we will start with the  Manager Expert wi who will talk about  user re requirements , whats user needs and what it desire for this devi device . marketing: Okay , so basically I'm gonna present some findings of a study we conducted  into  what users want in this remote control . Oh that's okay , it's jus marketing:  so first of all we what we did is we  conducted a an experiment with a hundred test subjects .  we put them in a in our  usability laboratory and got them to , you know ,  play with remote controls , and also to complete , after they'd done that , to complete a questionnaire  to tell us what they like and what they don't like in remote controls . So basically  the major things we found out was that  basically users don't like the look and feel of of most remote controls that are currently on the market .  they , you know , seventy five percent of the people we we  did the experiments on , found that rem remote the remote controls that they'd used in the past were ugly .  they they didn't match the operating behaviour of the user , that is , you know , the the way users use remote controls when they're watching T_V_ .  and thirdly they say that w half of the users that we  tested said that they only used ten percent of the buttons that  are on remote controls .  so we collect we also some collected some usage statistics  based on how these test subjects were using their remote control . And from this we basically came up with the figure that the channel buttons , the channel selection buttons are the most by far the most used buttons on the remote control .  and you can see they're used a hundred and sixty eight times per hour on average , while the user's watching T_V_ . industrial designer: project manager: marketing:  the closest button that was used , well the cl the button that was used that was closest to the channel button was the teletext button ,  which was used fourteen times per hour , followed by the volume button , which was four times per hour , all the other , all the other  buttons , such as ch  audio and picture selection  configuration buttons and things were used , you know , l approx well less than or equal to one times per hour .  we also asked users  which buttons had the most importance to them , you know , which which buttons they felt were the most important buttons on on the remote control . And basically they came they said the channel , volume , and power buttons had the highest relevance to users ,  note that only power was very infrequently used , it only had a b a a fr usage frequency of about one times per hour , but users ranked it as having a very very high relevance .  and the audio and picture settings had a very that well the users thought that  w the audio and picture settings were very  weren't very important to them  , and they used them very infrequently a as well . And fifty percent of the users said that  what frustrates them is losing the remote control  somewhere in the room and not being able to find it .  they also said that it  it takes a lot of time to learn a new remote control , especially when there's many buttons and it's a , you know , a c a a unintuitive interface .  and then thirdly , they some users commented on the fact that the the you know the way that you have to hold and press buttons on a remote control ar are bad and  cause u repetitive strain injury . We also asked some users about some specific features that they'd like to see in the on the remote control . In particular , do they want an L_C_D_ d display , and secondly , do they think speech recognition  is a useful feature to have on a remote control . project manager: marketing:  basically our findings are that  amongst a younger age groups  the answer is umv overwhelmingly yes . industrial designer: marketing:  for instance , ninety one percent of pe of people aged between fifteen and twenty five said yes , they want these features . Whereas  the the trend was as users as users  became older and older  they were less likely to want these sort of features in a  in a remote control .  and as our company motto is putting fashion in electronics ,  I think we're focusing on the younger younger  target demographic , and so maybe we should think about adding these sort of high technology features into our remote control . project manager: So ,  maybe now we can talk about a user interface and  about the technical function of this device . So  Pet Peter , can you talk say something about that ? industrial designer: Well , okay , yeah . marketing: Yeah , it's true , but , you know , they're features that users want , industrial designer: marketing: so it's industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: And our production cost of twelve fifty Euros per per unit is fairly high I think , user interface: industrial designer: Yeah . industrial designer: At least we have couple of months t to work on it so so it will be cheaper finally . Okay , first what is a remote control ? Simply it's a device , as you know , for  , for sending some commands by some waves to  another device to to tell different commands  with this device . And the main idea we don't use any cable and we can rec react simpler with the device .  