English
◆ Annual Review 2001

Human Interface Laboratory


Masahide Sugiyama
Professor

Michael Cohen
Associate Professor

Susantha Herath
Associate Professor

Minoru Ueda
Assistant Professor

Using our communication channels (sense organs: ears, mouth, eyes, nose, skin, etc) we can communicate each other, including between human and human, human and machine, and human and every information sources. Because of disability of the above channels in software or hardware sense, sometimes it becomes to be difficult for human to communicate. Research area of Human Interface Laboratory covers enhancement and generation of various human interface channels. In order to advance the above research on human interface, we adopt the following research principle:

Theoretical: Our target is human interface and our study has possibility to do try-and-error, heuristic, too practical business. Based on our experimental results, and experiences we try to establish the theory, uni??ed insight, generalization and analytical viewpoints.

Practical: Our target is not theory generation for theory. We extract the concept, theory in order to clarify in experimental and quantitative viewpoint.

We exhibited our research activities in the open campus in University Festival and Lab Open House for Freshmen.

Referred Journal Papers
[mcohen-001:2001]Noor Alamshah Bolhassan and Michael Cohen. A Multiuser Multiperspective Panoramic Browser Using QuickTimeVRand Java. 3D Forum: J. of Three Dimensional Images, 16(1):77-83, March 2002. Refereed.
[mcohen-002:2001]Toshifumi Kanno and Michael Cohen. An architecture for collaborative virtual environments. 3D Forum: J. of Three Dimensional Images, 16(1):166-174, March 2002. issn1342-2189. Refereed.
[mcohen-003:2001]Yutaka Nagashima and Michael Cohen. Distributed virtual environment interface for a mobile phone. 3D Forum: J. of Three Dimensional Images, 15(4):102-106, 2002.
Refereed. issn 1342-2189.We have designed a mobile telephone interface for use in a distributed virtual environment (dve). Programmedwith J2me (Java2, micro edition), our dynamic map application runs on an (NTT DoCoMo) iAppli mobile phone. Featuring a variable number of icons with one ratational and two translational degrees of freedom, the interface can be used to control avatars in a teleconference or chatspace. The Sony model of the 503-series iAppli units features a thumb jog wheel, which can be used as a continuous controller to manipulate icons. The user interface is further extended with musical and vibration cues. The interface is integrated with other dve clients through a `servent,' (server/client hybird) http$tcp/ip gateway. Through the servent's servelets, via a server like Apache, the mobile phone interoperates with a heterogenous groupware suite to interact with other clients, including: psfc proxy (controlling spatialization of audio sources though a dsp-driven hemispherical speaker array), the Internet Chair (sensing and driving azimuth of a swivel seat with a servomotor), qtvr (QuickTime VR) browsers, and Java3D displays (controlling icons in perspective display).
[mcohen-004:2001]William L. Martens and Michael Cohen. Virtual Acoustic Research at the University of Aizu. JVRSJ: J. Virtual Reality Society of Japan, 6(3):261-269, December 2001. Refereed. issn1342-6680.
[mcohen-005:2001]Michael Cohen and William L. Martens. Spatial Media Re-search at the University of Aizu. JVRSJ: J. Virtual Reality Society of Japan, 6(2):261-269, December 2001.
Refereed. issn1342-6680. Over the last several years, our students have created heterogeneous interfaces, all implemented in Java (with Java3D, JMF, and Swing), including: a 2.5D dynamic map (allowing not only planar translation but also rotation); a spiral spring GUI; Helical Keyboard (originally prototyped in Mathematica); a panoramic browser; and a PSFC proxy. We enjoy experimenting with stereopsis: the panoramic browser includes a stereographic mode, and the Spiral Spring and Helical Keyboard interfaces feature chromastereoptic displays.
[mcohen-006:2001]Michael Cohen. Review of the 2 Int. Symp. on Mixed Reality Keynote Address byDavid Mizell Tools vs. Clothing: Competing Visions of the Future of Augmented Reality and Wearable Computers. JVRSJ: J. Virtual Reality Society of Japan, 6(1):51-52, June 2001.
