The design and empirical evaluations of 3D positioning techniques for pressure-based touch control on mobile devices

摘要

The previous three degrees of freedom (DOF) 3D touch translations require more than one finger (usually two hands) to be performed, which limits their usability on mobile devices that need one hand to be held in most occasions. Given that the pressure-sensitive touch screen will become ubiquitous in the near future, we presented a pressure-based 3DOF 3D positioning technique that only uses one finger in operating. Our technique collects the normal force of the touch pressure and uses it to represent the depth value in 3D translating. Then we conducted several groups of tightly controlled user studies to conclude (1) how different strategies of pressure recognition will affect 3D translating and (2) how is the performance of the pressure-based manipulation compared to the previous two-fingered technique. Finally, we discussed some guidelines to help developers in the design of the pressure-sensing technique in 3D manipulations.