OS enhancement for zero-latency UI response

当用户向计算机进行输入时，他们有一个响应的期望。设备响应越慢，对用户性能的影响就越大，他们的挫折感就越大。直到最近，应用程序和操作系统等交互计算软件的开发人员一直认为，不断提高的处理器速度和不断降低的成本将使快速、反应灵敏的计算机能够运行日益复杂的代码。这在很大程度上是基于摩尔定律，该定律是英特尔联合创始人在1965年做出的预测，即芯片上的晶体管数量每两年将持续翻一番。 虽然这在很大程度上被证明是正确的，但在2011年，出现了一个转折点：智能手机和平板电脑的全球销量首次超过了功能更强大的台式机和笔记本电脑。这种对移动设备的新关注给交互式计算机的开发人员带来了两个重要的变化。首先，由于这些设备出于移动性的考虑而节省电力，它们的处理能力比摩尔的几代设备翻了一番。其次，由于这些设备用于媒体消费，它们被设计成最大限度地扩大屏幕尺寸，这迫使人们采用直接在屏幕上输入的方式(通常称为“多点触控”，最先由多伦多大学开发)。多点触摸输入使响应速度变慢，因为用户能够看到被操纵的对象与他们的手指之间的物理分隔。我们的初步工作发现，目前的高延迟水平会使用户性能降低25%以上。 TActual的工作是消除交互系统的所有延迟。这个项目有三个重点：了解人类对延迟的感知极限(我们必须达到多低？)，对用户隐藏延迟的UI软件的设计，以及利用TActual开发的零延迟系统的UI软件的设计。

Users have an expectation of responsiveness when they make input to a computer. The slower the device responds, the greater the impact on the user's performance, and the greater their frustration. Until recently, the developers of interactive computing software, such as applications and operating systems, have worked under an assumption that ever-increasing processor speeds and decreasing costs will enable fast, responsive computers capable of running increasingly complex code. This is based largely on Moore's Law, a prediction made in 1965 by the co-founder of Intel that the number of transistors on a chip will continuously double every two years. While this has proved largely to be true, in 2011, a tipping point was reached: for the first time, worldwide sales of smartphones and tablets outpaced more powerful desktop and laptop computers. This new focus on mobile devices has caused two important changes for the developers of interactive computers. First, because these devices conserve power for the sake of mobility, their processing capabilities are set back several generations of Moore's doubling. Second, because these devices are used for media consumption, they are designed to maximize screen size, which has forced the adoption of input made directly to the screen (commonly called "multi-touch", first developed at the University of Toronto). Multi-touch input compounds slow responsiveness, because users are able to see a physical separation between an object being manipulated and their finger. Our preliminary work has found that the current high levels of latency reduce user performance by over 25%. Tactual's work is in the elimination of all latency from interactive systems. This project has three foci: understanding the limits of human perception of latency (how low must we go?), the design of UI software which hides latency from the user, and, finally, the design of UI software which takes advantage of zero-latency systems developed by Tactual.