PseudoSensor: Emulation of input modality by repurposing sensors on mobile devices

Abstract

In recent years, conventional mobile devices have contained various sensors for touch, light, proximity, acceleration, direction, and spatial orientation to enable expressive interaction techniques. A tremendous amount of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research has leveraged these capabilities to create a new input method and explored the design space for maximizing these channels. For instance, researchers have introduced a number of pressure-sensitive input methods on mobile de-vice by adding it with additional hardware. This hardware-augmentation approach, however, results in expensive cost and some sensors are impractical for small form factors (e.g., wristwatches, glasses, and music players) due to the limited computing power, number of sensors, and interaction area available. In this context, we present a new approach called PseudoSensor, which emulates inaccessible input modality by repurposing sensors available on mobile device. These studies explore a new possibility of emulation for an input modality, especially focusing on emulating a pressure sensor that current mobile device does not have. We present a set of applications and evaluate them. Through a series of experiment, we show the feasibility of our approach and empirical evidence indicating high levels of performances. Finally, we distill our concept into a unified guideline by formalizing the previous studies compared with the results we obtained.