User Input Devices Research Articles

Multi-media terminal architecture

This paper presents the basic hardware and software architecture of a class of multi-media terminals that are connected to networks which deliver entertainment and home shopping services to consumers. Some important attributes of the multi-media terminal are: simple user input devices (e.g. infrared remote control), real-time interactivity, adherence to international standards for information representation and communication, and support for downloaded applications from service providers. The terminal discussed in this paper is representative of the current offering of the Digital Video Communication Systems (DVS) business unit of Philips. These terminals are the result of close cooperation between research and product divisions of Philips world-wide in the race to compete in the rapidly growing multi-media and communications markets. The current architecture of the terminal reflects the urgency to get to market with a viable solution; therefore the paper gives some indication of future trends for the hardware and software architecture for this class of multi-media terminals.

Applications of sampling musical instruments to simulations and virtual environments

Sampling musical instruments are a powerful resource for virtual environment sound generators. Samplers provide real-time multi-channel playback of digitized audio signals such as individual musical instrument notes or sound effects, under control of real-time user input devices, such as a music keyboard or computer. Samplers also transform the sound through pitch shifting, time-varying amplitude modification (enveloping), filtering, and looping or repeating a section of the sound to create an indefinite sustain from a short representative segment. Interactive simulators can exploit these transformations; pitch shifting can simulate Doppler shift for moving sound sources, and simple models of spatialization can be implemented using amplitude and time delay panning and low-pass filtering. Sampling is analogous to image processing in computer graphics; digitizing and processing of real images (or sounds) may be faster than developing a synthetic model, if the model is even feasible. Sampling and its extensions may thus always offer an advantage over pure model-based approaches.

An Expert System for the Selection of Input Devices

This research effort consisted of the development and implementation of a user interface model in an expert system. The model, User-Input Device Model (UIDM), was composed of three parts: user, device, and task components. The expert system, Input Device Selection Assistant (IDSA), applied primary and secondary measures of ergonomic criteria on combinations of the UIDM components to develop a knowledge base for the selection of an input device. Personal Consultant Plus provided the inference engine to determine the most appropriate device. Results of experimentation and experience taken from human factors literature composed the expertise.