Keyboard Layout For Balanced Typing

Abstract

The present invention discloses a unique ergonomic keyboard layout i.e. the REHAAN BSQ keyboard which can be utilized as an interface for entry of characters and data into electronic devices like computers, smartphones etc. which are operated with hands. The keyboard layout comprises of English alphabets, Roman numerals, and other symbols and characters. The keyboard layout is basically an alphabetically-arranged layout to facilitate use and access to the keys by users who have not yet developed proficiency with the standard QWERTY-style keyboards and could benefit from a design that utilizes both hands more effectively, therefore reducing the risk of stress-related injury. The alphabetically arranged layout has three rows wherein the upper-row comprises of BGPMW.CUFY,V, the home-row comprises of SNITLHEAORD, and the lower-row comprises of Q:;X{[?/}]KJZ|\. This unique keyboard layout provides a better usage of the left and the right hand while also balancing the usage of all fingers.

Claims

1. A Keyboard layout, comprising: a. a first group of keys located on the top row of the main keyboard surface for accepting the command from the user; wherein said first group of keys on the top row includes BGPMW.CUFY, V; b. a second group of keys located on the middle row or home-row of the main keyboard surface for accepting the command from the user; wherein said second group of keys on the middle row includes SNITLHEAORD; and c. a third group of keys located on the lower row of the main keyboard surface for accepting the command from the user, wherein said third group of keys on the lower row includes Q:;X{[?/}]KJZ|\.

2. A keyboard layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein the keys arrangement is such that maximum keys are place in the home-row or middle row which reduces the stress on wrist tendons.

3. A keyboard layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load on the middle finger is reduced while typing and the load is distributed to the pinkie finger and ring finger in the said keyboard layout.

4. A keyboard layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a balance usage of both hands and all the fingers of the user while typing on the said keyboard layout.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates the different fingers of the right and left hand as referenced in this document.

[0015] FIG. 2 represents the unique layout of the REHAAN BSQ keyboard.

[0016] FIG. 3 shows the keys of Rehaan BSQ superimposed on a traditional QWERTY keyboard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The REHAAN BSQ keyboard describes an ergonomic keyboard layout utilized as an interface for the entry of characters and data into electronic devices like computers, smartphones, tablets etc. The keyboard layout comprises of English alphabets, Roman numerals, and other symbols and characters which are arranged in a specified manner to facilitate the user to access all the keys more conveniently. This can also be used by the users who have been newly introduced to the keyboard layout and have not developed proficiency.

[0018] FIG. 1 describes the three rows in the keyboard layout used in the REHAAN BSQ keyboard. The unique keyboard layout comprises of the characters in the following order. There are three rows in the keyboard layout wherein the first or the upper-row comprises of BGPMW.CUFY,V, the second or the home-row comprises of SNITLHEAORD, and the third or the bottom-row comprises of Q:;X{[?/}]KJZ|\.

[0019] The commonly used QWERTY keyboard which was originally designed for typewriters, was purposely laid-out to be inefficient to reduce jamming. As described in the background, the over usage of the QWERTY keyboard led to stress related injuries in the hands of the user.

[0020] Other keyboard layouts like DVORAK and COLEMAK are also in used in several parts of the world. But when the usage and the effects of these all types of keyboard layouts are compared with the REHAAN BSQ keyboard invention, the REHAAN BSQ keyboard seems to be more promising in terms of providing better balance for usage of right and left hand and individual fingers.

[0021] The study was performed using a computer program to analyse the usage of each hand, row and each finger while using the traditional QWERTY, DVORAK and COLEMAK keyboard layouts by using large amounts of data from various classical books, Wikipedia, poems and dissertations. The computer program simulated human-like-typing and analysed row-usage, finger-usage and hand-usage. According to the first study, the QWERTY layout was inefficient in the greatest number of categories.

[0022] The computer program parsed huge amount of text to see how often each alphabetic character is used. Based on how often a particular character, a or f for example, was used, the REHAAN-BSQ layout was designed. The same program that analysed the other keyboard layouts was used to analyse the REHAAN-BSQ. The results of the study are tabulated below.

[0023] The table below represents the statistics relating to the right hand and left hand usage with the keyboard layouts.

