For decades, Moore’s Law has delivered the ability to integrate an exponentially increasing number of devices in the same silicon area at a roughly constant cost. This has enabled tremendous levels of integration, where the capabilities of computer systems that previously occupied entire rooms can now fit on a single integrated circuit.In recent times, the steady drum beat of Moore’s Law has started to slow down. Whereas device density historically doubled every 18-24 months, the rate of recent silicon process advancements has declined. While improvements in device scaling continue, albeit at a reduced pace, the industry is simultaneously observing increases in manufacturing costs.In response, the industry is now seeing a trend toward reversing direction on the traditional march toward more integration. Instead, multiple industry and academic groups are advocating that systems on chips (SoCs) be "disintegrated" into multiple smaller "chiplets." This paper details the technology challenges that motivated AMD to use chiplets, the technical solutions we developed for our products, and how we expanded the use of chiplets from individual processors to multiple product families.

While much progress has been made in wearable computing in recent years, input techniques remain a key challenge. In this paper, we introduce uTrack, a technique to convert the thumb and fingers into a 3D input system using magnetic field (MF) sensing. A user wears a pair of magnetometers on the back of their fingers and a permanent magnet affixed to the back of the thumb. By moving the thumb across the fingers, we obtain a continuous input stream that can be used for 3D pointing. Specifically, our novel algorithm calculates the magnet's 3D position and tilt angle directly from the sensor readings. We evaluated uTrack as an input device, showing an average tracking accuracy of 4.84 mm in 3D space - sufficient for subtle interaction. We also demonstrate a real-time prototype and example applications allowing users to interact with the computer using 3D finger input.

We present Facet, a multi-display wrist worn system consisting of multiple independent touch-sensitive segments joined into a bracelet. Facet automatically determines the pose of the system as a whole and of each segment individually. It further supports multi-segment touch, yielding a rich set of touch input techniques. Our work builds on these two primitives to allow the user to control how applications use segments alone and in coordination. Applications can expand to use more segments, collapses to encompass fewer, and be swapped with other segments. We also explore how the concepts from Facet could apply to other devices in this design space.

Transactional memory (TM) is a promising synchronization mechanism for the next generation of multicore processors. Best-effort Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) designs, such as Sun's prototype Rock processor and AMD's proposed Advanced Synchronization Facility (ASF), can efficiently execute many transactions, but abort in some cases due to various limitations. Hybrid TM systems can use a compatible software TM (STM) in such cases.

We present Nenya, a new input device in the shape of a finger ring. Nenya provides an input mechanism that is always available, fast to access, and allows analog input, while remaining socially acceptable by being embodied in commonly worn items. Users make selections by twisting the ring and "click" by sliding it along the finger. The ring - the size of a regular wedding band - is magnetic, and is tracked by a wrist-worn sensor. Nenya's tiny size, eyes-free usability, and physical form indistinguishable from a regular ring make its use subtle and socially acceptable. We present two user studies (one- and two-handed) in which we studied sighted and eyes-free use, finding that even with no visual feedback users were able to select from eight targets.

While there is significant recent progress in technologies supporting augmented reality for small indoor environments, there is still much work to be done for large outdoor environments. This workshop focuses primarily on research that enables high-quality outdoor Mixed Reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications. These research topics include, but are not restricted to: — 3D geo-referenced data (images, point clouds, and models) — Algorithms for object recognition from large databases of geo-referenced data — Algorithms for object tracking in outdoor environment — Multi-cue fusion to achieve improved performance of object detection and tracking — Novel representation schemes to facilitate large-scale content distribution — 3D reasoning to support intelligent augmentation — Novel and improved mobile capabilities for data capture (device sensors), processing, and display — Applications, experiences, and user interface techniques. The workshop will also showcase existing prototypes of applications enabled by these technologies: mirror worlds, high-fidelity virtual environments, applications of panoramic imagery, and user studies relating to these media types. This workshop aims to bring together academic and industrial researchers and to foster discussion amongst participants on the current state of the art and future directions for technologies that enable large-scale outdoor MR and AR applications. The workshop will start with a session in which position statements and overviews of the state of the art are presented. In the afternoon, we will follow up with discussion sessions and a short closing session.

We are very happy to present the ISMAR 2011 Demonstrations Program. Demos embody "hello world" - the slogan of this year's ISMAR conference - and have a special place in the consciousness of the community. They provide us with our first glimpse of new ideas, a venue for directly interacting with implemented versions of novel concepts, and an opportunity to engage with the people of this community in the context of their work.

Mixed and Augmented Reality displays extend the user's perception with computer generated information. This information is typically registered in three-dimensional space, and related to objects and places in the physical world. While individual annotation of objects has historically been a topic of MR research, visualization incorporating multiple related data points or models provides a variety of new research challenges in systems and techniques. For example, photorealistic augmented reality visualization presents data by adapting additionally presented imagery to the real world condition while illustrative visualization techniques aim at enhancing the understanding of augmented scenarios by carefully combining and mediating real and virtual data. Situated visualization techniques present virtual representations of data in relevant locations in the physical scene. A challenge in many of these techniques is the need to correctly communicate the relationships between physical imagery and virtual data.

