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Virtual keyboards
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08/11/2002
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Problem: According to Forrester Research, by 2004 mobile phone SMS messages will peak at around 11.5billion per month. Not a problem in itself unless you can't stand the little jingles that announce their arrival. The main problem lies in the means of text entry.
Mobile phones have become their own worst enemies, shrinking in size so much that data entry becomes a chore. And there have even been cases of people getting RSI in their thumbs through repeated use of SMS messages and phone-based games.
Plug in keyboards do exist which triple the size of the phone and users could switch to chunkier PDAs, but the keyword here is chunkier – people like small phones even though their size handicaps ease of use.
Solution: VKB, a US company, has created one answer to the problem with its virtual keyboard. Not much bigger than a normal mobile phone, it comprises a laser diode, a chip set (which will be easy to integrate into the host hardware) and an infra red system.
Connected to the host phone, PC or PDA via a wire or radio link, the device uses a laser diode to project an image of a full-sized keyboard onto any flat surface, the infra red system then senses the letters or numbers typed by the user and sends them back to the host hardware at a rate up to 120 keystrokes per minute, even in very bright surroundings. It even clicks as you type.
Applications: To be distributed in Europe by Siemens, the virtual keyboard has many applications apart from the obvious phone, PDA and PC usage.
VKB suggests that the keyboard could be useful for sterile conditions such as surgeries and laboratories. In the manufacturing industry there are many components such as drives and PLCs which only claim the benefit of a full keyboard when connected to a PC – in industrial and in-field applications the keyboard could be projected onto the back of a clip board or even part of the control cabinet. Presumably it isn't restricted to keyboards either – any type of push-button control panel could b projected.
One only has to think of where a keyboard creates a size and bulk handicap and the applications become more apparent.MF
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Author
Tom Shelley
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