Virtual Keyboard

1. INTRODUCTION

Virtual Keyboard is just another example of todays computer trend of smaller and
faster. Computing is now not limited to desktops and laptops, it has found its way into mobile
devices like palm tops and even cell phones. But what has not changed for the last 50 or so odd
years is the input device, the good old QWERTY keyboard and the virtual keyboard technology
is latest development.
The new virtual keyboard technology uses sensor technology and artificial intelligence to
let users work on any surface as if it were a keyboard. Virtual Keyboards lets you easily create
multilingual text content on almost any existing platform and output it directly to PDAs or even
web pages. Virtual Keyboard, being a small, handy, welled signed and easy to use application,
turns into a perfect solution for cross platform multilingual text input.
The main features are: platform-independent multilingual support for keyboard text input,
built-in language layouts and settings, copy/paste etc. operations support just as in a regular text
editor, already existing system language settings remain intact, easy and user friendly interface
and design, and small file size.

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2. QWERTY KEYBOARDS

Inside the keyboard

The processor in a keyboard has to understand several things that are important to the utility
of the keyboard, such as:
Position of the key in the key matrix.
The amount of bounce and how to filter it.
The speed at which to transmit the type mastics.

The microprocessor and controller circuitry of a keyboard

.
The key matrix is the grid of circuits underneath the keys. In all keyboards except for
capacitive ones, each circuit is broken at the point below a specific key. Pressing the key, bridges
the gap in the circuit, allowing a tiny amount of current to flow through. The processor monitors
the key matrix for signs of continuity at any point on the grid. When it finds a circuit that is
closed, it compares the location of that circuit on the key matrix to the character map in its ROM.
The character map is basically a comparison chart for the processor that tells it what the key at x,
y coordinates in the key matrix represents. If more than one key is pressed at the same time, the
Processor checks to see if that combination of keys has a designation in the character map. For
example, pressing the a key by itself would result in a small letter "a" being sent to the
computer. If you press and hold down the Shift key while pressing the a key, the processor
Compares that combination with the character map and produces a capital letter "A."

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A look at the key matrix.

Keyboards rely on switches that cause a change in the current flowing through the circuits
in the keyboard. When the key presses the keys witch against the circuit, there is usually a small
amount of vibration between the surfaces, known as bounce. The processor in a keyboard
recognizes that you pressing the key repeatedly do not cause his very rapid switching on and off.
Therefore, it filters all of the tiny fluctuations out of the signal and treats it as a single key press.
If you continue to hold down a key, the processor determines that you wish to send that character
repeatedly to the computer. This is known as type mastics. In this process, the delay between
each instance of a character can normally be set in software, typically ranging from 30 characters
per second (cps) to as few as two cps.

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3. DIFFERENT TYPES

Keyboards have changed very little in layout since their introduction. In fact, the most
common change has simply been the natural evolution of adding more keys that provide
additional Functionality. The most common keyboards are:
101-key Enhanced keyboard
104-key Windows keyboard
82-key Apple standard keyboard
108-key Apple Extended keyboard
Portable computers such as laptops quite often have custom keyboards that have slightly
different key arrangements than a standard keyboard. Also, many system manufacturers add
specialty buttons to the standard layout. A typical keyboard has four basic types of keys:
Typing keys
Numeric keypad
Function keys
Control keys
The typing keys are the section of the keyboard that contains the letter keys, generally laid
out in the same style that was common for typewriters. The numeric keypad is a part of the
natural evolution mentioned previously. Since a large part of the data was numbers, a set of 17
keys was added to the keyboard. These keys are laid out in the same configuration used by most
adding machines and calculators, to facilitate the transition to computer for clerks accustomed to
these other machines. In 1986, IBM extended the basic keyboard with the addition of function
and control keys. The function keys, arranged in a line across the top of the keyboard, could be
assigned specific commands by the current application or the operating system. Control keys
provided cursor and screen control. Four keys arranged in an inverted T formation between the
typing keys and numeric key pad allows the user to move the cursor on the display in small
increments.

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4. Keyboard Technologies

Keyboards use a variety of switch technologies. It is interesting to note that we generally

like to have some audible and tactile response to our typing on a keyboard. We want to hear the
keys "Click" as we type and we want the keys to feel firm and spring back quickly as we press
them. Let's take a look at these different technologies:
Rubber dome mechanical
Capacitive non-mechanical
Metal contact mechanical
Membrane mechanical
Foam element mechanical
-8-
From the Keyboard to the Computer
As you type, the processor in the keyboard is analyzing the key matrix and determining
what characters to send to the computer. It maintains these characters in a buffer of memory that
is usually about 16 bytes large. It then sends the data in a stream to the computer via
Some type of connection.
The most common keyboard connectors are:
5-pin DIN (Dutch Industries Norm) connector
6-pin IBM PS/2 mini-DIN connector
4-pin USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector
Internal connector (for laptops)
Normal DIN connectors are rarely used anymore. Most computers use the mini-DIN PS/2
connector; but an increasing number of new systems are dropping the PS/2 connectors in favor
of USB. No matter which type of connector is used, two principal elements are sent through the
connecting cable. The first is power for the keyboard Keyboards require a small amount of
power, typically about 5 volts, in order to function.