There are currently two primary ways of viewing location specific information in-situ on hand-held mobile device screens: using a see-through augmented reality interface and using a touch-based interface with panoramas. The two approaches use fundamentally different interaction metaphors: an AR-style of interacting where the user holds up the device and physically moves it to change views of the world, and a touch-based technique where panorama navigation is independent of the physical world. We have investigated how this difference in interaction technique impacts a user's spatial understanding of the mixed reality world. Our study found that AR-style interaction provided better spatial understanding overall, while touch-based interaction changed the experience to have more similar characteristics to interaction in a separate virtual environment.

We present RhythmLink, a system that improves the wireless pairing user experience. Users can link devices such as phones and headsets together by tapping a known rhythm on each device. In contrast to current solutions, RhythmLink does not require user interaction with the host device during the pairing process; and it only requires binary input on the peripheral, making it appropriate for small devices with minimal physical affordances. We describe the challenges in enabling this user experience and our solution, an algorithm that allows two devices to compare imprecisely-entered tap sequences while maintaining the secrecy of those sequences. We also discuss our prototype implementation of RhythmLink and review the results of initial user tests.

Urban designers and urban planners often conduct site visits prior to a design activity to search for patterns or better understand existing conditions. We introduce SiteLens, an experimental system and set of techniques for supporting site visits by visualizing relevant virtual data directly in the context of the physical site, which we call situated visualization. We address alternative visualization representations and techniques for data collection, curation, discovery, comparison, manipulation, and provenance. A real use scenario is presented and two iterations of evaluation with faculty and students from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation provide directions and insight for further investigation.

Menus play an important role in both information presentation and system control. We explore the design space of shake menus, which are intended for use in tangible augmented reality. Shake menus are radial menus displayed centered on a physical object and activated by shaking that object. One important aspect of their design space is the coordinate system used to present menu options. We conducted a within-subjects user study to compare the speed and efficacy of several alternative methods for presenting shake menus in augmented reality (world-referenced, display-referenced, and object-referenced), along with a baseline technique (a linear menu on a clipboard). Our findings suggest tradeoffs amongst speed, efficacy, and flexibility of interaction, and point towards the possible advantages of hybrid approaches that compose together transformations in different coordinate systems. We close by describing qualitative feedback from use and present several illustrative applications of the technique.

Biological research in the field is constrained by the speed and difficulty of species determination, as well as by access to relevant information about the species encountered. However, recent work on vision-based algorithms raises the promise of rapid botanical species identification. The potential for mobile vision-based identification provides opportunities for new user interface techniques. To explore these issues, we present LeafView, a Tablet-PC-based user interface for an electronic field guide that supports automated identification of botanical species in the field. We describe a user interface design based on an ethnographic study of botanists, field tests of working prototypes by botanists at the Smithsonian Institution on Plummers Island, Maryland, and observations at an internal exhibition at the Smithsonian at which other staff members tried the prototypes. We present functionality specific to mobile identification and collection in the electronic field guide and use this to motivate discussion of mobile identification in general.

Tangible augmented reality (AR) systems imbue physical objects with the ability to act and respond in new ways. In particular, physical objects and gestures made with them gain meaning that does not exist outside the tangible AR environment. The existence of this new set of possible actions and outcomes is not always apparent, making it necessary to learn new movements or gestures. Addressing this opportunity, we present visual hints, which are graphical representations in AR of potential actions and their consequences in the augmented physical world.Visualhintsenable discovery, learning, and completion of gestures and manipulation in tangible AR. Here, we discuss our investigation of a variety of representations of visual hints and methods for activating them. We then describe a specific implementation that supports gestures developed for a tangible AR user interface to an electronic field guide for botanists, and present results from a pilot study.

Stereo and bi-ocular head-mounted displays (HMDs) require the user to fuse two images into a coherent picture of the threedimensional world. The human visual system performs this task constantly, but when the input images contain both real and graphical depictions, the problem becomes more difficult. A vertical disparity in the graphics causes diplopia for users trying to fuse the real and virtual objects simultaneously. We implement three methods to measure and correct this disparity and assess them with a collection of a single model of optical see-through HMD.

We developed four widely different interfaces for users of Somewire, a prototype audio-only media space. We informally studied users experiences with the two screen- based interfaces. We prototyped a non-screen-based interface as an example of a novel tangible interface for a communication system. We explored the conflict between privacy and simplicity of representation, and identified two unresolved topics: the role of audio quality and the prospects for scsiling audio spaces beyond a single Workgroup. Finally, we formulated a set of design guidelines for control and representation in audio spaces, as follows: GUIs are not well-suited to audio spaces, users do not require control over localization or other audio attributes, and awareness of other users presence is desirable.

This paper presents major findings Corn a large research project designed to carefully characterize what “life in LambdaMOO” (a classic social MUD) is lie for many of its members. A “convergent methodologies” approach embracing qualitative and quantitative, subjective and objective procedures was used. A rich, extensive database was produced, Corn which robust patterns could emerge, be considered in context and assessed with some confidence. Results are discussed in terms of four broad categories of interest: 1) users and use, 2) identity 3) sociality and 4) spatiality. These data should help inform the discourse on, and design of, online communities in the future.