Windows on the world
Steven Feiner, Blair MacIntyre, Marcus Haupt, Eliot Solomon · 1993
We describe the design and implementation of a prototype heads-up window system intended for use in a 3D environment.Our system includes a see-through head-mounted display that runs a full X server whose image is overlaid on the user's view of the physical world.The user's head is tracked so that the display indexes into a large X bitmap, effectively placing the user inside a display space that is mapped onto part of a surrounding virtual sphere.By tracking the user's body, and interpreting head motion relative to it, we create a portable information surround that envelopes the user as they move about.We support three kinds of windows implemented on top of the X server: windows fixed to the head-mounted display, windows fixed to the information surround, and windows fixed to locations and objects in the 3D world.Objects can also be tracked, allowing windows to move with them.To demonstrate the utility of this model, we describe a small hypermedia system that allows links to be made between windows and windows to be attached to objects.Thus, our hypermedia system can forge links between any combination of physical objects and virtual windows.