Open-Finger: Mobile Application Platform Enhanced by Physical Finger

Abstract

We introduce our Open-Finger that integrates the smartphone with a physical finger. Smartphones are widely used for communication and entertainment, and have characteristic features such an even surface and a few buttons. Our interaction with them is quite simple and really limited. In contrast, we have found a way to use a physical finger attached to a smartphone. A real finger has many capabilities such as pointing and touching. For example, we use our finger to point at something or someone, to move something, or to count a number. We can also use such features for interactions between us and our smartphones. Thus, the finger approach makes smartphone more intuitive and familiar for novice and elderly users who are not good at manipulating smartphone. In this paper, we describe our design concepts, prototype implementation and application possibilities.