Using Auto-Ordering to Improve Object Transfer between Mobile Devices

Abstract

People frequently form small groups in many social and professional situations: from conference attendees meeting at a coffee break, to siblings gathering at a family barbecue. These ad-hoc gatherings typically form into predictable geometries based on circles or circular arcs (called F-Formations). Because our lives are increasingly stored and represented by data on handheld devices, the desire to be able to share digital objects while in these groupings has increased. Using the relative position in these groups to facilitate file sharing could facilitate intuitive interfaces such as passing or flicking. However, there is no reliable, lightweight, ad-hoc technology for detecting and representing relative locations around a circle. In this thesis, we present three systems that can auto-order locations about a circle based on sensors standard on commodity smartphones. We tested two of these systems using an object passing task in a laboratory environment against unordered and proximity-based systems, and show that our techniques are faster, more accurate, and preferred by users.