7 research outputs found

    The audio-graphical interface to a personal integrated telecommunications system

    Get PDF
    Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1984.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-88).The telephone is proposed as an environment for exploring conversational computer systems. A personal communications system is developed which supports multi-modal access to multi-media mail. It is a testbed for developing novel methods of interactive information retrieval that are as intuitive and useful as the spoken word. A personalized telecommunications management system that handles both voice and electronic mail mess.ages through a unified user interface is described. Incoming voice messages are gathered via a conversational answering machine. Known callers are identified with a speech recognition unit so they can receive personal outgoing recordings. The system's owner accesses messages over the telephone by voice using natural language queries, or with the telephone keypad. Electronic mail messages and system status are transmitted by a text-to-speech synthesizer. Local access is provided by a touch sensitive screen and color raster display. Text and digitized voice messages are randomly accessible through graphical ideograms. A Rolodex-style directory permits dialing-by-name and the creation of outgoing recordings for individuals or mailing lists. Note: A 3/4 inch color U-matic video cassette accompanies this thesis, it is five minutes in length, and has an English narrative.by Barry Michael Arons.M.S.V.S

    Integrated voice/data through a digital PBX

    Get PDF
    The digital voice/data PBX is finally reaching its anticipated potential and becoming a major factor when considering the total communications picture for many businesses today. The digital PBX has always been the choice for voice communications but has lagged behind the LAN industry when it comes to data transfers. The pendulum has begun to swing with the enhanced data capabilities of third and fourth generation PBXs. The battle for the total communication market is quite fierce between the LAN and PBX vendors now. This research thesis looks at the history, evolution, and architecture of voice/data PBXs. It traces development of PBXs through the present fourth generation architectures. From the first manual switches introduced in the late 1800\u27s through the Strowger switch, step-by-step switching, stored program control, common control, digital switches, dual bus architectures, and finally what is anticipated in the future. A detailed description of the new fourth generation dual bus architectures is presented. Lastly, speculations on the future direction PBX architectures will take is explored. A description of the mechanics of a possible Wave Division PBX is presented based on a fiber optic transport system

    Natural Language Human-Computer Dialogue: Menu-Based Natural Language and Visual Performance

    Get PDF
    The present study was conducted to determine design principles for menu-based natural language (MBNL) interfaces and to provide evidence for the nature of visual search processes with menu-based systems. The effects of window size, window activity, and query length were investigated. Window size was manipulated as a between-subjects variable with three levels representing a sixteen-item window size, an eight-item window size, and a four-item window size. Window activity was manipulated as a within-subjects variable with two levels representing single active and multiple active windows. Query length was manipulated as a within-subjects variable with three levels representing one-, two-, and three-item query lengths. Thirty six subjects randomly assigned to three groups, based on the window size factor, performed queries with the three query lengths in both window activity conditions in counterbalanced order. It was found that two- and three-item queries were performed faster with single active windows. However, subjects rated multiple active windows as more \u27natural\u27. Query times also increased with query length and errors were most likely to occur on the longest query. Longer eye fixation durations were observed with the four-item window size. Fixation frequencies, fixation durations, dwell times, and relative dwell times all varied as a function of query length. Visual behavior also depended on which \u27area of interest\u27 subjects were viewing, and this effect interacted with window activity and query length. Finally, it was found that menus were not scanned randomly. However, scanpaths were less deterministic with multiple active windows and tended to become less constrained as query length increased. Based on the findings, human factors design principles were derived for application to MBNL interfaces

    Towards an Expert System for the Analysis of Computer Aided Human Performance

    Get PDF

    Les figures de l'utilisateur aux Bell Labs : analyse de la construction des représentations dans la R&D industrielle

