Multi-Monitor Mouse

Multiple-monitor computer configurations significantly increase the distances that users must traverse with the mouse when interacting with existing applications, resulting in increased time and effort. We introduce the Multi-Monitor Mouse (M3) technique, which virtually simulates having one mouse pointer per monitor when using a single physical mouse device. M3 allows for conventional control of the mouse within each monitor’s screen, while permitting immediate warping across monitors when desired to increase mouse traversal speed. We report the results of a user study in which we compared three implementations of M3 and two cursor placement strategies. Our results suggest that using M3 significantly increases interaction speed in a multi-monitor environment. All eight study participants strongly preferred M3 to the regular mouse behavior.