Pointer Symbols font
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:15 pm
I have been thinking about some research ideas and I have produced the following font.
Here is a pdf document from 11 April 2012.
Here is a transcript of the pdf document.
----
A simulation about an idea that would use QR codes.
Margaret Gattenford and her niece Anne Johnson are visiting an art gallery.
They proceed around the art gallery, looking at the paintings, sculptures and ceramics on
display.
After a while, Margaret Gattenford suggests that finding the art gallery café would be a
good idea.
Carrying cups of peppermint tea, Margaret and Anne proceed to a table. The table has
some crisp black and white printing running across it, built into the surface of the table.
Anne likes country music and says that the layout of the printing on the table in front of
her made her think of a steel guitar set up ready to be played.
Upon closer inspection there are two rows of printing, the upper row consisting of
fourteen characters in about a 48 point size, set out with space between them across most
of the one metre or so width of the table: the lower row consisting of fourteen QR codes,
one below each of the fourteen text characters. There is a fairly large space of table surface
below the lower row of printing.
The upper row has the following fourteen characters.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 # & %
Margaret Gattenford explains.
“It is a facility to assist a person to make a telephone call using a mobile telephone that
has a QR code reader, without the person needing to be able to push the buttons on the
mobile telephone. It is a passive device. Each of the QR codes delivers one character to
the mobile telephone software application, so the person simply needs to scan the QR
code that is below the character. The first twelve of the characters correspond to the
buttons on an ordinary telephone. The & is so that a double character can be entered. If
77 were to be entered, 7&7 would be used. Then, once the telephone number is set up,
the two character sequence %1 can be used to make the call.”
She takes her mobile telephone out of her pocket.
She continues. “I have the application installed on my mobile telephone.”
Margaret holds out her mobile telephone to Anne.
“Please have a try to make a telephone call to your Uncle Albert.”
Anne Johnson slowly scans the telephone number into the mobile telephone using the
QR codes and observing the number building up on the screen of the mobile telephone,
much as if she were pressing buttons with her fingers.
“So a person who could not press the buttons of a telephone because of a disability could
possibly, depending upon his or her particular disability, be able to enter the desired
telephone number by scanning these QR codes” says Anne.
“Exactly” says Margaret Gattenford. “It may not be useful for everybody, but for some
people it could potentially be a useful idea.”
----
I have searched on the web and, as yet, have found no application idea that uses a QR code that encodes just one character for each QR code that is scanned. Use of QR codes to encode whole web addresses and so on is widespread, but as far as I can find at present, not to encode individual characters.
I have been thinking further and am wondering whether QR codes each containing one character could be used so as to provide a computer keyboard facility for those people who cannot press keyboard keys yet could move a mobile telephone around above a table top. Maybe, with special interfacing software, the non-telephone part of a mobile telephone could be attached to a cable and a keyboard plug and used instead of a conventional keyboard, or, using a Y connection adapter, in parallel with a conventional keyboard.
These are just my theoretical ideas at present.
The next stage in my thinking was to consider how this idea could be adapted in relation to using a pointer unit, such as a mouse unit.
I decided that assigning Private Use Area codes to pointer operations could be a good idea as that would enable a QR code to be produced for the character and then pointer operations could be entered into the computer and decoded by software.
I decided to encode the pointer operations with two code points for each operation. A symbol for use in explanations and a control code. I have assigned sixteen codes thus far.
Alt 59456 U+E840 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT DOWN
Alt 59457 U+E841 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT UP
Alt 59458 U+E842 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT CLICK
Alt 59459 U+E843 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59472 U+E850 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT DOWN
Alt 59473 U+E851 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT UP
Alt 59474 U+E852 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT CLICK
Alt 59475 U+E853 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59584 U+E8C0 POINTER CONTROL LEFT DOWN
Alt 59585 U+E8C1 POINTER CONTROL LEFT UP
Alt 59586 U+E8C2 POINTER CONTROL LEFT CLICK
Alt 59587 U+E8C3 POINTER CONTROL LEFT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59600 U+E8D0 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT DOWN
Alt 59601 U+E8D1 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT UP
Alt 59602 U+E8D2 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT CLICK
Alt 59603 U+E8D3 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT DOUBLE CLICK
So, for example, a facility to signal a left click would consist of a display, printed on a table top or a piece of card, of the glyph for U+E842 and a QR code for the single character U+E8C2.
There are glyphs for the control codes, yet they are only so that if someone is, say, choosing that particular control code as part of the process of producing a QR code then there is a displayable glyph for that control code. The glyph for such a control codes is the same as the glyph for the corresponding symbol in its lower part and different in its upper part.
William Overington
25 April 2012
Here is a pdf document from 11 April 2012.
