HYDRO: Optimizing Interactive Hybrid Images for Digital Signage Content

In modern society, digital signage installed in many large-scale facilities supports our daily life. However, with a limited screen size, it is difficult to provide different types of information for many viewers at varying distances from the screen simultaneously. Therefore, in this study, we extend existing research on the use of hybrid images for tiled displays. To facilitate smoother information selection, a new interactive display method is proposed that incorporates a touchactivated widget as a high-frequency part of the hybrid image; these widgets are novel in that they are more visible to the viewers near to the display. We develop an authoring tool that we call the Hybrid Image Display Resolutions Optimizer (HYDRO); it features two kinds of control functions by which to optimize the visibility of the touch-activated widgets in terms of placement and resolution. The effectiveness of the present method is shown empirically via a quantitative user study and an eye-tracking-based qualitative evaluation.