Interactive public display using mobile web client

Abstract

Large public displays are widely used in public spaces for serving information. Most of them lack user-content interaction due partly to the fact that a touch screen is not suitable. With nearly universal adoption of mobile smartphone devices worldwide, its use as a tool for interacting with a public display is a viable option. Lack of standard interaction methods, protocols, and wide-spread used mobile applications for this purpose is a problem that prevents its adoption. In this paper, we address these problems by proposing a method with a mobile phone device as a tool for interaction with a public display system. The method is based on a standard web client, preinstalled on all smartphone devices, thus avoiding the problem as mentioned. Standard mobile gestures were employed for ease of use. The problem of establishing a connection and getting control of the public display is addressed. Three pairing methods have been described and evaluated. The results and discussion are provided.