A new method,called TIP (Tour Into the Picture) is presented for easily making,animations from one 2D picture or photograph of a scene. In TIP, animation is created from the viewpoint of a camera,which ,can be three-dimensionally "walked or flown- through" the 2D picture or photograph. To make such animation, conventional computer,vision techniques cannot be applied in the 3D modeling process for the scene, using only a single 2D image. Instead a spidery ,mesh ,is employed ,in our ,method ,to obtain ,a simple scene model ,from ,the 2D image ,of the ,scene using a graphical user interface. Animation ,is thus ,easily generated without the need of multiple 2D images. Unlike existing methods, our method is not intended to construct a precise ,3D scene model. The scene model ,is rather simple, and not fully 3D-structured. The modeling process starts byspecifying,the vanishing ,point in the ,2D image. ,The background,in the ,scene model ,then consists of at ,most ,five rectangles, whereas hierarchical polygons are used as a model for each foreground ,object. Furthermore a virtual camera ,is moved around the 3D scene model, with the viewing angle being freely controlled. This process is easily and effectively performed,using the spidery mesh ,interface. We have ,obtained a wide ,variety of animated scenes which demonstrate the efficiency of TIP. CRCategories and ,Subject Descriptors: I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/Image Generation - viewing algorithms; I.3.7 [Computer Graphics] Three-dimensional Graphics and Realism, Animation Additional Keywords: graphical user interface, image-based

We have developed an interface for browsing content that uses the metaphor of turning the pages of a book. Using our "Bookisheet" interface, which consists of two thin plastic sheets and bend sensors, a user can easily scroll digital content such as photos by bending one side of the sheet or the other. This action provides the tangible and pleasant sense of turning pages in a book. Bookisheet can be used not only as an interface for conventional information terminals but also as one for flexible displays.

We have developed a wearable sensor node with a low power and high detection rate by using sequential control of multiple infrared (IR) modules. Conventional sensor nodes are not practical in terms of size, sensing performance, and working hours. Therefore, we devised a name-tag-size (73 × 98 × 9 mm) sensor node, which captures face-to-face interactions within 2 meters and within an angle of 60°. The sensor node weighs 62 grams and works for more than twenty hours with a small 5-gram Li-ion battery. The sensor uses the beam-scan technique, in which four infrared modules, placed horizontally on the node, are controlled to be on and off sequentially, and this operation is done synchronously with other nodes. The beam-scan technique enables low-power operation with a consumption current of 7.2 mA and 21 hours of operation. We had tested the sensor node in a field trial that collected sensor data for six months from 20 people and had demonstrated that this technique is practical. Feedback from sensing data reminded us of the importance of meeting frequency and this improved our work habits.

We have constructed a new application of continuous sensing of human physiological data during daily a business setting. By capturing the subtle changes and differences in motion rhythm detected through an accelerator rather than trying to identify the context of human activities, we are envisioning the prediction of a person's psychological flow state, i.e., the engagement in one's task. A badge-shaped wearable sensor device called ¿Business Microscope¿ was developed and deployed in a real organization, an office supply firm, for one month to study how effectively flow states could be measured during daily work. We found that even though each subject behaved at different motion rhythms when they were in flow, the consistency of motion rhythm around 2 to 3 Hz was correlated with the richness of flow during work (r=0.47, p<0.01).