Pinch : An interface for Connecting Juxtaposed Displays using a Finger Pinching Action

We devised a new interface to form a multi-display environment using multiple mobile devices. A user can relate the contents appearing on multiple displays merely by "pinching" the surfaces of juxtaposed devices. It requires no configuration of the entire multi-display environment at one time, but allows addition or removal of any display at any time, and in any order. Moreover, the display arrangement is unrestricted; a user can place a display to any side of another, and also freely place one in portrait or landscape orientation. This interface has great potential to offer a variety of new representations of contents that a single display is unable to offer, especially with its ability to reconfigure the display arrangement dynamically and flexibly even during running of an application. We developed prototype applications using the interface. They demonstrate that our approach is functional. Moreover, they have elicited favorable responses from exhibition attendees. This presentation introduces the concept of our approach and explains the mechanism and its implementation. We also present experimental applications developed using the interface.