Beyond-screen Interface for Interactive Television

Abstract

Background The electronic device trend of “being smart” has revolutionized personalhand-held devices, leading to the emergence of smart phones and tablet PCs. The trendhas now spread to home entertainment media, resulting in the emergence of interactiveTVs (ITVs). The information systems of interactive television are becoming increasinglyinteractive and complex, and the information is often presented in a highly distractingand inconvenient manner with insufficient display space. In this study, we developed aBeyond-Screen Interface (BSI) wherein the display system extends the physical space ofthe graphical user interface (GUI) in ITVs using projectors. Methods We implemented the BSI prototype by devising a projector and TV set andcompared the usability and quality of user experience of BSI with those of ITV userinterfaces of conventional styles. For the evaluation, not only the overall usability but alsothe hedonic/pragmatic quality of user experience and the degree of lean-back experiencewere measured with subject scale. Observation and user interview were followed toobtain user feedback and insights. Results and Conclusion Our user evaluation implies that BSI can provide a novelexperience for using interactive functions in ITV while maintaining user engagementwith TV contents like a traditional TV. The extended display system also evoked a wowresponse. Such positive user experiences of display extension can facilitate the access tovarious applications and complex information in an ITV viewing context.