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KeyFlow: Acoustic Motion Sensing for Cursor Control on Any Keyboard

Published: 13 October 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Despite typing being a critical operation in the digital age, users still need to frequently switch between the mouse and keyboard while typing. We introduce KeyFlow, a tool that integrates mouse functionality into the keyboard through machine learning, allowing users to glide their fingers across the keyboard surface to move the cursor. The whole process does not press the keys down to differentiate from normal typing and avoid false touches. KeyFlow uses any computer-built-in microphones to capture the acoustic features of these gliding gestures, requiring no specialized equipment and can be set up and tested independently within 5 minutes. Our user research indicates that, compared to traditional keyboard and mouse methods, this system reduces hand movement distance by 78.3%, making the typing experience more focused.

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References

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    UIST Adjunct '24: Adjunct Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
    October 2024
    394 pages
    ISBN:9798400707186
    DOI:10.1145/3672539
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    Published: 13 October 2024

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    Author Tags

    1. Gesture Recognition
    2. Keyboard
    3. Machine Learning
    4. Passive Acoustic Sensing
    5. Typing Experience

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 355 of 1,733 submissions, 20%

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