Soap: how to make a mouse work in mid-air

ABSTRACT

Computer mice do not work in mid air. The reason is that a mouse is really only half an input device - the other half being the surface the mouse is operated on, such as a mouse pad. In this demo, we demonstrate how to combine a mouse and a mouse pad into soap, a device that can be operated in mid air with a single hand. We have used soap to control video games, interact with wall displays and Windows Media Center, and to give slide presentations.

REFERENCES

• 1: Patrick Baudisch , Mike Sinclair , Andrew Wilson, Soap: a pointing device that works in mid-air, Proceedings of the 19th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, October 15-18, 2006, Montreux, Switzerland [doi>10.1145/1166253.1166261]
• 2: Robert J. K. Jacob, Human-computer interaction: input devices, ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), v.28 n.1, p.177-179, March 1996 [doi>10.1145/234313.234387]
• 3: McLoone, H. Touchable Objects. In Proc. International Conference on Affective Human Factors Design, Asean Academic Press, London, 2001.
• 4: Jun Rekimoto, Tilting operations for small screen interfaces, Proceedings of the 9th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, p.167-168, November 06-08, 1996, Seattle, Washington, United States [doi>10.1145/237091.237115]

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Input devices and strategies (e.g., mouse, touchscreen)

Additional Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.4 INPUT/OUTPUT AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS
      B.4.2 Input/Output Devices

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
10-foot user interfaces, Soap, hardware, input, mid-air input, mouse, optical sensor, pointing device