first is remote control have sh ha should have some electric circuits  making interface with  keyboard and  r reading  keyboard and reading the keyboard  commands . And then there should be  an electronic circuit making  electronic signals according to these commands and  finally there is a transmitter which is a cord or a a diode making  making  waves to transmit through the air and   this air this  wave  will be received by the by the other device like a television or whatever , to  r to realise the command . Okay ,  about what I found about  different  these different blocks are  , usually there are two different methods  to for designing a remote control . This is  this can be   the the differences the th between different kind of waves , infra-red or radio waves . And  also as  I understood , and  I think it was a part of  Bob ,   presentation , people prefer to have  to have  the remote control with less button . So for the electronic part , working and interfacing , with button , we should we should try to t try to design a remote control having  some some simpler buttons or some rolling buttons to just to just to search between different options , and showing o something on T_V_ and putting less lesser stuff on the  on the remote control . And  personal preferences ,     certainly a remote control with  working with radio waves is  preferred because  you can pr you can take it in any direction and you don't need to tune it any way . marketing: Do you think radio waves  will interfere with other appliances in the home ? user interface: I don't think so , because  we can make  we ca we can make this wave in a specific frequency . So they can be in a range which is not inter interfering with the with other devices inside the home . project manager: So can we use any any frequency ? industrial designer: Yeah , it should be okay . project manager: We have the right to use any frequency ? user interface:  no but as I know , there is a range for  for this  f for for  for this stuff , for designing this circuit . We can we can we can tune our  transmitter to work in this range , and for this range we don't need to ask any permission . And what happen with  radio waves when two neighbours have the same have our remote control , for example ? And so do they have the same frequency , or ? user interface:  for this I'm not  I I don't know the solution , but one solution can be something like putting  p password or something inside the wave , so the only your T_V_ can understand it project manager: Okay . A kind of identification , user interface: Yeah , identification code inside the industrial designer: Yeah f  I know about this , since it's my it's exactly my field , so . So industrial designer: It's  kind of handshaking , when starting to  when you start to communicate with the your T_V_ then then it's like an handshaking protocol with your your remote . So industrial designer: So so if two two devices are trying to go to communicate with the T_V_ set then the the the one which has the more energy in the wave is chosen . A specific  remote control has a specific f industrial designer: Yeah but we we don't have to think  about this because I think as a function designer that we will use the already made  circuits which we probably bu buy . I have only a couple of things because I had I struggled a bit with the software that I'm supposed to use in this   in this company .  what  I have to do ? A look at what the other company Okay so  presently I am looking what is possible to use , what circuits to use and stuff like that because  I didn't work  with these  circuits so far so I have to look what what is a v a v available on the market for for the communication for the I_R_ circuits and so on , so I'm currently looking what is available on the web . And  I wanted to ask you m maybe afterwards , after after our discussion , if we have some contacts in some companies , so , which can report on what is going on there , so , I would be glad if you can tell me about them .  , okay findings , that's the point that I'm working on currently but  so far I I was  looking what what are the blue circuit ,  radio wave radio frequency circuits are available now , marketing: So , I know that  the user interface people and these speak about radio frequency waves because you can you can  you can make the T_V_ do what you want even if you are in the bathroom or so on , user interface: industrial designer: but you know , when you are not close to the T_V_ you probably won't need to to change the program and so on and so I am I am voting for s to stick to the  infra-red control instead of R_W_ but we will discuss it later maybe . Components to use , I'm not exactly sure what I will use for the design of the circuit . It depends  on whether we will use the L_C_D_ and mainly the speech recognition , user interface: industrial designer: because the speech rec Yeah ? marketing: Are we  are we planning to take an off the shelf an O_E_M_ component for the radio wave circuit , or are we planning to construct our own circuit board ? industrial designer: No no no no no . This we this we buy I think , because it's rather cheap nowadays and it's not worth to construct ourselves . So , speech recognition well , L_C_D_ it's okay because it's common nowadays to use L_C_D_ , project manager: industrial designer: so I agree on using any kind of L_C_D_ , less buttons good for me as a as a designer