Activity-Oriented Design of Health Pal: A Smart Phone for Elders' Healthcare Support

Wireless telephones and personal digital assistants are emerging, as the information hubs connect their human users with assorted electronic devices and the World Wide Web. As such, they quickly become the de facto basis for personalized information services. The Kannon project team at the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan is developing a ubiquitous service infrastructure for elders' healthcare support. Among their deliverables, there is a PDA Phone, christened Health Pal, which can communicate with Bluetooth/ZigBee devices, Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) e-home service platforms, and online healthcare providers to offer 24/7 healthcare services to elderly people.