MicroPointing mini-mouse fits your ring, guarantees hands-free use on touchscreens

Remember how the Bluetooth hands-free devices changed the way we held conversations on our cell phones? Well, this ultra-small touchpad promises to do the same for everything else we do on our touchscreen smartphones. Standing at a miniscule one square millimeter, the super-small touchpad is small enough to neatly fit on a ring which makes it a delicious new feature to look out for in smart devices.

MicroPointing mini-mouse ring

The small wonder is created by a relatively young Israeli firm that goes by the unimaginative name of a MicroPointing. Equipped with three sensors, the micro touchpad is sensitive enough to detect the pressure created by your fingertip as you move it across the sensor’s control area. The patent application filed by the company reveals that sensors are set atop miniature posts that are fitted just a few tenths of a millimeter apart on the device which, if you want a real-time comparison, is actually tinier than the size of the edge of the tips of your fingers!

The touchpad's surface senses the motion of your fingertip moving across the sensors which interpret the motion via a secret algorithm that helps the device pick up detailed data from the pressure exerted on the three sensors.

The company is looking to find a space for the device in the smart phone market where it would separate mouse controls from the main touch screens which is so far an untapped market. Since the super-small, super-sensitive device takes up surprisingly small space, we could very well see it tucked away on the edges of devices leaving the larger screen area free. The miniature device could also be put up on both sides of handheld gaming devices or even on your gaming-specific phones where you would be able to use your gadget as a two-hand game controller.

MicroPointing has revealed plans to offer the embedded touchpad across a variety of platforms including Notebook PCs, smart phones, remote controls, game controllers, digital cameras, and even steering wheels and dashboards on vehicles. According to MicroPointing's vice president of business development, Avi Rosenzweig, the tiny touchpad could be seen in featured on devices sometime in the later half of next year.

Via: Israel21c/CNet