Numeric Keypad Research Articles

Eyes-free interaction with free-hand gestures and auditory menus

Auditory interfaces can overcome visual interfaces when a primary task, such as driving, competes for the attention of a user controlling a device, such as radio. In emerging interfaces enabled by camera tracking, auditory displays may also provide viable alternatives to visual displays. This paper presents a user study of interoperable auditory and visual menus, in which control gestures remain the same in the visual and the auditory domain. Tested control methods included a novel free-hand gesture interaction with camera-based tracking, and touch screen interaction with a tablet. The task of the participants was to select numbers from a visual or an auditory menu including a circular layout and a numeric keypad layout. Results show, that even with participant's full attention to the task, the performance and accuracy of the auditory interface are the same or even slightly better than the visual when controlled with free-hand gestures. The auditory menu was measured to be slower in touch screen interaction, but questionnaire revealed that over half of the participants felt that the circular auditory menu was faster than the visual menu. Furthermore, visual and auditory feedback in touch screen interaction with numeric layout was measured fastest, touch screen with circular menu second fastest, and the free-hand gesture interface was slowest. The results suggest that auditory menus can potentially provide a fast and desirable interface to control devices with free-hand gestures.

Lists, Spatial Practice and Assistive Technologies for the Blind

Lists, Spatial Practice and Assistive Technologies for the Blind

The impact of candidate display styles for Japanese and Chinese characters on input efficiency

Entering non-alphabetic text for languages such as Japanese and Chinese into a computer typically consists of typing Roman character-based phonemes and selecting the intended Japanese or Chinese character from a list of homophonic candidates. This paper presents a study of four candidate display styles. Three of them, Vertical, Horizontal, and Compact-Horizontal, are used in commercial products. The fourth style, Matrix, is novel. The candidate display style is studied in conjunction with various manual selection devices including Mouse, Numeric Keys, Spacebar, Cursor Key, and Numeric Keypad. Results show that a great deal of time is taken to choose the correct character in both Chinese and Japanese input. The candidate display style affects both input efficiency and subjective preference. Results also show that the Compact-Horizontal display style outperforms other display styles with a normal keyboard but the Matrix display style is the most efficient when used with a Numeric Keypad due to stimulus–response compatibility and the movement efficiency of such a design.

Efeitos do conhecimento de resultados autocontrolado na aprendizagem motora

O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar três diferentes estratégias de fornecer conhecimento de resultados (CR): autocontrolado, yoked pareado por tentativa e yoked pareado pela frequência média total de CR, na prática aleatória. A amostra foi constituída por 45 voluntários universitários, distribuídos em três grupos (n= 15 sujeitos). A tarefa consistiu em pressionar as teclas 2, 4, 8 e 6 do teclado numérico de um computador, em três diferentes tempos alvo (700, 900 e 1100 ms), praticados aleatoriamente. O experimento constou de fase de aquisição e testes de retenção e transferência atrasados. A análise dos dados foi realizada por meio da ANOVA e não foi constatada diferença significativa entre os grupos. Os resultados demonstraram que não houve efeito das frequências autocontroladas para a aprendizagem motora quando se utiliza a prática aleatória. Além disso, uma nova possibilidade de parear o grupo autocontrolado foi apresentada.

The Effect of Oddball Events on Time Perception

Many studies indicated that factors such as attention and motion play a critical role in time perception. However, it is not clear how subjective time for an unexpected event will be changed, compared with that for an expected event. The present study investigated this question by using two kinds of stimuli, one of them is the low-frequency oddball as the unexpected event and the other is the high-frequency standard as the expected event. In all trials, the standard was a square in line drawing and the duration was fixed to 1000 ms, whereas the oddball was a circle and the duration was set to one of seven durations from 500ms to 1100ms. After the standard was presented successively 4 times to 8 times (6 times on average), the oddball was presented once. Therefore, one session consisted of 34 oddballs intermixed with the 204 standards. Participants were required to estimate the duration for each oddball by using numeric keypad based on the magnitude estimation method. The results showed that durations for ...

Influence de la préparation d’une atteinte manuelle sur l’orientation initiale de l’attention lors d’une tâche de recherche visuelle

This paper deals with the links between spatial attention and reaching movement's motor preparation. During a visual search task, participants prepare to manually reach a button of the numeric keypad and execute it when they find an intruder on the screen. The experimental devices allowed us to control two directions: on the one hand, the direction of the response button's manual reach (on the horizontal plane) and on the other hand, the direction of the intruder's direct attentional reach, starting from the fixation point (on the vertical plane). The results show that: (a) reaction times are shorter when there is a directional congruence between these two directions than when there is incongruence; (b) this effect is significant when attention is voluntarily shifted, whereas it is no longer significant when attention is automatically captured by an intruder. These results suggest that visual search's initial direction is determined by the prepared manual reach. These data are discussed in the premotor theory of attention's framework.