Refereed. issn1342-6680. The Second International Symposium on Mixed Reality, ISMR'01, was held March 14-15 at Pacifico Yokohama, in the Minato Mirai district of Yokohama, as part of a virtual realityweek, in conjunction with IEEE-VR'01 and MiRai'01. ISMR'01 was cosponsored by the VRSJ and the Mixed Reality Systems Lab, Inc. The first ISMR, ISMR'99, was held two years ago in same location, and attracted more than 200 international participants to discuss component technologies and integration methodologies for realizing mixed reality environments. The stated dual purposes of this second symposium were to review progress in the field of mixed reality during the previous two year period and to define new research frontiers and goals. Topics spanned by the symposium included augmented reality, augmentedvirtuality, image-based rendering, geometrical registration, photometrical registration, computer vision and graphics for MR, wearable computers and displays, 3D/haptic display systems, position and orientation sensory systems, MR applications, and systems. A provocative keynote address was offered by David Mizell, recently moved to DesanaSystems (a network router start-upcompany) after a long stint at Boeing where he initiated several pioneering R&D projects in VR, augmented reality, wearable computers, and pervasive computing.
Referred Proceeding Papers
[mcohen-007:2001]Michael Cohen. Eartop Computing and Cyberspatial Audio Technology. In Proc. DALI: First Int. Workshop on Digital and Academic Liberty of Information, Aizu-Wakamatsu, March 2001.
[mcohen-008:2001]Toshifumi Kanno, Michael Cohen, Yutaka Nagashima, and Tomohisa Hoshino. Mobile Control of Multimodal Groupware in a Distributed Virtual Environment. In Int. Conf. on Artificial Reality and Telexistence, pages 147-154, Tokyo, December 2001.
issn1345-1278;
sklab-www.pi.titech.ac.jp/ hase/ICATPHP/upload/39 camera.pdf, Anticipating ubicomp (for ubiquitous computing) networked applications and information spaces, we have integrated various multimodal (auditory, visual, haptic) I/O devices into a virtual reality groupware system. We have deployeda Java-equipped mobile phone capable of interacting with this virtual environment suite, integrated through a servent, a server/client hybrid http $ tcp/ip gateway. Keywords: mobile computing, CVE (collaborative virtual environments), groupware, cscw (computer-supported collaborative work), hand-held interface.
[mcohen-009:2001]Yasuhiro Yamazaki, Michael Cohen, Jie Huang, and Tomohide Yanagi. Augmented Audio Reality: compositing mobile telerobotic and virtual spatial audio. In Int. Conf. on Artificial Reality and Telexistence, pages 213-216, Tokyo, December 2001.
issn1345-1278;
sklab-www.pi.titech.ac.jp/ hase/ICATPHP/upload/41 camera.pdf
[mcohen-010:2001]Noor Alamshah Bolhassan and Michael Cohen.
[mcohen-011:2001]Toshifumi Kanno and Michael Cohen. An Architecture for Collaborative Virtual Environments. In Proc. HC2001: 4th Int. Conf. on Human and Computer, pages 31-38, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, September 2001.
[mcohen-012:2001]Yutaka Nagashima and Michael Cohen. Distributed Virtual Environment Interface for a Mobile Phone. In Proc. HC2001: 4th Int. Conf. on Human and Computer, pages 43-46, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, September 2001.
[mcohen-013:2001]Kazuhisa Nakashima and Michael Cohen. Animated Extensions to a Helical Keyboard Client: Chord-chords, Chord-kites, and Intelligent Spatialization. In Proc. HC2001: 4th Int. Conf. on Human and Computer, pages 39-41, Aizu-Wakamatsu, September 2001.
[mcohen-014:2001]Toshifumi Kanno and Michael Cohen. A Helical Keyboard Client. In Proc. CIT: 2nd Int. Conf. on Computer and Information Technology, pages 163{165, Shanghai, September 2001.
issn1007-6417
[mcohen-015:2001]Michael Cohen. Helical Warping and Chromastereoptic Visualization of a Piano-Style Keyboard. In Yoshihiko Tazawa, editor, Proc. IMS: 4th Int. Mathematica Symp., pages 223-230, Tokyo Denki Daigaku, Chiba, June 2001.
