Interactive bookshelf surface for in situ book searching and storing support

We propose an interactive bookshelf surface to augment a human ability for in situ book searching and storing. In book searching support, when a user touches the edge of the bookshelf, the cover image of a stored book located above the touched position is projected directly onto the book spine. As a result, the user can search for a desired book by sliding his (or her) finger across the shelf edge. In book storing support, when a user brings a book close to the bookshelf, the place where the book should be stored is visually highlighted by a projection light. This paper also presents sensing technologies to achieve the above mentioned interactive techniques. In addition, by considering the properties of the human visual system, we propose a simple visual effect to reduce the legibility degradation of the projected image contents by the complex textures and geometric irregularities of the spines. We confirmed the feasibility of the system and the effectiveness of the proposed interaction techniques through user studies.