Tokyo, Nov 5 (EFE).– Japan’s NEC Corporation introduced software Thursday that will allow a virtual keyboard to be displayed on a person’s arm and work in tandem with an eyeglass computer and a “smartwatch,” an innovation aimed at freeing doctors and other professionals from the need to use cumbersome hardware.

The software allows the user to access and save data in real time and provides greater freedom of movement to professionals working in the health sector or industrial settings.

The Japanese information technology giant says, for example, that the tool will make it easier for surgeons to update a patient’s medical history during a complex procedure.

A user’s eye movements activate NEC’s software and provide it with positioning information, while a camera in the glasses projects a virtual keyboard on a person’s arm.

Sensors in the smartwatch then register keystrokes based on vibrations, while the camera identifies which key was struck, the company said in a statement.

These interactive glasses, which make use of so-called “augmented reality,” have been employed in the past for medical or industrial uses.

This latest software, however, goes a step beyond by eliminating the use of voice commands – which often go unrecognized – and other bulky gadgets that hinder professionals’ work.

The Tokyo-based technology company hopes that revenues from the sale of augmented reality-related technology will amount to several tens of billions of yen (1 Japanese yen = $.0082) over the next five years, a company spokesperson told the Nikkei Asian Review, an English-language business journal.

NEC, however, has not specified a date for the product’s commercial release. EFE