Multi-touch Surface Integrating Physical Input Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-touch surfaces in desktop environments suffer from sensing resolution issues, limiting precision in touch input and lacking tactile feedback, making tasks like typing on an on-screen keyboard or selecting fine features difficult.
Innovation Solution
Integrating a multi-touch surface into a desktop environment by detecting input devices, defining regions for displaying enhanced task bars, multi-functional touch pads, and digital mouse pads, allowing users to perform precise operations using traditional keyboards and mice while utilizing multi-touch inputs for more efficient interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If an on-screen keyboard is used on a multi-touch surface, then the multi-touch surface can provide input functionality, but the sensing resolution is insufficient for precise typing input
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines traditional keyboard and mouse devices with multi-touch surface capabilities by detecting their presence on the multi-touch surface and integrating their functionality. The system merges the precision input capabilities of physical devices with the versatility of multi-touch gestures, allowing users to benefit from both input methods simultaneously rather than choosing one over the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-touch surface is designed to support multiple input modalities universally. It can detect and respond to traditional keyboard/mouse inputs while simultaneously supporting multi-touch gestures, making it a universal input platform that adapts to different user preferences and task requirements without sacrificing the precision of traditional devices.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional input devices are replaced with a multi-touch surface, then the interface becomes more integrated, but precision input tasks become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the multi-touch surface as an intermediary layer that detects the presence of traditional input devices and creates virtual representations of them. This intermediary approach allows the multi-touch surface to mediate between the physical devices and the computer system, providing both the integration benefits of a unified interface and the precision capabilities of traditional devices through virtual keyboard and mousepad regions.
3Ease of operation
If an on-screen keyboard is used, then typing can be performed on the multi-touch surface, but tactile feedback is lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-touch surface is segmented into different functional regions, including a virtual keyboard region and a virtual mousepad region. This segmentation allows the system to provide specialized input zones for different tasks, with the virtual keyboard positioned in a location that mimics the physical keyboard layout, enabling users to type with familiar hand positions while maintaining the precision of physical device detection.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for integrating a multi-touch surface into a desktop environment is disclosed. One or more multi-touch display devices are placed on the horizontal surface surrounding or beneath a keyboard or mouse. At least one region on the multi-touch surface is defined to display one or more user interface tools on the multi-touch surface. The one or more user interface tools displayed via the multi-touch surface may control or display information associated with desktop applications displayed via a primary display device.