GB2343413A - Input device with audio feedback - Google Patents

Input device with audio feedback Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2343413A
GB2343413A GB9824405A GB9824405A GB2343413A GB 2343413 A GB2343413 A GB 2343413A GB 9824405 A GB9824405 A GB 9824405A GB 9824405 A GB9824405 A GB 9824405A GB 2343413 A GB2343413 A GB 2343413A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
sounder
operator
audio feedback
pointing device
keyboard
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB9824405A
Other versions
GB9824405D0 (en
Inventor
Gerald William Haywood
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to GB9824405A priority Critical patent/GB2343413A/en
Publication of GB9824405D0 publication Critical patent/GB9824405D0/en
Publication of GB2343413A publication Critical patent/GB2343413A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/02—Input arrangements using manually operated switches, e.g. using keyboards or dials
    • G06F3/0202—Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device
    • G06F3/0219—Special purpose keyboards
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
    • G06F3/033—Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user, e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor
    • G06F3/0354—Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user, e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor with detection of 2D relative movements between the device, or an operating part thereof, and a plane or surface, e.g. 2D mice, trackballs, pens or pucks
    • G06F3/03543—Mice or pucks
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/16—Sound input; Sound output
    • G06F3/167—Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
    • G09B21/00—Teaching, or communicating with, the blind, deaf or mute
    • G09B21/001—Teaching or communicating with blind persons
    • G09B21/003—Teaching or communicating with blind persons using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Educational Administration (AREA)
  • Educational Technology (AREA)
  • Input From Keyboards Or The Like (AREA)

Abstract

An input device (e.g. a keyboard or a mouse) is provided with audio feedback, for example by means of a sounder, which may be integral within the device or separate therefrom. The feedback allows a user to distinguish which key(s) has been pressed or how the mouse has been manipulated. A printing calculator may be provided with a sounder, wherein the pitch, intensity and duration of the sounds emitted thereby may be adjusted by the operator. The device is suitable for use by the visually impaired.

Description

INPUT DEVICE WITH AUDIO FEEDBACK.
This invention relates to input device with audio feedback.
Keyboards for computers, calculators and other equipment are well known devices which allow an operator to give to the equipment commands and information. There are many examples of the use of such equipment where it is important that the correct information is reliably entered by use of the keyboard, so that for example correct financial data is assured or safe plant operation may be promoted.
Methods of confirming to the operator the correctness of the keys pressed currently rely almost exclusively on the feedback to the operator of visual signals, often by means of a visual display presented directly in the operator's field of vision.
This approach suffers from a number of drawbacks. The attention of the operator is necessarily directed towards the visual display, and this may not contain information which urgently requires action on the part of the operator.
Processing of visual stimuli in the human brain is slow by comparison with the processing of other signals, and the time for the stimulus to be processed may preclude timely action to correct incorrect keyboard input. It may be that the visual stimulus is printed on paper, and by the time this happens some other computer processing already has taken place, at least necessitating some time-consuming corrective action or perhaps precluding such action. It is often the case that the operator cannot in any case for reasons of efficiency monitor visual feedback at all times, such as the very common case of a column of figures being added up on a printing calculator. The operator may be visually impaired, and so unable to use the feedback to its best effect, or even at all.
A'mouse'is a form of computer input device (generally called a pointing device) which suffers in use from many drawbacks (including many of those of a keyboard) and which has no means of audible feedback to its operator.
A pointing device is usually moved or manipulated by hand, and such movements often cause a symbol on a visual display to move in sympathy. There are many variants of pointing devices. A very common deficiency is that they do not reliably generate the signals which cause their attached equipment to move the symbol on the display. The operator has to rely on (sometimes obscure) visual feedback to sense if the pointer movements are being faithfully followed.
A'sounder'is a well-known device which is often used for rudimentary feedback of audible information to a keyboard operator. Many computer workstations provide a sounder.
Most desktop, pocket, printing and other similar electronic calculators do not. In all cases there is scope for the better use of sound both to accelerate the feedback to the operator and to improve the quality of the feedback.
According to the present invention there is provided a mouse and/or a keyboard and a sounder. These may be incorporated within a device such as a calculator or a computer or they they may alternatively be a separate from the device. By means of, for example, a programmable electronic circuit, a sound is caused to come from the sounder when each key (or chosen key or a set of keys) is pressed by the operator or when the mouse is moved in a certain way. The sound is made uniquely to identify the key which has been pressed, or to identify which of a chosen set of keys has been pressed, or to confirm that the mouse has been moved in one way rather than another, or to confirm that it has been effectively moved at all.
The sounds must be sufficiently short and/or of sufficiently varied characteristics so that there will be no appreciable difficulty to the normal human ear, possibly after an initial period of acclimatization, in discerning the different sounds as they emerge from the sounder.
A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example. It is cheap to make and use. The device offers a means of improving the speed and'user-friendliness' of an electronic printing calculator.
The device is an ordinary printing calculator, many types of which are already well known, fitted with a sounder. Such calculators commonly contain a microprocessor. The microprocessor (which performs all the operations of which the calculator is capable, including responding to key presses, math calculations, display, storage and printing of results) is programmed to use the sounder to make distinctive sounds when the numerals, decimal point, math function and'total'keys are pressed. Preferably the microprocessor can be programmed by the operator so that the pitch, intensity and duration of the sounds are to the operator's liking (including of zero intensity or duration) and/or so that they are not intrusive to persons other than the operator. Preferably the calculator is fitted with a socket to allow the connection of an'ear-piece'type sounder.
Other things being equal, the operator will find that it is very much faster and less error-prone to work with the calculator fitted with a sounder than it is to work with a'silent'one.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention the sounder is fitted to or provided as an addition to a mouse, in which case the mouse could be said to'squeak'.

