A reference model for distributed user interfaces

Abstract

This paper proposes a reference model for classifying about different types of Distributed User Interfaces (DUIs) so that one could reason about their types: mouldable, distributable, and migratable UIs. The reference model explicitly captures concepts subject to distribution at different levels of abstraction (tasks, concepts, abstract UI, concrete UI, and deployed UI) so as to provide designers with a specification mechanism that enables them to express distribution. Some representative types of distributed UI are expressed according to the reference model to exemplify its usage.