Design and Usability Evaluation of a Multi-input Interface in an idTV Environment

Abstract

In recent years, and considering the rise of Interactive Digital Television (idTV), it has been great interest in the design of applications and services for this platform. However, the success of these applications largely depends on the ease of use and how users interact with them. For this reason, we have explored different interfaces and modes of interaction to improve the user experience with these applications in comparison with the traditional Remote-Control (RC). This article presents an interaction with idTV applications using multiple input control interfaces with different modes of interaction such as touch buttons, gesture recognition, voice recognition, and recognition of movements. These modes of interaction were validated through usability testing using a model of quasi-experimental evaluation of three dimensions, where each dimension represents respectively: users, tasks and control interfaces. As a result of the qualitative and quantitative assessments, we performed an analysis of possible improvements in the usability of a particular application of idTV. The results showed few differences between one multi-input control interface and one RC in tasks the user was familiar with, on the opposite, significant differences were found in performing tasks involving greater user interaction, such as the text input or navigation between menus.