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The invisible keyboard, which adds just $10 to the cost of a PDA

In about eight to nine months from now, expect to be able to carry a full-size keyboard for your phone or PDA - without taking up any space whatever. It's done by "perception technology" says startup company, Canesta

It's called "the world's first fully-integrated projection keyboard for mobile and wireless devices." Projection, because it has a laser to "draw" the keyboard on your desk, with light; and then an infra-red sensor watches which imaginary keys you press.

The launch, last week in America, could mean an end to foldable keyboards. The electronics for Canesta's circuitry fits into the phone or the PDA or whatever device you want to provide a full-size keyboard for, and adds a mere $10 to the bill of materials, says Canesta.

It was one of the stars of Chris Shipley's DemoMobile conference, but the company freely admits that it's not going to ship soon. "In about eight months, perhaps, we may see the first products," said a company publicist. "As to what the price of it will be, it's impossible to say; we won't be shipping keyboard units that you can add to existing hardware, but rather, licensing our technology to people like ... well, I can't say who, at this stage."

The announcement says: "The Integrated Canesta Keyboard is implemented by means of a new type of 3-dimensional sensor technology that can track moving objects in the vicinity of the sensor chip in real time."

The packaged sensor is "a module not much larger than a pea," and it resolves your finger movements as you type on the projected image of a keyboard. Included with the sensor module are two other miniature components: a pattern projector, and a small infrared light source.

This leaves open the question of just how flat the surface has to be before you can type on it, or what sort of lighting conditions make it possible to use the device. However, the company says it is pretty sure that this Keyboard Perception Chipset is just "the first commercial realization of our electronic perception technology, and there are lots of other applications where we can give computers the power to 'see' their surroundings - and we'll announce other technologies in due course."