Technology Trends

The vast majority of us is used to interact with 2D objects, such as a computer screen. But how do you deal with a volumetric display, such as an architectural model? In this short article, “Gestures control true 3D display,” Technology Research News (TRN) writes that researchers from the University of Toronto have devised a method which involves a multi-finger gestural interaction with the 3D display. The users, who carry ‘markers’ on their fingers which are tracked by cameras, can pick, manipulate or control objects existing in the 3D environment. As the TRN article was only wetting my appetite, I’ve done my own research on the subject. And among other facts, I discovered that these computer scientists won the Best Paper Award at the 17th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (UIST 2004). Read more…

Here is what says TRN.

Researchers from the University of Toronto have put together a system that allows for direct gestural interaction with virtual objects contained in a volumetric display.

The researchers’ method involves using fingers to gesture in the space around and on the surface of the volumetric display. The user’s finger positions and postures are tracked by a set of four cameras.

The interface includes two-dimensional menus projected on the surface of the display and a browser for selecting three-dimensional objects used to construct models. The browser uses a grid that contains three-dimensional images of objects like cubes, spheres and pyramids.

Using finger gestures, users can point at objects, make gestures to trigger commands, and manipulate three-dimensional models projected in the display, including moving, rotating and resizing the models or portions of the models.

It’s time to look at pictures, which will explain better the concept.

This research work, from Tovi Grossman, Daniel Wigdor, and Ravin Balakrishnan, has been presented at the 17th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (UIST 2004), which was held in Santa Fe in October 2004.

Here are two links to the Proceedings of this conference and to the abstract of the researchers’ paper,”Multi-finger gestural interaction with 3d volumetric displays.”

Volumetric displays provide interesting opportunities and challenges for 3D interaction and visualization, particularly when used in a highly interactive manner. We explore this area through the design and implementation of techniques for interactive direct manipulation of objects with a 3D volumetric display. Motion tracking of the user’s fingers provides for direct gestural interaction with the virtual objects, through manipulations on and around the display’s hemispheric enclosure. Our techniques leverage the unique features of volumetric displays, including a 360° viewing volume that enables manipulation from any viewpoint around the display, as well as natural and accurate perception of true depth information in the displayed 3D scene. We demonstrate our techniques within a prototype 3D geometric model building application.

Here is a link to the full paper (PDF format, 10 pages, 4.77 MB)

For even more information, you should check the University of Toronto’s Dynamic Graphics Project.

Sources: Technology Research News, December 29, 2004/January 5, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Displays
  
  
• Future
  
  
• Human Computer Interface
  
  
• Vision and Visualization
  

It’s easy to scroll up and down a large document if you have a mouse with a wheel. But many laptop users, tablet PC owners and people with touchscreens are out of luck. In this article, Technology Research News tells us that this era is over. Computer scientists at Brown University have developed a software simulation of the mouse wheel. A transparent ring appears on your screen. Touch it, move your finger clockwise, and the text will move down. And of course, counterclockwise motion scrolls up. According to their study, users actually preferred this virtual scroll ring to a mouse wheel, because it’s faster and the scrolling continuous. This method can be implemented in any software as of today, so keep an eye around. Read more…

Although scrolling through documents is extremely common, the most widespread technique for scrolling has a serious drawback: it takes your attention away from the document you are working on, interrupting your work.

Using the mouse wheel to scroll eliminates that drawback, but doesn’t work well for situations that involve large touchscreens or tablet PCs.

What to do for these users?

The Brown researchers have designed a software simulation of the physical scroll ring that works like the mouse wheel but does not require the hardware.

The virtual scroll ring maps circular finger, stylus, or mouse motion into vertical scrolling. Clockwise motion moves the scroll bar down and counterclockwise motion moves it up. Bigger circles and faster motion increase scrolling speed.

I can hear you telling me, “This has been done before.” True, but there is a twist here.

Previous Interface techniques have allowed users to rotate objects with circular motion but these are based on the angle of the pointer relative to the center of the circle, which requires a fixed point on the screen. The virtual scrolling is based on distance traveled around the circle, meaning the circle can drift around the screen. This allows the user to keep visual attention on the document.

A question remains: will this method be used?

The software is well-suited for pen-based computers and interactive displays, which have limited screen and peripherals space, and which people are likely to use increasingly over the coming decade, according to the researchers. [And] the technique can be implemented in any software now, according to the researchers.

This research has been presented at the Seventeenth Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2004), which was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 24–27, 2004.

Here is a link to the full paper, “Navigating Documents with the Virtual Scroll Ring” (PDF format, 4 pages, 72 KB). Here is the introduction.

We present a technique for scrolling through documents that is simple to implement and requires no special hardware. This is accomplished by simulating a hardware scroll ring — a device that maps circular finger motion into vertical scrolling. The technique performs at least as well as a mouse wheel for medium and long distances, and is preferred by users. It can be particularly useful in portable devices where screen-space and space for peripherals is at a premium.