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5. Difficulties and alternatives

It is now recognized that it is important to be correctly seated while using a computer. A

comfortable working position will help with concentration, quality of work, and reduce the risk
of long-term problems. This is important for all who use computers, and especially so for those
with disabilities.
The increased repetitive motions and awkward postures attributed to the use of computer
keyboards have resulted in a rise in cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) that are generally
considered to be the most costly and severe disorders occurring in the office. Lawsuits for arm,
wrist, and hand injuries have been filed against keyboard manufacturers allege that keyboarding
equipment is defectively designed and manufacturers fail to provide adequate warnings about
proper use to avoid injury.
As early as1926, Knocked berg described how the keyboard layout required the typist to
assume body postures that were unnatural uncomfortable and fatiguing. For example, standard
keyboard design forces operators to place their hands in a flat, palm down position called
forearm probation. The compact, linear key arrangement also causes some typists to place their
wrist in a position that is skewed towards the little fingers, called lunar deviation. These
awkward postures result in static muscle loading, increased muscular energy expenditure,
reduced muscular waste removal, and eventual discomfort or injury. Researchers also noted that
typing on the QWERTY keyboard is poorly distributed between the hands and fingers, causing
the weaker ring and little fingers to be overworked.

6. Alternatives

When a standard keyboard does not meet the needs of the user, several alternatives can be
found. Keyboards come in a variety of sizes with different layouts. The four alternatives
described below are considered "plug and play" keyboards, as they require no special interface.
Just plug them into the existing keyboard port and use them.

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6.1 Ergonomic Keyboards:

These keyboards are designed to ensure safe and comfortable computer use by providing
additional supports to prevent repetitive muscular injuries. Many offer flexible positioning
options (Comfort Keyboard), while others use "wells" for support (ergonomic), or chords instead
f keys (BAT Keyboard), or require minimal finger/hand movements (Data Hand).

6.2 Compact or Reduced Keyboards:

These keyboards are designed with keys in closely arranged order. These compact or
reduced keyboards offer options for students with a limited range of motion in their hands or
arms and can be accessed with head or mouth pointers. Examples of these are TASH mini
keyboards (Wining, Machines), or the Magic Wand Keyboard; both provide for keyboard and
mouse control.
6.3 Enlarged Keyboards:

These keyboards are a larger version of the standard keyboard, in whole or in part. Larger
keys may provide an easier target, as fewer key choices with clear key labels can provide a
successful input method for many. The In tell Keys keyboard is one example; it comes with 6
keyboard overlays and varying key layout designs and can be further customized with the use of
Overlay Maker software.

6.4 Portable Keyboards:

The last type of keyboard is one which addresses the portability needs of individuals with
disabilities. A portable keyboard is one which can be used as a not-taker when battery-powered
and then connected to a computer to download the information. The
Alpha Smart is an example of a portable keyboard.

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7. VIRTUAL KEYBOARD TECHNOLOGY

Virtual Keyboard is just another example of todays computer trend of "smaller and faster.
Computing is now not limited to desktops and laptops, it has found its way into mobile devices
like palm tops and even cell phones. But what has not changed for the last50 or so odd years is
the input device, the good old QWERTY keyboard. Alternatives came in the form of hand
writing recognition, speech recognition, a b c d input (for SMS in cell phones) etc. But they all
lack the accuracy and convenience of a full-blown keyboard. Speech input has an added issue of
privacy. Even folded keyboards fords are yet to catch on. Thus a new generation of virtual input
devices is now being paraded, which could drastically change the way we type.
Virtual Keyboard uses sensor technology and artificial intelligence to let users work on any
surface as if it were keyboard. Devices have developed a flashlight-size gadget that projects an
image of a keyboard on any surface and lets people input data by typing on the image. This
system comprises of three modules,
1. The sensor module
2. RL light source and
3. The pattern projector.
The device detects movement when fingers are pressed down. Those movements are
measured and the device accurately determines the intended keystrokes and translates them into
text. There is a set of clips that fit into your hand and try to sense the motion of the fingers and
the hands (wrist) and translate them into keystrokes. The translation process also uses artificial
intelligence. Once the keystroke has been decoded, it is sent to the portable device either by
cable or via wireless.