of the circuit . industrial designer: But the speech recognition we have to compare whether the price and the what does it offer , you know . So what do you think would be the price , it would be out of range ? industrial designer: Yeah , I'm project manager: Or it would be maybe feasible ? industrial designer: Oh . But if we use the L_C_D_  even the radio frequency communication with the T_V_ set and the backlight and  related things like the photo diodes and stuff , it should be okay . If we decide to use the speech recognition , then we probably could struggle but we'll see afterwards . industrial designer: It depends of you if if the M_E_ or U_I_D_ , project manager:  . industrial designer: I'm sorry about the names , I don't really know ,  want to have it like in metal or in plastic , these things , it it depends on you not Because the the the electronic device's price is not not so big in comparison to to the overall shape and stuff like that , so . And  my personal preference is yes , I would like also preferably to use R_W_ circuit , but from the point of view  of the design and price , I would stick to I_R_s . project manager: Why ? Because it's simpler ? industrial designer: Because because the the range where you can use it is fair . industrial designer: Otherwise I don't care what I put there because it's the chip which I buy or which we buy . marketing: What how much more expensive ? Are we talking three times more expensive ? project manager: industrial designer: Well , three to three to five . marketing: Or ten times more expensive ? Or industrial designer: N not ten times , marketing: Okay . marketing: because  all the other remote controls on the market have infra-red , so people don't expect anything other than infra-red . project manager: Well I , oh industrial designer: Th they are used to use it when they can see the T_V_ so , I don't know . project manager: we want to to have something new and So we I think we should still thinking about it . marketing: But I think , based on my usability studies I th I feel that users are prioritise the look and the feel and the trendiness above , you know , the difference between infra-red or radio waves . project manager: So  I have to inform you I receive an email from the management bon board today and they have new requirements for the for the remote control . And  Because of the internet popularity and everybody has internet at home , and actually it's not useful to have teletext .  the second thing is  they suggest that that we should  use the remote control only for T_V_ , not for D_V_D_ and other devices , because it make it it makes it's too complex and  because we have not much time for this project we should stay on T_V_ on the only specific T_V_ remote control .  ,  It's That mean we should use the colour of our company and maybe put somewhere the s the slogan of the company , which is  , we put fashion of in electronics . So , when people see the the remote control , they should say oh it's from Real Reaction and he s they should recognise the company . So ,  So now we we should take the decision what we are going to what function we will have on this  on this remote control . industrial designer: Okay , so the available things are L_C_D_ , the buttons and everything . project manager: Yeah but first maybe what is what are the usual function of a standard remote control ? industrial designer: You should probably speak . Do we will we use only two buttons , or or like numbered buttons ?  those nine plus one or two ? project manager: Yeah . project manager: I think it would be a b industrial designer: Because it's many buttons and we were speaking about lowering the number . project manager: On the other side we have more and more channels , and if you want to pass through all the channels to get the channel you want , it's marketing: Yeah , I user interface: Yeah . project manager: Maybe maybe we could think of something more betweens , like user interface: Yeah yeah , at least nine , ten button . project manager:  industrial designer: Like ten plus , five plus , one plus , one minus or something . Maybe we could have key buttons , like  discovery channe like documentary channel , and movies channel and industrial designer: You mean like hierarchical structure . project manager: If you want to see a movie you click on the movie button so you have all the movie channels and after you've you plus plus plus . industrial designer: So it requires the use of L_C_D_ probably , to to tell you project manager: Yeah , probably , yeah , yeah . marketing: We could maybe also c  incorporate Petre's idea of the  slider for the volume , with the channel . industrial designer: So we are still s speaking about the common devices user interface: industrial designer: or we are inviting the new one ? marketing: I think so . project manager: What about the settings of the T_V_ ? Because it's button we don't use very often , but it's we need it anyway . user interface: we should just design the remote control and we sh we don't have any access to the to the T_V_ design or we can change some design . Because one solution for this    ch changing channels is to see a summary of all channels , some some preview of all channels and then you can industrial designer: On the screen , you mean ? user interface: Yeah . user interface: And then marketing: I don't Oh , I don't but I don't think we're we're the ones .  