TABLE-US-00001 Left Hand Finger Usage in Percentage Ring Middle Index Pinkie Finger Finger Finger Thumb Qwerty Keyboard 14.9% 13.8% 33.8% 37.5% NA Dvorak Keyboard 18.8% 19.3% 29.1% 32.8% NA Colemak Keyboard 17.8% 17.0% 25.7% 39.5% NA REHAAN BSQ 17.8% 20.5% 23.0% 38.7% NA

[0024] The left hand usage of the different keyboard layouts revealed that the usage of the pinkie finger in the REHAAN BSQ is around 17.8%, ring finger in REHAAN BSQ is around 20.5%, middle finger in REHAAN BSQ is around 23.0%, and index finger in REHAAN BSQ is around 38.7%. The Thumb is used only for space bar and is ignored. REHAAN BSQ layout does a better job of increasing the load on the pinkie finger and the ring finger while decreasing the load on the middle finger as compared to the QWERTY keyboard layout.

TABLE-US-00002 Right Hand Finger Usage in Percentage Ring Middle Index Pinkie Finger Finger Finger Thumb Qwerty Keyboard 8.4% 28.6% 21.5% 41.5% NA Dvorak Keyboard 21.2% 26.2% 24.1% 28.5% NA Colemak Keyboard 16.1% 19.1% 29.4% 35.4% NA REHAAN BSQ 23.8% 17.1 20.0% 39.0% NA

[0025] The right hand usage of the different keyboard layouts revealed that the usage of the pinkie finger in the REHAAN BSQ is around 23.8%, ring finger in the REHAAN BSQ is around 17.1%, middle finger in the REHAAN BSQ is around 20.0%, and index finger in the REHAAN BSQ is around 39.0%.

[0026] In the Right hand fingers, the QWERTY keyboard puts maximum load of 41.5% on the Index finger while has the minimum load of only 8.4% on the pinkie finger. REHAAN-BSQ layout attempts to use all the fingers of the right hand almost equally and if you compare it with the QWERTY layout, the load on pinkie is increased to 23.8%. The load on the Ring finger decreases from 28.6% in QWERTY to 17.1% in REHAAN-BSQ layout while the load on middle finger and index finger remain almost the same in both QWERTY and REHAAN-BSQ layout.

[0027] The comparative study of hand usage was carried out which determine the percentage of usage of right and left hand with the different types of keyboard layouts. The comparison data is tabulated below.

TABLE-US-00003 Hand Usage In Percentage Right Hand Usage Left Hand Usage QWERTY Keyboard 43.4% 56.6% DVORAK Keyboard 55.6% 44.4% COLEMAK Keyboard 52.8% 47.2% REHAAN BSQ 56.2% 43.8%

[0028] The comparison studies of the hand usage of the various layouts, reveals that the usage of the right hand with the REHAAN BSQ is around 56.2% which is higher than any other keyboard layout. Subsequently, the left hand usage in REHAAN-BSQ is 43.8% which is the lowest when compared to the other layouts. The invention increases the usage of the right hand which is the dominant hand for most humans.

[0029] Another study was carried out to determine the row usage in different types of keyboard layouts. The statistical data is tabulated below.

TABLE-US-00004 Row Usage in Percentage Upper Row Home Row Lower Row Usage Usage Usage QWERTY Keyboard 49.9% 31.6% 18.5% DVORAK Keyboard 25.0% 67.5% 7.5% COLEMAK Keyboard 17.0% 71.2% 11.8% REHAAN BSQ 22.0% 73.1% 4.9%

[0030] The row usage studies done with the various types of keyboard layouts revealed that the upper row usage in the REHAAN BSQ is around 22.0%, home row usage is around 73.1% which is the most used and the lower row usage is around 4.9%.

[0031] The home row is the row is highly preferred for use by the users and the statistics reveal that the percentage is higher than any other type of the keyboard layout. This makes the REHAAN BSQ more convenient and promising in balancing the usage by both hands and by individual fingers.

REFERENCES CITED

[0032] [1] Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A painful condition of the hand and fingers caused by compression of a major nerve where it passes over the carpal bones through a passage at the front of the wrist. It may be caused by continual repetitive movements or by fluid retention. Source: Oxford Dictionary [0033] [2] US Patent documents

TABLE-US-00005 U.S. Pat. No. 2,040,248 May 1936 August Dvorak and William L Dealey. U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,643 B1 September 2002 Hernan Camacho and Robert Granadino U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,476 A October 1997 Alan K Uke