DistScroll - A new One-Handed Interaction Device

The DistScroll is a new one-handed interaction device for navigating data structures or browsing menus using only one hand.

It is especially designed for situations in which the user wears gloves that renders direct input too difficult or applications in which it is impossible or impractical to use both hands.

Here is a picture of the DistScroll in action. The user is holding the prototype (on Smart-Its basis) and navigating a data structure, here a fictive mobile phone menu, using distance as input parameter.

DistScroll - A user navigating a data structure using distance as input parameter.

Here is the hardware architecture of the DistScroll. It is based on Smart-Its technology. The microcontroller unit used is a Microchip PIC 18F452. As sensors we use a Sharp GP2D120 distance sensor and an Analog Device ADXL311JE. The displays used are two Barton BT96040 chip-on-glass displays. All sensors and the power supply are contained in the device housing.

DistScroll - hardware architecture

The picture below shows the opened prototype.

Cabling from distance sensor to add-on board.
add-on board itself
Input button, slightly below a potentiometer for adjusting brightness and contrast of the displays.
9V power supply
Sharp GP2D120 distance sensor

Here is a closeup of the DistScroll device showing the menu (on the right display) and debugging output (left display).

DistScroll - close-up of the prototype in debugging state

A newer version of the DistScroll using Particle technology is depicted below:

Literature References

M. Kranz, P. Holleis, A. Schmidt
DistScroll - A new One-Handed Interaction Device (pdf)
accepted for publication at IWSAWC, 2005

BibTex Entries used:

@inproceedings{Quantitative,
author = {Ken Hinckley and Edward Cutrell and Steve Bathiche and Tim Muss},
title = {Quantitative analysis of scrolling techniques},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems},
year = {2002},
isbn = {1-58113-453-3},
pages = {65--72},
location = {Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA},
doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/503376.503389},
publisher = {ACM Press},
}

@article{Yoyo,
author = {J. Rantanen and J. Impiö; and T. Karinsalo and 
M. Malmivaara and A. Reho and M. Tasanen and J. Vanhala},
title = {Smart Clothing Prototype for the Arctic Environment},
journal = {Personal Ubiquitous Comput.},
volume = {6},
number = {1},
year = {2002},
issn = {1617-4909},
pages = {3--16},
doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s007790200001},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
}

@ARTICLE{SmartIts,
AUTHOR = {H.-W. Gellersen and G. Kortuem and M. Beigl and A. Schmidt},
TITLE = {Physical Prototyping with {Smart-Its}},
JOURNAL = {IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazine},
YEAR = {2004},
volume = {3},
number = {3},
pages = {74--82},
month = {July--September}
}

@inproceedings{Tuister,
author = {Andreas Butz and Markus Groß; and Antonio Krüger},
title = {{TUISTER}: a tangible UI for hierarchical structures},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 9th international conference
 on Intelligent user interface},
year = {2004},
isbn = {1-58113-815-6},
pages = {223--225},
location = {Funchal, Madeira, Portugal},
doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/964442.964486},
publisher = {ACM Press},
}

@article{RockScroll,
author = "Joel F. Bartlett",
title = "Rock 'n' Scroll Is Here to Stay",
journal = "IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications",
volume = "20",
number = "3",
month = "\slash",
pages = "40--45",
year = "2000",
url = "citeseer.ist.psu.edu/bartlett00rock.html" }

@inproceedings{RadialScroll,
author = {G. M. Smith and m. c. schraefel},
title = {The radial scroll tool: scrolling support for stylus- or 
touch-based document navigation},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 17th annual ACM symposium on User 
interface software and technology},
year = {2004},
isbn = {1-58113-957-8},
pages = {53--56},
location = {Santa Fe, NM, USA},
doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1029632.1029641},
publisher = {ACM Press},
}
@inproceedings{Unigesture,
author = {Vibha Sazawal and Roy Want and Gaetano Borriello},
title = {The Unigesture Approach},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on 
Mobile Human-Computer Interaction},
year = {2002},
isbn = {3-540-44189-1},
pages = {256--270},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
}

@inproceedings{TiltText,
author = {Daniel Wigdor and Ravin Balakrishnan},
title = {TiltText: using tilt for text input to mobile phones},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 16th annual ACM symposium on User 
interface software and technology},
year = {2003},
isbn = {1-58113-636-6},
pages = {81--90},
location = {Vancouver, Canada},
doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/964696.964705},
publisher = {ACM Press},
}

@article{weiser91computer,
author={Mark Weiser},
title={The Computer for the Twenty-First Century},
publisher={Scientific American},
year=1991,
month=sep,
number={265(3):94?104},
url={http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/SciAmDraft3.html}
}

DistScroll - A new One-Handed Interaction Device

Links

Literature References

BibTex Entries used: