Studying media usage in the living room by measuring infrared signals

Abstract

While HCI field studies are traditionally undertaken by using tools from social sciences, this paper describes a complementary method for studying media usage in the living room. It provides a first step for blurring the boundary between lab and field-test studies for media usage in living room. We constructed a device that measures and records the distinct infrared (IR) patterns of the remote controls used in the living room to interact with media devices. These recordings are later used to deduct usage patterns across media devices.