Gesture connect: facilitating tangible interaction with a flick of the wrist

The Gesture Connect system streamlines the process of connecting to and/or controlling objects from a user's personal mobile device. Typically, in order to connect two devices together they users must follow a two-step process that consists of first selecting which devices should be connected, and then specifying what the devices should do once they are connected. By combining contact-based connections with gesture-based selection, the Gesture Connect system combines these two steps into a single physical action for simple actions, greatly simplifying the common case. In order to demonstrate and test the underlying concept, a hardware extension comprising Near Field Communication (NFC) and accelerometer capability has been developed for standard commercial mobile phone devices, along with the associated tagging and gesture recognition software. This system greatly reduces overall interaction time for common-case interaction, enhancing the overall user experience.