Canesta will demonstrate a working model of its "virtual keyboard" today, and said the technology will be rolled out by PDA manufacturers early next year.

Canesta first disclosed its "electronic perception technology" in March, and identified the virtual keyboard as one aspect of the technology.

"Our basic premise is that machines are blind," said Jim Spare, vice-president of product development at Canesta.

"You see all these new capabilities in portable devices," Spare added. "Microsoft Word and Excel are in the latest PocketPC devices. These things are approaching the capabilities of the PC...but users keep lugging their (laptops) around with them."

According to Spare, the virtual keyboard consists of three components: an infrared light source; the pattern projector, which projects the image of a keyboard on a surface, similar to a slide projector; and the sensor itself, which matches hand and finger movement with the pattern displayed by the pattern projector.

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