Splashy graphics and colorful images. Layer upon layer of screens. Text that is easier to read. More interesting fonts, tactile effects, animated icons and richer and more detailed graphics. These are just some of the graphical elements that many consumers desire on their appliances, be they for the home, the workplace, entertainment venues -- in fact, any imaginable locale in our networked, mobile and sophisticated society.

Stack those demands on top of the need to rapidly bring new products and new iterations of products to the market, and it’s easy to see why it has become increasingly difficult to craft an in-house interface solution from scratch. To develop a sophisticated interface from the ground up could require tens of thousands of lines of code and many man-years to write, test and implement them.

Arcturus Marine Control Panel. Photo: Amulet Technologies

But OEMs today have additional options. Software companies have developed pre-written software code with drag-and-drop capabilities that can eliminate the need to write line-by-line codes. APIs add powerful tools to the design process and many interface programs feature GUI libraries hosting virtually limitless amines, GIFs, icons, fonts and other graphical elements. Design tools offer new functionality and make difficult graphic techniques such as alpha blending more easy to achieve. Graphical user interface programs are being built-in to microchips and the CPUs and operating systems that run them have increased in speed and power.

For in-house developers of code, the question is: “why bother?” The answers are varied, ranging from keeping up with evolving product introduction and computer platforms to the ability to spend more time on higher value-added design activities and create more interesting, product-differentiating user interfaces.

The ability to differentiate a product through aesthetic considerations is vitally important to the success of many products. All things being equal -- ease-of-use, efficiency and effectiveness of the interface -- an end user will select a more attractive and engaging product because it has a higher perceived value, according to Ken Klask, CEO of Amulet Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif. Amulet Technologies is a fabless semiconductor company focusing on chips and firmware that drive LCD interfaces. Built into these chips are GUI modules that help in the development of user interfaces.

A console media. Photo: Tilcon Software

Klask points to studies of automatic teller machine use that highlight a user’s tendencies. In these studies, consumers presented with ATM’s that had the exact same functionality, but differed in visual appeal, showed a definite inclination to choose one machine over the other. “Overwhelmingly,” he says, “they would choose the one that is prettier.”

Interfaces that frustrate, that make the user uncertain as to which button to press or which icon to select, may turn them away from a product. “There is no such thing as intuitive choices. If users have to guess, they are not going to be comfortable about using that machine.”

In some cases, making the interface easier to use, and therefore creating a more relaxed and confident end user, is vitally important. Prosanto Sarkar, vice president of marketing for Tilcon Software, an Ottawa, Canada-based manufacturer of embedded GUI, HMI and graphics software, has a client that developed interfaces for a piece of medical equipment that has as many as 300 screens within its applications.

A dashboard interface. Photo: Tilcon Software

“To create those and to make sure that everything is functional is enormously time consuming,” he says. “Using our development environment cuts out the need to generate new graphics’ code and the designer can focus on making it easier and more reliable.”

That is where new software and computer technology software comes in. One of the strengths of an interface software development product is that it facilitates experimenting with new looks and designs. Swell Software, Port Huron, Mich., developed an embedded GUI development software called PEG Pro that offers drag and drop functionality to allow engineers to focus on high-level engineering design, enabling them to rapidly rebrand and reskin a device without having to recompile or retarget the code.

Medical device interface. Photo: Tilcon Software

Those manufacturers that decide to attempt to develop a custom interface solution from scratch drastically underestimate the difficulty of the task, according to Ken Maxwell, president of Swell. “We have been doing this for years, but someone new to this arena might think that the difficult aspects of the job are basic drawing, but that is really the trivial part of the GUI framework. The more important thing is managing the local and graphics memory resources, the asynchronous input envelope, and communications within the graphics, logic and the core business logic of the product.”

To help the interface designers make a more attractive finished interface, Amulet’s product allows the designers to use HTML to develop the programs. Klask says that HTML is a language with which many graphic artists and desktop designers are already familiar and it allows them to be more creative. “It is not a programming-centric product, it is more of a presentation programming language with a lot of drag and drop tools.”

Klask adds that an overall IC system featuring user interface functions allow interface designers and product engineers to work together. Too often the person writing the code for the interface is not the best person for the job. Instead, the engineer that designed the product, a motor, for example, is then tasked to design the interface. “It is not like writing code to control a motor,” he says. “It is a different type of psychology. Those that are good at visualizing a motor, are not that interested in a UI.”

Improving technology

Interface helps control CNC devices. Photo: Swell Software

As today’s products become more technically advanced, and the interfaces more vital, the software code has become denser, and the demands on the computer technology that runs the code has also increased. According to Klask, adding these graphic elements and additional features, can more than triple the lines of software code that are required to run the device. This can tax the 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers that are often found in electronics. But, technology is improving, as CPU and GPU’s become more powerful, and interface development products often support 32-bit technology.

Silicon chip vendors have been challenged to upgrade their CPUs, according to Sarkar. In the last few years, he says, the GPU has come of age and surpassed the CPU in terms of processing power and speed. That is changing as CPUs improve in speed and power. Amulet, which produces the IC microchips as well as the GUI design tools, are being joined by silicon vendors such as Freescale Semiconductors and Fujitsu Microelectronics who are incorporating GPU units into their products. Tilcon and Freescale, for instance, recently signed an agreement to develop graphical display solutions for automotive navigation and telematics.

The rapid changes in CPU performance and in computer platforms is another reason to shy away from in-house custom solutions that maybe difficult to support and update over time. According to Maxwell, in-house efforts are typically focused on immediate results and there is not enough time to do documentation. So when new features and new hardware components come along, future team members may have to start over. “For instance, implementing an animation that displays a musical note on the screen as a song is downloaded could change dramatically from basic Arm 7 with no 2D graphics acceleration to one of the newer ARM platforms that have 2D acceleration built in. How we (vendors) implement drawing that sprite could be dramatically different but, to the users they draw this sprite once and that is all they have to worry about.”

New functionality

The Mackie Sound Mixer used Amulet Technologies to create an interface that works well in live events.

The new technology not only speeds production, and makes it easy to prototype different concepts, it has added or improved some sophisticated functions such as alpha blending over the top of video or using antialiasing techniques to reduce distortion on moving objects.

Alpha blending and antialiasing requires CPU horsepower. While it can be done with as little as 16-bit graphic architecture, vendors are now supporting 32-bit architecture. Swell Software, for instance, supports 32-bits and allocates 8-bits for the alpha value, and 8-bits each for red, green and blue values.

Another area of increased functionality is in terms of language translation, which is an area that an engineer might not have on his radar, but may need to consider. “An OEM could ship an MP3 player that just runs in English and end users can download the required language,” says Maxwell. “That is just one example of a high level difficult problem that an engineer may need to solve that these programs can solve.”

In some respects, the vendors say, the new capabilities open up a world of opportunities for the OEM. With them, they might be able to make a splash with a new product, set their product apart from the competition and capture the attention and dollars of the consumer.

For more information, email:

Amulet Technologies email: kenklask@amulettechnologies.com
Swell Software email: kmaxwell@swellsoftware.com
Tilcon Software email: prosanto.sarkar@tilcon.com