Multi-aspect Evaluation Method for Digital Pointing Devices

Abstract

For decades the computer mouse has been used as the most common input device for laptops and computers alike. However for speeches a presentation remote with a laser pointer was used because they allowed the presenter more freedom. With the emergence of small and lightweight inertial sensors, a new type of presentation remotes becomes popular. These remotes use inertial sensors to move a digital pointer allowing presenters to show things on more than one screen or use enhancement methods like highlighting a region. Using inertial sensors however proves to be a difficult task and can lead to problems with the usability of such devices. When developing such systems, the designer faces the problem that no method for quantifying the usability of pointing devices based on inertial sensors is available. In the paper at hand, we propose an evaluation method consisting of three different tests to assess the manageability, speed and precision of digital pointing devices for a measurable comparison. Additionally, we conducted an evaluation to show that our tests reflect the subjective assessment from the users. Our quantitative test results showed a strong correlation to the qualitative subjective assessment from the users.