An Itsy-Bitsy Keyboard....

[Crystal Eitle]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.unitap.net/' target='_blank'>http://www.unitap.net/</a><br /><br /></div>An anonymous PPCT reader pointed us to <a href="www.Unitap.net">www.Unitap.net</a> to see what could be the world's smallest (practical) keyboard. A cool thing about this keyboard is that it uses existing technology for its hardware and so, theoretically, could be very cheaply produced. What's unique about it is the layout of the buttons, which allows for a very great "density" of symbols; i.e., the ability to cram a full alphanumeric keyboard into a very small space.<br /><br />"Our patent pending technology UniTap combines advantages of miniature and passive chording keyboards. The main idea is based on interpreting activation of several switches as a meaningful function; however, unlike common practice of other solutions, this does not prevent from having uniform legend symbols placements. Such approach allows for preserving ergonomics of full-size key caps, while increasing functional elements density from 8 to 16 times comparing to the regular computer keyboards."<br /><br /><i>Huh???</i> It took me a while to parse that, and unfortunately the whole "how it works" section is written in this kind of patent-ese. Here's how it works in plain English. The letters and numbers are laid out in a grid such that each character is surrounded by four pin-like buttons. The keyboard works by chording; if you want to press "D," for example, there is no "D" button per se. Instead, you tap where the "D" is and your finger will hit the four surrounding pins. The keyboard registers the combination of these four pins as a "D." The letter "A" has it's own combination of four pins; however, it happens to share two pins with the letter "D." It's this sharing of pins that allows for so many characters to be in so small a space; each character has its own unique combination.<br /><br />There's a demo on their site and it seems like a pretty intuitive, easy-to-use keyboard. There's an alphabetical layout and a modified QWERTY layout. The QWERTY layout looks like it would actually be easier to use than the alphabetical one. The Unitap site touts potential uses with a variety of small devices, including cell phones and PDAs, however, it doesn't specify connection options. I'm thinking a Bluetooth connection would be ideal, with an infrared option for those of us with older PDAs. Or perhaps this unique layout could be a good solution for built-in keyboards, enabling them to be a lot smaller than they currently are but still functional for those PDA users who don't have tiny fingers.

[dean_shan]

This would be good for Cell Phones. I hate writing things out with one.

[rbrome]

I don't get it. I must be missing something, because by my count, this solution requires MORE buttons than a regular mini-keyboard!

For example, for the one on their home page, I count 7x9=63 "pin" buttons, but only 6x8=48 characters you can type. That seems pretty pointless to me, and less ergonomic than a regular keypad.

Fastap makes much more sense:

http://www.digitwireless.com/

[GoldKey]

I don't get it. I must be missing something, because by my count, this solution requires MORE buttons than a regular mini-keyboard!


In essence, it allows the keys to overlap, so you have good sized keys (you would push all four buttons with the same finger simultaneously) in a smaller space.

[Kevin Remhof]

Am I the only one baffled by the "modified" QWERTY layout? That's just crazy. I don't think I could get used to yet another input method.

But, I still think the concept is pretty darn cool.

[uneu]

0X

Am I the only one baffled by the "modified" QWERTY layout? That's just crazy

The essence is that it can have any layout !

[yevgeniy]

Hi all,

It took 3 days for me to found the source of increased traffic to our site. :!:
Thank you for your interest and comments.

I just want to emphasize that UniTap is not just the keyboard you can see at our site, but the technology how to make ultra miniature keyboards. That keyboard was just the proof of the concept.
The general idea is much broader, it allows any pin layouts (rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, linear...), number of pins per symbol (even less then 1 per symbol, we have 36 pins for 60 symbols layout), different symbol layouts (you even can have your own, because symbols are printed at the keyplate, not at keycaps; for example we have full Japanese Kana keyboard), etc, etc.... It's very cheap in production and most compact we know.
It could be easily fine tuned for any device, so it's not just a particular keyboard, but just the new concept of keyboard, and like with regular or mini keyboards, you can make any device-specific implementations.

Best regards,
Yevgeniy Kuzmin
www.UniTap.net

[maximus]

how about these ?

http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/rob_keyboard.html

http://www.canesta.com/products.htm

[yevgeniy]

how about these ?

http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/rob_keyboard.html

http://www.canesta.com/products.htm

Well, it requires a lot of flat surface, 2 hands, is expensive, requires extra power, works well only indoor. In such conditions I prefer to use regular keyboard. UniTap keyboard is less then 2 sq. inches, 1 hand, cost a few cents, no power consumption, work anywhere ( it could be even waterproof ), could support any layout.