1. mouse ether helping users acquire targets across multimon
patrick baudisch microsoft research, visualization and interaction research
ed cutrell ken hinckley robert gruen
start
target

2. tasks with incorrect visual feedback

3. mouse across multimon problem 1: different dpi
start
target
high dpi
low dpi

4. mouse across multimon problem 2: the gap
start
target

5. contents problem: why the cursor gets warped
eliminating warping with mouse ether
calibration
user study: up to 28% faster in acquisition task
conclusions: need to test fitts’ law

6. why the cursor gets warped
system oblivious of
dpi differences
start
target
high dpi
low dpi
system oblivious of
gaps
target
start

7. mouse ether with mouse ether target start low dpi high dpi
now users can acquire targets on direct path
mouse ether
start
target
high dpi
low dpi
start
target

8. calibration
step 3
step 1
step 2

9. the math (ex,ey,) +(dx,dy) on init (ex,ey,) ’ every frame (cx,cy)
screen i
screen j

10. off-screen travel
with mouse ether
start
target

11. more off-screen travel
target
start
same dpi
with mouse ether
high dpi
low dpi
 name ether
user’s perspective
system’s perspective
target
start
blocked
same dpi
target
blocked
high dpi
low dpi
start
start
target

12. taming off-screen travel
iteration 1: restrict to convex hull
iteration 2: allow entering ether only for the purpose of transit
towards another screen
at sufficient speed
otherwise screen boundaries “hard”
target
start

13. user study 2x 18” screens 1280x1024 and 800x600 resolution
eight participants
WinFitts software
72 movements (=4 trials x 9 paths x 2 directions)

14. Movement Time (ms ±SEM)
results
with mouse ether up to 28% faster
1800
Control
1600
MouseEther
1400
1200
1000
Movement Time (ms ±SEM)
800
600
400
200
High-Low
Low-High
Direction of Movement

15. conclusions multimon offers incorrect visual cues
this hinders successful target acquisition
mouse ether improves acquisition speed by matching pointer behavior to visual cues
off-screen travel allows for direct target acquisition
future work: investigate target acquisition under contradictory visual feedback ( Fitts’ law?)

16. thanks! read more at thanks to: www.patrickbaudisch.com
mary czerwinski, george robertson, & desney tan