Postural benefits for children and adults when using the mouse next to a small keyboard

Studies have shown that there are adverse performance and postural impacts when children use standard, adult-sized computer mice; however, the impact of children using adult-sized keyboards has been less rigorously evaluated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were any postural and performance differences when children and adults used the mouse next to a standard 104 key keyboard with a numeric keypad compared to a small, more compact keyboard without a numeric keypad. A total of 42 subjects, including 28 adults and 14 children between the ages 6–8 participated in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a series of standardized point-and-click tasks using a standard-sized mouse with both the standard and small keyboard. During mouse operation arm abduction and forearm rotation were measured using overhead photographs, and mouse performance was characterized by measuring movement times and the time it took to press-and-release (click) the left mouse button. Compared to the standard keyboard, both children and adults had less arm abduction (p < 0.10) and external rotation of the forearm (p < 0.05) when using the mouse next to the small keyboard. When comparing children to adults, children worked with significantly more arm abduction with both keyboards; however there were no significant differences between children and adults in internal and external rotation of the forearm. When comparing performance, children took almost twice as long to move the mouse between targets (p < 0.05) and were slightly faster when operating the mouse next to the small keyboard. In addition, compared to adults, it took children twice as long to press and release the mouse button. The study findings indicate that children would benefit from a postural standpoint if computer manufacturers sold, and schools and parents purchased, computers with smaller keyboards. The two-fold difference between children and adults in the time it took actuate the mouse button indicate that mouse button activation forces may need to be lower for children.

Language effects in addition: How you say it counts

This study aimed to investigate the role of language in calculation. Two populations were compared, one with a base-10 language, and another (Basque) in which number words are constructed by combining multiples of 20 and units or teens (e.g., "35" is said "twenty and fifteen"). Experiment 1 asked participants to verbally solve additions presented as Arabic digits. Basque participants solved the additions that consisted of a multiple of 20 and a teen (e.g., 20 + 15) faster than controls with identical answers (e.g., 25 + 10). No differences were found in the base-10 language group. Experiment 2 replicated this result even if participants had to type the answer on a numerical keypad, instead of saying it. Hence, the structure of number words in each of the languages influenced the way additions were solved, even if language was not necessary for conducting the task. Finally, in Experiment 3, both language groups performed a numerical comparison task in which no effects of the structure of number words were obtained. Results of the three experiments are discussed in light of current models of numerical cognition.

Usability evaluation of randomized keypad

In this work, the usability of a randomized numeric keypad was examined and compared to the usability of a conventional numeric keypad. The comparison used completion time measurements and the error rate of short (4-digit) and long (8-digit) PINs to contrast efficiency and accuracy of the keypads. The results showed that the average completion time with a randomized keypad is longer than with a conventional keypad. Additionally, the number of errors with a randomized keypad was significantly higher than with a conventional keypad, particularly when using long PINs. Accordingly, a randomized numeric keypad is more applicable to tasks with short (4-digit) PINs.

VersaCount: customizable manual tally software for cell counting

BackgroundThe manual counting of cells by microscopy is a commonly used technique across biological disciplines. Traditionally, hand tally counters have been used to track event counts. Although this method is adequate, there are a number of inefficiencies which arise when managing large numbers of samples or large sample sizes.ResultsWe describe software that mimics a traditional multi-register tally counter. Full customizability allows operation on any computer with minimal hardware requirements. The efficiency of counting large numbers of samples and/or large sample sizes is improved through the use of a "multi-count" register that allows single keystrokes to correspond to multiple events. Automatically updated multi-parameter values are implemented as user-specified equations, reducing errors and time required for manual calculations. The user interface was optimized for use with a touch screen and numeric keypad, eliminating the need for a full keyboard and mouse.ConclusionsOur software provides an inexpensive, flexible, and productivity-enhancing alternative to manual hand tally counters.