isbn4-501-73020-X; Inspired by the cyclic nature of octavesand helical structure of a scale, a piano-style keyboard, geometrically modeled directly in Mathematica as a composition of different kinds of Graphics3D elements, is given a helical warp, one octave/revolution. A rectangular helical func tion Maps tone chroma to azimuth and pitch to elevation. The natural orientation of upper frequency keys higher on the helix suggests a parsimonious left-handed chirality, so that ascending notes cross in front of a listener left/right. The keyboard was also rendered with a chromastereoptic Surface Colorscheme to suggest depth and animated with sound.Keywords: computer music, visual music, chromastereopsis, spatial media.
[mcohen-016:2001]Kuniaki Honno, William L. Martens, and Michael Cohen. Psychophysically-derived control of source range for the PioneerSound Field Controller. In AES 110th Convention, Amsterdam, May 2001.
Preprint #5313; www.u-aizu.ac.jp/ wlm/papers/aes110 98.ps; A psychophysically-derived control for the perceived range of a virtual sound source was implemented for the Pioneer Sound Field Controller (PSFC), a spatial auditory display employing a 15-loudspeaker hemispherical array. Capable of presenting two independent sound sources moving within a simulated reverberant environment, the PSFC primitives include parameters to manipulate source azimuth and elevation, and also the size and liveness of the simulated space. As accurate control of virtual source range was confounded by variations in both the liveness parameter and in overall PSFC system volume, an empirical approach was employed to derive a Look-Up Table inverting the average range estimates obtained from a group of human subjects listening to a set of virtual sources (short speech samples).
[mcohen-017:2001]Michael Cohen, Jens Herder, Nobuo Koizumi, and William Martens. Panel: Eartop Computing and Cyberspatial Audio Technology. In Proc. VR2001: IEEE Virtual Reality, pages 322-323, Yokohama, March 2001.
issn1087-8270; isbn0-7695-0948-7; Current foci of spatial audio research in recent literature comprise sound localization; lateralization and binaural masking; echoes, precedence,and depth perception; motion perception; sound source segregation and free-field masking; physiologyof spatial hearing; models of spatial hearing; (childhood) development of spatial hearing; and applications of binaural technology to auditory displays for human-computer interaction. Tocut acrossthese categories in anattempt to outline the current state-of-the-art in spatial auditory displays for a particular range of applications, with an emphasis upon the expected performance of the technology in producing specific user responses required for those applications, this panel considers the value of spatial audio technology in the creation and presentation of virtual environments. The shared synthetic worlds that networked computer users occupy constitute an alternative reality that has come to be termed `cyberspace.' Auditory display technology that attempts to provide such users with satisfying experiences of virtual acoustical space is termed here `cyberspatial audio' technology. We can identify a number of applications for which `eartop' computing seems appropriate: 1) telecommunication (for example, audio-only teleconferencing) 2) navigational aids 3) entertainment (such as computer-aided interactivemusical performance) 4) voicemail browsing and synthetic-speech-based browsing of textual e-mail. This panel will survey some eartop computing applications and issues relevant to cyberspatial audio, including temporal and spatial resolution, eAEciency and effectiveness of virtual acoustic rendering, software interfaces, spatial audio for virtual sets, and mixed reality approaches.
[sugiyama-001:2001]K. Kaneda and M. Sugiyama. Laughter Detection for Video Caption Generation. InProc. of CBMI2001, pages 151-158, Sep. 2001.
[sugiyama-002:2001]T. Mutoh and M. Sugiyama. Model Based Voice Decomposition Method with Time Constraint. In Proc. of MMSP2001, pages 21-26. IEEE, Oct. 2001.
[sugiyama-003:2001]T. Suzuki, K. Watanabe, and M. Sugiyama. Enhancement of VCML Player. In Proc. of MMSP2001, pages 365{370. IEEE, Oct. 2001.
[sugiyama-004:2001]Takeshi Akatsuka and Masahide Sugiyama. Generation of Iroha-Uta using Frequency Distribution of Kana. In Proc. of CIT2001, pages 152-157, Sep. 2001.
