A Swivel Chair as an Input Device

A pivot (swivel, rotating) chair is considered as an input device, an information appliance. The input modality is orientation tracking, which can dynamically select transfer functions used to spatialize audio in a rotation-invariant soundscape. In groupware situations, like teleconferencing or chat spaces, such orientation tracking can also be used to twist multiple iconic representations of a seated user, avatars in a virtual world, enabling social situation awareness via coupled visual displays, soundscape-stabilized virtual source locations, and direction-dependent projection of non-omnidirectional sources. The Internet Chair, manifesting as personal LBE (location-based entertainment), has potential for both stand-alone and networked applications.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Spatial Media Group, Human Interface Lab, University of Aizu, Aizu-Wakamatsu, 965-8580, Japan

   Michael Cohen

Editors and Affiliations

1. Fraunhofer IPSI, Darmstadt, Germany

   Norbert A. Streitz

2. HCI Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

   Jane Siegel

3. Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics School for Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University, 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

   Volker Hartkopf

4. IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, Dolivostr. 15, D-64293, Darmstadt, Germany

   Shin’ichi Konomi

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