stitching

A user gives some photos to another user by dragging them from the top tablet to the bottom tablet.

Stitching is an interaction technique that allows users to combine pen-operated mobile devices with wireless networking by using pen gestures that span multiple displays. To stitch, a user starts moving the pen on one screen, crosses over the bezel, and finishes the stroke on the screen of a nearby device. Properties of each half of the user’s pen stroke are observed by the two separate devices, synchronized via wireless network communication, and recognized as a unitary act performed by one user, thus binding together the devices. We have built a prototype photo sharing application that uses stitching to allow users to copy images from one tablet to another that is nearby, expand an image across multiple screens, establish a persistent shared workspace, or use one tablet to present images that a user selects from another tablet.

Project in collaboration with Ken Hinckley (principal investigator) and others.