An abstraction framework for tangible interactive surfaces This cumulative dissertation discusses by the example of four subsequent publications the various layers of a tangible interaction framework which has been developed in conjunction with an electronic musical instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface. Based on the experiences that have been collected during the design and implementation of that particular musical application this research mainly concentrates on the definition of a general purpose abstraction model for the encapsulation of physical interface components that are commonly employed in the context of an interactive surface environment. Along with a detailed description of the underlying abstraction model this dissertation also describes an actual implementation in the form of a detailed protocol syntax which constitutes the common element of a distributed architecture for the construction of surface based tangible user interfaces. The initial implementation of the presented abstraction model within an actual application toolkit is comprised of the TUIO protocol and the related computer vision based object and multi touch tracking software reacTIVision along with its principal application within the Reactable synthesizer. The dissertation concludes with an evaluation and extension of the initial TUIO model by presenting TUIO2 a next generation abstraction model designed for a more comprehensive range of tangible interaction platforms and related application scenarios.