Here is a transcript of the pdf document.
----
A simulation about an idea that would use QR codes.
Margaret Gattenford and her niece Anne Johnson are visiting an art gallery.
They proceed around the art gallery, looking at the paintings, sculptures and ceramics on
display.
After a while, Margaret Gattenford suggests that finding the art gallery café would be a
good idea.
Carrying cups of peppermint tea, Margaret and Anne proceed to a table. The table has
some crisp black and white printing running across it, built into the surface of the table.
Anne likes country music and says that the layout of the printing on the table in front of
her made her think of a steel guitar set up ready to be played.
Upon closer inspection there are two rows of printing, the upper row consisting of
fourteen characters in about a 48 point size, set out with space between them across most
of the one metre or so width of the table: the lower row consisting of fourteen QR codes,
one below each of the fourteen text characters. There is a fairly large space of table surface
below the lower row of printing.
The upper row has the following fourteen characters.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 # & %
Margaret Gattenford explains.
“It is a facility to assist a person to make a telephone call using a mobile telephone that
has a QR code reader, without the person needing to be able to push the buttons on the
mobile telephone. It is a passive device. Each of the QR codes delivers one character to
the mobile telephone software application, so the person simply needs to scan the QR
code that is below the character. The first twelve of the characters correspond to the
buttons on an ordinary telephone. The & is so that a double character can be entered. If
77 were to be entered, 7&7 would be used. Then, once the telephone number is set up,
the two character sequence %1 can be used to make the call.”
She takes her mobile telephone out of her pocket.
She continues. “I have the application installed on my mobile telephone.”
Margaret holds out her mobile telephone to Anne.
“Please have a try to make a telephone call to your Uncle Albert.”
Anne Johnson slowly scans the telephone number into the mobile telephone using the
QR codes and observing the number building up on the screen of the mobile telephone,
much as if she were pressing buttons with her fingers.
“So a person who could not press the buttons of a telephone because of a disability could
possibly, depending upon his or her particular disability, be able to enter the desired
telephone number by scanning these QR codes” says Anne.
“Exactly” says Margaret Gattenford. “It may not be useful for everybody, but for some
people it could potentially be a useful idea.”
----
I have searched on the web and, as yet, have found no application idea that uses a QR code that encodes just one character for each QR code that is scanned. Use of QR codes to encode whole web addresses and so on is widespread, but as far as I can find at present, not to encode individual characters.
I have been thinking further and am wondering whether QR codes each containing one character could be used so as to provide a computer keyboard facility for those people who cannot press keyboard keys yet could move a mobile telephone around above a table top. Maybe, with special interfacing software, the non-telephone part of a mobile telephone could be attached to a cable and a keyboard plug and used instead of a conventional keyboard, or, using a Y connection adapter, in parallel with a conventional keyboard.
These are just my theoretical ideas at present.
The next stage in my thinking was to consider how this idea could be adapted in relation to using a pointer unit, such as a mouse unit.
I decided that assigning Private Use Area codes to pointer operations could be a good idea as that would enable a QR code to be produced for the character and then pointer operations could be entered into the computer and decoded by software.
I decided to encode the pointer operations with two code points for each operation. A symbol for use in explanations and a control code. I have assigned sixteen codes thus far.
Alt 59456 U+E840 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT DOWN
Alt 59457 U+E841 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT UP
Alt 59458 U+E842 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT CLICK
Alt 59459 U+E843 POINTER SYMBOL LEFT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59472 U+E850 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT DOWN
Alt 59473 U+E851 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT UP
Alt 59474 U+E852 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT CLICK
Alt 59475 U+E853 POINTER SYMBOL RIGHT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59584 U+E8C0 POINTER CONTROL LEFT DOWN
Alt 59585 U+E8C1 POINTER CONTROL LEFT UP
Alt 59586 U+E8C2 POINTER CONTROL LEFT CLICK
Alt 59587 U+E8C3 POINTER CONTROL LEFT DOUBLE CLICK
Alt 59600 U+E8D0 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT DOWN
Alt 59601 U+E8D1 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT UP
Alt 59602 U+E8D2 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT CLICK
Alt 59603 U+E8D3 POINTER CONTROL RIGHT DOUBLE CLICK
So, for example, a facility to signal a left click would consist of a display, printed on a table top or a piece of card, of the glyph for U+E842 and a QR code for the single character U+E8C2.
There are glyphs for the control codes, yet they are only so that if someone is, say, choosing that particular control code as part of the process of producing a QR code then there is a displayable glyph for that control code. The glyph for such a control codes is the same as the glyph for the corresponding symbol in its lower part and different in its upper part.
William Overington
25 April 2012