Natural/ Novel User Interfaces for Mobile Devices

Abstract

Smart phones have the potential to become the default physical user inter- face for ubiquitous mobile multimedia computing applications [3]. However, the conventional tiny keypad of a mobile phone is unsuitable for many situa- tions; for example, typing a simple URL like http://www.google.com/ might require over 70 key presses. The fast development of mobile devices provides new possibilities for user interaction methods. Accessing large amounts of mul- timedia information requires specialised methods for searching and data min- ing. Besides direct interaction with keyboard, keypad, joystick, touchscreen or even speech recognition, interaction with mobile devices can be enhanced by analysing the location or motion of the device. Furthermore it is possible to fine tune the location information with the device´s direction and orientation information using visual markers or various sensors. In addition the movement of the device can be analysed using accelerometers or analysing optical flow of the attached camera. Augmented reality is a related technology, providing new interaction possibilities with a visual link between physical and virtual worlds.