BT makes sci-fi a reality with futuristic interface

Teletext for the 21st Century from BT’s broadband applications research centre

BT has developed a futuristic wireless technology for the home, which will notify users of personalised news and information using ambient light sequences and sound alerts. To find out more, you simply wave your hand across it, thus prompting it to read out the relevant details.

The technology, developed by BT’s broadband applications research centre at Adastral Park, is expected to lead to exciting new services for BT’s broadband customers. The idea is to bring users personalised online information in an easy, integrated and unobtrusive way, piping news and other information into home environments rather than having to go online. This brings us closer to natural interaction with computers by communicating in terms of colour, sound and speech.

Information, such as e-mails or weather reports, would manifest as ambient alerts on unobtrusive devices, using animated light patterns and sounds. Users can then wave their hand over the front of the device, prompting it to provide them with more detailed information using Laureate, BT’s text-to-speech software, to read out the information highlights in a natural voice.

One experimental ‘ambient interface’ has a fluid, oval design and clear front where the light sequences appear. It is intriguingly shaped and integrates easily into any environment, sitting neatly on a coffee table or kitchen worktop, for example. The design concept was to create an unobtrusive but ‘always-on’ source of information that people will want in their homes.

The device communicates with an ‘ambient service portal’ using a Wi-Fi LAN access point connected to broadband Internet. Users can choose what information the ambient service portal monitors and customise how that information is displayed on their device. For example, information could include an alert when children are on their way home, notification of stocks and share prices or the status of bids on eBay. The device can also listen for keyword commands such as ‘weather’, translating your request using speech recognition software and delivering back the relevant information.

BT designed the ambient interface in a way that made the technology truly inclusive to all users, communicating through voice, colour and sound sequences. This has significant implications for people with sight or hearing impairments.

Adam Oliver, head of access to information, BT Group, said: “This ambient device really shows the benefits of having an ‘always-on’ link to information. We set out to find a way of creating a knowledge source in an integrated but unobtrusive way, bringing everybody easy, relevant and up-to-the-minute information. People who are older or disabled are often overlooked when creating new technologies but at BT, we believe it is vitally important to design inclusively from the outset. The fact that you do not need keyboard skills or the ability to use complicated software to get information from the unit is fantastic.

“We’re very pleased with the device, as it demonstrates just what can be done through innovative use of technology. Equally, the design and function of the device step up to the challenge of what people really want: technology that works for you, rather than the other way around! We expect to see this type of device in the market place within the next 18 months.”

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