Microsoft Patents Eye-Tracking Keyboard

While some of us still prefer tapping out keys on the keyboard when typing on our smartphones and tablets, there are some who believe that using keyboards like Swype is a faster alternative. For those who are unfamiliar with Swype, it’s basically a keyboard that lets you slide your finger over the letters you want to type out words.

Well wouldn’t it be more awesome if you could type out words and sentences in that method, except using your eyes? Well that’s an idea that Microsoft has and one that they have recently patented. The idea is similar to swiping keyboards, except that in this case the system would be able to recognize your eye movements instead, so users can glance left and right, up and down to type out their words.

So in what kind of systems could such an idea work for? Using it in head-mounted displays could be a possibility. Imagine being able to type out an email or a document while wearing a headset like Google Glass just by using your eyes. We have to admit that while it does sound like a clever idea, it also seems like it could end up being a bit tiring on your eyes to having to continuously dart around looking for the different keys, but what do you guys think?

Is this a feature you’d like to see in your future smartphone/tablet or head-mounted displays?

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Microsoft, Patent