Full screen touch UI design pre-iPad. Panasonic Aviation commissioned an In-Flight Entertainment application for a custom embedded Linux touchscreen hardware device in 2008. The application was delivered in 2009, still a year before the launch of Apple's first iPad.

 

Additionally the system integrated with a hand held control unit, similar to a game controller but with a full keyboard, credit card swipe and iPod/iPhone import adapter.

 

My role in the project was as interactive director and technical lead, working closely with an art director and full team of design and technical staff.

 

The application was built in ActionScript 3 and compiled to the SWF (Flash/Flex) format. XML, bash scripts, Perl and a healthy dose of Javascript were also involved.

 

A working demo is available for review.

3D card based user interface. Optimized for both touch/swipe interaction and remote control up/down/left/right interaction.

 

See video from demo below design comp.

Primary usage of the system is typically for viewing pay per view videos or music on-demand. Notice the large touch sized buttons for controlling video playback.

Application includes full transactional commerce support with a catalog of products and services available for purchase.

Application includes support for previewing, selecting, purchasing and playing games via the hardware game controller. Game play software was a separate PS2 emulator with licensed ROMs available on demand. The application responded to game end events to return control from the emulator back to the IFE UI.

 

The application supports XML based data updates with topics covering current flight details, world news and headlines, weather and more.

 

The application provided custom support for Panasonic's handset remote controller in addition to touchscreen support.