Patent Application
20120139841
Most computer users use a mouse and keyboard to interact with the software running on a computer and the functionality of a computer mouse has remained almost unchanged for many years. The mouse and keyboard, which are just two examples of user interface devices, enable a user to provide user input to the software through depressing buttons or keys or by scrolling a wheel or moving the mouse. Other than an audible click when a mouse button is depressed or a scroll wheel rotated, these devices do not provide the user with any feedback.
With the advent of touch-sensitive displays, users can now interact directly with the software graphical user interface and some computing devices now offer on-screen keyboards in addition to, or instead of, a physical keyboard. As a user of an on-screen keyboard does not experience the sensation of pressing down a key, some on-screen keyboards offer haptic feedback in the form of a small vibration (e.g. using the vibration alert motor contained in a mobile telephone) when a key press is detected by the on-screen keyboard software.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known user interface devices.
The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
A user interface device with actuated buttons is described. In an embodiment, the user interface device comprises two or more buttons and the motion of the buttons is controlled by actuators under software control such that their motion is inter-related. The position or motion of the buttons may provide a user with feedback about the current state of a software program they are using or provide them with enhanced user input functionality. In another embodiment, the ability to move the buttons is used to reconfigure the user interface buttons and this may be performed dynamically, based on the current state of the software program, or may be performed dependent upon the software program being used. The user interface device may be a peripheral device, such as a mouse or keyboard, or may be integrated within a computing device such as a games device.
Many of the attendant features will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The present description will be better understood from the following detailed description read in light of the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Like reference numerals are used to designate like parts in the accompanying drawings.
The detailed description provided below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the present examples and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present example may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the functions of the example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example. However, the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different examples.
The improved mouse device 104, shown in diagrams 101, 102, comprises two buttons 105, 106 (although only one of the buttons is visible in diagram 101) which are mounted on a shaft 108 along one edge and about which they can pivot (as indicated by double-ended arrow 110). The mouse 104 also comprises at least one actuator 112 (which may be an electro-mechanical actuator) which is operable to change the physical position of the buttons 105, 106. In this example, the mouse comprises two actuators 112 with each one being positioned below one of the buttons 105, 106 such that when actuated, each actuator 112 moves one of the buttons 105, 106. The motion of the buttons is controlled such that the position of the two buttons is inter-related (or linked). The mouse may further comprise an interface element 114, which receives signals from a software program running on a computing device (block 202) and converts these into control signals for the actuators (block 204), as shown in the flow diagram of
In an example implementation, the actuators 112 are small servo motors which, as shown in
The improved keyboard 120, shown in diagram 103, comprises a plurality of buttons 122, which may also be referred to as keys, and an actuator (as indicated by dotted circle 124) associated with each key. Each actuator 124 is operable to move its associated key 122 under software control, e.g. to any position in a range between a non-depressed ‘normal’ position and a retracted position (which may be such that the key looks as if it has been depressed). As described above in relation to the improved mouse device, the motion of the keys is controlled such that the position or motion of two or more keys is inter-related (or linked). Although it is not visible in
In an example implementation of an improved keyboard, the actuators 124 may comprise solenoids or piezo-electric air pump actuators (e.g. the Microblower provided by the Murata Manufacturing Co., Limited) or other piezo-electric or shape-memory alloy based actuators (e.g. bimorph actuators or those provided by Murata Manufacturing Co., Limited). In another example, a voice-coil motor may be used as an actuator (potentially in combination with a magnetic Hall Effect sensor to determine the position of the device) and further examples of actuators are described above with reference to the improved mouse device 104.
The actuators in a user interface device (such as actuators 112, 124 in
There are many examples of ways that the motion of two or more buttons may be inter-related (or linked) and the nature of the relationship (or linking) may depend on the functionality which is being provided and a number of examples are provided below. It will be appreciated that this is not an exhaustive set of examples and in further examples, the examples of inter-related motion or position of buttons set out below may be combined or used in relation to provision of different functionalities.
