Virtual Keyboard a Reality

billmaly writes "Yahoo has a photo and blurb here about a Virtual Keyboard That shows a photo and bit of text on a virtual keyboard for Palm and other mobile devices. Applications seen for mobile computing, as well as areas where a standard, physical keyboard are not practical. Very cool stuff from Siemens!"

Comments

Company's Website Addy...

[phunhippy]

http://www.vkb.co.il

you can read all about it in detail there...

Patent #6,353,428: looks good to me.

[WEFUNK]

I know this is kinda a dupe - but a pretty good one for a more focused discussion. When I saw this in the paper today, I thought "finally, maybe somebody legitimately patented something of interest to Slashdot readers". Siemens appears to have at least one, fairly broad patent on the device/process.

Check out Patent #6,353,428 on the USPTO website:

"Method and device for detecting an object in an area radiated by waves in the invisible spectral range"

The first claim is as follows:

"1. A system for detection of an object in an area irradiated by waves in an invisible spectral range, the system comprising:

a projector configured such that a video image is projectable onto the area;

a device for emitting waves in the invisible spectral range configured such that the area is substantially illuminated;

a reception device configured such that the reception device registers the irradiated area, the reception device being specifically balanced for an invisible spectral range corresponding to the waves; and

a computer configured with a recognition algorithm, whereby the object irradiated by the emitted waves is detected using the recognition algorithm."

The patent seems pretty broad in that it uses phrases like "a reception device..." and "a recognition algorithm" to cover the process, but reading the specification makes it clear that the focus is on "virtual" keyboards, mousepads, and presentation pointing, and it is a bit more specific about the actual means of detection etc.

All and all, without being an expert in the prior art or patent law, I think this one actually seems like a pretty good patent (If you believe in patents at all, of course). Also a pretty cool invention. Obviously it will have to be improved and smallified before being really useful (and integratable into my cell phone, watch, ring, etc.), but they seem to be off to a great start!