Skinput Technology

Skinput Technology is a revolutionary input technology which uses the skin as the tracking surface or the unique input device and has the potential to change the way humans interact with electronic gadgets.

Skinput system listens to the sounds made by tapping on parts of a body and pairs those sounds with actions that drive tasks on a computer or cell phone.

The primary goals of skin put are

Always-Available Input Bio-Acoustics Sensing

Goals of Skinput

Skinput, a novel input technique has been introduced that allows the skin to be used as a finger input surface.

Examples for Always-Available Input are A)Speech Input B)Glove Based Input

Always-Available Input

Acoustics is defined as the branch of physics which deals with the process of generation, reception and propagation of sound.

Acoustic energy is transmitted in the form of I)Transverse waves II)Longitudinal waves

Bio-Acoustics

Transverse wave propagation: Finger impacts displace the skin, creating transverse waves (ripples). Thesensor is activated as the wave passes underneath it.

Longitudinal wave propagation: Finger impactscreate longitudinal (compressive) waves that

cause internal skeletal structures to vibrate. This, in turn, creates longitudinal waves that emanate outwards from the bone (along its entire length) toward the skin.

Sensing technologies available are bone conduction microphones, conventional microphones coupled with stethoscopes , piezo contact microphones , and accelerometers.

Because only a specific set of frequencies is conducted through the arm in response to tap input, a flat response curve leads to the capture of irrelevant frequencies and thus to a high signal-to-noise ratio.

Sensing

To overcome these challenges, we moved away from a single sensing element with a flat response curve, to an array of highly tuned vibration sensors. Specifically, we employ small, cantilevered piezo films.

By adding small weights to the end of the cantilever, they were able to alter the resonant frequency, allowing the sensing element to be responsive to a unique, narrow, low-frequency band of the acoustic spectrum.

Skinput is a combination of two technologies. They are

I) Tiny Pico Projector II)Acoustic Detector

Technologies Used

Tiny Pic0 Projector comprises four main parts:

A)The electronics B) The laser light sources C)The combiner optic and D)the scanning mirrors.

Tiny Pico Projector

An acoustic detector can detect the acoustic signals generated by such actions as flicking. And convert them to electronic signals enabling users to perform simple tasks as browsing through a mobile phone menu, making calls, controlling portable music players, etc. It recognizes skin taps on corresponding locations of the body based on bone and soft tissue variation.

Acoustic Detector

It needs Bluetooth connection. It uses a microchip-sized Pico projector to

display menu. An acoustic detector to detect sound

vibrations.

How it Works

Armband Prototype

There is no need to interact with the gadgets directly.

There is no need to worry about the size of the keypad.

The problem that is occurred to the people with large fingers in navigating with the mobile will be solved.

More suitable for persons with sight impairments since it is easier to operate even with eyes closed.

Advantages

A novel, wearable bio-acoustic sensing array is described which can be built into an armband in order to detect and localize finger taps on the forearm and hand. Results from the experiments are shown that the system performs very well for a series of gestures, even when the body is in motion.

The Skinput doesn’t require any markers to be worn and it is more suitable for persons with sight impairments since it is much easier to operate it even with eyes closed.

Conclusion

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinputhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/

2010/04/100406125547.htmhttp://www.techvert.com/skinput-uses-arm-as-

input-device/http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/

people/ssaponas/publications/xrds16-4-p30-tan.pdf

References

Queries