Clairvoyance: A framework to integrate shared displays and mobile computing devices

Supporting formal and informal meetings with digital information and ubiquitous software systems every day becomes increasingly mandatory. These meetings require that the integration of devices participating in the meeting and the information flow among them should be done as seamless as possible to avoid jeopardizing the natural interactions among participants. Trying to contribute to address such a challenge, this article presents a framework that allows devices integration and smooth information flow. This framework, named Clairvoyance, particularly integrates mobile computing devices and large-screen TVs through a mobile ad hoc network, and thus it eases the implementation of shared displays intended to be used in formal and informal meetings. Clairvoyance provides a set of services through an API, which can be used to develop ubiquitous applications that support meetings in particular scenarios. The preliminary evaluation of this framework considered its usage to implement a ubiquitous system that supports social meetings among friends or relatives. According to developers, the framework is easy to use and it provided all required services for such an application. The solution obtained was then utilized by end-users in simulated meetings. The evaluation results indicate that the Clairvoyance services were suitable to support the informal meetings, and that the devices integration and information flow were transparent for the end-users.     

Measurement of binocular disparity in polarized based stereoscopic display by using digital camera

This work presents an image displacement measurement by using a box pattern and the edge spread function analysis in the polarized based stereoscopic displays. The measurement determines to identify three factors (i.e., box size, image displacement, and spatial frequency response (SFR)) from the box patterns. The polarized based stereoscopic displays might sacrifice pixels for producing 3D images, which might produce errors in the image displacement and then affect the depth perception indirectly. Based on the measurement, the errors can be quantified by using the three factors. Owing to the light leakage distorting the edge spread function to obtain an inferior SFR, exactly how light leakage affects the edge spread function can be resolved on the basis of the SFR results, especially at a frequency (1/display pixel) of 1.9 in the case of the horizontal displacement. Light leakage also induces the error of the box height in even and odd intervals of the vertical displacements more than 2 pixels and 0.5 pixels, respectively. The image displacement measurement provides a simple and comprehensive means of evaluating the optical characteristics, disparity, and sharpness of the stereoscopic displays, via the three factors.     

Recent Progress of Fiber Shaped Lighting Devices for Smart Display Applications—A Fibertronic Perspective

Advances in material science and nanotechnology have fostered the miniaturization of devices. Over the past two decades, the form-factor of these devices has evolved from 3D rigid, volumetric devices through 2D film-based flexible electronics, finally to 1D fiber electronics (fibertronics). In this regard, fibertronic strategies toward wearable applications (e.g., electronic textiles (e-textiles)) have attracted considerable attention thanks to their capability to impart various functions into textiles with retaining textiles' intrinsic properties as well as imperceptible irritation by foreign matters. In recent years, extensive research has been carried out to develop various functional devices in the fiber form. Among various features, lighting and display features are the highly desirable functions in wearable electronics. This article discusses the recent progress of materials, architectural designs, and new fabrication technologies of fiber-shaped lighting devices and the current challenges corresponding to each device's operating mechanism. Moreover, opportunities and applications that the revolutionary convergence between the state-of-the-art fibertronic technology and age-long textile industry will bring in the future are also discussed.     

Influence of the rigidity of the steroid core in the structure of chiral dopants on the temperature dependence of cholesteric short pitch

New chiral compounds of the steroid type, namely, 3-alkanoyl- and 3-alkyl derivatives of 16-arylidene estrone, were synthesized and exhibited high helical twisting power (HTP) in nematic liquid crystals E63 and LC-1289. The peculiarities of the molecular structure of chiral compounds (CCs) and their high degree of chirality were discussed. Quite small concentrations of chiral compounds in both nematic solvents were needed to obtain a short-pitch cholesteric helical macrostructure with the selective light reflection in the visible range of the spectrum. The insignificant temperature dependence of the maximum wavelength of the selective light reflection obtained on the whole cholesteric range for all studied liquid crystalline (LC) systems could be related to relatively rigid molecular structure of the chiral compounds. The cholesteric LC mixtures comprising 3-alkanoyl- and 3-alkyl derivatives of 16-arylidene estrone were characterized by the phase stability and the stability of reflective characteristics in time that makes it possible to consider this series of dopants as appropriate for development of bistable cholesteric reflective LC displays.     

