How does projection keyboard work

While projection keyboards are relatively new, the technology powering them has been around for several decades. In , engineers working at IBM invented an optical virtual keyboard, which detects hand and finger motions and processes them into commands.

The user would move his or her fingers over a projected virtual screen, at which point the keyboard would interpret the motions into key commands. Fast forward 10 years later and the tech startup company Canesta developed a similar device that involved projecting keyboards onto a flat surface using what it describes as electronic perception technology.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. However, working and basic concepts remain similar.

Here is all you need to know about this super-portable keyboard. The projection keyboard works in three distinct operations. Projection module, Sensor module, and Illumination module make up the assembly.

It can use a projection element, a diffractive optical element, a red laser diode, a sensor, and an infrared laser diode. The projector of the keyboard connects with the device through Bluetooth or USB.

The keyboard assembly typically consists of a laser beam projector. When the user moves their fingers and touches the virtual keys, a sensor or camera in the projector picks up these movements. Software translates these activities into keyboard strokes. The light from the projector is invisible to the user. The user can only see the keyboard image. The image is like a hologram on a plane surface.

Most devices use infrared light for projection. When the fingers touch the keys, the infrared beam is interrupted. The reflected beam passes through an infrared filter. The camera or the sensor detects the angle of the reflected beam to identify which key was touched. It also determines the point at which the infrared beam was broken.

The software accurately registers the keystroke. A Projection keyboard has several benefits over the regular physical keyboard. Below are the top advantages of a projection keyboard. Projection keyboards can be used anywhere. All you need is a flat surface.

You can project the keyboard on a desk, the floor, a wall, or pretty much anywhere else. They can also be used with laptops, computers, smartphones, and tablets. The projection device is very small and lightweight. Hence, it can easily be carried in your pocket anywhere you go. It can be used during traveling, on the go, and in remote places, too.

They are not susceptible to spills. Situated near the bottom of the device is an infrared IR laser diode, which shoots out a thin plane of infrared light. The plane, which is invisible and runs parallel to the surface, rests only millimeters above the image of the keyboard. When you start typing, you pass your fingers through certain areas of the infrared light. A CMOS complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor images your finger's position within the area of the keyboard, and a special sensor chip called a Virtual Interface Processing Core analyzes the location of the intended keystroke.

The device then sends this information to the computer receiving the commands. If it sounds like a gadget from the future, a virtual laser keyboard sort of looks like one, too, especially when it's on full working display. They're small and sleek, weigh about two ounces Most devices either stand up straight on a rectangular base or prop up with the help of a stand that flips out from the back.

Once powered up, the keyboard can connect to a smartphone, PDA or laptop via USB cable or, more commonly, Bluetooth wireless technology. These two connection options allow the virtual laser keyboard to send keystroke information to a word processing document, e-mail or any other program in question.

Although they're small and convenient to carry around, you can't simply pull out the virtual laser keyboard and start typing away in any location. If you were sitting on the bus, for instance, and wanted to write a quick e-mail on your BlackBerry, you couldn't shine the device's red laser onto your lap and expect it to work properly.

Virtual laser keyboards require flat, opaque and non-reflective surfaces for working projection and typing. Once you have the keyboard set up on the right type of surface, the device displays a full-size QWERTY keyboard, which typically contains 60 or more keys.

Then you simply type just like you would on a normal keyboard, although the sensation you normally get when typing on a laptop or desktop -- the pops and clicks associated with the keystrokes punching up and down -- won't be there.

In fact, it takes a little bit of practice for many users to become accustomed to pressing their fingers on a smooth surface. Sign up for our Newsletter! The second most important thing to consider in a laser keyboard is its compatibility with most of the devices.

Most of these keyboards come with Bluetooth connectivity and are thus compatible with almost all and any of the laptops, smartphones and much more. As a few of these even come with a USB connectivity, you can easily hook these up to a PC desktop computer as well with great ease. Here, again, your pick would mostly rely on your choice of connecting device and where you are going to be frequently using the device.

As this is a virtual keyboard that is projected onto a flat surface, brightness is of critical essence. Pick a laser keyboard with the highest of brightness and also, adjustable brightness settings should be present. This gives you the flexibility on choosing to tune the brightness up or down depending on the standing lighting conditions of the atmosphere you are typing in and is a highly useful feature for daylight typing.

A very helpful feature, most of the laser keyboards come with an auto-sleep mode. This essentially puts the keyboard on a low power mode when you are not using it all while not requiring you to restart the device every single time you need to type. Auto sleep also has complementary features such as auto-brightness feature which dims the lighting of the keyboard when you are not typing.

It resumes to full brightness once you are back on the board. Move finger and the device is back to function. Though not a very important nor a very interesting function, a few of these laser keyboards also have a complimentary mouse function. This is a simple projection of the mouse controls on where the keyboard is.

This may be useful for when using a desktop but not so much with laptops or with smartphones,. Though not as a primary function, a lot of these keyboards come with a small speaker fit into them to imitate the sound of the keys while you type.

Nifty and useful but not a complete necessity. Laser keyboards can be programmed to be used for other uses such as imitating a piano keyboard as well. Varying from one product to another, a few of these keyboards let you use a piano keyboard layout for practice and other formats as well changing keyboard formats as well.

Ans: Standard type speed of a laser keyboard range to about an average of characters per minute. While this is standard, the exact and correct number obviously depends on your independent typing ability. As the keyboard is a projected version, your typing bloc may be different from that of a normal keyboard and here, it may affect your end typing speed.

Make sure you factor those into consideration before deciding if this is a perfect fit for you. Ans: No. Though they seem futuristic, laser keyboards are built for being compact and most of them lack decent responsiveness. Owing to this, and the fact that you would not have a lot of key travel and wiggle room which is vital for fast finger movement in gaming , virtual laser keyboards are not suited for gaming.

Ans: Laser virtual keyboards make use of invisible infrared beams below the virtual layout. This helps in recognition of the keys typed in. It was designed in order to protect passwords or sensitive information from any hijacking spyware or trojan horse programs to hack the typed information from a conventional keyboard. While the use of virtual keyboards will significantly reduce the risk of passwords and sensitive data theft, the sheer convenience and mobile nature of the keyboard is another advantage of using a virtual keyboard.

The Serafim Laser Keyboard has a wide range of multiple functions and a unique keystroke friendly round key layout. Apart from that, it has a great compact design and also, most importantly, 4 musical instrument layouts. So its no longer just a keyboard but also your piano, bass, drums or even guitar. Coupled with that, its very large battery of 2, mAH gives you a high 10 hours of run time and time be it, you can also use it as a power bank to charge your mobile.

It can also act as a mobile stand, has great reviews and ratings and all of these factors combine, to make it one of the best virtual laser keyboards you can buy out there. While those were our picks and our opinions, we believe that you hold some great opinions of your own. Did we miss out on anything here?

Or would you like for us to add or delete anything? Or have you got a question of your own? If so, feel free to write to us in the comments section below. Our team will write back to you as soon as possible.