ISO/IEC 4933

2024-09-30
ISO/IEC DISFDIS 4933:2024(en)
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 9
Secretariat: AFNOR
Date:
Information technology — User interfaces — Unifying input actions
across devices
FDIS stage
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
© ISO/IEC 20242025
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© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ii
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
Contents
Foreword . iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 Terms related to actions . 1
3.2 Terms related to devices . 3
3.3 Terms related to systems . 3
4 Background to unifying input actions across devices . 4
4.1 Overview of input action, input device and interaction with user interface . 4
4.2 Physical input actions . 4
4.3 Logical input actions . 5
4.4 Physical and logical input actions for ICT device connections . 5
5 The need for unifying input actions . 6
5.1 Overview . 6
5.2 Device-specific input actions on user interfaces . 6
5.3 Unifying input actions on user interfaces . 7
6 Use cases of unifying input actions across devices . 8
6.1 A simple closed system . 8
6.2 A system with attached peripheral devices . 9
6.3 Two systems interacting with one another . 9
6.4 More complicated configurations . 9
7 Framework of unification module for input actions . 9
8 Requirements and recommendations . 10
8.1 Functional requirements and recommendations . 10
8.2 Additional requirements and recommendations . 11
Bibliography . 14

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
iii
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members
of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
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The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of
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Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
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In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 35, User interfaces.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and www.iec.ch/national-
committees.
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
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ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
Introduction
User interfaces are an essential medium for information transmission between human and machines. It is a
basic need to realize natural and efficient input interaction experience on the user interfaces.
With more and more smart devices entering and being distributed in people's daily life, user interfaces are
widely used and collaborated between smart phones, tablets, desktop computers, smart watches, televisions,
in-vehicle systems, virtual and augmented reality, and other information and communications technology
systems.
The main purpose of uniformly converting the input actions across different input devices is to reduce the
workload of designers and developers of systems and software applications, and to ensure the consistency of
user input experience in cross-device scenarios.
With various smart devices, the industry has been researching and developing user interface technologies that
support multiple input methods to improve cross-device input experiences. At present, research and
development on the automatic conversion of input actions on the cross-devices has entered the practice and
implementation level.
A standardized framework of input action unification module can be used to support the implementation of
operations across device user interfaces and promote the development of cross-device software applications
technology and industry.
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
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ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
Information technology — User interfaces — Unifying input actions
across devices
1 Scope
This document specifies a unification module for input actions, including its framework, requirements and
recommendations, for consistently accessing the operations across multiple types of devices. This document
recognizes the input actions as user behaviours that are commonly used to manipulate system or application
operations (functions) through user interfaces. It also identifies the need and use cases of unifying input
actions across devices.
This document does not specify parameter settings and details of the input actions. This document is
applicable to all types of organizations.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 13066-1, Information technology — Interoperability with assistive technology (AT) — Part 1:
Requirements and recommendations for interoperability
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— — ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— — IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
3.1 Terms related to actions
3.1.1 3.1.1
action
user action
user behaviour that a system accepts as a request for a particular operation (3.1.4(3.1.4))
EXAMPLE Pressing a key, clicking a mouse button, moving the pointer over an object, speaking a command.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC TR 11580:2007, 2.3, modified — “user action” has been added as an admitted term.]
3.1.2 3.1.2
input action
action that initiates operation (3.1.4(3.1.4)) through an input device (3.2.2(3.2.2))
EXAMPLE Clicking a mouse button to initiate an operation for sending mail.
Note 1 to entry: Submitting data to a system is typically referred to as a control action. However, since entering data and
submitting it usually occur at the same time we refer to the sequence as an input action.
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
3.1.3 3.1.3
physical input action
input action (3.1.2(3.1.2)) connected with a person's body that is discrete and observable in real world
3.1.3.1 3.1.3.1
logical input action
intended meaning of one or a series of a physical input action (3.1.3(3.1.3))
3.1.4 3.1.4
operation
predefined system behaviour that a user initiates
EXAMPLE Sending mail, printing, modifying the data or properties of an object.
Note 1 to entry: A user performs an action or a set of actions to initiate an operation.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC TR 11580:2007, 2.4]
3.1.5 3.1.5
function
task specific operation (3.1.4(3.1.4)) of an object (3.1.6(3.1.6))
Note 1 to entry: Objects can have zero, one, or many functions.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC TR 11580:2007, 2.5]
3.1.6 3.1.6
user interface element
user interface object
object
entity of the user interface that is presented to the user by the software
EXAMPLE 1 User interface elements in a graphical user interface include such things as basic objects (such as icons,
window title bars, menu items, push buttons, image maps, and editable text fields) or containers (such as windows,
grouping boxes, menu bars, menus, groups of mutually-exclusive option buttons, and compound images that are made
up of several smaller images).
EXAMPLE 2 User interface elements in an audio user interface include such things as menus, menu items, messages,
and action prompts.
EXAMPLE 3 User interface elements in tactile interfaces include such things as tactile dots, tactile bars, surfaces,
knobs, and grips.
Note 1 to entry: User interface elements can or cannot be interactive.
