From focus to context and back: combining mobile projectors and stationary displays

Focus plus context displays combine high-resolution detail and lower-resolution overview using displays of different pixel densities. Historically, they employed two fixed-size displays of different resolutions, one embedded within the other. In this paper, we explore focus plus context displays using one or more mobile projectors in combination with a stationary display. The portability of mobile projectors as applied to focus plus context displays contributes in three ways. First, the projector’s projection on the stationary display can transition dynamically from being the focus of one’s interest (i.e. providing a high resolution view when close to the display) to providing context around it (i.e. providing a low resolution view beyond the display’s borders when further away from it). Second, users can dynamically reposition and resize a focal area that matches their interest rather than repositioning all content into a fixed high-resolution area. Third, multiple users can manipulate multiple foci or context areas without interfering with one other. A proof-of-concept implementation illustrates these contributions.