Dual mode IR position and state transfer for tangible tabletops

This paper presents a method for tracking multiple active tangible devices on tabletops. Most tangible devices for tabletops use infrared to send information about their position, orientation, and state. The method we propose can be realized as a tabletop system using a low-cost camera to detect position and a low-cost infrared (IR) receiver to detect the state of each device. Since two different receivers (camera and IR-receiver) are used simultaneously we call the method dual mode. Using this method, it is possible to use devices with a large variation of states simultaneously on a tabletop, thus having more interactive devices on the surface.