Mobile Intelligence

22.5 RELATED WORK

Wearable computing systems have already become one of the main research area. Some of the currently available wearable computers include PDA-based systems relying on industrial standard architecture concepts. MITthril [7] is one of these examples that integrate computation, sensing, networking into cloths, and all devices are connected using body bus, which is single-cable hardwired connection. These PC- or PDA-based solutions focus on transforming commercially available devices into a wearable device, thus they do not reach a high degree of wearability and usability.

Table 22.4 UFC Operation Sets

Wearable systems based on custom design include low-end special-purpose appliances such as watchs [13] and garments [14]. IBM's Linux Watch [13] packed a fair amount of hardware into wristwatch size and showed the model of a wearable computer form. With this small watch form and communication interface with Bluetooth and Irda, it supports short-range communication applications. However, it lacks other communication interfaces and user interfaces. Therefore, it should be considered what kind of service can be supported with its limited interfaces. These low-end custom designs are bound to their specific task due to lack of system specification and interfaces.

The custom-designed multiple-purpose systems have been developed that pro-vide more functionality and flexibility. ...