Remote Access to Public Kiosk Systems

Public kiosk systems (e.g. banking terminals or ticket machines) are designed for the average user. Interfaces of such machines generally represent something like the lowest common denominator between security, cost-efficiency and a most general user model. This implies the provider's silent agreement that people which do not fit into this scheme are excluded. This paper presents a remote access platform for mobile devices. A User Interface Management System (UIMS) has been implemented which provides entire separation of application logic and its representation by means of XML and Java technologies. Customers can use their own optimized input and output utilities to interact with a remote image of the terminal interface displayed on the mobile device. Specialized assistive technology for disabled persons have been integrated. A fully operant implementation of the described platform has been presented at the conference "Mensch & Computer 2001" in Bad Honnef, Germany. The work is currently supported by the project EMBASSI, which is co-funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).