The satellite cursor: Achieving MAGIC pointing without gaze tracking using multiple cursors

We present the satellite cursor - a novel technique that uses multiple cursors to improve pointing performance by reducing input movement. The satellite cursor associates every target with a separate cursor in its vicinity for pointing, which realizes the MAGIC (manual and gaze input cascade) pointing method without gaze tracking. We discuss the problem of visual clutter caused by multiple cursors and propose several designs to mitigate it. Two controlled experiments were conducted to evaluate satellite cursor performance in a simple reciprocal pointing task and a complex task with multiple targets of varying layout densities. Results show the satellite cursor can save significant mouse movement and consequently pointing time, especially for sparse target layouts, and that satellite cursor performance can be accurately modeled by Fitts' Law.