Designing pointing devices using brain-computer interface technology

Existing BCI technology can be used to produce application-independent pointing devices similar to eyetracking and head-pointing devices. The BCI technologies suitable for this purpose are the techniques that use external stimulators to evoke cortical potentials. However, current models for designing BCI Systems are not suitable for this purpose. A new functional model is proposed as a guide for designing BCI-based pointing devices. This model is used to characterize several existing BCI technologies as direct pointing devices. The results demonstrate that this subclass of BCI technology can be used for direct pointing devices and that the new model effectively describes application-independent, BCI-based pointing devices.