Stylus Enhancement to Enrich Interaction with Computers

We introduce a technique to enrich user interaction with a computer through a stylus. This technique allows a stylus to be manipulated in the air to operate applications in new ways. To translate the stylus manipulation into application behavior, we take an approach that we attach an accelerometer to the stylus. Such a stylus allows control through new operations like rolling and shaking, as well as through conventional operations like tapping or making strokes. An application can use these operations to switch modes or change parameters. We have implemented a number of applications, called the “Oh! Stylus Series,” that can be used with our proposed technique.