Reproducible Measurement of Macular Light Flash Recovery Time Using a Novel Device Can Indicate the Presence and Worsening of Macular Diseases

Purpose: To determine the safety, sensitivity, and specificity of a novel flash photorecovery timing instrument with response verification in differentiating normal from abnormal maculae, and in detecting worsening macular disease. Methods: Right and left eye photorecovery times were determined at baseline and after 5 min using a xenon arc, flash filtered for infrared, ultraviolet, and visible short wavelengths, delivered through an aperture in a hand-held tube. A push-button actuated timer and flash and stopped timer when lighted numbers became visible post-flash. A numeric keypad verified responses. Normal subjects (two eyes tested, n = 144; one eye tested, n = 108) ranged in age from 15 to 84. Photorecovery times were measured in one eye of subjects with small drusen and 20/20 acuity (53–55 correct ETDRS letters; n = 57); in both eyes of subjects with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD; n = 118); wet AMD with (n = 19) or without (n = 17) macular fluid; and eyes of diabetics with background retinopathy with (n = 19) or without (n = 17) macular retinal thickening. Once-weekly photorecovery measurements for 6 months in each eye of 10 dry AMD subjects and 10 dry diabetic maculopathy subjects provided longitudinal data. Results: Normal subjects' mean right eye recovery time was 9.6 sec (± 1.9 SD); left 10.8 sec (± 1.0 SD). Photorecovery lengthened after age 55, nearly doubling that of young subjects by age 80. Macular edema, serous macular detachment, or worsened dry AMD were accompanied by prolonged photorecovery (p <. 01). When abnormal new vessels or retinal thickening appeared in three serially followed patients, photorecovery at least doubled (p <. 01). In all three, photorecovery prolongation occurred without clinical symptoms. None of the 499 tested subjects reported adverse events due to the flash testing. Conclusions: These findings support the usefulness of a reproducible light flash macular vision recovery measurement as an indicator of macular pathology and worsening disease.

Visual short‐term memory for unfamiliar visual stimuli

Purpose: Visual short‐term memory (VSTM) for briefly presented visual stimuli has been estimated at 4–6 items for real‐world objects (Luck and Vogel, 1997). To measure the fundamental capacity of VSTM the use of real‐world objects is undesirable, since estimates are confounded by verbal descriptors and/or long‐term memory support (Olsson and Poom, 2005). The purpose of this study is to measure the accuracy and capacity of VSTM for unfamiliar, non‐categorical visual stimuli.Method: Stimuli were random grayscale noise patterns subtending 2°× 2, displayed at a distance of 57 cm. A series of reference stimuli were presented sequentially at the centre of a computer display for 500 ms each. Following this, a blank interval of 500 ms, and then a test stimulus were displayed. Signal present test stimuli originated from a random index in the study series. The probability of a signal present trial was 50%. Observers were instructed to indicate, via a numeric keypad, if the test stimulus was present in the study series (yes/no). Series length was increased from 1 to 5 across blocks of trials. The number of blocks completed for each series length, S, was 2S, where each block comprised 100 trials (i.e. 3000 trials per observer were completed). Four normal/corrected‐to‐normal observers participated in the study. The number of objects encoded in VSTM was calculated using Cowan's formula (Cowan, 2001).Results: Across series lengths 1–5, average performance rate (pooled across observers) decreased exponentially from 95% for series length 1, to 60% for series length 5. The number of stimuli encoded in VSTM, determined using Cowan's formula, was found to be 1.52, achieved for series length 3. Beyond series length 3, the number of items encoded was found to decrease, at 0.92, 1.30, 1.52, 1.35 and 1.40 for series lengths 1–5, respectively. For series lengths &gt; 1, large recency effects were found by analysis of the reference indices of correctly identified signal present test stimuli.Conclusions: We find that the capacity of VSTM for serially presented non‐categorical visual stimuli is limited to 1.5 items, in line with VSTM capacity estimates of Olsson and Poom (2005), rather than the more commonly cited 4–6 items (Cowan, 2001; Luck and Vogel, 1997), and is seen to decrease exponentially with increases in series length or decreases in recency. A suite of related experiments are underway to construct a memory performance model under varying stimulus presentation scenarios, including parallel display and variable location.