And here is another short excerpt.

The technique is a software simulation of a hardware device known as a scroll ring. The scroll ring maps circular motion of the user’s finger into vertical scrolling motion. A study by Wherry [6] shows that ring scrolling can be faster than using a mouse wheel. Furthermore, users prefer the continuous motion and precise control afforded by the scroll ring. Do these benefits persist without the limited tactile feedback of a physical ring? To find out we created the virtual scroll ring (VSR).

Who will implement this technique? I don’t know, but this could be useful for lots of users.

Sources: Technology Research News, via Technology Review, December 7, 2004; Brown University Department of Computer Science

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Computers
  


• Human Computer Interface
  


• Software
  

In a brief story named “Anywhere Interface,” Technology Review writes that a small French company, Sensitive Object, has found a way to turn any rigid surface into an interface for all kinds of electronic devices. The technology involves only very cheap sensors and a process named “time reversal acoustics.” When you tap on a surface equipped with the technology, you can use up to 544 ‘virtual’ keys to start your heating system, type your e-mails or stop the DVD player. In retail stores, you could ‘click’ on a mannequin to find the price of the clothes. The Register (”Keyboards are old — tap tables to send email“) and the New York Times (”Knock 3 Times on the Ceiling (to Turn on the DVD Player)“) also published stories about this interesting technology. Read more…

Let’s start with Technology Review (it’s so short that I reproduce it in its entirety).

French physicists Ros Kiri Ing and Mathias Fink have figured out how to turn any rigid surface into an interface for electronic systems. The technology — which the pair hope to commercialize via their Paris-based startup, Sensitive Object — uses one or two inexpensive accelerometers to detect finger taps on, say, a storefront display window or a keyboard drawn on a blackboard.

A computer chip calculates the precise origin of each tap and translates that information into mouse clicks and keystrokes. Users might use the technology, for example, to ‘click’ on a storefront mannequin’s hat to learn its price. Ing says the technique has advantages over other user interfaces under development because it can work with a surface as large as four square meters, and the number of ‘keys’ can reach 544.

As it is often the case, The Register used a somewhat irreverent tone. Here are the two opening paragraphs.

A startup whose technology will allow you to turn virtually anything into an input device, so for example you could use a table to change channel or pick up the phone, or control your computer by banging your head on the wall, has received €2 million in financing from European VC outfit Sofinnova. French company Sensitive Object’s Reversys uses cheap sensors and a process it calls “time reversal acoustics” so that you can make the objects around you can come alive simply by tapping them.

Maybe we exaggerated when we said “virtually anything”, because as far as we can gather the object has to be sufficiently rigid for a tap in a specific area to have a specific effect. So hamburgers, soft fruit, most items of apparel probably won’t work. But still… According to Sensitive Object, low cost sensors can be fitted to rigid surfaces, and send input to the audio input of a computer. Time reversal acoustics analyses the sound and figures out where on the object they came from, so you could be turning a table or a window into a touchpad. Or a keyboard. Or something.

In its story, which apparently doesn’t need registration, the New York Times offered many more details.

The technology uses small inexpensive sensors attached to the table or window to pick up the vibrations, which are sent to the audio input of the computer for analysis to reveal the exact location of each tap.

“It’s like touching an A.T.M. screen,” said Alexander Sutin, a scientist at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., who does research in acoustics. “But it can be done at an ordinary desk or window.”

And here is how the system works and why it’s inexpensive.

The new system requires only one or two sensors, devices called accelerometers that detect the vibrations. The accelerometers cost bout $2 or $3 each, Dr. Ing said.

The technology takes advantage of the precision with which sound waves can be distinguished by computer software. “When you generate a sound from one location, the sound is unique,” Dr. Ing said. “If you generate another sound at another location, you can distinguish the two sounds.”

The New York Times also gives more details about the time-reversal acoustics process.

The system is based on a process known as time-reversal acoustics, in which computer programs use the information stored within sound waves to calculate their source.

In time-reversal acoustics, once sound waves are analyzed and their source determined, other sound waves can be generated to converge on the source. That’s one way kidney stones are treated: an ultrasound beam that scatters from a kidney stone is recorded, analyzed and time-reversed, and then more ultrasound waves are emitted to destroy the stone.

In Dr. Ing’s application, though, no new wave is physically generated. Instead the computer does all of the work, calculating the reverse path of the sound wave to reveal its place of origin.

“This is a very clever application of time-reversal acoustics,” said William Kuperman, a professor at the University of California at San Diego and president of the Acoustical Society of America.

I don’t know if this technology has a bright future, but it looks better than having a bunch of remote control boxes.

And imagine typing your e-mails on an area of four square meters: this would mean lots of exercise…

Sources: Prototype, Technology Review, December 2004; John Lettice, The Register, September 7, 2004; Anne Eisenberg, New York Times, July 1, 2004; Sensitive Object website

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Home
  


• Human Computer Interface
  


• Pervasive Computing
  


• Sensors