Ambiguous Intentions: a Paper-like Interface for Creative Design

Summary:

Gross and Do describe the Electronic Cocktail Napkin program that allows users to draw ambiguously as if they were sketching a design on a piece of scrap paper. The Napkin then takes the sketch, examines objects within the ambiguous drawing, interprets the drawing's context, and recognizes the objects.

Domain recognizers are user defined, where the user draws examples and the Napkin identifies the symbols and patterns. Symbols can span across multiple domains, such as a circle acting as a table in a floor plan domain, and the same circle representing a node in a graph domain.

As a user draws in a new, blank Napkin, the system discerns whether each stroke or symbol can be recognized, is ambiguous, or has failed to be recognized. If a symbol is recognized then it can only be recognized in the known domain, or only one domain. If a symbol is ambiguous then it can be recognized in multiple domains. Otherwise, the system cannot recognize the symbol at the time and stores that information for later. A user can also manually specify a symbol, if need be.

Symbols are related to each other via constraints specific to a domain. For instance, graphs and circuits have connected constraints, and floor plans can have perpendicular constraints for walls. Low-level recognition is accomplished with 3x3 normalized "glyphs" with features. Glyphs can also be grouped into configurations, which are ranked hierarchically above individual glyphs.

Discussion:

Overall, I think the Electronic Cocktail Napkin was a good idea that was too ahead of its time and too tied down to one system. The authors even mentioned that the system suffered from not having access to the best type of technology for the system, which they mentioned as LCD digitizing displays the user could draw on. The equipment that the Napkin was using involved a separate digitizing pad and display, which breaks the entire mapping from napkin to sketch pad.