Places to stay on the move

Software architectures for mobile user interfaces

Alan Dix
aQtive limited and
Staffordshire University

Devina Ramduny
Staffordshire University
Tom Rodden, Nigel Davies
Lancaster University


Paper presented at Second Workshop on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices. 31st August 1999, Edinburgh.

Download full paper (PDF).

Full reference:

A. Dix, D. Ramduny, T. Rodden and N. Davies (1999). Places to stay on the move - software architectures for mobile user interfaces. Second Workshop on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices. 31st August 1999, Edinburgh.
http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/mobile99/

URL for related work: http://www.hcibook.com/alan/topics/mobile/

A revised version of this paper has been published as:

Alan Dix, Devina Ramduny, Tom Rodden and Nigel Davies (2000).
Places to stay on the move - Software architectures for mobile user interfaces.
Personal Technologies 4(2).
http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/ptech2000/


Abstract

Architectural design has an important effect on usability, most notably on temporal properties. This paper investigates software architecture options for mobile user-interfaces, in particular those for collaborative systems. One of the new features of mobile systems as compared with fixed networks is the connection point to the physical network, the point of presence (PoP), which forms an additional location for code and data. This allows architectures that bring computation closer to the users hence reducing feedback and feedthrough delays. A consequence of using PoPs is that code and data have to be mobile within the network leading to potential security problems.

keywords: mobile computing, collaborative work, CSCW, software architecture, client-server


Alan Dix 29/9/99