Leveraging Head Movement for Navigating Off-Screen Content on Large Curved Displays

Paper Title

Leveraging Head Movement for Navigating Off-Screen Content on Large Curved Displays

Publication Info

• Topic area: Head-movement-based navigation for large curved displays
• Keywords: Head movement, curved displays, workspace navigation, polynomial mapping, rate control, zone control, VR sickness, user study, 360° content, navigation techniques

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Large curved displays are ideal for immersive 360° content but restrict users to a 180° viewport, leaving much content off-screen. Conventional navigation techniques (e.g., mouse panning, joystick steering) are physically demanding and disrupt user flow. Prior work on head movements for navigation has not been applied to wall-sized curved displays.
• Significance: Efficient navigation of off-screen content is critical for applications like immersive analytics, training simulations, and collaborative decision-making. Addressing this challenge can reduce fatigue, improve user experience, and enhance productivity.
• Motivation and related work: Previous research has explored rate control and zone control mappings for navigation on various devices, as well as head-based navigation in VR and CAVE environments. However, the effectiveness of these techniques for head-based navigation on large curved displays remains unexplored.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A head-movement-based navigation system using rate control and zone control mappings to access off-screen content on large curved displays.
• Novelty:
  1. Introduction of polynomial rate control as the most effective mapping for head-based navigation.
  2. Systematic comparison of seven mapping functions (three rate control, four zone control) for head-to-workspace navigation.
  3. Validation of the head-based polynomial technique against industry-standard methods (Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release) in a realistic map navigation task.
  4. Design guidelines for implementing head-based navigation on large curved displays.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Study 1: Evaluation of three rate control (linear, sigmoid, polynomial) and four zone control (continuous, friction, additive, interrupted) mappings for head-based navigation.
  • Study 2: Comparison of the best-performing head-based mapping (polynomial) with Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release in a map navigation task.
  • Metrics: Trial time, head rotation, workload (NASA TLX), VR sickness (VRSQ), and user preferences.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Polynomial rate control was the fastest (mean trial time: 3.70s) and most preferred mapping in Study 1, with the lowest workload and VR sickness scores.
  • In Study 2, the Head-Polynomial technique outperformed Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release in trial time (19.57s vs. 27.07s and 20.87s, respectively) and perceived workload.
  • Head-Polynomial required less motion time (5.31s) and was ranked as the most preferred technique by 12/18 participants.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Head-Polynomial was faster, less physically demanding, and more preferred than Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release.
  • Drag–&–Flick was the least efficient, inducing the highest workload and VR sickness.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Study 1: 28 participants evaluated seven mapping functions across three display window sizes (400cm, 600cm, 800cm) and three target distances (500cm, 750cm, 1000cm).
  • Study 2: 18 participants compared Head-Polynomial with Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release in a map navigation task involving two country clusters with varying angular separations.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Results are specific to a 180° curved display with a 3.27m radius; other configurations may require recalibration.
  • Limited gender diversity in participants (Study 1: 20 males, 8 females; Study 2: 14 males, 4 females).
  • Short washout periods may have influenced VR sickness scores.
  • Future work: Extend to 2D/3D navigation, explore multi-user scenarios, investigate adaptive mapping functions, and compare with gaze or speech input.

Summary

This paper introduces a head-movement-based navigation system for accessing off-screen content on large curved displays, identifying polynomial rate control as the most effective mapping. Two user studies demonstrate that the head-based polynomial technique outperforms traditional methods (Drag–&–Flick and Push–&–Release) in speed, efficiency, and user preference, while maintaining high accuracy. These findings provide actionable design guidelines for implementing head-based navigation in immersive environments, with potential applications in analytics, training, and collaborative decision-making.