Application Areas

The aim of this section is to discuss and analyze application areas for physical mobile interactions. Some of them have already been mentioned previously, but this section presents a structured overview of the most important ones independently of the interaction technique and used technology.

Active posters and advertising

Active posters and advertising is one of the most popular application areas for physical mobile interaction techniques. Posters, flyers and announces are widely used and already present the information that should be advertised. These objects need only be augmented and a person can request additional services by using a mobile device. This application area has a huge potential because every display, even road signs, newspapers or clothes can be augmented.

Active posters are for instance used to mediate the purchase of ring tones, wallpapers or music [@J-Ware 2006, @Mobipoint, @NFCCaen 2005, @PhilipsNFC]. Another example is the ToruCa service available in Japan [@ToruCa]. Here the user has to touch a ToruCa reader/writer with an Osaifu-Keitai phone, a mobile phone with NFC capabilities, to get a coupon or a flyer. Another example are augmented advertisements in magazines or augmented business cards [@BarCodeReader].

Tourist and museum guides

Mobile guides are a further popular application area that is already in use for some time using user-mediated object selection or scanning. The principle is that there are objects or areas that could be of interest and a user can use her mobile device to get more information about it. One could distinguish between indoor (e.g. a typical museum, exhibition or gallery) and outdoor guides (e.g. horticultural show, park or garden).

One example is the BUGA butler [@BUGAbutler 2005] used for a horticultural show that supports the interaction techniques user-mediated object selection and scanning. Further examples are a trial testing NFC technology to get information about landmarks in Caen [@NFCCaen 2005], the PhoneGuide [Föckler et al. 2005] used within a museum or Semapedia [@Semapedia] which links real world objects with Wikipedia articles.

Electronic key and ticketing

Using physical mobile interaction techniques the user is able to identify or to prove that she has a valid ticket allowing her to enter a building or a room. The advantage of these electronic identifiers or tickets is that they are easily transferable, they do not need additional space to carry them and they can be read by another electronic device.

Osaifu-Keitai phones are used in Japan for instance as electronic tickets, membership cards and airline tickets [@Osaifu-Keitai]. The mobile phone can also carry access codes [@PhilipsNFC] or public transport tickets [@BahnHandyTicket, @NFCRollout 2006].

Payment

The mobile device can be also used for payment acting as an electronic wallet or providing indirect access to the credit card or bank account. This approach is potentially more secure and provides more interaction capabilities than cash or an extra credit card.

2 Related Work and Classification

Osaifu-Keitai phones can act as a credit card that can be used for buying any kind of goods [@Osaifu-Keitai]. Another example is using the mobile for paying parking fees [@NFCCaen 2005] or buying a soft drink at a vending machine [@cmode 2004].

Peer-to-Peer sharing

The peer-to-peer based interaction with other electronic devices is another application area for physical mobile interactions. It supports the simple exchange of data between two devices.

Examples include the peer-to-peer based exchange of images between a PDA and a TV or downloading a game from a laptop [@ECMA_NFC 2004]. The connection to another device can be also used for exchanging images, audio files or synchronizing address books [@PhilipsNFC]. Nokia Sensor is an application for peer-to-peer based social interactions between different mobile phone users [@NokiaSensor, Persson, Jung 2005]. A user can design her local homepage that can be read by others and should act as a starting point to get into contact.

Remote control and interaction with displays

Within this application area, which has a very strong relationship to the interaction technique indirect remote controls described in subsection 2.3.7, the mobile device is used to control a remote object. This can be for instance a display, a media server or the washing machine. The advantage of that approach is that one can control a remote device without walking to it or controlling a device which has no input capabilities or user interface.

Modern mobile phones provide support for Bluetooth profiles like the Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) to control devices like television or videocassette recorder, the Basic Imaging Profile (BIP) to send images to another device, the Basic Printing Profile (BPP) to print a document on an external printer and the Human Interface Device Profile (HID) to use the mobile phone as a keyboard or mouse when interacting with a PC [@BluetoothSpec].

Furthermore there are many projects like the Pebbles research project [Myers 2005], the T- Com House in Berlin [@T-ComHouse 2005] or the Haus der Gegenwart in Munich [@HausDerGegenwart] that focus on using the mobile device for remotely controlling objects and appliances in smart rooms and houses.

Using the mobile device as indirect remote control for a PC is another application area. Examples are Rajicon [Su et al. 2002] and the Ubiquitous Viewer from Toshiba [@UbiquitousViewer 2005]. [Greenberg et al. 1999] used mobile devices within a group meeting to collaborate with each other using a shared public display. The WebWall is a public screen, installed e.g. in a train station or an airport, with which the user can interact to participate in an auction or a public opinion poll [Ferscha et al. 2002, Vogl 2002]. Using the Hermes Photo Display, a person can use a mobile phone to interact with this public display to upload and view pictures [Cheverst et al. 2005].

There are also examples for using the mobile device as a direct interaction device for interactions with remote displays. [Reilly et al. 2006] and [Vetter 2006] use a mobile device for direct touch-based interactions with static and dynamic maps. Using the SpotCode Interfaces one can use pointing and different widgets to control an application on a remote screen [@SpotCode]. Through the interaction technique sweep and point &

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shoot one can use a mobile phone to control the position of the mouse cursor on a remote screen and can also select an object [Ballagas et al. 2005].

Field force

The previous application areas focussed mainly on the typical consumers that are addressed by mobile network providers. This field force application area concentrates on mobile applications that support people within their daily work outside the office [@NokiaFieldForce].

All the services offered by the Nokia Field Force Solution are based on the concept that the system can track what each person did at what point in time. This is a very important source of information for improving the management and control of workflows and services. Security and guarding personnel can for instance confirm that they have been at a certain place by interacting with a marker attached to that place. Thus, the possibility to cheat can be drastically reduced and the management can track their activities. Facility management and home care companies can control when someone performs which tasks. Waste management companies can assure that special containers are checked in specific intervals.