Integrating the Google Cast Technology in a Second-screen Solution

• Main Author: Lavrell, Niklas
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Interaktiva och kognitiva system 2014
• Subjects: Chromecast; companion device; second screen; Human Computer Interaction; Människa-datorinteraktion (interaktionsdesign)
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-107933

The newly released Google Chromecast has generated an increasing amount of interest for so called second-screen experiences in the market. Although the technology behind such experiences has existed for a couple of years, end users are now truly starting to grasp the concept and benefits of multi-screen. The company, at which the thesis was performed at, provides a cloud-based messaging solution for Internet connected devices, which enables multi-screen use cases. To increase the amount of supported platforms in the solution, new technologies frequently needs to be integrated. In this thesis I have performed an exploratory research & development project with the aim to integrate the Google Cast technology in this multi-screen solution. The fundamental difference in how the two ecosystems were designed resulted in a companion device framework that acted as a wrapper over the technologies. The framework was implemented on the Android platform together with a set of demo applications. The proposed solution should be seen as a starting point for integrating different multi-screen technologies within a single companion device framework. While combining these technologies, a fundamental difference in the user experience between them became apparent. The Google Cast ecosystem relies on the companion device as the interaction point for the end user, whereas television (TV) applications usually have the main interaction point on the actual TV itself via a dedicated remote control. Having this kind of inconsistency within the same set of applications increases the risk of confusion among end users. Therefore I suggest that development of such multi-screen experiences, that combines these technologies, should strive for a high consistency throughout the whole user experience, independent of platforms and technology.