전화기 숫자 자판을 이용한 대화형 한글 문자 입력 방법

휴대용 단말기의 숫자 자판을 이용해서 보다 편리하게 한글을 입력할 수 있도록 하는 대화형 방식을 제시하였다. 사용자는 입력하고자 하는 글자의 해당 자소가 있는 키를 한 번씩 눌러 키 시퀀스를 발생시킨다. 인터페이스는 사용자가 입력한 키 시퀀스에 대해 조합 가능한 모든 글자를 발생 시키고 사용자는 발생된 글자 중에서 입력하고자 하는 글자를 선택하도록 한다. 이를 통해 기존의 방법에서 공통으로 사용되는 수동적이고 일차원적인 자소 중심의 인터페이스를 상호 작용이 가능한 입체적인 글자 중심의 방법으로 개선 가능하다. 이 방법은 최종 글자의 입력을 완료하기 위해 필요한 글자 선택의 과정이 부가적으로 필요하지만, 기존 방법의 가장 큰 단점인 멀티탭과 불분명한 음소의 결정을 위한 키 조작의 불편함을 근본적으로 없앨 수 있다. 또한 모든 글자의 입력이 필기 순서와 동일하게 기본 자소에 의해 입력이 가능함으로 사용자의 문자입력에 대한 복잡도를 감소시킬 수 있다. 제안된 방법의 장단점을 실험을 통해 기존의 방법과 비교하였다. An interactive Hangul input method using the numeric phone keypad, which is applicable for mobile devices is introduced. In the proposed method, user only selects the corresponding keys by single tapping, for the alphabet of Korean letter which is desired to enter. The interface generates the subset of eligible letters for the key sequence, then the user selects the desired letter in the set. Such an interactive approach transforms the text entry interface into a multi-level interactive letter-oriented style, from the preexisting passive and single-level alphabet-oriented interface. The annoyance of key-operations, the major disadvantage of the previous methods, derived from multi-tap to clear the ambiguity of multi-assigned alphabets for the Hangul automata, can be eliminated permanently, while the additional letter selection procedure to finalize the desired letter is essential. Also the complexity of Hangul text entry is reduced since all letters can be compounded from basic alphabet selection of the writing sequence order. The advantage and disadvantage of the proposed method are analyzed through comparing with pre-existing method by experiments.

Phonology In Text Messages

Text messages operate on a protocol which allows from 148 to160 characters per message, including spaces between words. In such a highly circumscribed environment, writing is seriously hampered by the limited space and the usage of the numeric phone keypad. Thus, the advent of a new quality of the text language, sometimes referred to as “textese”, was inevitable under those conditions. One of the characteristics of text messages is frequent deletion of letters in orthographical forms, like in the following example: IfYaMthWozNEBiGrUWdntHavNEFAcLft2Wsh (if your mouth was any bigger you wouldn’t have anything else left to wash). In order to investigate the nature of letter deletions in text messages a study was undertaken, which analyzed ten examples of text messages coming from various sources. The aim of the study was to determine whether the deletion of letters was regular, the general prediction being that text messages are decoded via the mediation of their phonemic representations (or via mental reading). It was speculated that the regularities were governed by phonological principles such as the semiotic “figure and ground” principle (Dressler 1996) and the “rich-get-richer” principle (Donegan 1978/1985). The results demonstrate that phonology is very likely to govern reductions albeit without any recourse to the prosody level.More specifically, phonology apparently affects the pattern of deletions in text messages, whereas there is a marked tendency that stress assignment does not determine the nature of deletions.

Inventions on Reducing Number of Keys on a Computer Keyboard

A computer keyboard consists of several sections and each section consists of several numbers of keys. The text entry section contains the standard character keys, navigation section contains cursor movement and page control keys, numeric keypad contains numeric keys and function keys section contain function keys and special keys. Although the increased number of keys helps smooth interaction with a computer there are situations where it is necessary to reduce the number of keys. The need for reducing number of keys in a keyboard creates a technical contradiction. Generally more number of keys can support more number of functions and less number of keys can support less number of functions. We need more number of functions (all the functions available in a full size keyboard), but we want only less number of keys (Contradiction). This contradiction has been solved by using multi-stroke mechanism. There may be different purposes to reduce the number of keys in a keyboard. Some of them intend to reduce the size of the keyboard while some others intend to increase the speed of typing. But all of these inventions use multi-stroke mechanism to generate more number of signals from less number of keys.

10 Inventions on Reducing Keyboard Size

A conventional computer keyboard consists of as many as 101 keys. The keyboard has several sections, such as text entry section, navigation section, and numeric keypad etc. and each having several keys on the keyboard. The size of the keyboard is a major inconvenience for portable computers, as they cannot be carried easily. Thus there are certain circumstances which compels to reduce the size of a keyboard. Reducing the size of a keyboard leads to several problems. A reduced size keyboard may not contain all the keys available on a full size keyboard; a reduced size keyboard may not be convenient to operate, a reduced size keyboard may have a different key layout which is difficult to learn etc. This article illustrates 10 inventions on reducing the size of the keyboard. Various inventions have attempted to solve the contradictions so that the user achieves the benefits of both "reduced size" and "typing comfort".

