Abstract
The use of physical paper is often preferred due to its unique physical properties that improve
various aspects of reading. However, digital media and information are more engaging,
diverse, and up to date, thereby challenging the existence of paper in our everyday life. By
combining the two types of media in a seamless way, the interactivity of multimedia content
can complement the reading experience, maintaining the unique feel of paper books. The
current state of the art addressing this application negatively impacts the reading experience
and often does not consider the manufacturability and sustainability of the proposed solutions.
In this work we are introducing the Magic Bookmark, a technical solution for automatically
recognizing the open page of a physical book, to provide seamless augmentation without
changing the user’s behavior and experience significantly. Our implementation consists of
three alternative solutions, with various degrees of ease of use, manufacturability at scale and
reliability of data reading. The optimal realization is found to be a reflective optical readout
array, for which we propose routes to implementation that may allow blending the graphical
and functional aspects of the augmented book.