Extending a Mobile Device’s Interaction Space through Body-Centric Interaction

Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Canada

Xiang ‘Anthony’ Chen, Nicolai Marquardt, Anthony Tang, Sebastian Boring, Saul Greenber

MobileHCI’12 : Body, space and motion

Outline

• Introduction• Body-centric Interaction • Recurring Design Themes • Body-centric Browser • Design Issues & Challenges• Conclusion & Future Work

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Introduction (1/6)

• Modern mobile devices rely on the screen as a primary input modality

• Interaction tedium is exacerbated as mobile applications increase in both number and complexity

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Introduction (2/6)

• Prior work has suggested various solutions to address this ‘small-screen’ problem

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people place digital information

onto different body parts

Introduction (3/6)

• Prior work has suggested various solutions to address this ‘small-screen’ problem

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create virtual workspaces around a person’s body

Introduction (4/6)

• Prior work has suggested various solutions to address this ‘small-screen’ problem

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orients the device to ‘peep into’ and navigate an information space

envision a wearable mobile device

Introduction (5/6)

• It is difficult to distill ‘guidelines’ that stimulate new mobile interaction designs based on a person’s body and the space anchored to it

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Introduction (6/6)

• Goal– Develop Body-Centric Interaction with Mobile

Devices – Explore the breadth of this design theme, where

go beyond point solutions in an attempt to create a network of design ideas

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Body-centric Interaction (1/4)

• Implementation Technologies– Identify the body location that the mobile device

is referring to (RFID tags | either fiduciary tags or shapes imprinted)

– capture the fine-grained changing spatial relationships of the device relative to the body (infrared cameras & proximity Toolkit)

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Body-centric Interaction (2/4)

• Storing and retrieving digital objects (bookmarks, photos, etc.)

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Body-centric Interaction (3/4)

• Triggering digital shortcuts (making a phone call, starting the music player, etc.)

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Body-centric Interaction (4/4)

• Controlling applications (navigating the calendar time line, selecting from a set of tools, etc.)

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Recurring Design Themes (1/3)

• Situating Interactions in the Body’s Proximal Spaces– Pericutaneous space <-> On-body space– Peripersonal space <-> Around-body space

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Recurring Design Themes (2/3)

• Tracking the Device-to-Body Spatial Relationships

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Recurring Design Themes (2/3)

• Tracking the Device-to-Body Spatial Relationships

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Recurring Design Themes (2/3)

• Tracking the Device-to-Body Spatial Relationships

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Recurring Design Themes (3/3)

• Considerations for Mapping the Interactions– Physical constraints– People's kinesthetic sense– Visual cues– Associative experience

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Body-centric Browser (1/2)

• Scenario

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Body-centric Browser (2/2)

• Design– Displaying and managing opened tabs:

the tab navigating zone– Bookmarking tabbed web pages:

the bookmark zone– roviding control options with tabs:

control zone

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Design Issues & Challenges

• Scalability• Search and Find• Social & Cultural Concerns

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Conclusion & Future Work

• Body-Centric Interaction with Mobile Devices contributes a class of mobile input techniques

• A bottom-up path of prototypes explored how such interactions can be realized

• We need robust and reliable enabling technologies that people can use and enjoy in their daily lives

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