Efficient Special Character Entry on a Virtual Keyboard by Hand Gesture-Based Mode Switching

Abstract

The need to support efficient text input in virtual reality continues to attract significant research attention. However, much of this research understandably focuses exclusively on core text input tasks involving the entry of standard alphabetic characters. The less common though still critical task of entering special characters is often ignored. In this paper we focus on this niche use case as chiefly encountered when entering passwords. Current commercial virtual keyboards allow users to switch between different layers of the keyboard in order to access capital letters, numerals and special characters by pressing an explicit mode-switch button. We propose a new method of switching between layers of a virtual keyboard using hand gestures. Critically, these hand gestures are seamlessly performed in conjunction with key selections to deliver an efficient and intuitive interaction. We report on a user study with 16 participants entering standard passwords comparing our gesture-based mode switching approach to a conventional button-based baseline. We find that with practice our proposed method results in significantly faster entry rates without any deterioration in accuracy. Feedback from users also indicates that our technique is considered efficient and comfortable to use.

Handwriting for Efficient Text Entry in Industrial VR Applications: Influence of Board Orientation and Sensory Feedback on Performance

“…Mid-air keyboard typing can be improved by personalizing keyboards sizes and layouts [37]. Hand gestures can be used to switch efficiently between keyboard types to improve special character entry [38]. Historically, mid-air typing relies on expensive extra devices such as gloves [5] or sensors [50].…”

HotGestures: Complementing Command Selection and Use with Delimiter-Free Gesture-Based Shortcuts in Virtual Reality

“…Human hands play a significant role to complete physical tasks and communicate with other users in the real world, and Mixed Reality (MR) devices offer an extension of this experience by replacing or enhancing the real world with additional 3D information and interaction, supporting activities such as bare-handed 3D drawing [15]. As hand-tracking technology becomes more accessible and robust, VR research has started to focus on hand gestures as a more natural and intuitive way of interaction [29], opening up possibilities for new ways of efficient interaction, such as the selection of special characters by gesture switching [55]. Masurovsky et al [33] compared free-hand interaction with controller interaction in a simple grab-and-place task.…”