This document presents a model and process for automatically adding synchronous collaboration capabilities to existing single-user multi-touch applications. It describes modifying components based on the model-view-controller architectural pattern to support collaboration. The process was evaluated by manually implementing it on two apps, requiring 10-16 hours to modify the apps' touch and control events as well as configuration files. Future work includes automating the process and further evaluation.

1. Adaptation of Single-user
Multi-touch Components to
Support Synchronous Mobile
Collaboration
Msc. Mauro C. Pichiliani (pichilia@ita.br)
Dr. Celso M. Hirata (hirata@ita.br)
Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica - Department of Computer Science

2. Goal
Present an abstract component model
for developing mobile groupware
applications based on the
modification of the user-interface
components

3. Overview
• Introduction
• Related work
• The Multi-user MVC model
• Component modification process
• Evaluation
• Demonstration
• Conclusion & future work

4. Introduction
 Online stores with thousands of applications
 Few apps. allow synchronous collaboration
 Vendors provide SDK
 Implementation of synchronous ad hoc collaboration is
complex and costly (require specific application design)
How to automatically extend existing
non-collaborative multi-touch applications
so that they implement synchronous
collaboration requirements?

5. Related work [Pichiliani ‘09]
Source code Technical Implementation
Approach Context
availability requirements effort
Do not require the It depends on the
Toolkits Create new apps
source code Toolkit’s language
Transparent Promote
Do not require the Require a centralized
Collaboration collaboration among
source code architecture
Systems apps
Transparent
Require a specific Promote
Collaboration Require an Operating
software layer for each collaboration among
Systems – ICT, System API
app apps
ICT2 and ACT
Require a specific Promote
Transparent
Require an app’s API software layer for each collaboration among
Adaptation
app apps
Create new apps
Component Require the app’s It depends on the app
and promote
Replacement source code component’s language
collaboration
Require the source code Require the app be
Mapping of of the apps’ components Promote
made with the MVC
Components collaboration
architectural style

6. The Multi-user MVC model

7. Data object characteristics [Li ‘06]
 Global identification:
 Device D, platform P, application A , collaborative session S, user
U, View V, component C, property R, value E.
Notation: D.P.A.S.U.V.C.R.E.
 Interception point:
 Allow read and write access of the properties values
 Coordination services:
 Mechanisms for coordination of work
 Composite structures:
 Access the relationships between internal objects
 Property changes:
 Distinguishing replacement and incremental property change
values

8. Collaborative component design
 Flexible JAM [Begole ‘01] features:
 Simultaneous work when desirable
 Implicit/Explicit concurrency control
 Location-relaxed WYSIWIS
 General group awareness information
 Components retain existing features
 Pre-defined collaborative interaction
 Synchronous mobile multi-touch controls can provide new styles of
collaboration
 Example: zoom in (enlarge) e zoom out (pinch) [Morris ‘06]

9. Collaboration infrastructure

10. Component modification
 Requirements of the model:
 Source code available
 Components on the MVC model
 Apps created with the SDK
 Automatic implementation of certain pre-defined basic collaboration
requirements
 Application of the semi-automatic mapping in specific cases
 Other collaborative requirements can be implemented using the ad hoc
approach
 Consider specific details of the platform SDKs: iOS, Android, Windows
Phone, Blackberry

11. The process
The MVC UI Component Modification Process

12. Evaluation
 Manual implementation of the process in two existing apps:
 MathDoku (16 man-hour)
 FingerPaint (10 man-hour)
 Half of the time analysing the code
 Steps of the process perfomed with the IDE
 Focus on touch and control events
 Modification of XML configuration files
 Insertion of a new menu bar item in the app
 Single control’s modification provide flexibility and reusability

13. Demonstration
 CoFingerPaint and CoMathDoku prototypes

14. Conclusion & Future work
 Many multi-touch applications without collaboration features
 Current proposals are not automatic or do not modify existing
applications
 We presented a model and a process for deploying
synchronous collaboration requirements in existing multi-touch
applications
 Not all applications are candidates for the proposed technique
 Evaluation modified two existing applications
 Future work:
 Automate MVC UI Component Modification Process
 Formal evaluation of development effort
 Exploration of new interactions techniques for existing UI
components