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In a Pinch, Link Multiple Displays

Pinch-photos-1112

By Phil Wright

User Interface Prof. Takashi Ohta and his colleagues at Tokyo University of Technology have demonstrated a means for linking displays through a new user interface they call “Pinch.”  As shown in the images and video below, the Pinch interface allows users to wirelessly connect via Wi-Fi the displays of multiple touch screen devices.

By placing one finger on each of two devices and pinching the fingers together, the displays of each device link up to display an enlarged view of the underlying image or application. The user or users can then interact with the enlarged image or application just as though it was displayed on a single larger device. Several displays and displays of different orientations and sizes, for example two smartphones and a tablet, can also be linked using Pinch.

The developers note that multiple screen views can be changed dynamically while the application is running on each device. This feature of Pinch is perhaps best illustrated at the researchers’ website (Note to readers: the QuickTime video takes several seconds to load and must be double-clicked to run). A video illustrating the use of Pinch with comments by Prof. Ohta is provided below.

Utilizing the Pinch concept the researchers aim to enable a user interface that can provide for new forms of interactions. For example, by rearranging devices in different orientations, the Pinch user interface can trigger a reaction of the displayed information. The idea is to inspire new application designs offering new interaction capabilities that are not achievable with a single display or a static multi-display environment. Operating environments like Pinch in which multiple users can interact should appeal to developers of social media applications.

Prof. Ohta sees plenty of potential applications, saying, “This Pinch interface we’ve developed is used to create applications that make devices react when they’ve both been pinched, so they work together. In the case of a graphics application, when the devices recognize they’ve been pinched, they can show the whole picture as if it’s on one screen.”

“You could use Pinch to develop a variety of apps. For example, with a music app, if you connect devices horizontally, you could keep playing music for a long time.

“People probably own just one of these devices each. So, I think people could communicate in fun ways, by getting together with friends and putting their devices next to each other. In the case of advertising, I think you could create applications where people put their devices together to talk about the products.

“We’ve presented Pinch at conferences, but we haven’t shown it to the public yet. We’d like people to use this system to develop apps. So, we’re offering Pinch to developers and are basically just asking them to do something with it. We’ve just started several projects like that.”

Prof. Ohta and his research colleagues are also working on additional display and user interface developments. One project, “Strobe” is an automatic multi-display configuration tool. Strobe (see image below and a video at the researchers’ web site) utilizes a webcam and a PC and allows multiple displays to be quickly rearranged to form a dynamic multi-display environment. A system based on Strobe could be used to control a video wall display that could be easily and rapidly reconfigured — for example by sales staff in a retail sales setting.

Strobe-1112Ongoing user interface research around the globe on projects like Pinch and Strobe is enabling new devices, systems and applications.  Now will someone pinch me to make sure that I’m not just making this stuff up.

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