Ask HN: Can iPhone camera be used to give you a full size keyboard?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=761798

by amichail • 17 years ago

5 17 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The idea is that you would type on the table and the iPhone would watch your fingers and infer which (imaginary) keys you are pushing.

yan• 17 years ago

How would something like that work? The iPhone would have to be between you and the keyboard which would make for awkward computing. I do like the ideas of using the iPhone's input devices for creative purposes though.

jacquesm3• 17 years ago

neat idea! that would apply to any smartphone I would think...

have you seen these ?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/keyboards-mice/8193/

amichail7• 17 years ago

What I propose wouldn't require a laser. It might work with the iPhone as is.

jacquesm3• 17 years ago

Yes, I got that, I was just wondering if you had seen that device.

kierank• 17 years ago

You'd need some form of delineator.

amichail7• 17 years ago

Wouldn't relative finger position be sufficient?

sundeep3• 17 years ago

you'd need to know where 'Q' was , absolutely , for you to know where "W" , "E" , "R" , "T" and "Y" were relative to that.

But pretty cool idea though ...

dzlobin• 17 years ago

Which way are you imagining this? The way I see it, your arms would get in the way

amichail7• 17 years ago

I just found out that the iPhone camera is on the back. (I have an iPod touch, which has no camera.)

You could type behind the iPhone while viewing the screen.

Or you could turn the device around to point the camera towards you and type while listening to a speech synthesizer read your typing.

asimjalis• 17 years ago

Here is another thought. Could you use the sound the fingers make as they tap on the table to figure out what key was pressed? This might be hard on a normal table. So a workaround could be a simple keyboard hardware device that emits a different inaudible frequency for each key. Now if two people are using this device near each other that wouldn't work. Wait. What about just using a keyboard with bluetooth. The iPhone can pick that up. That should solve all the issues. I am sure someone could make some money on a device like this.

Ask HN: Can iPhone camera be used to give you a full size keyboard?

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