No Press, No Stress: When Fingers Fly - The New York Times
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`11/19/15, 12:04 PM
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`January 24, 2002
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`No Press, No Stress: When Fingers Fly
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`By SALLYMcGRANE
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`TWO years ago, Wayne Westerman,a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Delaware, had a problem.
`His dissertation was almost due, and he couldn'ttype more than one page a day because of repetitive
`stress problems that had begun when he was an undergraduate."I couldn't stand to press the buttons
`anymore," he said.
`For Mr. (now Dr.) Westerman,work also provided a solution. His dissertationin the university's
`electrical and computer engineering departmentinvolved the developmentof a keyless keyboard,one
`that did not requirethe same degree of finger pressure. This new approach to entering data allowed
`Dr. Westerman,now a visiting assistant professor in the same department,to finish his dissertation
`and eventually to be free of symptoms.
`Dr. Westermanand his co-developer,John G. Elias, a professorin the department,are trying to
`markettheir technologyto others whose injuries might preventthemfrom using a computer.The
`TouchStream Mini from their company,FingerWorks (www.fingerworks.com), uses a thin sensor
`array that recognizes fingers as they move over the keyboard. The sensors monitor disturbancesin the
`touch pad's electric field, not pressure, so typing requires only a very light touch. Unhnnillar touch
`pads on hand-held computersor on laptops, which only recognize input from a single point, this
`surface can processinformation from multiple points, allowing for more rapid typing.
`"We thoughttherewould alreadybe something out there that would do multifinger input," Mr.
`Westerman said. "We endedup building the whole thing from scratch."
`The TouchStream technology also replacescomputer mouse movementswith gestures across the
`screen. To issue commands,the user runs various finger combinations over the pad. For "cut," the
`thumb and middle finger are pulledtogether in a snippingmotion, and for "open," the thumb and next
`three fingers are drawn in a circle on the pad, as if they are opening a jar. ("Close" is the opposite
`motion.) Because the software knows the differencebetween a typing movement and a mouse or
`command gesture, the user can give mouse commandsanywhere on the pad, even right on top of the
`keyboard area.
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`http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/no-press-no-stress-when-fingers-fly.html?pagewanted=print
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`No Press, No Stress: When Fingers Fly - The New York Times
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`11/19/15, 12:04 PM
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`"A lot of electrical engineers come at the problem of input and go immediatelyto voice recognition,"
`Dr. Westermansaid. Becausehe had studied piano for 12 years, he said, the idea of using the
`technologywith multiple fingers made sense to him.
`FingerWorks is just beginningto offer commercial products for sale at its Web site. The TouchStream
`Mini is $199; the largerTouchStream Stealth, which includes an extensive two-handed-gestureset, is
`$329. The iGesture Pad, which supplants the mouse and number pad, is $189.
`Graciela Perez, managerof the lab ergonomics program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
`Mexico, bought one of the FingerWorkskeyboards for its ergonomics demonstration room. "The whole
`concept is really good," she said. Although the keyboard is not the right size for a personwith small
`hands, she added, "people really like it."
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`~~~~~
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`"Most of our people are on computers with keyboardtrays with the mouse to one side, so the shoulder
`is out or even worse, back," Ms. Perez said. "There's also an anticipatoryreflex with mouse work: as
`someone waits for the next window to come up, theyhold onto the mouse for dear life." The
`FingerWorks keyboard, she said, "forces you to relax. It appreciably reduces force and repetitive issues
`and encourages dynamic motion."
`The keyboardsoftware is not configured to change key sizes for users with hands of various sizes
`because the keyboard overlay, which shows users where the keys are, is static. Mr. Elias and Dr.
`Westermanhope to incorporate a key-size option in the future.
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`FingerWorks may ultimately introducehandwritingin additionto gestures as an alternative to
`traditional typing and mousing. In theory, said Mr. Elias, the touch pad could be as thin as a sheet of
`paper and cover an entire tabletop. At the touch of a fingertip, the tabletop pad's software could
`reconfigure from a keyboard to a game console to the keys of a musical instrument.No real keys would
`exist. "You could spill coffee on it," he said.
`Drawing: RELAXING -- The Stealth and other TouchStreamkeyboardsmonitor disturbancesin the
`pad's electric field, not key pressure.Even gestures can be commands.
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`http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/no-press-no-stress-when-fingers-fly.html?pagewanted=print
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`Page 2 of 2
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`SCEA Ex. 1030 Page 2