Claims (8)

  1. CLAIMS 1. Audio feedback of information about information input by an operator using keys pressed on a keyboard or movement of a pointing device, provided by sounds which distinguish which keys have been pressed or how the pointing device has been manipulated.
  2. 2. Audio feedback as claimed in claim 1 provided simultaneously with the key-presses or pointing device manipulations or very soon thereafter.
  3. 3. An electronic or electromechanical device which causes audio feedback to be given to an operator who is using a keyboard and/or a pointing device.
  4. 4. A calculator which contains a sounder or means to connect a sounder and which makes sounds substantially as described herein.
  5. 5. A keyboard containing a sounder or means to attach one.
  6. 6. A pointing device containing a sounder or means to attach one.
  7. 7. A pointing device which causes a sounder to make sounds.
  8. 8. A device substantially as described herein.
GB9824405A 1998-11-07 1998-11-07 Input device with audio feedback Withdrawn GB2343413A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9824405A GB2343413A (en) 1998-11-07 1998-11-07 Input device with audio feedback

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9824405A GB2343413A (en) 1998-11-07 1998-11-07 Input device with audio feedback

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9824405D0 GB9824405D0 (en) 1998-12-30
GB2343413A true GB2343413A (en) 2000-05-10

Family

ID=10842010

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB9824405A Withdrawn GB2343413A (en) 1998-11-07 1998-11-07 Input device with audio feedback

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2343413A (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2008150738A1 (en) * 2007-05-31 2008-12-11 Vocollect, Inc. Aural feedback apparatus for user controls
CN103020000A (en) * 2012-12-17 2013-04-03 张晶 Calculating machine

Citations (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3969600A (en) * 1975-06-11 1976-07-13 Burroughs Corporation Tactile feedback keyboard switch assembly and actuator
US4211892A (en) * 1977-02-15 1980-07-08 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Synthetic-speech calculators
US4412210A (en) * 1976-11-01 1983-10-25 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Electronic calculator with acoustic confirmation of key actuation and acoustical alarms
JPH03238518A (en) * 1990-02-15 1991-10-24 Nec Corp Audio output keyboard device
US5186629A (en) * 1991-08-22 1993-02-16 International Business Machines Corporation Virtual graphics display capable of presenting icons and windows to the blind computer user and method
GB2261574A (en) * 1991-11-12 1993-05-19 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd Telephone membrane keyboard with audible feedback
WO1994027208A1 (en) * 1993-05-11 1994-11-24 Beijing Comsun Electronic-Biology Technology Co. Ltd. A mouse having sound input and output means
US5511980A (en) * 1994-02-23 1996-04-30 Leapfrog Rbt, L.L.C. Talking phonics interactive learning device
EP0768619A1 (en) * 1995-10-16 1997-04-16 AT&T Corp. Computer mouse with sensory alerting to prevent human injury
EP0768598A1 (en) * 1995-10-16 1997-04-16 AT&T Corp. Ergonomic keyboard with sensory alerting to prevent human injury
CN1158462A (en) * 1996-03-01 1997-09-03 张庆信 Electronic calculator for blind person

Patent Citations (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3969600A (en) * 1975-06-11 1976-07-13 Burroughs Corporation Tactile feedback keyboard switch assembly and actuator
US4412210A (en) * 1976-11-01 1983-10-25 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Electronic calculator with acoustic confirmation of key actuation and acoustical alarms
US4211892A (en) * 1977-02-15 1980-07-08 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Synthetic-speech calculators
JPH03238518A (en) * 1990-02-15 1991-10-24 Nec Corp Audio output keyboard device
US5186629A (en) * 1991-08-22 1993-02-16 International Business Machines Corporation Virtual graphics display capable of presenting icons and windows to the blind computer user and method
GB2261574A (en) * 1991-11-12 1993-05-19 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd Telephone membrane keyboard with audible feedback
WO1994027208A1 (en) * 1993-05-11 1994-11-24 Beijing Comsun Electronic-Biology Technology Co. Ltd. A mouse having sound input and output means
US5511980A (en) * 1994-02-23 1996-04-30 Leapfrog Rbt, L.L.C. Talking phonics interactive learning device
EP0768619A1 (en) * 1995-10-16 1997-04-16 AT&T Corp. Computer mouse with sensory alerting to prevent human injury
EP0768598A1 (en) * 1995-10-16 1997-04-16 AT&T Corp. Ergonomic keyboard with sensory alerting to prevent human injury
CN1158462A (en) * 1996-03-01 1997-09-03 张庆信 Electronic calculator for blind person

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
WO 94/27208 A1(COMSUN) (See Figs.1&5, abstract and also WPI Abstract Accession No.95-007007/22). *

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2008150738A1 (en) * 2007-05-31 2008-12-11 Vocollect, Inc. Aural feedback apparatus for user controls
CN103020000A (en) * 2012-12-17 2013-04-03 张晶 Calculating machine
CN103020000B (en) * 2012-12-17 2015-05-20 张晶 Calculating machine

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9824405D0 (en) 1998-12-30

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WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)