this remote control we're developing is a generic control for all T_V_s , I think . I don't know if it's possible to to watch something on T_V_ user interface: W I I think it it would be better to to stick to the remote control and not to bother the T_V_ to to to print these things . industrial designer: Well it wi it will be still more expensive , but for the L_C_D_ and this stuff is no problem in the price . project manager: So , what are we doing with the settings ? Because settings if we want to do settings we need buttons for that and we want less buttons , so . Maybe with the L_C_D_ we can do something with less buttons , but user interface: Yeah . marketing: But then you don't want to make the L_C_D_ display too complicated at the same time . marketing:  there's always we can always have these l less often used functions hidden somewhere , under a cover or at the back of under a slide or some project manager: Yeah . marketing: So I think s the settings we th we are agreeing are agreed that they're required . project manager: In the menus of the L_C_D_ or in the back of the remote control , or something like that . industrial designer: Should should shouldn't we do it like sleep mode after five minutes of not using it ? Because generally project manager: It's it's a kind of setting , I think . marketing: well I think when they say power button they mean to turn the T_V_ on and off . project manager: No , I think it's after after five minutes or something a timer industrial designer: Yes . Well I I  project manager: I I think , no ? industrial designer: marketing: But if you're watching T_V_ for two hours , you don't want your T_V_ to turn off after five five minute industrial designer: project manager: industrial designer: You don't need to every five minutes to keep it alive . marketing:  based on our usability studies again ,  pe  people said that the power button was v a very relevant button . marketing: you know , it was nine out of ten industrial designer: Okay , so we we could p what we could probably do is to keep also to keep  keep the L_C_D_ and all the buttons and stuff , marketing: re relevance . industrial designer: we could make it like a opening opening style that if you open it you are you just turn on the T_V_ and if you close it , it will project manager: Yeah . industrial designer: Because , well it's maybe question for you t marketing: I think we need to concentrate on the , you know , the major usage of the th of the control , user interface: marketing: which is you sit down , you turn on your T_V_ , you change channels , you change the volume , you turn the T_V_ off . marketing:  and all the other f functionality is industrial designer: user interface: Yeah , they can yeah they can be hide somewhere by a cover or something like this . industrial designer: Yeah but since we have the L_C_D_ , we didn't need too much button too many buttons . user interface: industrial designer: Should we make it a button , or some some something which would be project manager: For what ? industrial designer:  power button . marketing: I think it should be a bu industrial designer: If it if it's a button or user interface: Yeah . marketing: S What about things like the clock and  timers ? industrial designer: Do we still have the time ? I I just wonder . Well what w what was the question ? user interface: Clock or marketing: you know , some func some features on the control to display a time , or t to display project manager: Usually it's already on T_V_ or something like that . industrial designer: Yeah but since we want to control all the televisions , and and it would probably be worth to to set the timing on the remote , project manager: Yeah . industrial designer: no ? Because if if the T_V_ turns on itself , it well you know , if the time The timer should be there . If we if we add the time , we have to have maybe a bigger display or something like that , and is it very useful ?  , are users wants to have the time on the on the remote ? user interface:  . project manager: W In my opinion we should have only useful thing and Because apparently they want The simpler it's is better . industrial designer: Did you did you ever use the like the timing of turning on the T_V_ , user interface: project manager: industrial designer: well And based on your user interface: marketing: Very , yeah okay , very occasionally . industrial designer: marketing: But I do use the I do use the display of the time quite often , but user interface:  . industrial designer: Yeah but it can be on the display in in a corner all the time on the remote . industrial designer: user interface: And  do we need to include anything about the speech recognition and the speech commands , or ? industrial designer: Yes yes . project manager: I think user interface: I I thin I think it will not take lots of place , we just need a microphone and the software , so , and it sh and it will be a little bit new and interesting , so people may be attracted to buy this stuff and it's not very difficult to  put a software inside the the electronic device and put a microphone . project manager: So maybe we think we can think more about that , and discuss that maybe last time next time