What’s the next big idea in computer interfaces? While we’re still largely stuck clacking away on keyboards, the advent of the mouse and graphical user interface decades ago, were breakthroughs that offered easier access to information and a more familiar, visual experience.
More recent advances, like voice recognition and touchscreens (particularly on mobile devices), have helped make computers easier to use. Now Microsoft is looking at ways the display itself might adapt to user’s needs. Hardware Central has the story.
Microsoft filed for a patent last week on a display screen technology that may make touch screens much more tactile in the future by physically morphing the surface of the screen
—
say, to create a real keyboard or buttons on a smooth surface.
The secret to the technology is to produce touch screens that have a layer that deforms when exposed to various light wavelengths, including infrared.