Floating Peripheral Interface for Hygienic Contactless Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing interaction methods with computing device peripherals, such as touch-sensitive surfaces and keyboards, pose a risk of infectious disease transmission due to physical contact.
Innovation Solution
A contactless peripheral interface system that generates a floating image of input devices, allowing users to interact with selectable portions without physical contact, using sensors to detect user interactions and communicate inputs to computing devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If physical interaction methods (touch-sensitive surface, keyboard, mouse) are used, then input control effectiveness is improved, but infectious disease transmission risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical keyboard interface as a floating image displayed in air. Users interact with this virtual representation using hand gestures rather than physical contact with the actual keyboard, thereby maintaining input control effectiveness while eliminating the harmful effect of disease transmission through the copying principle
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical touch-based input system with an optical/recognition-based system. Instead of detecting physical finger presses on a keyboard surface, the system uses cameras or sensors to detect hand gestures and their corresponding positions, substituting mechanical interaction with optical field interaction to eliminate contact-based contamination
2Object-affected harmful factors
If contactless floating image interface is implemented, then infectious disease transmission risk is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal interface system that can display multiple different peripheral interface representations (keyboard, mouse, trackpad, numpad) as floating images using the same hardware platform. This multi-functionality approach, while increasing complexity, allows a single system to replace multiple physical devices and maintains the contactless benefit across all interface types
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the user and the computing device - the floating image display system. This intermediary uses cameras, processors, and display technology to translate physical hand gestures into digital input signals, mediating the interaction to eliminate direct contact while managing system complexity through specialized intermediate components
3Object-affected harmful factors
If floating image of peripheral interface is generated, then physical contact is eliminated, but user interaction accuracy may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the system detects the position, orientation, and gestures of the user's hand in real-time. The floating image responds visually to user interactions (such as highlighting selected keys or responding to gestures), providing immediate feedback that maintains interaction accuracy and precision despite the absence of physical contact
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional physical keyboard surface interaction to three-dimensional spatial interaction in the air. By adding the vertical dimension (depth/Z-axis) to the interaction space, the system can capture hand gestures and their three-dimensional trajectories, thereby maintaining input accuracy while eliminating physical contact with the keyboard surface
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods relating to a contactless peripheral interface, including a method comprising: receiving a selection of a peripheral interface from a host computing device, wherein the selection corresponds to one of plurality of peripheral interfaces, generating, by an image system, a floating image based on the selected peripheral interface, sensing, by a sensor assembly, a position of a user interaction with the floating image of the peripheral interface, mapping, by a controller, the position of the user interaction to an input relating to the selected peripheral interface, and communicating the input to the host computing device, wherein the host computing device is configured to recognize the input as relating to the selected peripheral interface.