In some examples a group of buttons may be moved in a linked manner under software control so that their relative position to each other does not change (and in such an example, a single actuator may be used to move all of the buttons or there may be multiple actuators which are controlled together). Any movement may be independent of any actuation of a button by the user (e.g. where the user feels or views the button position or motion), for example where this is being used to reconfigure a user interface device, or the movement may be in response to user actuation of a button (e.g. in response to a user depressing one button, a set of buttons may automatically be depressed using the actuators within the user interface device). In some examples a group of buttons may move substantially simultaneously but in other examples the inter-related motion may result in buttons moving at different times (e.g. sequentially).
In one example, when a user moves one button, this motion is detected and one or more actuators are controlled (e.g. by an interface element within the user interface device) so as to move at least one other button in a corresponding (i.e. same or similar) manner (e.g. two or more buttons may move in synchronization with each other). This may enable groups of keys to be configured to operate as a single unit, such that if a user depresses one key in the group, all the other keys in the group are moved (by their associated actuators) by the same amount (and in the same way) as the depressed key.
In another example, when a user depresses one button, one or more other buttons are retracted (so that they cannot be depressed) based on which button the user depressed. This may be used to remove options which are no longer available to a user or for training/guidance purposes, as described in more detail below.
In a further example, when a user moves one button downwards, this motion is detected and one or more actuators are controlled so as to move at least one other button is moved upwards by a similar (or identical) amount. Such operation may be referred to as ‘volumetric mode’. In this mode of operation, the positions of all the buttons in the group which includes the user actuated button are related so that they cannot be greater than a defined ‘volume’. If in an example, the group comprises two buttons and a total ‘volume’ of one, if one button is moved by a user from a position 0.5 to 0.2, then the other button is moved by an actuator (under software control) from 0.5 to 0.8. The connection of two buttons in this manner results in a see-saw like configuration where the depression of one button by a user results in the other rising and this situation may be extended to a group of more than two buttons.
Further examples of the ways that the motion/position of buttons are inter-related are described below with reference to the particular functions which they provide. Although the examples described herein refer principally to vertical motion of buttons (i.e. changing the button height), this is by way of example only and the buttons may in addition, or instead, move laterally or in any other manner. Provision of feedback to the user
As described above, existing user interface devices, such as mice and keyboards, allow a user to provide user input to a computing device but do not provide any feedback to the user about the state or context of the software program (which may be an operating system or application) which is being used. Any feedback that is provided is limited to confirmatory sounds or sensations to confirm that a button (which may also be referred to as a ‘key’, particularly in relation to a keyboard) has been pressed. Through use of the actuators (e.g. actuators 112, 124 described above), an improved user interface device as described herein can provide feedback to the user about the state/context of the software program being used by changing the physical position of buttons on the user interface device and/or through changing the resistance felt by a user when pressing a button. The feedback provided to a user may comprise haptic feedback, force feedback, guidance feedback or any other type of feedback. In many examples described below, the position of the buttons is changed by raising or lowering the button (e.g. as indicated by arrow 110 in diagram 101 of
There are many examples of the types of feedback that may be provided to a user by the changing positions of buttons in an improved user interface device comprising actuators. In a first example, as a user uses the user interface device (which may be a mouse or other pointing device) to move a cursor over a geographic map (e.g. within an application such as www.bing.com/maps) the height of both the mouse buttons may be changed together to indicate the elevation at the location under the on-screen cursor. In a second example, the height of both the mouse buttons may be changed to provide feedback about the current state of game-play, (e.g. with the height of the buttons being dependent upon the remaining ammunition levels of a user in a first-person shooter game), or the task being undertaken by the user.
In other examples, the feedback may indicate to a user which actions are recommended and which actions are not recommended (or not so highly recommended) when navigating through a software program, e.g. when a user places the cursor over a selection, which may be a button or an item in a menu, that is highly recommended, the buttons may be moved upwards, and when a user places the cursor over a selection that is not recommended, the buttons may be moved downwards (e.g. which may give an impression to the user that the buttons are ‘shrinking away’ from them). Alternatively, the buttons may have a default ‘low’ position when the cursor is not over a button or link which can be clicked upon (e.g. corresponding to the arrow icon in a web browser) and may be raised when the curser is placed over a button or link (e.g. corresponding to a pointing finger icon in a web browser). This functionality may be particularly useful for visually impaired users (possibly in combination with screen reader technology) to aid navigation.
