Generating context-sensitive multiple device interfaces from design

Abstract

This paper shows a technique that allows adaptive user interfaces, spanning multiple devices, to be rendered from the task specification at runtime taking into account the context of use. The designer can specify a task model using the ConcurTaskTrees Notation and its context-dependent parts, and deploy the user interface immediately from the specification. By defining a set of context-rules in the design stage, the appropriate context-dependent parts of the task specification will be selected before the concrete interfaces will be rendered. The context will be resolved by the runtime environment and does not require any manual intervention. This way the same task specification can be deployed for several different contexts of use. Traditionally, a context-sensitive task specification only took into account a variable single deployment device. This paper extends this approach as it takes into account task specifications that can be executed by multiple co-operating devices.