Note 2 to entry: Both entities relevant to the task and entities of the user interface are regarded as user interface
elements. Different user interface element types are text, graphics and controls. A user interface element can be a
representation or an interaction mechanism for a task object (such as a letter, a sales order, electronic parts, or a wiring
diagram) or a system object (such as a printer, hard disk, or network connection). It can be possible for the user to directly
manipulate some of these user interface elements.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.26, modified — “object” has been added as an admitted term, occurrences
of "may" have been changed to "can", “icons” has been added to the example 1, and all examples have been
moved in front of the notes to entry.]
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
3.2 Terms related to devices
3.2.1 3.2.1
device
hardware or software, or the combination of them that allows a user to interact with a system
3.2.2 3.2.2
input device
user controlled device (3.2.1(3.2.1)) that transmits information to a system
[SOURCE: ISO 9241-400:2007, 3.6.3]
3.2.3 3.2.3
processing device
system controlled device (3.2.2(3.2.2)) that processes inputs and information within a system, and generates
outputs
3.2.4 3.2.4
output device
system controlled device (3.2.2(3.2.2)) that renders and transmits outputs to the user
3.2.5 3.2.5
device driver
software component that permits a system to control and communicate with a peripheral device (3.2.6(3.2.6))
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.10]
3.2.6 3.2.6
peripheral device
input device (3.2.2(3.2.2)) or output device (3.2.4(3.2.4)) connected to but separate from a system that contains
a processing device (3.2.3(3.2.3))
Note 1 to entry: A peripheral device in this document refers to a device only has input or output function.
3.3 Terms related to systems
3.3.1 3.3.1
application
app
software application or application software
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 30113-12:2019, 3.2]
3.3.2 3.3.2
application programming interface
API
collection of invocation methods and associated parameters used by one piece of software to request actions
from another piece of software
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.3]
3.3.3 3.3.3
assistive technology
AT
hardware or software that is added to or incorporated within a system that increases accessibility for an
individual
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
EXAMPLE Braille displays, screen readers, screen magnification software and eye-tracking devices.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.5, modified — the notes to entry have been removed.]
3.3.4 3.3.4
information and communication technology
ICT
technology for gathering, storing, retrieving, processing, analysing and transmitting information
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.14, modified — the “/” has been changed to “and”, the example has been
removed.]
4 Background to unifying input actions across devices
4.1 Overview of input action, input device and interaction with user interface
Interactions with an ICT user interface involve a set of user actions and ICT system operations that are based
on the ICT's understanding of these actions.
User actions are inputs to an input device that can be integrated with or separate from the ICT system that
will perform the intended operation.
The input device collects information based on the user actions and transfers it to the ICT system that attempts
to recognize them and to process corresponding operations. Outputs and feedbacks are then provided to the
user through an output device. Then the user can continue a next round of interaction.
Input devices can be integrated with an ICT system (as in a smart phone) or can be separate peripherals that
are connected to or that communicate with the processing device (e.g. a keyboard used with an office
computer).
For clarity this document will use the term device to refer to identifiable components of an ICT system whether
they are independent from other devices or tightly integrated with them.
4.2 Physical input actions
Generally, different input devices have their own specific methods for physical input that users are used to.
EXAMPLE Users can use any of the following physical input actions on different input devices in order to achieve
the same logical input action:
— — use finger or stylus to point directly on the touch screen;
— — use mouse to point of move an object;
— — use keyboard to input a text;
— — use a remote control or a knob to point indirectly with remote screens;
— — use in-air gestures to input with spatial virtual interfaces;
— — gaze at particular objects in a visual interface;
— — speak certain words to auditory interfaces.
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ISO/IEC FDIS 4933:2025(en)
4.3 Logical input actions
There are an infinite variety of possible logical input actions for specific intended operations.
ISO/IEC TR 11580 identifies the general types of operations including:
— — selection of an object (including objects representing an action, or attribute);
— — obtaining information about an object;
— — modifying values (of some attribute of an object);
— — removing and restoring objects;
— — activating a function associated with an object.
However, each system will have its own limited set of allowable logical input actions. It is important for users
to be able to use various input devices to achieve these logical input actions.
ISO 9241-910 states that users carry out application tasks by employing one or more of the following task
primitives:
— — search (initiating a search and having the results presented);
— — gain an overview (specific type of obtaining information);
— — navigate (moving in and between objects in order to find an object and explore the app);
— — target (identify and find an object or item of information accurately and rapidly);
— — select (selection of an object);
— — manipulate (modifying values, and removing and restoring objects).
Where search, navigate and target are in addition to the logical input actions identified in ISO/IEC TR 11580.
4.4 Physical and logical input actions for ICT device connections
A problem arises in that input devices receive and transmit information about physical input actions, while
processing devices need to process logical information about logical input action (the intended meaning of
those physical input actions).
The following three important connections shall be considered when connecting ICT components (or devices)
in accordance with ISO/IEC 13066-1.
a) a) Hardware-to-hardware connections involve either physical or logical, or both interfaces that
support the transfer or communication of information between the connected hardware or between the
user and the hardware. Hardware-to-hardware connections between an input device and a processing
device typically transmit information about physical input actions.
b) b) Hardware-to-software connections (typically provided by device drivers) within the ICT
system software interacting with the system's external hardware to hardw
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