In yet another example, the relative positions of the two buttons 105, 106 may provide a user with tactile feedback on the position of a scroll bar, slider or rotary knob. In a default or central position, both buttons may be at the same height (i.e. level) and as the user presses one button down to change the position in one direction, the actuators may be used to raise the other button such that at an extreme position, one button is in its lowest position and the other button is in its highest position. Consequently by placing two fingers on the mouse a user can feel intuitively the position of the control and adjust it as required by pressing on the appropriate button. Such a feature may also enable fine control by a user of the position of the element within the graphical user interface (GUI) being controlled (e.g. the scroll bar, slider or rotary knob) and this is an example of how a feature can provide multiple benefits which go across the various example applications described herein.
Feedback may also be provided to a user by controlling the motion of a button to change the response of the button to user applied pressure and various examples are shown in
In an example implementation where the actuators comprise servo motors, the applied external force may be measured using the potentiometer's own position signal 501, as shown in
Where such an implementation is used to generate the resistance feedback (e.g. as shown in the graphs of
PositionChange=(ExpectedPosition−ActualPosition)−R(p)
where R(p) is the resistance force which is dependent upon the servo position p (e.g. as shown in
R(p)−(ExpectedPosition−ActualPosition)
This gives the button behavior similar to a spring (as shown in graph 401). By varying the value of R(p), it is possible to create a varied profile of resistance throughout the movement of the servo which could be used to simulate a more realistic spring that behaves according to Hooke's law or to simulate another profile (e.g. as shown in the other graphs 402, 403 in
In an example application, the resistance feedback described above may be used in a sculpting application to provide a user with tactile feedback which conveys the physical properties of the sculpting material.
The improved user interface devices described herein may be used to provide a user with guidance feedback, for example when training a user to use particular software. In such an example, the buttons may be actuated so as to guide the user to press the correct button and where dependent upon the state or context of the application, buttons which should not be pressed by the user next are retracted or otherwise moved out of position. There are many applications where this ‘training mode’ may be implemented, for example, in teaching a user to touch type where a user is given a passage of text to type and keys are retracted as the user types characters so that only the correct button is available to press or so that buttons around the correct button are retracted and cannot be accidentally pressed. In other examples, the resistance feedback may be adjusted such that it is harder to press incorrect keys (i.e. more pressure is required) or if a user presses an incorrect key, the correct key may be moved (e.g. upwards). In another application, the improved user interface device may comprise an electronic musical instrument (e.g. a guitar, keyboard or wind instrument) and keys may be actuated to guide a user to depress the correct next keys to play a tune (in a corresponding manner to the typing example above). Where the improved user interface is used to provide guidance feedback to the user, the user may also be provided with an indication of their accuracy.
Existing user interface devices are not reconfigurable and the physical arrangement of buttons cannot be changed. Through use of the actuators (e.g. actuators 112, 124 described above), an improved user interface device as described herein can be reconfigured by moving, hiding or retracting (which may also be referred to as ‘depressing’, i.e. so that they cannot be pressed by a user) buttons under software control or by grouping buttons together so that they function as a single unit (as mentioned above). This reconfiguration may remove options which are not available at a particular time (e.g. as a physical equivalent of graying out options in the GUI) and in which case the buttons may be considered ‘state-aware’. The reconfiguration may, in addition or instead, provide a user with a larger area button (comprising a group of buttons) to touch.
