How Users Associate Wireless Devices Ming Ki Chong Hans Gellersen CHI 2011, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Which of these devices are connected? Wired connectionWireless connection 3
Introduction Device association Ideally, an association should be – Quick & Easy – No preparation – Without Instructions Spontaneous interaction – E.g., printing a document in a public environment 4
Question What types of actions do people spontaneously produce to associate wireless devices? How would you do it? 5
Some examples Synchronous Gestures (Hinckley, 2003) Spatial Alignment. Pointing a laser (Mayrhofer, 2007) Pen Gestures. “Stitching” (Hinckley, 2004) 6 Shaking. “Shake well before use” (Mayrhofer, 2009) Proximity (Rekimoto, 2003) And, lots more
Methodology User-defined actions – Similar to Wobbrock et al. (2009) and Kray et al. (2010) Spontaneous actions, i.e., without premeditation and no hints 18 non-technical participants (9, 9 ) 7
Generic Prototypes 12 types of wireless devices We made low-fi plastic props with minimal user interfaces 8 (Left) Interactive Display (Right, top row) Tablet Computer, Keyboard (Second row) Media player, Digital Camera, Microphone, Mouse, Handheld Projector (Bottom row) Digital Watch, Mobile Phone, Gaming Device, Headphones
Setup 37 combinations of devices – 30 pairings – 7 groups of 3 or more Selected 3 primary devices – Mobile Phone – Tablet Computer – Interactive Display At least one primary in each combination
Library Environment 10 Camera Participant Plastic Props Conductor *A mock-up picture of the user study setup.
Video : Mobile Phone + Handheld Projector 11 Handheld Projector Mobile Phone
Video : Interactive Display + Wireless Keyboard 12 Interactive Display Wireless Keyboard
Results Collected 752 instances 36 unique actions. For example: 13 DockingHangingPhysical Contact PointingSnap a pictureSwiping Device Touch
Twelve categories The top five categories – Search & Select – Proximity – Button Event – Device Touch – Gesture Not a single category with a large proportion – 5 large shares 14 Overall occurrences of the twelve categories
Total number of occurrences 37 Device Combinations 3 or more Mobile Phone Tablet Computer Interactive Display Multiple Devices Total number of occurrences 12 Categories Top Five Categories
Mobile Phone Tablet Computer Interactive Display Multiple Devices Wireless Headset
Mobile Phone Tablet Computer Interactive Display Multiple Devices Highest numbers only Proximity Projector Projector Projector Projector Gesture Search & Select
Mobile Phone Tablet Computer Interactive Display Multiple Devices Token
Discussion / Reflection People have many ideas Commercial products have adopted – search & select, bumping, device touch Overlaps between researchers and users, but not always in harmony, e.g.: – Shaking – Physical Token
Summary Presented a study of user-defined actions for spontaneous device association No single favourite action, instead five dominant categories were found The data we have is a snapshot of people’s current view 20