PURDUE
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY
COMMERCIALIZATION
Technology Snapshot:
Computer
Technology-Misc.
This is a brief snapshot of ongoing research at Purdue University.
The following technologies represent advancements in
information technology, computer technology and computer
science.
Video Conferencing, Education
paperlessMe tablet note-taking application could
save time, reduce costs (PRF 66182)
Purdue University Research Scientist Bobby
McCullouch has developed a note-taking
application for tablets such as the Apple iPad or
Google Nexus. This software will give users the
ability to add notes and annotations to PowerPoint
slides. Presenters can upload their slide show
and users can retrieve the presentation, make
notes directly on the slide, and save the results.
McCullouch’s application is designed for use in
classrooms and at conference sessions. It will allow
users to lower handout and distribution costs by
generating, saving, and retrieving digital notes.
Design and Electronic Games
Interactive, gesture driven technology could make
3D design more user friendly (PRF 66205)
Computer-aided design (CAD) is a highly creative
process that should allow the designer to quickly
and easily manipulate their concept as ideas
change and evolve. However, CAD software
interfaces are counter-intuitive and require tedious,
time consuming effort to alter designs. Current
computer tools do not allow the creation of shapes
in a fluid manner without extensive knowledge
and training about the software tools.
Karthik Ramani, the Donald W. Feddersen Professor
of Mechanical Engineering and Director of C Design
Lab at Purdue University, has created a technology
that will allow designers to create shapes and
forms in a more user friendly manner. Ramani’s
technique is aimed at enabling the expression and
exploration of free-form and parametric 3D shape
designs through natural interactions with human
gestures.
ACTIVE-Hand
system
may
enable more immersive virtual
environments
(PRF 66216)
Haptic feedback devices enhance a
user’s experience by allowing them to
touch and feel the virtual environment they
are interacting with. As motion-based gaming
systems increase in popularity, the demand for
better tactile feedback also increases. Wearable
haptic devices are an excellent solution to fill this
need in motion-based 3D gaming; however, the
devices must be unobtrusive and portable.
Purdue University’s Donald W.
Feddersen Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and Director of C
Design Lab, Karthik Ramani, has
developed ACTIVE-Hand, a haptic
device that allows a user to become
more fully immersed in 3D gaming.
Consisting of a wearable device that
generates variable force on different
parts of the body, it allows users to
detect contact with objects in their
virtual environment. For example,
a glove applies pressure to the
user’s fingertips when they are
“touching” something in the
gaming environment, which the
body interprets as contact with
the virtual object.
Combining pen and touch
interaction
could
improve
versatility
of
touchscreen
interfaces (PRF 66218)
Using a pen/stylus with a
touchscreen provides greater
precision than hands or fingers,
but also limits interactivity with
the surface. A hand is capable of
making many different gestures,
PURDUE
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY
COMMERCIALIZATION
Technology Snapshot:
Computer
Technology-Misc.
while a pen is confined to a single point of input.
Karthik Ramani the Donald W. Feddersen Professor of
Mechanical Engineering and Director of C Design Lab at Purdue
University, has developed a new framework for multi-touch
devices that combines both pen and hand gestures for more
versatile interaction. Combining both forms of input allows
the pen to be used for detailed sketching while the other hand
can simultaneously perform gesture-based tasks. Ramani’s
framework has been designed specifically for the creation and
manipulation of 2D and 3D shapes, with the pen controlling
2D actions on the surface and hand gestures manipulating 3D
space.
Miscellaneous
Privacy-Preserving Verification Software Framework (PRF
65361)
PI: Elisa Bertino
Tech Body
Hardware-based data security keys may improve data security
(PRF 65985)
Read-once keys (ROKs), which allow digital information to be
decoded just one time, are crucial for the protection of data
and information on computers. There is a consensus among
cryptographers that software processes alone cannot be relied
upon to generate ROKs.
Purdue University’s Elisa Bertino, Professor of Computer Science
and Director of Cyber Center at Discovery Park, has developed
a physically unclonable function read-once key (PUF ROK) to
allow encrypted information to be decoded and then destroyed
using a trusted hardware mechanism so that it cannot be
copied or decrypted again.
Bertino’s technology could be used for a variety of applications,
such as trial versions of software or email security, and is much
more effective than current methods of generating ROKs.
PUF ROKs are tied to a specific piece of hardware, so using
the same input on another device will only produce errors.
Additionally, one encryption key directly overwrites another
within the processor instead of memory, making physical
attacks significantly more difficult.
New method for preventing software piracy could provide
long-term security, require minimal system resources
(PRF 65932)
Software piracy currently accounts for about 20 percent of
all software use in the United States and over 40 percent
worldwide. With these numbers rising, software companies
need a way to secure their intellectual property against theft
that is more effective than their current methods.
A solution proposed by John Rice, the Purdue University W.
Brooks Fortune Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computer
Science, works by tying software to the specific hardware of
the computer on which it is installed. Hidden protections in
the program would be triggered randomly to detect if the
application has been pirated. A mixture of short- and long-term
protections would provide long-lasting security. Rice’s method
of detection yields better security from piracy than current
encryption-based deterrents and has little effect on the speed
or memory of the software in use.