Ali Alavi
t2i Lab, Chalmers, Sweden
Brice Clocher
t2i Lab, Chalmers, Sweden
Allen Smith
t2i Lab, Chalmers, Sweden
Andreas Kunz
ICVR, ETH, Switzerland
Morten Fjeld
t2i Lab, Chalmers, Sweden
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Published in: Proceedings of SIGRAD 2011. Evaluations of Graphics and Visualization — Efficiency; Usefulness; Accessibility; Usability; November 17-18; 2011; KTH; Stockholm; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 65:14, p. 99-103
Published: 2011-11-21
ISBN: 978-91-7393-008-6
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
On tangible tabletops; Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) can signalize their identity; position; orientation; and state by active infrared light. This provides rich interaction capabilities in complex; dynamic scenarios. If TUIs have to transfer additional high-resolution information; many bits are required for each update. This has a negative impact on the overall update rate of the system. In the first part of this paper; we present an in-house map application where interaction with time-dependent contour lines may benefit from high-resolution TUI states. Prototypical TUI concepts such as slider; ruler; and dials further motivate the benefit of high-resolution tracking. In the second part of the paper; we depart from a device tracking overview and then show how tangible devices for tabletops typically use infrared (IR) emitters and a camera to send information about their position; orientation; and state. Since transferring many additional information bits via a normal camera-based tabletop system is not feasible anymore; we introduce next a new system setup that still offers a sufficiently high update rate for a smooth interaction. The new method can be realized as a tabletop system using a low-cost camera detecting position; combined with a low-cost infrared receiver detecting the state of each device. Since both kinds of sensors are used simultaneously we call the method “dual mode.” This method combines a camera-based tracking with the possibility to transfer an almost unlimited amount of states for each device.
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