An Information Notification Model with VPC on KODAMA in an Ubiquitous Computing Environment, and Its Experiment

The notification of useful information to users is necessary to keep them aware of their environment and is of particular benefit in a ubiquitous computing environment. However, the amount and nature of information to be provided depends on circumstances. Too much information will confuse users. Systems used to disseminate information in a ubiquitous computing environment should not provide all information to all users, and should instead modify information disseminated depending on circumstances and context. In addition, systems designed for use in a ubiquitous computing environment need a security function for various reasons including privacy protection. For these reasons, we have developed an information dissemination model, called VPC on KODAMA. The model enables systems to provide an appropriate amount of information to users depending on circumstances and contains a security function. Using this model, we performed a large-scale experiment involving approximately one thousand participants. This paper contains the results of and discussions regarding this experiment.