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The Virtual Keyboard uses light to project a full-sized computer keyboard onto almost any
Surface, and disappears when not in use. Used with Smart Phones and PDAs, the Key provides a
practical way to do email, word processing and spreadsheet tasks, allowing the user to leave the
laptop computer at home. Key technology has many applications in various high-tech and
industrial Sectors. These include data entry and control panel applications in hazardous and harsh
environments and medical markets.
Projection key boards or virtual key boards claim to provide the convenience of
compactness with the advantages of a full-blown QWERTY keyboard. An interesting use of such
keyboards would be in sterile environments where silence or low noise is essential like operation
theaters. The advantage of such a system is that you do not need a surface for typing; you can
even type in plain air. The company's Virtual Keyboard is designed for anyone who's become
frustrated with trying to put information into a handheld but doesn't want to carry a notebook
computer around. There is also the provision for a pause function to avoid translating extraneous
hand movements function, so that users can stop to eat, drink etc
It is also a superior desktop computer keyboard featuring dramatically easier to learn touch-
typing and leaving one hand free for mouse or phone. Combination key presses ("chords") of
five main and two extra control keys allow users to type at 25-60 words per minute, with
possibly greater speeds achieved through the use of abbreviation expansion software. Most users,
however, will find memorizing the chords easy and fun, with the included typing tutorial. The
scanner can keep up with the fastest typist, scanning the projected area over 50 times a second.
The keyboard doesn't demand a lot of force, easing strain on wrists and digits. Virtual keyboards
solve the problem of sore thumbs that can be caused by typing on the tiny keyboards of various

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Gadgets like PDAs and cell phones. They are meant to meet the needs of mobile computer users
struggling with cumbersome, tiny, or nonexistent keyboards. It might help to prevent RSI
injuries.

8. VIRTUAL DEVICES

Just like every conventional loudspeaker can also be used as microphone, for some input
devices there is a complimentary form where they can also be displays. However, just as few
loudspeakers are used as microphones (so few, in fact, that most people forget if they even
knew - that this was possible), very few input devices incorporate this duality into their design.
Force feedback devices are one exception. With them, the "display" is felt rather than seen.
Touch screens and other direct input devices appear to have this property, but in fact, this is
appearance only, since their input/output duality is accomplished by designing two separate
technologies into one integrated package. The acoustic analogy would be integrating a
microphone and speaker into one package, a bit like a telephone handset, rather than using the
same transducer for both the microphone and speaker functions. It is interesting to note that this
is not the case with force feedback devices since with them, the same motors that generate the
force output also serve as the encoders that capture the actions of the user.
Recently a new class of device has started to emerge which is conceptually rooted in
exploiting this input/output duality. They can be called Projection/Vision systems, and/or
Projection/Scanning or Projection/Camera technologies. In the "pure" case, these are devices that
use a laser, for example, to project an image of the input controller - such as a slider or keypad -
onto a surface.
In doing so, they are performing a function analogous to an LCD displaying the image of a
device e under a touch screen. However, in this case, the laser is also used to scan the same
surface that it projecting onto, thereby enabling the device to "see" how your fingers, for
example, are interacting with the projected virtual device. In a slightly less pure "hybrid" form,
the projection and scanning functions can be performed by two separate, but integrated

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technologies. For example, instead of a laser projector, a conventional video or data projector
could be used, and an integrated video camera (supported by vision software) used for input.
Both the "pure" and "hybrid" classes of device have been used and have strengths and
weaknesses. Since laser projection is far less advanced than conventional data projection, the
hybrid solution sometimes has advantages on the display side. However, 2D and 3D scanning
using lasers is far more developed than 2D and 3D vision using video based vision techniques.
This is partially due to the degree to which the laser technology can extract 3D information.
Going forward, one can expect laser projection technology to advance extremely quickly,
especially in its ability to deliver extremely small, low power, bright, relatively high resolution
projection capability. This will likely have a strong impact on how we interact with small
portable devices, such as PDAs, mobile phones and even wristwatches. Not only does this
technology provide a means to couple large (virtual) I/O transducers with small devices, it
provides the potential for sharing and interacting with others, despite using devices as small as a
wrist watch.
On the other hand, these technologies have strong potential on the other side of the scale, in
large-scale interaction, where what is scanned are bodies in a room, rather than fingers on a
surface, and the projection surface may be the floor or ceiling of a room, rather than a
Desktop.
Besides the obvious, there are a couple of interesting challenges with this type of system.
First, it is generally not sufficient to simply know where the fingers are over the display. One has
to be able to distinguish the difference between pointing and hovering, versus activating. This
must be reliable, and responsive. The system and the user must agree as to if and when activation
takes place. Also, since the device is virtual, a means (acoustic of visual) is likely needed to
provide some form of feedback at the device level. Since, especially in the mobile case, the
projection surface, and hence the input control surface, is arbitrary, so there would be no
opportunity for any tactile feedback, vertical or lateral. Of course, if the projector was fixed, then
there are a range of techniques that could be used to provide tactile feedback.