    Get PDF
    In this thesis we examine the genealogy of the concept of user and its contemporary dramaturgy in industrial research. For forty years, the literature in sciences and technology studies, in design and in strategy have been revealing the importance of users in the innovation process. This thesis is the result of a doctoral research that aims at exploring further this issue by studying the institutional, economical and socio-technical reasons that settle the user as an artefact in the research laboratory of Bell Labs. Our theorical frameword combine both semiotic (Charles S. Peirce) and symbolic (Lucien Sfez) aproaches, and the theory of actor-network (Bruno Latour). We focus on the terms of the representational system of the user and its symbolic implications in Bell Laboratories : the diffusion of the concept in the scientific journal of Bell Labs through a statistical analysis, the different types of user-model in Bell Labs history through a speech analysis, and the process of user integration through the socio-technical analysis of an innovation project. For this research, we developed a methodology designed at tracking and analyzing the birth and propagation of concepts in innovation. Finally we defend that Bell Labs, through its user-models, have established an equivalence between human and machine that make the user a symbolic picture half human, half-machine.Cette thèse examine la généalogie du concept d’utilisateur et sa mise en scène contemporaine dans la recherche et développement industriel. De nombreuses recherches du champ des sciences et techniques, du design et de la stratégie ont mis en évidence ces 40 dernières années le rôle clé de l’utilisateur dans le processus d’innovation. Le laboratoire de recherche Bell Labs sert de terrain d’analyse car il permet d’observer sur une période de 88 années les raisons institutionnelles, économiques et socio-techniques qui ont établi l’utilisateur comme un artefact à même de répondre aux enjeux industriels de formalisation des conditions de réceptions et d’usages dans le but de les intégrer aux objets en développement dans le domaine des télécommunications. Ancré au confluent des approches sémiotique (C. S. Peirce), symbolique (L. Sfez), et de la théorie de l’acteur-réseau (B. Latour), nous analysons les différents termes du système représentatif de l’utilisateur et sa symbolique aux Bell Labs : la diffusion du concept dans le journal scientifique de Bell Labs à partir d’une analyse statistique, les différents types de figures de l’utilisateur présents dans ce journal avec une analyse de discours, et le processus de prise en compte de l’utilisateur par l’analyse socio-technique d’un projet d’innovation. Pour ce travail, nous avons développé une méthodologie permettant le suivi et l’analyse de l’émergence et de la diffusion des concepts d’innovation. In fine, nous défendons que les Bell Labs, au travers des représentations de l’utilisateur, ont progressivement établi une équivalence entre l’homme et la machine qui porte l’utilisateur au rang d’image symbolique mi-homme mi-machine

    Understanding the differences in the development and use of advanced traveler information systems for vehicles (ATIS/V) in the U.S., Germany, and Japan

    Get PDF
    Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-157).Traffic congestion is becoming a serious problem. As a solution, advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) mitigate traffic congestion by providing real-time traffic information to travelers. ATIS includes various applications such as radio traffic reporting services and websites. Among those, this thesis focuses on more advanced real-time traffic information systems, which provide sophisticated traffic information to drivers via in-vehicle devices such as car navigation systems: we call them ATISN (advanced traveler information systems for vehicles). ATISN has a high potential to mitigate traffic congestion and improve travel for individual drivers. However, in some countries, ATISN has not been accepted well by drivers. To improve this situation, three questions motivate this study: (1) why does ATISN in some parts of the world have more penetration than in others, (2) what can be done to increase the penetration of ATISN, and (3) what kinds of strategic alliances among stakeholders can help to make better ATISNs. This thesis compares three countries, the U.S., Germany, and Japan, by a qualitative analysis of the system dynamics methodology to clarify reasons which have been causing differences in the penetration.(cont.) Additionally, a new supply chain model based on McQueen's model is used. Furthermore, stakeholder analysis and case studies regarding stakeholder alliances in current ATISNs and highway service operators' strategies for alliances are conducted. In conclusion, from a macro-perspective analysis, many prominent factors in the dynamics of ATISN penetration are found, such as public investment in a public-driven ATISN, the in-vehicle device market, and two-way communication technology development. Furthermore, from analysis for alliances among stakeholders, no absolute best alliances but many possibilities to create alliances for ATISN are clarified, and the use of ATISN as a differentiation tool is suggested as one option worth considering.b y Yoshihiko Sugawara.S.M
    corecore