PocketThumb

Abstract

We present PocketThumb, a wearable touch interface for smart-eyewear that is embedded into the fabrics of the front trouser pocket. The interface is reachable from outside and inside of the pocket to allow for a combined dual-sided touch input. The user can control an absolute cursor with their thumb sliding along the fabric from the inside, while at the same time tapping or swiping with fingers from the outside to perform joint gestures. This allows for resting the hand in a comfortable and quickly accessible position, while performing interaction with a high expressiveness that is feasible in mobile scenarios. In a cursor-based target selection study, we found that our introduced dual-sided touch interaction is significantly faster in comparison to common single-sided absolute as well as relative touch interaction (~19%, resp. ~23% faster). The effect is largest in the mobile conditions standing and walking (up to ~31% faster).