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Pin&Play has four main components:
 | Surface: physical medium for both data and power
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| Connector: physical device for attachment of objects to the medium
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| Objects: network nodes powered and connected through the Surface
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| Network: network control and communication protocols
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| Surface. Instead of wires,
Pin&Play uses conductive sheets, as we want
to facilitate entire surfaces as two-dimensional networks. As solid sheets
would leave holes when pin-shaped connectors are inserted and later removed,
woven fiber sheets are used instead. |
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| Connectors. The design of Pin&Play connectors is
aimed to support physical connection of Pin&Play network nodes to the
surfaces (they would be the plugs if the network were not socket-less).
But they should also
support attachment of objects based on existing and familiar practices
(pins). |
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| Objects. The very idea of Pin&Play is to provide
networking to objects that are commonly attached to surfaces, rather than to
conventional computing devices. We consider two
different types of objects: any kind of object
that people would attach to vertical surfaces and that
could be “upgraded” to a networked object while retaining its
original appearance, purpose and use, but also
objects that succeed today’s mundane and ubiquitous connectors and
fasteners, for example “Smart Pushpins” that can be used to attach notes to
boards but that in addition provide new functionality on the basis of being
digital and networked. |
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| Network. Objects become powered up when they are
attached to a surface. It is the task of the network to discover newly
attached objects and to maintain network state. The network furthermore has
to provide the communication protocols for the connected nodes. A primary
optimization target for the network is to support large-scale surfaces, high
density of nodes, and ad hoc integration of previously unknown objects,
while bandwidth is of lesser concern. |
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For more information, check out our publications:
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K. Van Laerhoven, A. Schmidt and H.-W. Gellersen.
"Pin&Play: Networking Objects through Pins". In Proceedings of Ubicomp 2002,
G. Boriello and L.E. Holmquist (Eds). Lecture Notes in Computer Science;
Vol.
2498, ISBN 3-540-44267-7; Göteborg, Sweden.
Springer Verlag, September 2002, pp.219
- 229.
PDF |
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K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar, A. Schmidt, H.-W. Gellersen,
M. Håkansson, and L. E. Holmquist.
"Pin&Play: The Surface as Network Medium" In
IEEE Communications Magazine,
April 2003,
Vol.41 No.4. IEEE Press, pp. 90-96.
PDF |
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K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar, M. Håkansson,
and H.-W. Gellersen. "Pin & Play: Bringing Power and Networking to
Wall-Mounted Appliances". In Proceedings of the 5th IEE International Workshop
on Networked Appliances, Liverpool, UK, ISBN 0-7803-7686-2,
IEEE Press, 2002, pp. 131-137.
PDF |
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M. Håkansson,
S. Ljungblad, and L. E. Holmquist.
""Like Solving a Giant Puzzle: Supporting Collaborative Scheduling at a Film
Festival", to be presented at INTERACT 2003. |
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