Vibrative Virtual Keyboard
An accelerometer based virtual input device for mobile phones
- Abstract
- <p>With information processing shifting away from the desktop model of human-computer interaction, and towards mobile and ubiquitous computing, a change in paradigms of user input devices is taking place. Yet mobile touch screen devices, such as smartphones, lack a suitable method for text input which can compete with the mechanical keyboards that have already been around since the early days of computing.</p>
<p>This thesis explores the development of a <em>Vibrative Virtual Keyboard</em>. The system should allow text input on smart phones similar to typing on a physical keyboard, but without any external hardware. Any rigid surface should be turned into a virtual keyboard by analysing the vibrations emanated from typing through the built-in accelerometer of a standard Apple iPhone 4.</p>
<p>After an overview of existing mobile text input methods and a review of current developments in the area of virtual keyboards, the system and its components are outlined. A thorough discussion of the theoretical background and a detailed description of the software architecture and implementation follow. The individual components as well as the entire system are evaluated in suitable test scenarios.
The evaluation shows that the <em>Vibrative Virtual Keyboard</em> is capable of detecting key strokes with an accuracy of up to 80% and text input of complete sentences is possible.</em>
- Authors
- Florian Kräutli
- Cite
- Kräutli, F., 2012. <em>Vibrative Virtual Keyboard</em>. MSc Thesis. London: Goldsmiths, University of London.
