Touch user interface

Abstract: A builder, tester, and runtime integration system and method for a graphical touch user interface, such as a point-of-sale (POS) touch screen interface system, is provided. The system and method may include a builder tool to create and modify the graphical interface, a tester tool for testing the interface, and a run-time system for actually executing the interface logic. Because the interface may be designed, modified and tested external to the run-time system, the design and maintenance may be performed by a non-programmer without ever changing run-time code. Additionally, the builder and tester may be designed to be general-purpose, and the run-time code may be reusable.

Abstract: An apparatus including a touch user interface device including a sensor array configured to sense spatial information associated with one or more contiguous regions of contact and a processing device in communication with the touch user interface device configured to discern a first contiguous region of contact corresponding to a first finger from the one or more contiguous regions of contact, determine a first spatial distribution profile of the first contiguous region at a first time, determine a second spatial distribution profile of the first contiguous region at a second time, analyze a shape variation of the second spatial distribution profile in comparison to the first spatial distribution profile to determine a rotational movement of the first finger, generate a control signal in response to the detected rotational movement.

Abstract: Gestures play an important role in communication. They support the listener, who is trying to understand the speaker. However, they also support the speaker by facilitating the conceptualization and verbalization of messages and reducing cognitive load. Gestures thus play an important role in collaboration and also in problem-solving tasks. In human–computer interaction, gestures are also used to facilitate communication with digital applications, because their expressive nature can enable less constraining and more intuitive digital interactions than conventional user interfaces. Although gesture research in the social sciences typically considers empty-handed gestures, digital gesture interactions often make use of hand-held objects or touch surfaces to capture gestures that would be difficult to track in free space. In most cases, the physical objects used to make these gestures serve primarily as a means of sensing or input. In contrast, tangible interaction makes use of physical objects as embodiments of digital information. The physical objects in a tangible interface thus serve as representations as well as controls for the digital information they are associated with. Building on this concept, gesture interaction has the potential to make use of the physical properties of hand-held objects to enhance or change the functionality of the gestures made. In this paper, we look at the design opportunities that arise at the intersection of gesture and tangible interaction. We believe that gesturing while holding physical artifacts opens up a new interaction design space for collaborative digital applications that is largely unexplored. We provide a survey of gesture interaction work as it relates to tangible and touch interaction. Based on this survey, we define the design space of tangible gesture interaction as the use of physical devices for facilitating, supporting, enhancing, or tracking gestures people make for digital interaction purposes, and outline the design opportunities in this space.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a meta touch interface (MTI) with multiple position indicators with each position indicator operating as a separate pointing tool that can be activated (i) using taps on a touchpad or other touch sensitive surface or (ii) by pressing certain keyboard keys. The MT pointer allows for adjacent UI elements to be selected without having to reposition the MT pointer for each selection or activation. Some embodiments provide a multi-device UI that comprises at least two UIs, wherein the first UI is presented on an essentially horizontal plane that is aligned with operational focus and the second UI that is presented on an essentially vertical plane that is aligned with visual focus of the user. Some embodiments provide a precision pointer that includes an adjustable magnified region to better present underlying on-screen content, thereby allowing the user to more precisely position the pointer.