Augmenting the mouse with pressure sensitive input

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the use of a uni-pressure and dual-pressure augmented mouse. With a pressure augmented mouse users can simultaneously control cursor positions as well as multiple levels of discrete selection modes for common desktop application tasks. Two or more independent pressure sensors can be mounted onto several locations on the body of the mouse. To highlight the design potential of a pressure augmented mouse we conducted a multi-part study. In the first part we identified the number of maximum discrete levels controllable with a uni-pressure augmented mouse, the most appropriate locations for installing pressure sensors on the mouse, and the design of new interaction techniques to support selection with pressure-based input. In a follow-up design we introduced an additional sensor and two different types of selection techniques to control a larger number of discrete levels with two pressure sensors. Our results show that users can comfortably control up to 64 modes with a dual-pressure augmented mouse. We discuss the findings of our results in the context of several desktop interaction techniques and identify several design recommendations.

Video

Download the Augmenting the mouse with pressure sensitive input video file.

Slideshow

Download the Augmenting the mouse with pressure sensitive input slideshow.

Publisher Link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240835

Citation

Jared Cechanowicz, Pourang Irani and Sriram Subramanian. 2007. Augmenting the mouse with pressure sensitive input. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '07), 1385-1394. (Honourable Mention Award)

Bibtext Entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { cechanowicz07,
    AUTHOR = { Jared Cechanowicz and Pourang Irani and Sriram Subramanian },
    TITLE = { Augmenting the mouse with pressure sensitive input },
    BOOKTITLE = { Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '07) },
    YEAR = { 2007 },
    PAGES = { 1385--1394 },
    DOI = { 10.1145/1240624.1240835 },
    NOTE = { Honourable Mention Award },
}