Connectables: dynamic coupling of displays for the flexible creation of shared workspaces

  • Authors:
  • Peter Tandler;Thorsten Prante;Christian Müller-Tomfelde;Norbert Streitz;Ralf Steinmetz

  • Affiliations:
  • GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, AMBIENTE - Workspaces of the Future, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293 Darms ...;GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, AMBIENTE - Workspaces of the Future, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293 Darms ...;GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, AMBIENTE - Workspaces of the Future, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293 Darms ...;GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, AMBIENTE - Workspaces of the Future, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293 Darms ...;GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, AMBIENTE - Workspaces of the Future, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293 Darms ...

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

We present the ConnecTable, a new mobile, networked and context-aware information appliance that provides affordances for pen-based individual and cooperative work as well as for the seamless transition between the two. In order to dynamically enlarge an interaction area for the purpose of shared use, a flexible coupling of displays has been realized that overcomes the restrictions of display sizes and borders. Two ConnecTable displays dynamically form a homogeneous display area when moved close to each other. The appropriate triggering signal comes from built-in sensors allowing users to temporally combine their individual displays to a larger shared one by a simple physical movement in space. Connected ConnecTables allow their users to work in parallel on an ad-hoc created shared workspace as well as exchanging information by simply shuffling objects from one display to the other. We discuss the user interface and related issues as well as the software architecture. We also present the physical realization of the ConnecTables.