Recent advances have made it possible for computers to locate and track
physical objects via small sensors. At the same time, display technology has
developed to the point where the standard desktop display is no longer the
only computer display. Computer displays may range from small, hand-held
displays to large wall-sized displays. The combination of these technologies
gives rise to the possibility of going beyond the traditional mouse/keyboard/desktop
interaction paradigm. A variety of different interactions become possible.
A physical object can be associated with a virtual object. The physical
object can be tagged and traced by the computer system. For example, users'
environments can be associated with their PDAs or identification badges. The
environment can then be transported to a conference room with a large screen
display. The user's presence (actually the PDA or badge) would then trigger
the creation of a working area for the user in that conference room. The
system could exploit other information as well. Users could associate a group
of documents with a meeting via their personal schedule. When they arrive at
the conference room, and it is time for the meeting the documents could be
opened and displayed.
