New Passive and Active Tags for the Microsoft Surface

AbstractTechnologies for identifying physical objects in fashions recognizable by computers play a pivotal role in today's society. Tags used for identification are available in many different types, with new technologies continuing to offer new prospects for more digital tags. The Microsoft Surface is a platform with strong support for identification and tracking of tagged objects. Using an infrared camera, it is able to sense most objects placed on its surface, both tagged and untagged. Specialized tags made for the Surface are able to hold up to 128 bits of data. Tags can be used to recognize objects, specify data, initiate a command, or even start an application. The objective of this research project is to find new ways to pass information using this specific tag technology, both actively and passively. We have investigated three new tagging strategies this summer: laser-etching tags into structural materials like wood; printing tags with invisible ink; and creating active tags using special arrays of infrared LEDs.

Motivation/Microsoft Surface

•The Microsoft Surface is a compelling new platform for single and multi-user human-computer interaction. •The large multi-touch surface, with its ability to sense both humans and physical objects, allows information to be manipulated in many different ways.

Acknowledgements•I would like to thank the OSI REU for giving me the opportunity to participate in research this summer. •I would also like to thank all members of the Tangible Visualization group at CCT.

Passive Tags•Passive tags are tags that do not require a power source.1

•The Microsoft Surface is designed to detect specific tags printed on light, infrared reflecting paper with dark, infrared absorbing patterns. We have experimented with printing tags on less conventional materials.•Our first iteration was done in wood. By laser etching the “dots” out of the wood, the surface was able to recognize the tag (Figure 1).•Acrylic was another material used to create byte tags. The dots were laser etched in the same way as the wood, producing the same results.

Active Tags•Active tags are tags that require a battery or local power source.1

•Active tags have the ability to be controlled digitally, allowing (e.g.) data from sensors to be communicated. •We are interested in creating active tags using infrared LEDs. Using infrared LEDs will give developers and engineers the ability to change tags by turning individual LEDs either on or off.•The LEDs will be controlled by a Blade (Figure 3). 4

Future Work•We continue to experiment with new materials and ways to create Microsoft Surface tags.•We work to create Microsoft Surface tags using infrared and ultraviolet ink. These tags will be invisible to the human eye, but recognizable by the Surface. This will allow the tagged object to retain its information-bearing (e.g., text and images) features, while also being Surface readable.• The infrared LED tags are still a work in progress, but the groundwork has been laid for an exciting new way to pass information to the Microsoft Surface.

References1. Want, R., Russell, D. Ubiquitous Electronic Tagging, IEEE Concurrency, 1999.2. http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/10/hands-on-dd-on-the-microsoft-surface/3. Ullmer, B., Dever, R., et al. Cartouche: Conventions for Tangibles Bridging Diverse Interactive

Systems. In Proc. of Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI), January 2010.4. Sankaran, R., Ullmer, B., et al. Decoupling Interaction Hardware Design Using Libraries of

Reusable Electronics. In Proc. of Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI), February 2009, pp. 331-337.

(above) Photos of the Microsoft Surface

Christian Washington, Brygg Ullmer, Michael DeLatin, Chris Branton, Cornelius Toole, Jr.Louisiana State University

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Computer Science, andCenter for Computation and Technology

A Surface byte tag, which can hold up to 8 bits of data, and a Surface identity tag, which can hold up to 128 bits of data (above left). A Dungeons & Dragons game piece tagged with a byte tag (above right), used on a Surface based game (below).2

1 . (above) Wooden “cartouche” (tagged information container) including laser-etched wooden Surface tag 3

3. First iteration of the infrared LED tag. Three wooden “dots” are left exposed, while the other four are replaced with infrared LEDs. Powered by a 5 volt battery, the LEDs give off a purple glow when viewed through a visible-light camera (above left). When viewed through a near-infrared camera, only the LEDs are visible. Photos of various blades, which can be used to power the infrared tag, also allowing for control over individual LEDs (above right).

2. (above) A surface byte tag is programmed to launch a video about sea turtles. Using the Surface’s multi-touch

capabilities, the user is able to resize and move the video