My own private kiosk: privacy-preserving public displays

Abstract

Ubiquitous, high-resolution, large public displays offer an attractive complement to wearable displays. Unfortunately, the inherently public nature of these public displays makes them unsuitable for displaying sensitive information. We present EyeGuide, a wearable system that allows the user to obtain information quickly from a public display without sacrificing privacy. To this end, EyeGuide employs a lightweight head-worn eye-tracker for hands-free object selection and an earphone for private communication. Our system supports public displays that are dynamic (e.g., a large plasma screen) and static (e.g., a large printed map). In our printed map scenario, EyeGuide whispers verbal directions via earphone to a user, based on where they are looking on the map. Using a technique we call "gaze steering," the system guides the user's eye position to specific locations. In our dynamic public display scenarios, EyeGuide presents documents (e.g., maps) that contain sensitive data in a way that preserves privacy.