Towards personalized surface computing

Abstract

With recent progress in the field of surface computing it becomes foreseeable that interactive surfaces will turn into a commodity in the future, ubiquitously integrated into our everyday environments. At the same time, we can observe a trend towards personal data and whole applications being accessible over the Internet, anytime from anywhere. We envision a future where interactive surfaces surrounding us serve as powerful portals to access these kinds of data and services. In this paper, we contribute two novel interaction techniques supporting parts of this vision: First, HandsDown, a biometric user identification approach based on hand contours and, second, PhoneTouch, a novel technique for using mobile phones in conjunction with interactive surfaces.