Private public screens: detached multi-user interaction with large displays through mobile augmented reality

Abstract

As everyday companions, smartphones are well-suited tools for controlling interactive applications on large public displays. To allow concurrent interaction by multiple users beyond traditional collaborative scenarios we introduce the idea of virtually augmented public screens for creating personalized views and thus literally enabling "private public screens". We present a fully functional research prototype in form of a Video Wall application and report on first experiences gathered from a comparative user study. The results show that the proposed personalized Augmented Reality approach, which allows each user to have a private view on the public display, is preferred over a purely competitive mode, where the public display is shared between the users. Further, our study shows that social activity indicators informing about the activities of other users are well appreciated.