Funktionalitetsdelning med fokus på användbarhet

Sammanfattning: In a world of multiple devices, ranging from personal computers to mobile phones, from network attached lighting to smart refrigerators, every category of devices has its typical hardware and capabilities. These capabilities are what characterize the device, but it also sets limitations on what it can do. With the assumption that the majority of all devices have some form of network connectivity, this report suggests that one should abandon the view of devices as discrete “things”. Instead one should see them as contributing capabilities that can be shared with other devices in the surrounding eco-system. This phenomenon is termed “capability sharing” in this report. The thesis maps typical capabilities in commonly available consumer electronics, as well as some emerging device categories. Thereafter, characteristics of a capability sharing system are identified. The results show that an important characteristic is a common language. To ensure that the technology really improves every-day life, other important additions are intelligent suggestions, ease of configuration and automated activation. Automated activation requires further progress in the field of positioning. A prototype is developed using a sever-client model. The prototype demonstrates capability sharing by letting the user control a Google Street View on a computer using the gyroscope of a mobile phone, thus providing a different experience. The target platforms of the prototype consist of Android, Google Chrome, and Node.js. To link these together, the JavaScript library Socket.IO is used. User tests show that a very clear interface language is important, since capability sharing is a new concept for many users. The tests also show that notifications, which are the prototype’s primary means of helping the user, must be clear. Their placement on the screen is an important factor of their discoverability. Capability sharing according to the proposed model is possible, but many pieces of the puzzle are missing. Before a usable system is put into production, security aspects will have to be thoroughly investigated. After the thesis had been completed, Google announced the software platform “Brillo”, thereby confirming a continued strong interest in IoT. The platform provides the common language that this thesis identifies as a necessity.