Année 2016
Since many years, the Human-Computer Interaction community is interested in the tangible user interfaces (TUI). A part of these TUI focuses on the interaction performed with one or several objects. The domain is in extension by the development of contactless objects (using NFC, RFID technology, etc.). In the system, tangible objects could represent data, action, or complex part. Interaction on a table, which is a common furniture in the everyday life and used in multiple activities (desktop, coffee table, kitchen table, etc.), opens a new way for the research and development in HCI. This article proposes to use a framework, previously proposed in a conjunct article, to characterize applications supported by the couple <interactive tabletop, tangible object>. These applications aim at supporting complex business tasks; they are described from a technological point of view on the one hand, and from an applicative point of view on the other hand. These applications show the benefit brought by the couple <interactive tabletop, tangible object> to the interaction and they are immersed in the framework. The framework shows with these instantiations that it is generic and supports such descriptions.
In recent years, tangible user interfaces, which imply interactions performed with one or several objects, gain more and more interest in research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The tangible object represents a subject or an action. It acts on the system, as an action in classical user interfaces (e.g,. GUI). Interaction on a table, which is a common furniture in everyday life and used in multiple activities (desktop, coffee table, kitchen table, etc.), opens a new way for research and development in HCI. In this article, we present definitions, models, and key issues elicited from the literature that enable understanding and reasoning about the couple < interactive tabletop, tangible object> within an interactive system. Then, we propose a framework that allows to characterize applications supported by the couple <interactive tabletop, tangible object> in a domain-independent manner.