The Design Paradigm

A user-interface is a sequence of time-sliced interface-units called InterUnits.
Each InterUnit presents an interface behaviour to service a specific user-goal,
and exists only during it's time-slice.
During its existence, it has full control over the screen and all user-input peripherals.
Different InterUnits run the UI at different times, depending on what the user wants to do at that time.
A special InterUnit called the EngagementManager interfaces with the underlying device-UI framework,
and orchestrates the loading and unloading of InterUnits during the course of an app's user-engagement.
It also maintains some memory of the user's interaction with InterUnits from the point it is loaded.

Each InterUnit can be independently optimised for ergonomic-efficiency,
and on a per-device basis.
i.e. The same InterUnit (which is associated with a specific user-function) can be implemented differently on different devices.
An InterUnit's source-code is self-contained and can be modified independent of the rest of the UI.

A developer's view of InterUnit-UI

1. SInterUnit, IUProtocol
2. Formatted character processing utilities
3. Hex-grid based graphics and spatial-layout utilities
4. Source-editor IUProtocol
5. Engagement-manager IUProtocol

Every InterUnit is implemented as an instance of a C++ struct called SInterUnit.
This struct is initialised with function-pointers for its base functionality
(such as a drawing to the screen and responding to user-input events).
SinterUnit contains an extension pointer into which an InterUnit-specific protocol is loaded.

A specific InterUnit loads function-specific function-pointers into an instance of SInterUnit,
and defines and implements an InterUnit-Protocol (IUProtocol).
An IUProtocol is defined as a set of UI-gestures that express a user-intent
and a corresponding intent-handler for that gesture.

The SDK provides implemented IUProtocols for:
1) a source-editor for editing the source-code of an InterUnit and
2) an engagement-manager that loads and unloads InterUnits,
interfaces with a device-specific UI-framework,
and provides an entry-point for a device specific app.

Language processing utilities are provided.
They serve as an example for integrating data processing into an InterUnit.
A C++ source-code parsing, representation and visualisation system is provided.
It includes structures to represent C++ source-code,
parsers to parse a C++ codebase,
navigation utilities to search within a codebase structure
and editing utilities.
This system can serve as a basis for any language or a custom data file-format.

A screen-layout utility is provided that represents the screen as a controllable hex-lattice.

For graphics, a hex-grid representation system is provided that implements a hex-grid,
transformations on hex-coordinates and between cartesian and hexagonal coordinate systems
(in both 2D and 3D),
and other utilities useful in graphics applications.

Easy to optimize the UI for use-ability

An InterUnit is associated with a specific user-function and differs from other InterUnits based on this association.
Hence, each InterUnit can be optimised for use-ability independently and on a per-device basis.
This makes the development of any InterUnit a lot simpler since the initial code can be refined over time.

Guidelines for improving app-ergonomics

InterUnit-UI suggests some guidelines for improving the ergonomic-efficiency of PC-apps.

1. Doing away with the Menubar at the top, and the taskbar or status bar at the bottom of the screen, to reduce visual screen-clutter.
2. Using a visual layout technique generally focused around the center of the screen for the presentation of information to the user.
3. Minimising the need to switch between mouse and keyboard operation in the course of any user-input sequence.
4. Eliminating use of the mouse for fine-grained screen-space selection and reducing the usage of mouse-drag operations.
5. Eliminating the use of Windows.
   Operations such as resizing and aligning of Windows, and, in general, (multiple) Window-layout, should not be needed in the usage of the UI.
6. Always providing a navigational reference.
   On a keyboard-input based device, the ESCAPE key should always be used
   to return to the previous operational context.
   On a touchscreen based device, a visual icon should always be present,
   away from the center of the screen to provide a way of returning to the previous operational context.

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Smartphone-based showcase platform (planned)

The primary functions of any graphical user interface are
selection, timed-execution, text-input and content description.
Content description using a GUI is a good way to validate its efficiency.

We plan to showcase InterUnit-UI by demonstrating the Specifier app
on a specific smartphone-based portable-desktop platform:

The platform uses:
an iPhone 15 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S25 or Motorola Signature smartphone,
an HP E14 G4 FHD screen
an Apple keyboard with Numeric Keypad,
and a specially designed cradle.
The primary function of the Specifier is:
a (visual) description of 3D objects, or processes relating to 3D objects.
Hence it's a good way to validate the usage-efficiency of this planned platform.

The A17 Pro SOC (iPhone 15 Pro)

Apple's A17 pro SOC contains a 3.78 GHz ARM ISA based microprocessor,
a 6-core graphics engine and a 6.4GHz DDR4 memory interface.
It's a well designed low power SOC that can easily be used in a desktop design environment.
It can drive a 4k screen at 30Hz
and has enough processing power for graphics intensive applications
(that have high computational requirements).

The Snapdragon 8 SOC (Galaxy S25, Motorola Signature)

Qualcomms's SnapDragon 8 SOC

The HP E14 G4 screen

This is a 14" FHD portable screen.
It has a small built-in battery and a well designed hinge that folds open to a 78 deg screen-angle.
2 USB-C input ports for charging or display data.

We use a small Xiaomi 4900 mAh Powerbank to keep the screen charged
and an AirPlay receiver dongle to connect to it wirelessly.

The Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

This is a lightweight, compact form-factor keyboard.
It connects wirelessly over Bluetooth. USB-C charging port.
It is the same width as : and half the height of : the HP G14 E4 screen.
The numeric keypad adds full size arrow keys
which are used as part of InterUnit-UI design-conventions.

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InterUnit-UI Licensing (planned)

Khitchdee Design is applying for copyright and intellectual property protection for InterUnit-UI technology.
Our intellectual property attorneys are Mendelsohn Dunleavy, PC.
We plan to license Ergonomix to developers and the InterUnit-UI SDK to PC OEMs.

Non-commercial Use

Ergonomix will be made available free for non-commercial use.

Individual Developer Licenses

An individual developer may license Ergonomix for $50 / year (TBD)

Team Licences

A small development team (<10 people) may also license Ergonomix for $500 (TBD).
A single team license may be used by all members of a team.
Larger organisations and universities can license Ergonomix at negotiated annual rates.

OEM Licences

OEMs may license the InterUnit-UI SDK to develop UI front-ends for any PC or mobile device (e.g. Raspberry-Pi)
These licenses are negotiated and on a per seat basis.