A Distributed Software Architecture for GPS-Driven
Mobile Applications
Thomas G. Dennehy
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48113-4001
Abstract
The unique requirements of voice recognition can shape a software
architecture in many ways that have proven effective for mobile and
distributed applications. We show in this paper that extending the
voice recognition model of translating utterances into sentences to
include translating a variety of real-world events into a command
protocol can create an architecture whose components operate
identically on hand-held devices, man-portable or vehicle-borne units,
notebook, or desktop computers. SANSE, a portable navigation and
geographic information management system having several redundant user
interfaces, is described. In SANSE a collection of distributed
Interactors translate events-spoken words, input from GPS hardware,
timers expiring, input from files or communication links, and direct
manipulation actions-into SANSE commands that are sent to one or more
Receivers, which can execute commands without regard to their
source. The complete operation of this system can be captured in
vocabulary of less than 70 words, small enough to provide
speaker-independent operation yet rich enough to be broadly
applicable. The architecture can be extended by adding new Interactor
types without affecting the operation of the baseline system.
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