D3.2: Emerging & Accessible Healthcare Technologies

Access to Interoperable Monitoring and Therapy with Integrated Telesupport

Multimodal sensory interfaces display information content in more than one sensory mode. Multimodal effector interfaces enable controls to be operated using more than one motor mode. Such interfaces clearly help facilitate accessibility and accessible design. This page reviews some of the ongoing national and international activities, specifically in three areas: general multimodal principles and guidelines related to human factors, guidelines for multimodal web interfaces, and standards for multimodal interfaces for using a Universal Remote Console to access displays/controls of products (such as consumer appliances and homecare medical devices.

General Multimodal Principles and Guidelines.

Europe's ETSI EG 202 191: Human Factors: Multimodal Interaction, Communication and Navigation Guidelines addresses multimodality to reduce social exclusion, improve accessibility, and human factors recommendations for multimodal interfaces. This is a great educational document for understanding the possibility for multimodal interfaces and human factors design principles and processes.

Multimodal Web Guidelines and Emerging XML-Based Tools.

The W3C (Wide World Web Consortium) is the international body involved in setting up web standards. As seen from the W3C's Multimodal Interaction Activity and Web Accessibility Initiative (part of a collection of Standards/Guidelines for the evolving Web), they have been quite involved in considering accessibility and multimodal interaction. The W3C Multimodal Interaction working group aims to develop specifications to enable access to the Web using multiple modes of interaction, such as speech, pen, keypad, bitmapped displays etc. This activity is part of a suite of specifications for multimodal systems, and provides details of a platform and language neutral software interface that enables applications to dynamically determine and respond to changes in device capabilities, device configuration, user preferences and enviromental conditions, such as low battery alerts or loss of network connectivity. More information is available through the following links:

• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) (for XML graphics on the web)
• VoiceXML, (for voice recognition systems, and for speech synthesis (SSML))
• InkML (for handwritten pen and stylus information, gestures interpretation, signature verification)
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (for usability of client browsers)

Multimodal Interfaces for Home Products of the Future.

A key initiative for multimodal interfaces of the future is the V2 Standard for "Universal Remote Consoles" (URCs) for "Target" devices and services, such as home appliances. It is being developed by the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As described at the www.myurc.com site for V2, V2 allows manufacturers to install an "interface portal" on their product, which then allows customers to use a wide variety of remote controls with the product, usually through wireless or network technology. These "interface portals" give a user access to all of the controls and displays for the product. V2 describes a standard way of creating these portals so that they can be used by a wide variety of URCs. Because both displays and controls are available through the V2 portal, the URC is able to tell the status of the device as well as the available commands. It also may facilitate more sophisticated controls, such as natural language. The V2 Standard is based on existing standards for connections and transport. Of special interest are V2 applications that build on implementation on the popular new UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standard that has strong industry support. The V2 simulation environment from Trace Center can be used to help understand how URCs and Targets can communicate. The interface documents at the Target make extensive use of XML and W3C tools.

RERC's ongoing activities through Project D3.2.

The RERC-AMI is working on two V2-related strategies, both of which are expected to culminate in a technical report and simulation:

• Display and control interfaces for three classes of medical devices (home healthcare monitors of vitals; cycle ergometers for home use; controls for powered exam tables and beds), coordinated by Dr. R. Sarma Danturthi.
• Interfaces for the UniTherapy technology for rehabilitative assessment and therapy, coordinated by Xin Feng, a biomedical engineering graduate student.