Studying applications for touch-enabled mobile phone keypads

We present a platform to evaluate mobile phone applications that make use of an additional dimension for key presses. Using capacitive sensors on each key, merely touching buttons as well as the force of the press can be measured. A set of applications well known from current mobile phones has been extended with functionality exploiting those new possibilities. The results of a study undertaken with this prototype are presented and conclusions are drawn for the design and implementation of such applications. Author Keywords Capacitive touch sensing, mobile phone interaction, smal

Métodos expeditos de introdução de texto em dispositivos móveis

Dissertação de mest., Engenharia Informática, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univ. do Algarve, 2011Os dispositivos móveis têm vindo a alterar o seu papel na sociedade ao longo dos tempos. Além de desempenharem um papel na comunicação, estão nos dias de hoje mais próximos do funcionamento de um computador do que de um telefone. O aumento de funcionalidades e a disponibilidade de vários modelos de equipamentos permitem satisfazer muitas daquelas que são as necessidades de comunicação diárias longe de um local fixo. A evolução tecnológica empregue nestes dispositivos tem melhorado interfaces, usabilidade e qualidade dos dispositivos, retirando funcionalidades atribuídas a botões físicos e substituindo-as por botões virtuais num ecrã táctil. Contudo, apesar da evolução da tecnologia, a mesma ainda não permitiu o desenvolvimento de soluções de acesso igual para pessoas com e sem deficiências. A presente dissertação apresenta um novo método de introdução de texto para dispositivos móveis como smartphones, tablets e outros dispositivos com ecrã táctil, desenvolvido a pensar no acesso de pessoas com problemas de coordenação motora que apresentam dificuldades na utilização destes aparelhos. Este método de introdução de texto é um teclado virtual que possui menos elementos no interface do utilizador quando comparado com outros teclados virtuais. Os elementos que este novo método possui são também maiores, sendo desenvolvidos com o propósito de aumentar a precisão de toque e consequentemente melhorar e facilitar a utilização dos dispositivos móveis em questão. Este método de introdução de texto difere dos já existentes para o mesmo tipo de plataforma. O seu conceito baseia-se na utilização de um sistema de varrimento por grupos, com a vantagem de permitir ao utilizador controlar a navegação pelos grupos e subgrupos de caracteres através do toque em teclas direccionais para chegar ao caracter pretendido, evitando a espera causada pela demora do avanço periódico do cursor visual por todas as opções até à opção desejada

AUGMENTED TOUCH INTERACTIONS WITH FINGER CONTACT SHAPE AND ORIENTATION

Touchscreen interactions are far less expressive than the range of touch that human hands are capable of - even considering technologies such as multi-touch and force-sensitive surfaces. Recently, some touchscreens have added the capability to sense the actual contact area of a finger on the touch surface, which provides additional degrees of freedom - the size and shape of the touch, and the finger's orientation. These additional sensory capabilities hold promise for increasing the expressiveness of touch interactions - but little is known about whether users can successfully use the new degrees of freedom. To provide this baseline information, we carried out a study with a finger-contact-sensing touchscreen, and asked participants to produce a range of touches and gestures with different shapes and orientations, with both one and two fingers. We found that people are able to reliably produce two touch shapes and three orientations across a wide range of touches and gestures - a result that was confirmed in another study that used the augmented touches for a screen lock application

Integrating Usability Models into Pervasive Application Development

This thesis describes novel processes in two important areas of human-computer interaction (HCI) and demonstrates ways to combine these in appropriate ways. First, prototyping plays an essential role in the development of complex applications. This is especially true if a user-centred design process is followed. We describe and compare a set of existing toolkits and frameworks that support the development of prototypes in the area of pervasive computing. Based on these observations, we introduce the EIToolkit that allows the quick generation of mobile and pervasive applications, and approaches many issues found in previous works. Its application and use is demonstrated in several projects that base on the architecture and an implementation of the toolkit. Second, we present novel results and extensions in user modelling, specifically for predicting time to completion of tasks. We extended established concepts such as the Keystroke-Level Model to novel types of interaction with mobile devices, e.g. using optical markers and gestures. The design, creation, as well as a validation of this model are presented in some detail in order to show its use and usefulness for making usability predictions. The third part is concerned with the combination of both concepts, i.e. how to integrate user models into the design process of pervasive applications. We first examine current ways of developing and show generic approaches to this problem. This leads to a concrete implementation of such a solution. An innovative integrated development environment is provided that allows for quickly developing mobile applications, supports the automatic generation of user models, and helps in applying these models early in the design process. This can considerably ease the process of model creation and can replace some types of costly user studies.Diese Dissertation beschreibt neuartige Verfahren in zwei wichtigen Bereichen der Mensch-Maschine-Kommunikation und erläutert Wege, diese geeignet zu verknüpfen. Zum einen spielt die Entwicklung von Prototypen insbesondere bei der Verwendung von benutzerzentrierten Entwicklungsverfahren eine besondere Rolle. Es werden daher auf der einen Seite eine ganze Reihe vorhandener Arbeiten vorgestellt und verglichen, die die Entwicklung prototypischer Anwendungen speziell im Bereich des Pervasive Computing unterstützen. Ein eigener Satz an Werkzeugen und Komponenten wird präsentiert, der viele der herausgearbeiteten Nachteile und Probleme solcher existierender Projekte aufgreift und entsprechende Lösungen anbietet. Mehrere Beispiele und eigene Arbeiten werden beschrieben, die auf dieser Architektur basieren und entwickelt wurden. Auf der anderen Seite werden neue Forschungsergebnisse präsentiert, die Erweiterungen von Methoden in der Benutzermodellierung speziell im Bereich der Abschätzung von Interaktionszeiten beinhalten. Mit diesen in der Dissertation entwickelten Erweiterungen können etablierte Konzepte wie das Keystroke-Level Model auf aktuelle und neuartige Interaktionsmöglichkeiten mit mobilen Geräten angewandt werden. Der Entwurf, das Erstellen sowie eine Validierung der Ergebnisse dieser Erweiterungen werden detailliert dargestellt. Ein dritter Teil beschäftigt sich mit Möglichkeiten die beiden beschriebenen Konzepte, zum einen Prototypenentwicklung im Pervasive Computing und zum anderen Benutzermodellierung, geeignet zu kombinieren. Vorhandene Ansätze werden untersucht und generische Integrationsmöglichkeiten beschrieben. Dies führt zu konkreten Implementierungen solcher Lösungen zur Integration in vorhandene Umgebungen, als auch in Form einer eigenen Applikation spezialisiert auf die Entwicklung von Programmen für mobile Geräte. Sie erlaubt das schnelle Erstellen von Prototypen, unterstützt das automatische Erstellen spezialisierter Benutzermodelle und ermöglicht den Einsatz dieser Modelle früh im Entwicklungsprozess. Dies erleichtert die Anwendung solcher Modelle und kann Aufwand und Kosten für entsprechende Benutzerstudien einsparen