Applying the peephole metaphor in a mixed-reality room

It is possible to one day create non-multiplexed room-sized displays using, for example, e-ink to create wallpapers and floor tiling. The environment could thereby simultaneously display visual elements on all of its surfaces. Thoughtlessly used, however, such an environment could easily become confusing and annoying by visually polluting otherwise calm surroundings. To prevent this visual pollution, we propose restricting visual display to small peepholes into the omnipresent and spatially continuous virtual layer. We discuss this approach and how we implemented the peephole metaphor using current steerable projector technology to create a room-sized MR environment. The peephole metaphor offers an interaction model for ubiquitous computing, organizing an environment's input and output facilities, such as sensors and displays. Within this environment, we developed several simple applications to demonstrate the peephole metaphor's viability.