Pennyworth: Sensors

Pennyworth

Context Sensing for Mac OS X

Pennyworth Sensors

The list below describes a variety of sensors that ship with Pennyworth and the rationale behind each. (Note that not all of these sensors ship with Pennyworth by default and may need to be installed from online using the AppleScript Manager.)

Sensor	Type	Measurement	Rationale
Airport Observers	Single value, multivalue, and continuous	Reports the current wireless network, visible wireless networks, and the signal strength of the current network.	Information about wireless networks are useful indicators of location.
Audio Volume	Continuous	Measures and represents the ambient volume of the default input device as a numeric value.	Audio volume may be a useful indicator of social activity (noise from a crowd) or location (the inherent loudness of a train).
Bluetooth Observer	Multivalue	Lists the visible Bluetooth devices in the local area.	Bluetooth device presence is a useful indicator of location and social context.
Bonjour Observer	Multivalue	Lists the visible network services provided by hosts on the local network.	Visible services may be a useful indicator of location.
Broadcast Address	Single value	Displays the broadcast address of each interface on the computer.	Broadcast addresses may be useful indicators of location.
Date-Time Observers	Single value & continuous	These sensors record the day of the week, hour of the day, and minute of the hour.	Time information may be useful for determining location, activity, and social context. ("Does the user tend to be at home with family after 6pm?")
Desktop Observers	Continuous, single value, and multivalue	Reports information about the user's computing environment, such as the amount of time the current application has been active, other running applications, and mounted file systems.	Running application information may be s useful indicator of activity. Mounted file systems may be a useful indicator of location.
iCal Observer	Multivalue	The current active events within iCal.	Calendar appointments are useful indicators of activity, location, and social context.
Interface States	Single value	Reports which network interfaces are active and which are inactive.	Network interface state may be a useful indicator of location. ("The user relies upon Ethernet at home, but wireless at work.")
iTunes Observers	Single value	Lists the album, artist, and genre of the currently playing track in addition to the state of the player (playing, paused, stopped).	iTunes track information may be a useful indicator of activity or social context.
Mail Observers	Single value	Reports the author of the current open e-mail message and whether the user is reading or writing.	E-mail information is a useful indicator of activity and social context.
Power Observer	Single value	Reports whether the machine is connected to a power source or running from a battery.	The power source is a useful indicator of location.
User Activity Level	Continuous	Estimates the user's average amount of interaction with the computer over the last minute as a number between 0 (no interaction) and 1 (full interaction).	Activity level is a useful indicator of activity.
Web Observer	Single value	The current active page host in Safari and Firefox.	Web site information is a useful indicator of activty.