Handheld Wireless Point of Sale Systems in the Restaurant Industry

As surprising as it may seem, handheld ordering systems have been around for over 20 years. The first handheld system that came on the market used numeric keypads to enter the PLU codes from items and infrared transmitter/receivers to relay the information between the handhelds and the point of sale (POS) system. Handheld wireless POS systems are a portable version of a POS system which is defined as the time and place in which a transaction is made. Point of sale computer systems include: cash registers, optical scanners, magnetic card readers, and special terminals. Handheld wireless POS systems used for hospitality, more specifically food service, will be the main focus for this paper. This includes events such as taking food orders and the inventory/ordering process. Customers are the reasons restaurants are in business, and the time saved by using a handheld device (versus waiting in line to place an order on a traditional POS system that averages over four minutes per order) can be used to better serve the guests. Those four minutes also lead to drinks and meals being ready quicker and, throughout an evening, those minutes equate to greater table turnover and more profits.It is these benefits which lead to cost savings and return on investment for the purchase of a handheld POS system.

Evaluation on a keystroke authentication system by keying force incorporated with temporal characteristics of keystroke dynamics

This paper presents the study to develop and evaluate techniques to authenticate valid users, using the keystroke dynamics of a user's PIN number entry on a numerical keypad, with force sensing resistors. Added with two conventional parameter lists of elements, i.e. digraph latency times and key hold times, keying force was chosen as a third element. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment was to evaluate whether the three types of elements derived from keystrokes have a significant effect for subjects and to examine how trials and session effects generated the variation of the three elements. The second experiment was to demonstrate the system performance by calculating the False Rejection Rate (FRR) and the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of the system. In the second experiment, a total of 20 keystrokes were recorded from each subject one week after the memorizing session, in order to evaluate the FRR of the system. To evaluate the FAR of the system, the subjects pretended to be impostors, and therefore they repeatedly watched videotaped pass trials made by a valid user as many times as they desired, and tried to imitate the keystroke dynamics of the valid users. The subject's keystrokes were then evaluated on whether they could fool the system. The first experiment, ANOVA revealed that a significant effect of subject was found on each of all three elements. Trial was not significantly affected to digraph latency times and peak force; however, it was significantly affected to key hold times. There was a trend that keystroke dynamics characterized by each element showed reformation of their patterns and reached a steady state over the 10 weeks of experimental sessions. The results of the second experiment showed the average equal error rate to be 2.4%. The results of system performance were compared with those of other studies and concluded that it was difficult to obtain enough information to behave as a perfect impostor by monitoring the videotaped keystrokes.

Chinese character entry for mobile phones: a longitudinal investigation

The increasing popularity of Short Message Services (SMS) in China highlights the need for effective and efficient methods for entering Chinese text on mobile phones. While stroke-based methods have potential advantages over pronunciation-based solutions, usability issues have limited the effectiveness of existing stroke-based methods. One significant usability challenge has been the ambiguous stroke-to-key mapping rules that are typically employed. We proposed a new solution that employs a combination of abstract symbols and example strokes to help users map strokes to keys more effectively. A longitudinal experiment was used to evaluate character entry performance using both objective and subjective measures for our new design as well as the existing solution. The results confirmed that a new design allows for improved performance as well as higher satisfaction levels as compared to the original design. Further, after approximately 1 h of experience with the stroke-based method, novices were able to enter Chinese text at speeds comparable to that observed with the pronunciation-based Pinyin method. Results showed that the new design provided users with a better understanding of the system throughout the study, beginning with their first exposure to the keypad. By utilizing a combination of abstract representations and concrete examples of the available strokes, the new design reduced the ambiguity that typically exists regarding stroke-to-key mappings. In this way, usability was improved without any changes to the underlying technologies. Our results demonstrate that stroke-based solutions for Chinese character entry can be effective alternatives for mobile phones, providing an effective alternative for the many individuals who can write Chinese but do not speak the Mandarin dialect that serves as the basis for Pinyin. The improved solution could also be used with a traditional numeric keypad to allow one-handed data entry for desktop or mobile computers.

Standing at a kiosk: Effects of key size and spacing on touch screen numeric keypad performance and user preference

Touch screen input keys compete with other information for limited screen space. The present study estimated the smallest key size that would not degrade performance or user satisfaction. Twenty participants used finger touches to enter one, four or 10 digits in a numeric keypad displayed on a capacitive touch screen, while standing in front of a touch screen kiosk. Key size (10, 15, 20, 25 mm square) and edge-to-edge key spacing (1, 3 mm) were factorially combined. Performance was evaluated with response time and errors, and user preferences were obtained. Spacing had no measurable effects. Entry times were longer and errors were higher for smaller key sizes, but no significant differences were found between key sizes of 20 and 25 mm. Participants also preferred 20 mm keys to smaller keys, and they were indifferent between 20 and 25 mm keys. Therefore, a key size of 20 mm was found to be sufficiently large for land-on key entry.