The reconfiguration may be used to simplify the user interface device in a customizable way and this may be used to make an interface more suitable for a particular application, to reduce errors and/or to transform a user interface device for different access abilities (e.g. for young children or users with reduced dexterity, visual acuity, etc or for users with physical impairments). The ability to reconfigure the user interface device may make the improved user interface device suited to safety critical applications (e.g. for medical devices or safety systems in industrial plants) or environments or situations where a user needs to react and make a decision quickly (e.g. vehicle controls). In some examples, the reconfiguration of the physical keys may be combined with the use of a new flexible skin or cover which may be placed over the existing keyboard to further change the visual appearance of the reconfigurable keyboard.
Various examples of user interface device reconfiguration can be described with reference to
In this latter situation, a flexible skin 721 may be used to provide alternative labeling for the reconfigured user interface device, as shown in the second example 702, where one ‘button’ 722, 723 from a user perspective may comprise a group of individual buttons 724 which are arranged to move together (and may therefore be referred to as a ‘composite button’). Once the skin 721 is fitted over the keyboard, each composite button 722, 723 appears to a user to be just a single large button. In the example shown in
In the second example 702 shown in
The third example 703, in
In addition to, or instead of, providing new functionalities through the movement of buttons using actuators, the improved user interface devices may enable enhanced user input, for example by detecting user applied pressure, as shown in
In another example, as described above, the relative motion of two buttons may be used to provide user input and this may enable finer, more accurate control by a user than is achievable using a single button. The relative motion may also be used to provide relative scrolling of a scroll bar or other control compared to absolute scrolling which may be enabled by a user pressing down both buttons together.
In a further example of an enhanced user input which may be provided where the buttons can be actuated under software control, buttons may be controlled to move back to a mid-position (or another position, such as a highest position) when the button reaches the end stop at its lowest position. This may, for example, be used where the two mouse buttons are pressed down together to scroll down a window. When they reach the end stop on the buttons travel, the actuators cause the buttons to move to a higher position to enable a user to continue to scroll downwards if required. The device may be arranged to cause this resetting of the button positions in response to a particular detected user input, e.g. when a user presses down hard on both buttons (e.g. in a reaction which may be a trampoline-like effect). Such a detected user input may be mapped to a particular control in a software program, for example, the ‘Undo’ function. In a variation of this, one button may be used to lock the position of a second button with either button then being used to act as a release for the locked button. In an example application where a user wishes to scroll through a long document, they may press a first button when hovered over the ‘scroll down’ button on the GUI and then press a second button to ‘lock’ the first button in position. This would result in continuous scrolling of the document down until the user pressed either of the buttons.
In a further example, the buttons on a user interface device (e.g. an improved mouse) may be adapted to move both downwards when pressed by a user and upwards when pressure is released. In one example, where the force on a button is measured (as described above), an applied force will cause a button to move downwards. When the pressure on the button is released by the user, the button may be actuated to move upwards until a threshold pressure is detected or the button reaches its highest position end stop. In another example, the buttons may have sensors (for example, as marked by the dotted outlines 738 in the third diagram 703 of
User interface device 800 comprises an interface element 804, two or more buttons 806 and at least one actuator 808. As described above, when actuated (e.g. by control signals received from the interface element 804) the actuators change the physical position of one or more buttons, where the position or motion of at least two buttons is linked or inter-related.
The interface element 804 comprises one or more processors 810 which may be microprocessors, controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the actuators in order to change the position of buttons, as described above. In some examples, for example where a system on a chip architecture is used, the processors 810 may include one or more fixed function blocks (also referred to as accelerators) which implement a part of the method of controlling the actuators in hardware (rather than software or firmware). The computer executable instructions, such as actuator driver software 812 and/or resistance profile data 814 (e.g. as described above with reference to
The interface element 804 also comprises an actuator interface 818 which provides an interface to the actuators 808 in the user interface device 800 and a computing device interface 820 which provides an interface for communication with the computing-based device 802.
Computing-based device 802 comprises one or more processors 822 which may be microprocessors, controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the device. In some examples, for example where a system on a chip architecture is used, the processors 822 may include one or more fixed function blocks (also referred to as accelerators) which implement a part of the method of operation of the device in hardware (rather than software or firmware). Platform software comprising an operating system 824 or any other suitable platform software may be provided at the computing-based device to enable application software 826, which may include drivers 828 (which may be dedicated drivers) for the user interface device 800, to be executed on the device.