[sugiyama-005:2001]Takeshi Imai and Masahide Sugiyama. Development of Sound Effect Toolkit Software. In Proc. of CIT2001, pages 158-162, Sep. 2001.
[sugiyama-006:2001]Shin'ichi Takeuchi, Takayuki Uchida, Masaki Yamashita, and Masahide Sugiyama. Optimization of Voice/Music Detection in Sound Data. In Proc. of CRAC, pages 51-54, Sep. 2001.
[sugiyama-007:2001]Tomoya Narita and Masahide Sugiyama. Fast Music Retrieval using Spectrum and Power Information. In Proc. of CRAC, pages 47-50, Sep. 2001.
Unrefereed Papers
[sugiyama-008:2001]T. Mutoh and M. Sugiyama. Model-based Voice Decomposition Method under Time Constraint. In SP2001-3, editor, Technical Report of Speech, pages 17-24. ASJ/IEICE, Apr. 2001.
[sugiyama-009:2001]S. Takeuchi, M. Yamashita, T. Uchida, and M. Sugiyama. Optimization of Voice/Music Segmentation. In SP2001-28, editor, Technical Report of Speech, pages 29-36. ASJ/IEICE, June 2001.
[sugiyama-010:2001]T. Suzuki, K. Watanabe, and M. Sugiyama. New Functions of VCMLPlayer. In 2001-HI-93-7, editor, Technical Report of HI, pages 39-45. IPSJ, May 2001.
[sugiyama-011:2001]M. Kurita, T. Suzuki, and M. Sugiyama. Laughter Detection and Video Caption Display. In Proc. of IPSJ Tohoku Chapter 3rd Workshop, pages 33{38. IPSJ, Dec. 2001.
[sugiyama-012:2001]M. Watanabe and M. Sugiyama. Information Retrieval on Reading Speech based on Recognition Result. In Proc. of IPSJ Tohoku Chapter 3rd Workshop, pages 44{49. IPSJ, Dec. 2001.
[sugiyama-013:2001]D. Sagawa, T. Akatsuka, and M. Sugiyama. Sentence Correspondence Generation. InProc. of IPSJTohoku Chapter 3rd Workshop, pages 60-65. IPSJ, Dec. 2001.
[sugiyama-014:2001]M. Sugiyama. A Collection of International Publications of Human Interface Laboratory (2001). In Technical Report, AizuWakamatsu, Fukushima, Dec. 2001. The Univ. of Aizu.
[sugiyama-015:2001]M. Sugiyama. Proceedings of IPSJ Tohoku Chapter 3rd Workshop at Univ. of Aizu (I). In Technical Report, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima, Dec 2001. The Univ. of Aizu.
[sugiyama-016:2001]M. Sugiyama. Proceedings of IPSJ Tohoku Chapter 3rd Workshop at Univ. of Aizu (II). In Technical Report, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima, Dec. 2001. The Univ. of Aizu.
Chapters in Book
[mcohen-018:2001]Michael Cohen. Mathematics, chapter Virtual Reality. Macmillan Reference USA, NewYork, 2002.
Volume 4; isbn0-02-865561-3
Books
[sugiyama-017:2001]M. Sugiyama. Fundamentals and Advanced Topics in Speech Recognition. Number TR2001-1-015. The University of Aizu, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima, 2001.
Grants
[mcohen-019:2001]Michael Cohen. The Internet Chair, Fukushima Prefectural Foundation for the Advancement of Sicnece and Education, 2000-2001.
[sugiyama-018:2001]M. Sugiyama. Computer Aided Education for Disabled People, Fukushima Prefectural Foundation for Advancement of Science and Education, 2001.
Academic Activities
[sugiyama-019:2001]M. Sugiyama, 2001. Vice president, ASJ/IEICE: Speech Research Committee
[sugiyama-020:2001]M. Sugiyama, 2001. Editor, IEICE: ED
[sugiyama-021:2001]M. Sugiyama, 2001. Editor, ASJ: Acoustic Technology Series
[sugiyama-022:2001]M. Sugiyama, 2001. Editor, IEICE: Special Issue on Speech Information Processing
[sugiyama-023:2001]M. Sugiyama, 2001. Member, ASJ: Council
Ph.D and Other Thesis
[mcohen-020:2001]Kazuhisa Nakashima. Graduation Thesis: Graphical and Functional Extensions to the Helical Keyboard, University of Aizu, 2001.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Cohen
[mcohen-021:2001]Kazuki Shuno. Graduation Thesis: A 3D Graphical Interface for Controlling Actual and Virtual Robots, University of Aizu, 2001.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Cohen
[mcohen-022:2001]Hideto Shimizu. Graduation Thesis: A Networked Virtual Car Implemented with Java3D, University of Aizu, 2001.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Cohen
[mcohen-023:2001]Daisuke Kaneko. Graduation Thesis: A Virtual Internet Chair Implemented as a Java3D Client, University of Aizu, 2001.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Cohen
[mcohen-024:2001]Yutaka Nagashima. Graduation Thesis: A 2.5D Dynamic Map Groupware Client for a Mobile Phone, University of Aizu, 2001.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Cohen