SOME INTERESTING PROJECTS I HAVE WORKED ON Device Symbiois:
I am leading a project on Device Symbiosis with IBM’s Ubiquitous Computing Lab in Korea. This project explores software infrastructure and device software necessary for promoting synergy between various mobile devices and stationary devices deployed in service zones to overcome inherent limitations in mobile devices and provide zone-based services. Aspects of exploration include personalized service and device discovery, dynamic generation of interfaces for services, representations for service and user preferences, programming models for simplified interaction, and overall system efficiency. The project is partially supported by the Institute of Information Technology Advancement (IITA) and the Ministry for Information and Communication (MIC), Republic of Korea, under the IT839 initiative. SoulPad:
In 2003, MT Raghunath and I conceived of a technique that allows a user to just carry a small portable device with sufficient storage containing the SoulPad software stack (the soul) that can be attached to a public PC (the body) to get access to his complete personal computing environment (data and applications) and resume prior suspended computing sessions without requiring network connectivity. The SoulPad software stack has three layers - an autoconfiguring OS, a Virtual Machine Monitor, and an encrypted suspended VM image (includes Guest OS + data + applications). The SoulPad stack can be carried on a portable USB disk drive (and in future in portable flash memory devices) or on devices that include large amounts of storage such as an Apple iPod™. Since all the software that runs on the PC comes from the SoulPad, we do not rely on any installed software on the PC, or even access the internal disk on the PC. Device management can be simplified in some settings since the public PCs can be diskless and hence stateless. A paper describing the software stack, performance, and implications to software design for this type of usage got the Best Paper Award at ACM/USENIX MobiSys 2005 and the 2005 Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award in IBM Research. Linux Watch:
I led the multi-site IBM Research effort on developing the Linux Watch, the world’s physically smallest computer running a standard Linux operating system with advanced capabilities such as a biometrics-based authentication, wireless communication, and a high-resolution organic LED touch-screen display. With its early demonstration of Web Services, SSL, IPSec, Mobile IPv6, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Bluetooth software stacks on such a tiny device, the project significantly expanded the realm of applications for mobile devices. Other technical advances described in papers and patents included power adaptive user interfaces, system wide power management, displays, and user interfaces for input constrained devices. The first watch prototype was shown to the public at the Linux World expo at Personal Mobile Hub:
The IBM Personal Mobile Hub, derived from the Linux Watch, is a device that acts as gateway between body worn sensors and back-end infrastructure. It includes short and long range wireless communication and transcoding functions. The personal mobile hub can perform local analysis on data received from sensors, identify patterns and conditions, and relay suitable messages to personnel or end points in the infrastructure. This work was also aimed at reducing the size, energy consumption, software footprint and improving ergonomics of body worn sensors, by offloading more complex tasks to an intermediary hub. The IBM mHealth solution utilizes a personal mobile hub for mobile patient health monitoring and serves as a link between medical devices and health care personnel. A few cell phones have started to incorporate such functions today. eServices - Remote Monitoring of Assets:
This project investigated the use of sensors in electronic office equipment to proactively monitor their status and take action to provide differentiation in the service after sales experience and to reduce maintenance costs. To address this objective, some novel physical sensors were advocated and data was also collected from users to determine usage patterns and usability issues. The project also demonstrated the utility of web services technology for this purpose. Low Power Systems:
I have worked on a series of projects focused on minimizing power consumption on battery operated devices - including power-aware user interfaces, power management for IBM ThinkPad™ computers, low power enhancements for PowerPC™ processors, power improvements for the Linux kernel, and power-aware web proxies to reduce energy consumed by 802.11 wireless interfaces on mobile devices. Geo+Cam:
Location-based information and services are among the most popular applications of pervasive computing. Built in 1997, Geo+Cam (US Patent 6,504,571) was a navigation system prototype that augmented traditional maps with pictures of route landmarks (turns, exits, etc.) captured by a GPS-assisted digital camera. A recent example of its use is shown here. The work also covered map-based and camera-recorded metadata-based search for images. The combination of maps and GPS-indexed aerial or land based photographs by several web-based services (navigation, real-estate) is now commonplace. ScreenPhone:
ScreenPhone was a system for reducing frustration from myriad voice-mail options (US Patent 6,104,790) by providing a graphical rendering of the choices available at each level of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu on phones with displays. The system also had the ability to store fast paths down the IVR to directly access some options. Graphics Systems:
During my first few years at IBM I worked on graphics libraries and accelerators for IBM RS6000 workstations. I was the chief architect for the first implementation of the OpenGL® 3D graphics interface on the IBM RS/6000. Our implementation of OpenGL® was also one of the earliest in the industry. I was a member of the team that defined the graphics instructions for an IBM Graphics Floating Point Engine (GFPE) based on the PowerPC™ architecture. I was also part of the team that developed and validated the VMX SIMD extensions now available on the PowerPC™ processors used in several game consoles. I helped introduce high-performance 3D graphics functionality in IBM’s PC-based workstations – Intellistations that won awards at Comdex in 1997. I was also an architect for the IBM GXT-150™, the world’s fastest 2D graphics accelerator when it was introduced.