Samsung Patents Text Messaging through Virtual Screen
Fri Apr 14, 2006 1:19 pm
Samsung Electronics has developed a method for writing or drawings in a cell phone using an electronic pen and a projected virtual screen.
Photo: Samsung Patents Text Messaging through Virtual Screen Photo 2
Current cell phone numeric keypads only enable users to input characters or numbers and problems arise, especially with foreign languages, when more combinations require repeated key presses.
Samsung invented a solution which hopes to alleviate the problem by allowing users to write on a virtual screen cast upon a surface (such as a table), giving users the similar feel as writing on paper.
According to the recently filed patent application, the mobile device displays a virtual screen from a projector built into the phone. Using an electronic pen (activated by a contact sensor at the tip), infrared or ultrasonic waves are emitted from the pen and tracked by a position detector integrated on the phone.
By monitoring the path of the pen, the phone is able to record the pen strokes, allowing users to write directly on the projected virtual screen. The handwriting is then interpreted by software which turns it into input characters.
kinda cool. but i dont see how this is worth the extra effort rather than writing on the screen with say... graffiti. plus how are you going to write when you're not sitting at a table?
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