wooden smart toy - custom touch patterns - as3

####An as3 lib to detect and identify on iPad, iPhone and Android Device
patented wooden pieces created and sold by Marbotic.fr.

lib works too with DIY parts with custom touch pattern (see the js port)

![marbotic wooden pieces] (http://www.marbotic.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/chiffres-rond-400x400.jpg) ![marbotic wooden pieces - back view] (http://www.marbotic.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/chiffres-picots-400x400.jpg)

I've just done reverse engineering to find a way to detect and read Touch patterns.

Each wooden piece is connected to touchscreen by 3 touch pad with specific configuration.
Two pads are for the "base" (always the same width).
The last pad is the satellite point which made the pattern, give the significant part.
The satellite point is define by angle and distance from the middle point of the base, in polar's coords. The base width is fixe and always the smallest from the 3.

To avoid screensize pb detection, i've decided to work in millimeter and made a truth table with true dpi of the iPad and iPhone screen.

flash.system.Capabilities.screenDPI return fake value on iPad and iPhone.
Therefore, i use the iPad number (ex. iPad4,4 for ipad mini retina wifi) from flash.system.Capabilities.os and a truth table to find the number of pixels for a millimeter. On Android Device (on my MotoG (First Gen) and my cheap Lenovo A4) the value seems to be good and detection perform as much as expected. I've decided to implement detection for them.

The detection on Android Device is not as accurate as expected and in too many case the detection is wrong (id found). It is an hardware touchscreen accuracy problem... cheap hardware are not enough precise for this task than more expensive hardware as High end tablets like Samsung's or Apple's.
It seems too, that the detection is less effective, if you increase frameRate.

Detection on iPad is relatively easy because there is few hardware: retina or none, 7.9 inch or 9.7. So only 4 screenDPI.

I'm not developer, just graphic & interaction designer, i do apologize for my bad english and my hugly code. Hope this will help!

The project compile with Adobe Flash CC 2014/15 on osx with AIR17 and AIR19.
there is no .fla file, you just need to create a new "AIR for Android" or "AIR for iOS" project and add com.mrbbp.App as your Main Class. (i've added custom icon for iOS and Android for fun)

To use it you need at least 3 TouchPoints on screen to instantiate a new Piece with 3 Points.

import com.mrbbp.Piece;

var piece:Piece = new Piece(new Point(x1,y1), new Point(x2,y2), new Point(x3,y3));

if you want to have some visual feedback you must instanciate a Debug() and add debug parameter to Piece Parameter

import com.mrbbp.Debug;
import com.mrbbp.Piece;

var debug:Debug = new Debug(this);
var piece:Piece = new Piece(new Point(x1,y1), new Point(x2,y2), new Point(x3,y3), true);

####lib v2:

Added a new PieceEvent.PIECE_DETECTED event

PieceEvent is populated with some cool values about the detected piece.

id: the number for the Smart Numbers
angle: orientation of the piece on the screen
reverse: is the piece reverse on the screen? (some pieces have reversed pattern, this is not what it return)
alpha: the angle of the pattern on the wood piece (in degres)
rho: satellite point's angle vs the base (in degres)
theta: satellite point's distance from the base (in millimeters)
baseWidth: the width of the base (in millimeters)

To use the PieceEvent:

import com.mrbbp.PieceEvent;
//... some code ...
// add the listener to the stage
stage.addEventListener(PieceEvent.PIECE_DETECTED, PieceEventHandler);
//...
function PieceEventHandler(pe:PieceEvent):void {
	trace("PieceEvent: id:",pe.id,"- angle:",Math.round(pe.angle*10)/10,(pe.reverse)?"° - pièce inversée":"pièce à l'endroit");
	trace(pe.toString());
	trace(pe.ID);
}

I've used additional lib with custom cartesianToPolar method (less generic), from Ian McLean (excerpt from a larger lib) http://www.github.com/as3/as3-utils

Patents for touch grid and conduction way between capacitive screen and body are patented by

Etienne Jean MINEUR and Bertrand DUPLAT, Édition Volumique [FR 2995423, FR 2994752, FR 2970352]*
Marie MÉROUZE, Marbotic [FR 3003661]*

*[N° Patents find on http://www.inpi.fr]

mrbbp/wooden-smart-toy

wooden smart toy - custom touch patterns - as3