TY - GEN
T1 - Loosely-coupled vs. tightly-coupled mixed reality
T2 - VRCAI 2009: 8th International Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry
AU - Lee, Myungho
AU - Lee, Myonghee
AU - Kim, Gerard J.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Traditionally, an implementation of mixed reality systems requires tight and accurate spatial/visual registration between the real and virtual objects. Any meaningful interaction is only possible within this "tightly" coupled mixed reality world. Thus, the degree of this spatial and explicit registration has been regarded one of the most important factors in the usability of mixed reality systems. In this paper, we argue that the "loose" and "implicit" association may be sufficient to establish a unified mixed reality space. More specifically, we introduce, what is called, the "Loosely coupled Mixed Reality (LMR)," in which the user maintains a unified mixed reality space with minimal explicit association cues between the real and virtual space. To help this binding process, an implicit but intuitive environment metaphor between the two realities is used. We ran a simple experiment to compare the task performance, as a measure of the coherency of the perceived mixed reality space, of our approach to the standard augmented reality. Our results have shown that despite the lack of visual/spatial registration feedback and thus having to rely on the imagination of the user, the perception of the mixed reality space and usability of LMR did not degrade much from those of the conventional AR. LMR is a new pragmatic form of mixed reality medium with reduced requirements for exact tracking and rich visual feedback, especially suitable for mobile devices.
AB - Traditionally, an implementation of mixed reality systems requires tight and accurate spatial/visual registration between the real and virtual objects. Any meaningful interaction is only possible within this "tightly" coupled mixed reality world. Thus, the degree of this spatial and explicit registration has been regarded one of the most important factors in the usability of mixed reality systems. In this paper, we argue that the "loose" and "implicit" association may be sufficient to establish a unified mixed reality space. More specifically, we introduce, what is called, the "Loosely coupled Mixed Reality (LMR)," in which the user maintains a unified mixed reality space with minimal explicit association cues between the real and virtual space. To help this binding process, an implicit but intuitive environment metaphor between the two realities is used. We ran a simple experiment to compare the task performance, as a measure of the coherency of the perceived mixed reality space, of our approach to the standard augmented reality. Our results have shown that despite the lack of visual/spatial registration feedback and thus having to rely on the imagination of the user, the perception of the mixed reality space and usability of LMR did not degrade much from those of the conventional AR. LMR is a new pragmatic form of mixed reality medium with reduced requirements for exact tracking and rich visual feedback, especially suitable for mobile devices.
KW - Interaction medium
KW - Mixed reality
KW - Registration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=76749104795&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/1670252.1670330
DO - 10.1145/1670252.1670330
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:76749104795
SN - 9781605589121
T3 - Proceedings - VRCAI 2009: 8th International Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry
SP - 345
EP - 349
BT - Proceedings - VRCAI 2009
Y2 - 14 December 2009 through 15 December 2009
ER -