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9. DIFFERENT VIRTUAL KEYBOARDS

Developer VKB

Its full-size keyboard also can be projected onto any surface and uses laser technology to
translate finger movements into letters. Working with Siemens Procurement Logistics Services
Rechargeable batteries similar to those in cell phones power the compact unit .The keyboard is
full size and the letters are in a standard format. As a Class 1 laser, the output power is below the
level at which eye injury can occur.

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9.1 Canasta

The Canasta Keyboard, which is a laser projected keyboard with which the same laser is
also used to scan the projection field and extract 3D data. Hence, the user sees the projected
keyboard, and the device "sees" the position of the fingers over the projected keys. They also
have a chip set, Electronic Perception Technology, which they supply for 3rd parties to develop
products using the projection/scanning technology. Canasta appears to be the most advanced in
this class of technology and the only one who is shipping product. They have a number of
patents pending on their technology.

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9.2 KITTY

KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data entry into PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable
Computers which has been developed here at the University of California in Irvine. KITTY, an
acronym for Keyboard-Independent Touch- Typing, is a Finger mounted keyboard that uses
touch typing as a method of data entry. The device targets the portable computing market and in
particular its wearable computing systems which are in need of a silent invisible data entry
system based on touch typing .the new device combines the idea of a finger mounted coding
device with the advantages of a system that uses touch typing.

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9.3 InFocus

InFocus is one of the leading companies in providing video and data projectors. Their
projectors are conventional, in that they do not use laser technology. This has that advantage of
delivering high quality color images with a mature technology. However, it has the disadvantage
of larger size, lower contrast, and higher power requirements, compared to laser projection
systems. In 2000, InFocus merged with Proximal, which had been one of its competitors. I
include InFocus/Proximal in this survey not only because they make projectors. In their early
days, Proximal developed one of the first commercially available projection/vision systems. It
was called Cyclops, and they still hold a patent on the technology. Cyclops augmented the
projector by adding a video camera that was registered to view the projection area. The video
camera had a band pass filter over the lens, which passed only the wavelength of a laser pointer.
The system, therefore, enabled the user to interact with the projected image, using a provided
laser pointer as the input device. The camera detected the presence of the laser pointer on the
surface, and calculated its coordinates relative to the currently projected image. Furthermore, the
laser pointer had two intensity levels which enabled the user to not only point, but to have the
equivalent of a button, by the vision system interpreting the two levels as distinguishing button
up and down events.

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10. ADVANTAGES

1. It can be projected on any surface or you can type in the plain air.

2. It can be useful in places like operation theaters where low noise is essential.

3. The typing does not require a lot of force. So easing the strain on wrists and digits.

4. The Virtual Keyboard is not restricted to the QWERTY touch typing paradigm;
adjustments can be done to the software to fit other touch-typing paradigms as well.

5. No driver software necessary, It can be used as a plug and play device.

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11. DRAWBACKS

Virtual keyboard is hard to get used to. Since it involves

Typing in thin air, it requires a little practice. Only people
Who are good at typing can use a virtual keyboard efficiently.

It is very costly ranging from 150 to 200 dollars.

The room in which the projected keyboard is used should not

Be very bright so that the keyboard is properly visible.

12. APPLICATIONS

High-tech and industrial Sectors

Used with Smart phones, PDAs, email, word processing and
Spreadsheet tasks.
As computer/PDA input.
Gaming control.
TV remote control.

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13. CONCLUSION

Virtual Keyboard uses sensor technology and artificial intelligence to let users work on any
surface as if it were a keyboard. Projection key boards or virtual key boards claim to provide the
Convenience of compactness with the advantages of a full-blown QWERTY keyboard. The
company's Virtual Keyboard is designed for anyone who's become frustrated with trying to put
information into a handheld but doesn't want to carry a notebook computer around.
Canasta appears to be the most advanced in this class of technology and the only one who
is shipping product. Other products are KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data entry into
PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable Computers and KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data
entry into PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable and KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data
entry into PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable Computers.
Thus virtual keyboards will make typing easier, faster, and almost a pleasure.

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REFERENCES

1. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh

2. www.canesta.com

3. www.procams.org

4. www.billbuxton.com/3state.html

5. www.smarttech.com

6. www.3m.com/us/office/meeting/product_catalog/wd.jhtml

7. IEEE International Workshop on Projector-Camera Systems

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