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Transparent Tabletop Interface for Multiple Users on Lumisight Table
Yasuaki Kakehi1, Takero Hosomi
1, Makoto Iida
1, Takeshi Naemura
1, Mitsunori Matsushita
2
1 The University of Tokyo 2 NTT Communication Science Labs., NTT Corp. {kakehi, hosomi, iida, naemura}@hc.ic.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp, [email protected]
Abstract
This paper presents a new type of tabletop interface on Lumisight Table. Putting physical objects on a tabletop display is one of the typical methods for intuitive tangible input. To date, various interactive systems that can identify and track the tabletop objects by using a camera, have been proposed. However, in these systems, the existence of objects with special devices or markers can disturb users’ natural interaction by hiding displayed information. To solve this problem, the authors propose a transparent tabletop interface that is transparent from users but visible from a camera installed inside the system. This paper describes our research motivation, design and implementation of this interface, and examples of interaction.
1. Introduction
In the fields of CHI (Computer Human Interaction)
and CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work),
tabletop displays have been attracting much attention,
since an electronic display screen embedded on a
horizontal tabletop is useful for supporting users’ work
or group discussion. One special feature of a tabletop
display is that physical objects can be placed on the
screen. Because such actions are understood intuitively
in the same way as work done at an ordinary desk,
several systems in which the placement of physical
objects serves as input methods have been proposed.
The output corresponding to the placement of
physical objects can appear in the content of the screen
image. However, this method may result in
inconveniences such as the following.
Physical objects equipped with electronic
devices, markers, etc. restrict user's natural
interactions.
Physical objects placed on the surface of the
table obstruct view of the image on the display.
To solve these problems, this paper proposes a
transparent tabletop interface. So far, the authors have
developed and reported an interactive view-dependent
tabletop display system[1]. It can present different
images to multiple users sitting around the table, and is
called the Lumisight Table. Based on this technology,
this paper presents a transparent tabletop interface for
multiple users with the features listed below (See
Figure 1).
The interface appears transparent to the users
around the table, so the image on the tabletop
screen is not obstructed.
The camera installed inside the table can
recognize the positions of the objects so that
their placement can be used for input.
First, the authors briefly describe the Lumisight
Table, and then explain the design and implementation
of the transparent tabletop interface and present an
example of interaction using it.
2. Related Works
Tabletop displays can become an effective
workspace for the users (e.g. users can put physical
Yasuaki Kakehi, Takero Hosomi, Makoto Iida, Takeshi Naemura, and Mitsunori Matsushita, "Transparent Tabletop Interface for Multiple Users on Lumisight Table," First IEEE International Workshop on Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer Systems (TABLETOP '06) pp. 143-150
objects on top of it). To maintain users' nonverbal
modalities on the tabletop, the method of controlling
the display should be more natural and intuitive.
Therefore, surfaces and tables that are capable of
sensing the positions of placed objects and recognizing
the hand gestures on top of it have been explored
widely. The DigitalDesk[2] is one of the pioneering
works of the interactive tabletop display, which
supports augmented interaction with physical paper
documents on the physical tabletop by the computer
vision based approach. As for interaction with physical
objects, the metaDESK[3] is one of the earlier works
that introduced the concept, which allows users to
control the system by putting physical objects
(Phicons) on it.
The methods for recognizing physical objects on a
table can roughly be classified into two categories. One
involves the incorporation of an electronic device into
the physical object itself, typified by the Sensetable0
and Smart Table[5]. The other category of methods
involves attaching a marker to the physical object that
can be recognized by a camera. Compared to the above
approach, it may be somewhat less robust, but is easy
to manufacture and has superior expansibility because
it does not involve the incorporation of electronic
devices. In this category, various methods (e.g.
recognition by using color of markers[6], recognition
with IR light[7]) have been proposed.
A precursor to the transparent tabletop interface that
is the topic of this paper is the DataTiles[8], in which
RFID tags are incorporated into transparent tiles to
allow recognition of their position and identification. In
addition to that system, there has been work in the field
of augmented reality on camera-based methods that
employ invisible markers[9][10], but application to a
tabletop display had not been considered. In this paper,
the authors propose transparent tabletop interfaces that
can be used with the Lumisight Table and camera-
based recognition.
3. Lumisight Table
The requirements for a system that supports a face-
to-face collaboration include provision for the sharing
of nonverbal modalities such as pointing and eye
contact and the ensuring of equal accessibility to shared
information, such as visibility when browsing
information that has a particular orientation (e.g. texts,
images). What is important for satisfying those
constraints is the position and orientation of
information displayed on the screen.
Lumisight Table is an interactive view-dependent
tabletop display. The following two characteristics