Distance estimation with mixed real and virtual targets in stereoscopic displays

In this paper we investigated the accuracy of center-to-center distance perception in near field augmented reality visual targets viewed by stereoscopic glasses. One real and one virtual targets were presented in four layout or target orientations (two horizontal and two vertical, by altering the relative positions of real and virtual targets) at three different parallax conditions (on screen, 5 cm from screen and 10 cm from screen) and four levels of scaled between targets’ distance (10–20 cm, 20–30 cm, 30–40 cm and 40–50 cm). The result revealed overall underestimation with an accuracy of about 84%. Interestingly, it was noticed that the main effects of layout, parallax and center-to-center distance were significant. Generally, accuracy improves when targets put vertical, close to observers’ position and smaller separation of targets. Significant interactions among the three main factors were also reported. The results are of great importance as it provides guide for the developers to decide where to present targets depending on the need for relative accuracy of judgment. Some engineering implications of the result are also discussed in this paper.     

PeepList: Adapting ex-post interaction with pervasive display content using eye tracking

Short intensive interactions with unfamiliar pervasive displays coerce users to perform cognitive operations with uncertainty and risk of not being able to access the information of relevance later. We developed a new way of interaction with pervasive displays by harnessing the eye tracking technology to extract information that is most likely relevant to the user. These extracted bits of important information are presented to the user and sorted according to their estimated importance—in the PeepList. The users can interact with the PeepList without explicit commands and they can access the customized PeepList ex-post in order to review information previously consumed from the pervasive display.We carried out a user study involving 16 participants to evaluate the contribution of PeepList to efficient pervasive display interaction. The tests revealed that the PeepList system is unobtrusive, accurate, and in particular it reduces the interaction times by 40% when complex tasks were presented to the participants. A feasible user model can be built in under 30 seconds in 50% of all interactions, and in one minute, a majority of all interactions (70%) lead to a useful user model. Experimental results show that eye tracking is a valuable real-time implicit source of information about what the user is searching for on a pervasive display and that it can be used for real-time user interface adaptation. This considerably improves the efficiency of obtaining and retaining required data.     

Newer Plant Displays in Botanical Gardens: The Role of Design in Environmental Interpretation

New design approaches can be observed in an increasing number of botanical gardens due to a desire to improve the effectiveness of environmental interpretation. This paper presents a review of these recent trends in the display of plants based on a search of botanical gardens around the world and on both theory and previous research findings that have focused on understanding people's experience in botanical gardens and other environmental interpretation settings. Four design strategies of plant display were identified, which are referred to here as familiar frames, icons, imitations and manipulations of nature. These typological categories represent recent design approaches useful for establishing stronger relationships between people, plants and associated environmental issues. Further, the potential of such displays as environmental interpretation tools is discussed based on how people perceive them.     

多视图3D液晶显示器显示深度计算

给出了针对多视图3D液晶显示器的虚体素明确的定义,对虚体素的特性做了说明。在深入掌握多视图3D液晶显示器显示原理的基础上,对虚体素显示深度做了详细的研究。研究了虚体素显示深度与同名点距离以及观察距离的关系,并以StereoGraphics公司的Symthagram204显示器为例作了定量计算。针对该显示器,根据透镜阵列折射原理给出公式,计算了不同同名点距离时最远的可观察距离;在此基础上,对不同的同名点距离计算了最大的虚体素显示深度,在给定两眼间距为65mm时,得出该型显示器的最佳观察距离为1.26m。研究结果为多视图3D液晶显示器性能的度量和比较提供了一个定量的标准。     

Preferred color gamut boundaries for wide‐gamut and multiprimary displays

Preferred chroma enhancement and its dependence on hue are studied in a two‐part experiment using a wide‐gamut multiprimary display. Earlier research showed a clear dependence on hue but was limited by the gamut of the display it employed; the present work builds on this while easing the gamut constraints. In the first part of the present experiment, a tuning task was used to refine the preference for chroma boost starting with standard‐gamut (Rec. 709) images. The overall median preferred boost is roughly 20%, but it is not uniform over hues: the preferred boost for orange, yellow, green, and cyan colors is greater than that for blue, magenta, and red colors. Dependence on image content and observer is noted, though a content‐independent chroma boost created by aggregating preference over many images performs well. An adjustment parameter for overall chroma, which incorporates the hue dependence averaged over image content, should be sufficient to handle the vast majority of interobserver variance in preference. In the second part of the experiment, various chroma boost algorithms were evaluated through a paired comparison task. The prescribed hue‐dependent chroma boost is preferred over all other variations, and all hue‐preserving chroma boost variations are preferred over both colorimetrically accurate and na??ve same‐drive‐signal renderings. The results may be applied in display design to select gamut boundaries that maximize satisfaction over the observer population. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 169–178, 2014