELD are an integration mechanism based on a simple, central message server, an annotation editor for integrating access to the source file with the other tools, and the use of a high-level user interface toolset.

Abstract: 1: Introductory Survey.- 2: The DHPC Algorithm.- 3: A Classification of Adaptivity.- 4: An Experimental Adaptive Algorithm.- 5: A Multimodal Algorithm.- 6: Applications to User Interfaces.- 7: Conclusions.- Appendix A: Estimation Formula Calculation.- Appendix B: The Word "Adapt" And Its Forms.- Appendix C: User Input Experiments.- C.1 Introduction.- C.2 Experiment 22: Redundancy of User Input.- C.3 Experiment 23: Timing Between Keystrokes.- Appendix D: Further Research.- D.1 The SAKDC Algorithm.- D.2 The MMDC Algorithm.- D.1 User Interfaces.- Appendix E: Summary of Notation.- References.

Abstract: From Theory to Design. The importance of models in making complex systems comprehensible (G. Fischer). Methodological Aspects. Models of mental models: an ergonomist-psychologist dialogue (A. Rutherford and J.R. Wilson). How to t(r)ap user's mental models (M.-A. Sasse). Modelling for adaptivity (D. Murray). Concurrent use of different expertise elicitation methods applied to the study of the programming activity (W. Visser and A. Morais). Analysing complex tasks with an extended GOMS* model (U. Arend). Object-based action planning (J. Beringer and J. Wandmacher). Empirical Results. Design decisions for a user interface (F.M.T. Brazier and G.C. van der Veer). Mental models and the evaluation of user interfaces: a case-study of a library system (J.M. van der Velden and A.G. Arnold). Level of experience in text-editing: the role of mental representations on performance (A. Dewier and G. Karnas). How to predict user performance and user preference with different interaction techniques? (Ch. Metzler, E. Wetzenstein-Ollenschlager and H. Wandke). A schema-based model of program-understanding (F. Detienne). Mental Models in Design. Cognitive processes in information retrieval: production rules and lexical nets (M. Wettler and A. Glockner-Rist). Modelling the user interaction methods imposed by design (J. Karat and J. Bennett). Usability testing: a practical use for mental model construction (P.R. Innocent). Mental Models and Artificial Intelligence. Plan recognition in HCI: the parsing of user actions (M.C. Desmarais, L. Giroux and S. Larochelle). Inductive knowledge acquisition for a UNIX coach (H.U. Hoppe and R. Plotzner). The psychological processes of constructing a mental model when learning by being told, from examples, and by exploration (F. Schmalhofer and O. Kuhn). Domain Representation and student modelling in a microworld for elastic impacts (K. Opwis, M. Stumpf and H. Spada). Knowledge acquisition as an object-oriented modelling process (W.-F. Riekert). Aristotelian syllogisms in mental models (M. Lansky). Author Index. Subject Index.

Abstract: Despite much research work in progress to model the different facets of software process enactment from different approaches, there are no models yet generally recognized as adequate, and there is need for more experimentation. We describe the Oikos environment and its coordination language ESP: they provide an infrastructure in which experiments may be performed and evaluated.Oikos predefines a number of services offering basic facilities, like access to data bases, workspaces, user interfaces etc.. Services are customizable, in a declarative way that matches naturally the way ESP defines and controls the software process. ESP allows to define services, to structure them in a dynamic hierarchy, and to coordinate them according to the blackboard paradigm. The concepts of environment and of software process and their interplay are naturally characterized in Oikos, in terms of sets of services and of the hierarchy.In the paper, an example taken from a real project (the specification of a small language and the implementation of its compiler) shows how Oikos and ESP are effective for software process enactment.As it is, ESP embeds Prolog as its sequential component, and combines it smoothly to the blackboard approach to deal with concurrency and distribution. Anyway, most of the concepts used to model and enact software processes are largely independent of logic programming.

Abstract: The VIS-5D system provides highly interactive visual access to five-dimensional data sets containing up to 50 million data points. VIS-5D runs on the Stardent ST-1000 and ST-2000 workstations and generates animated three-dimensional graphics from gridded data sets in real time. It provides a widget-based user interface and fast visual response which allows scientists to interactively explore their data sets. VIS-5D generates literal and intuitive depictions of data, has user controls that are data oriented rather than graphics oriented, and provides a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) response. The result is a system that enables scientists to produce and direct their own animations. >