The UbicompBrowser

Abstract. In this paper we introduce the UbicompBrowser, a system that applies ubiquitous computing to the World-Wide Web. The UbicompBrowser extends the World-Wide Web in two ways into our everyday environments. First, it extends the browser concept by replacing the standard web user interface with a handheld access and control device and surrounding output devices. This ubiquitous user interface is determined dynamically based on the location of the handheld control. Secondly, the UbicompBrowser system extends the web concept of uniform access to resources by applying the same access method, uniform resource identifiers, to environment-specific resources, for example for access to the TV channels available on a TV set, and for access to light switches. In summary, the UbicompBrowser improves web accessibility by realizing a ubiquitous environment-based user interface, and by extending accessibility to environment-specific resources. The approach constitutes a user interface for all flexibly adapted to their environment, interfacing both global resources in the web and local resources in a given user environment. 1