Home » About Quentin

Research

Here are a few of the more researchy things I've been involved with.
My real research interest is in unusual user interfaces. (It's the interfaces that are unusual. Generally.) I don't find it very interesting sitting in front of a screen and keyboard. I like computers that you hang on the wall, or that you fix to your car dashboard, or that send messages to your phone. Computers that know when you're sitting in front of them, and what to do when you're not. Computers that know where you left that book you were reading. That sort of stuff...

  • My Ph.D - Video-augmented Environments

    BrightBoard in use

    My Ph.D. thesis subject was Video-Augmented Environments, in which I looked at ways of using video input for the creation of novel human-computer interfaces. Video cameras cost little more now than keyboards and mice, and there are plenty of interesting things you can do with them, but at present it often isn't worth the programming effort. I built an architecture which allowed you to create simple 'triggering' circuits from basic components (sources, sinks, filters & sensors) using a scripting language.

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  • The Broadband Phone

    Broadband Phone - sketching

    I started the Broadband Phone project in early 1999. That was great fun! Fast-moving, high-profile within AT&T, and got lots of attention. People like gadgets.

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  • VNC

    VNC logo

    VNC is a system for sending graphics over networks, and it's used mainly as a way to control one computer desktop from another one.

    I worked on VNC for a couple of years, writing the original Windows and Windows CE viewers, and the first Windows VNC server.

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  • Augmented Vehicles

    One of our in-car computers

    My last area of endeavour at AT&T was on the Augmented Vehicles project, where we were designing more intelligent in-car systems to try and make time spent on the move more productive, safe, educational and enjoyable.

    One of the ideas we explored was context-sensitive phone management...

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  • Ndiyo

    Sample Ndiyo setup

    The Ndiyo project is about taking very simple pixels-over-networks technology and using it to make IT more affordable and sustainable for the world.

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  • Virtual Network Computing

    Tristan Richardson, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Kenneth R. Wood & Andy Hopper, IEEE Internet Computing, Vol 2 Number 1, Jan/Feb 1998, pp 33-39

    VNC is an ultra-thin client system based on a simple display protocol that is platform- independent. It achieves mobile computing without requiring the user to carry any hardware.

    Downloads

    vnc-ieee.pdf
    1.79 MB
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  • BrightBoard: A Video-Augmented Environment

    Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Peter Robinson, Proceedings of CHI'96, ACM
    The goal of ‘Computer Augmented Environments’ is to bring computational power to everyday objects with which users are already familiar, so that the user interface to this computational power becomes almost invisible. Video is a very important tool in creating Augmented Environments and recent camera-manufacturing techniques make it an economically viable proposition in the general marketplace.

    Downloads

    chi96.pdf
    334.83 KB
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  • Brightboard in Use

    BrightBoard in use

    A camera fixed to the ceiling watches the activity
    on the board. It is connected to a computer which
    uses low-resolution images to detect when the user
    has stepped aside and so is not obscuring the
    board. The system then captures a high resolution
    image, thresholds it, and attempts to recognise the
    marks that are in the image.

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