Imperceptible AR Markers for Near-Screen Mobile Interaction

Owing to the pervasive use of displays and smartphones, mobile interactions with display screens have gained attention within the advertising and gaming industries as well as in human-computer interaction research. Communication through QR code-like markers and localization via AR markers are common examples of such interactions. However, these visible markers interfere with the display content; this problem is critical for localization over a wide range of interactions, and fewer markers result in less reliability and accuracy. Although some studies have addressed this issue, few have focused on near-screen interaction without additional hardware. To address this problem, we propose an easy-to-install localization method that uses an array of AR markers, which are made imperceptible to the human eye through chromaticity vibration at 30 Hz. We mainly focus on applications, such as digital signage, where users point their smartphones at the display content. Through four evaluations, we confirm that the pointing error is within 1 mm, and that the proposed system works, when the distance between the screen and smartphone is 4-24 times the size of the AR marker. In addition, we establish that our system is robust against rotation. Finally, we present two potential application scenarios, advertising and navigation.