The computer executable instructions may be provided using any computer-readable media that is accessible by computing-based device 802. As described above, computer-readable media may include, for example, computer storage media such as memory 830 and communications media. Although the computer storage media (memory 830) is shown within the computing-based device 802 it will be appreciated that the storage may be distributed or located remotely and accessed via a network or other communication link (e.g. using a communication interface not shown in
The computing-based device 802 also comprises an input/output controller 832 arranged to communicate with the user interface device 800 to receive and process user input signals and to provide control signals used by the interface element 804 to actuate the actuators 808 and move buttons 806. The computing-based device 802 further comprises a display interface 834 arranged to output display information to a display device 836 which may be separate from or integral to the computing-based device 802. This display information may provide a graphical user interface with which the user may interact using the user interface device 800.
It will be appreciated that both the user-interface device 800 and the computing-based device 802 may comprise additional elements not shown in
There are many applications for the improved user interface devices described herein and various example applications have been described above. Further example applications include industrial control systems (e.g. factories, power plants, warehouse management etc), flight control systems, rehabilitation devices, accessibility support for the elderly, infirm, or those with physical impairments, devices for infants with less developed motor control and multi-mode devices where precision can be traded off for speed or ease of input, such as mobile phones for dialing vs. sending of text (e.g. SMS) messages.
Although the present examples are described and illustrated herein as being implemented in a computing-based system where the user interface device is a peripheral device, the system described is provided as an example and not a limitation. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the present examples are suitable for application in a variety of different types of systems and the user interface device may form part of an integrated device.
The term ‘computer’ is used herein to refer to any device with processing capability such that it can execute instructions. Those skilled in the art will realize that such processing capabilities are incorporated into many different devices and therefore the term ‘computer’ includes PCs, servers, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants and many other devices.
The methods described herein may be performed by software in machine readable form on a tangible storage medium e.g. in the form of a computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all the steps of any of the methods described herein when the program is run on a computer and where the computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium. Examples of tangible (or non-transitory) storage media include disks, thumb drives, memory etc and do not include propagated signals. The software can be suitable for execution on a parallel processor or a serial processor such that the method steps may be carried out in any suitable order, or simultaneously.
This acknowledges that software can be a valuable, separately tradable commodity. It is intended to encompass software, which runs on or controls “dumb” or standard hardware, to carry out the desired functions. It is also intended to encompass software which “describes” or defines the configuration of hardware, such as HDL (hardware description language) software, as is used for designing silicon chips, or for configuring universal programmable chips, to carry out desired functions.
Those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store program instructions can be distributed across a network. For example, a remote computer may store an example of the process described as software. A local or terminal computer may access the remote computer and download a part or all of the software to run the program. Alternatively, the local computer may download pieces of the software as needed, or execute some software instructions at the local terminal and some at the remote computer (or computer network). Those skilled in the art will also realize that by utilizing conventional techniques known to those skilled in the art that all, or a portion of the software instructions may be carried out by a dedicated circuit, such as a DSP, programmable logic array, or the like.
Any range or device value given herein may be extended or altered without losing the effect sought, as will be apparent to the skilled person.
It will be understood that the benefits and advantages described above may relate to one embodiment or may relate to several embodiments. The embodiments are not limited to those that solve any or all of the stated problems or those that have any or all of the stated benefits and advantages. It will further be understood that reference to ‘an’ item refers to one or more of those items.
The steps of the methods described herein may be carried out in any suitable order, or simultaneously where appropriate. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from any of the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Aspects of any of the examples described above may be combined with aspects of any of the other examples described to form further examples without losing the effect sought.
The term ‘comprising’ is used herein to mean including the method blocks or elements identified, but that such blocks or elements do not comprise an exclusive list and a method or apparatus may contain additional blocks or elements.
It will be understood that the above description of a preferred embodiment is given by way of example only and that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although various embodiments of the invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention.
