Mobile HID Navigation for Contactless Transaction Screens
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Solution Overview
Problem
The concern of virus transmission through touchscreen displays on transaction terminals due to multiple users touching the same surface, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitates a solution for contactless interaction.
Innovation Solution
A method and system enabling mobile navigational control of transaction terminal User Interfaces (UIs) through a remote-control user session using a mobile device, where UI events are generated and relayed as Human Interface Device (HID) events to the terminal, simulating keyboard interactions without direct network connection, utilizing a server and optional proxy for connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If touchscreen displays are used for transaction interfaces, then ease of operation is improved, but virus transmission risk increases due to multiple users touching the same surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the user and the touchscreen terminal. The mobile device captures images of the display and transmits touch commands wirelessly, allowing users to interact with the terminal without physically touching its surface. This mediator eliminates direct contact while preserving full operational capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy of the terminal's display interface by capturing images with the mobile device's camera. This copy is then rendered on the mobile device's screen, allowing users to interact with a replicated interface rather than the original physical display, thereby avoiding contamination of the shared surface.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If frequent disinfection of touchscreen displays is implemented, then virus transmission risk is reduced, but productivity decreases due to operational interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing the mobile device as an intermediary control interface, the patent eliminates the need for frequent disinfection of the terminal's touchscreen. Users interact with their own mobile devices rather than the shared terminal display, removing the source of contamination and allowing uninterrupted operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the interaction function from the physical touchscreen surface and relocates it to the user's mobile device. This separation removes the vulnerable shared surface from the transaction process, eliminating the need for disinfection cycles and maintaining continuous productivity.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If contactless control method is implemented, then virus transmission risk is reduced, but device complexity increases due to additional software and communication protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the mobile device's existing multi-functional capabilities (camera, wireless communication, touchscreen display) to implement contactless control. By utilizing features already present in modern smartphones, the solution avoids adding specialized hardware or complex proprietary software, keeping implementation relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device uses its own built-in resources (camera for image capture, processing power for image analysis, wireless interface for communication) to provide the contactless control function. This self-service approach eliminates the need for additional external devices or complex integrated systems, reducing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile device establishes an indirect network connection to a User Interface (UI) agent of a terminal. The indirect connection managed as a mobile navigational control session maintained through a server or through the server and a proxy. A keyboard widget/object and a navigation-selection widget/object are rendered within a mobile screen on a display of the mobile device. During the session, a user interacts with the keyboard and/or navigation-selection widgets and corresponding UI key events are forwarded to the UI agent. The UI agent provides the UI key events as Human Interface Device (HID) key events to the terminal causing a transaction interface to update transaction screens being rendered on a transaction display of the terminal during a transaction. The user conducts the transaction at the terminal without touching the transaction display and controls the transaction screens for the transaction via the keyboard and navigational widgets from the mobile device.