As platforms for accessing and utilizing secure data have become more distributed, there has been an associated evolution in secure gateway technologies. For example, in the era of early-generation terminal/server systems, terminal operators were conditionally allowed access to data through the employment of simple password gateways, operated using terminal keyboards and conventional computer terminal monitors. The gateways were relatively simple, as was the uniformity of user interface scenarios. With the ubiquity of a myriad of wireless networks and handheld computing devices, users are now attempting to access secure information through gateways all over the world, from platforms such as handheld PDAs and cellphones, along with more conventional devices, such as desktop personal computers. Many systems with graphical user interfaces now feature touchscreens, which are configured to receive inputs associated with a user's physical contact with such interface, and these touchscreens may be configured to behave as part of a gateway security chain. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a PDA (10) is depicted having a touchscreen interface (12) that is configured to present to a user a simple alphanumeric (14) security gateway. In the depicted case, the user may use his finger or other pointing instrument to enter a series of numbers with the touchscreen (they may, for example, be displayed as a series in the feedback field 16), followed by an election to process the entered series for access to data past the security gateway, by pressing a simulated “enter” button (18) on the touchscreen interface.
One of the challenges with such an interface is that it may not be optimized for ergonomic/user scenarios wherein a user is being interrupted, perhaps by other applications on the same device (e.g., by a phone call on the same PDA device), or wherein the user has limited ability to hold the device and/or accomplish certain fine motor skills, such as selecting simulated pushkeys (14) on a touchscreen (12), as required by the variation illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2A, an example of a device (10) having a touchscreen (12) presentation optimized for single-hand usage in switching visually-presented pages is depicted, wherein the device may be cradled by the four fingers (24) and selections to page forward or backward made with the thumb (22) of the same hand (20). As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, similar touchscreen devices may also be operated in other positions using the index finger (26) or a probe or instrument (28) as a pointer. Indeed, touchscreens are now featured on not only portable devices, such as the PDAs and cellphones depicted in FIGS. 1-2C, the car audio system (30) depicted in FIG. 3A, and the portable GPS navigation device (32) depicted in FIG. 3B, but also as gateways for accessing and controlling less portable systems, such as the copy machine (34) depicted in FIG. 3C. Notwithstanding the foregoing touchscreen user interface integrations into such systems, however, there continues to be a need for a further-optimized touchscreen-based security gateways that provide efficient, reliable utility to users in various operating scenarios such as single-hand operation and multitasking.