Article by Stuart F. Brown in Scientific American.
Reviewed by Vamshidar Reddy Rajannagari.
Technology has made our life easier. Computers which were in the size of a room are now available as digital watches. Computers’ processing speeds have multiplied. The way we interface with the computers is also changing. The Mouse has made the interfacing in graphical mode possible where keyboard was not so comfortable to use. Then we moved into another generation, where both of those interfacing devices are being replaced by touch screens. The article describes the multi-touch screens; an advancement in the touch screen technology. Also the article describes the technical aspects behind the working of multi-touch screens. Finally, it speaks about the applicability of multi-touch screens in the near future.
Touch screens are two-way interfacing screens. The screen acts like an output device as well as an input device. The inputs are given by touching the icons on the screen with finger tips. Multi-touch screen are the advancement into the touch screen technology. In the Multi-touch screens the randomly moving finger can be sensed where it’s not possible in the normal touch screens, as stated by Jeff Han in Scientific American. The function is similar to the Apples’ iPhone in which the images can be zoomed in or out by moving the two fingers away and closer respectively. The technology behind the multi-touch screens is discussed in detail later in this article.
Advancing much more into the multi-touch technology the article describes about the screens that respond to multiple finger inputs at the same time. It also describes how multiple users can use the same screen at the same time without interfering with each other.
The power-houses in the technology have also entered into the business of the touch-screens. Microsoft and Mitsubishi are about to release their products with embedded multi-touch screens in their products. The article describes the Microsoft’s Surface computers and the Mitsubishi’s Diamond Touch table. Microsoft is to design smaller computers very soon in the future, which are multi-touch and they called the screen to be used as ‘Surface’. So they are looking ahead to name those computers as ‘Surface Computers’. According to them, the surface computers will be powered with Windows Vista. Mitsubishi’s Diamond Touch table can be used for business meetings or conferences. According to Mitsubishi, the table itself acts as a multi-touch screen with a computer backing it up.
Extreme engineering is done to achieve the multi-touch screens. According to Han, it is necessary to achieve the sensing of finger tips with fine resolution for the touch screens. In order to achieve the sensing of a randomly moving finger he used an acrylic sheet. The acrylic sheets work as the capacitors. These sheets have eliminated the intense wiring under the screen. The light travels through the sheet similar to that it travels in optical fiber- Total internal Reflection (TIR). When the input is made using the finger the light reflects off the sheet where the finger is touched. So, this way the position is tracked using the cameras.
The multi-touch screen can be made more interactive. It can be made to sense the variation in pressure that is being applied. According to Han, instead of coding the complex software, he wants to develop the hardware for it. The pressure sensing polymer has been designed for this. The polymer flexes when a pressure is applied, which is sensed by the reflecting light. The amount of pressure is recognized with the reflected light’s intensity. According to the pressure that is applied the sensor can be made to select whether it needs to just select the folder or display the contents of the folder in the computer. This way we can increase the controls on the screen with just the touch of the fingers.
I believe that in the near future the multi-touch screens will replace the mouse and the keyboard. The architects and the painters will be happy with the technology. They can just design or paint on the computer screen as they do on a paper; but with more controls and using better interactive software. This way they could present their imagination easily. There might be a change in the communication between the people. I think they can use the touch screen establish the conferences in much interactive way where people involve a lot more than before. I also think that there might be a revolution in the Gaming industry. With the multi-touch screens that are providing more controls utilizing all the ten fingers at a time, the games will be more advanced and interesting and surely gaming people will like it. According to me the touch screens will hold a position in the future.
Though the touch-screens are revolutionary, there are certain problems associated with them. The screens are very sensitive devices. So, I think they need much more maintenance. The concept of Total-Internal-Reflection is used; so the optical design should be very accurate. A small deflection of light rays from the expected path can lead to errors.
This article describes the multi-touch screens, which is the state-of-the-art. The designers and researchers are required to maintain the rights by taking the patents for the designs of multi-touch screens. The design architecture of the acrylic sheet and the implementation of hardware should be registered. The only way to use the property is by licensing and the designer must be paid according to the contract. This way the designer will be credited for his intensive work behind the technology.
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