Alex Shye, Lei Yang, Xi Chen, Pan Yan, Berkin Ozisikyilmaz, Arindam Mallik,
Bin Lin, Gokhan Memik, Peter A. Dinda, Robert P. Dick
Northwestern University, EECS
ASPLOS Wild and Crazy Ideas Session. March 3, 2008. Seattle, WA
The ultimate goal of any computer
system is to satisfy the user
User Satisfaction
?
Your favorite metric
(IPS, throughput, etc.)

Elicit user feedback for:
 DVFS
 VM Scheduling
 Resource Borrowing

Direct user feedback may be
annoying
Can human physiological traits be
used as implicit feedback?
PICSEL
Mallik ASPLOS 2008

Model user with:
 Eye tracker
 Galvanic Skin Response
 Photoplethysmograph
(heartbeat)
 Skin Temperature
 Motion/Force Sensors

Used in HCI and
psychology:
 Iqbal-CHI2005
 Mandryk-CHI 2006
 Whang – J. PE 2007
Skin Conductance
Time


GSR measures user involvement
Red points indicate reduction in performance
Force
Good

Medium
Bad
Arrow key pressure for three performance levels
Sensors
UMU
Query User State
Stress
Excitement
valence
Depression
Relaxation
arousal
Model User State/Emotions

Implies a win-win situation
 Computer becomes more efficient
 User becomes happier

Not only can you use your computer; your
computer can use you!
Empathic Systems Project: www.empathicsystems.org