How closely are the future of smart phones, tablet computers and other consumer electronics tied to advances in multi-touch sensing technology?
Because so much of the hardware has gotten relatively good, the hardware itself is not a differentiator; it's about design (finally). If you watched companies such as Sony and Samsung grow, they focused first on features and then on industrial design, which made their products look and feel better. Now we're at the point of industrial design at the software level.
In what ways does multi-touch sensing help people better take advantage of advances in consumer electronics?
The consumer devices still aren't using all of the capabilities of multi-touch. Last December, Microsoft got a lot of PC companies to add multi-touch capabilities on their products, in advance of Windows 7. But they shouldn't have launched these devices without ways to take advantage of [the multi-touch interface]. That's exactly how Tablet PCs died.
How does Perception Pixel's multi-touch technology work?
It's an optical technique. In fiber optics, the cable is a light pipe or waveguide, into which you inject light. If a finger presses on the pipe, it disrupts that light within the waveguide. [Perceptive Pixel's] big display screen has a large flat a waveguide. Whenever our screen is touched, this causes a disruption or "frustration" on the waveguide [at a specific location on the display] that is picked up by a sensor. This type of sensor design is particularly high resolution, high fidelity and quite scalable.
How does Perception Pixel's technology compare with what Apple is using in its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad?
There are a many different ways to do touch sensing. With the iPhone, they are measuring the capacitance between a grid of wires on top of the display. When you put your finger there, it changes the capacitance at an intersection of the wires. It's subtle but quite measurable. This approach is more difficult to scale and doesn't work with an arbitrary stylus or when you're wearing gloves.
How much progress has been made in developing a common standard for multi-touch that device-makers can agree on?
Windows 7 made an attempt to create a standard in how we get the data from the hardware to the software, but more work needs to be done. The broader question is, howdo we have standards for the modalities used as part of multi-touch? Such standards would mean you would be using the same the gestures on every multi-touch device. That's going to be a problem that I don't believe will be solved by an organized movement. It will more likely be solved by the dominance of a particular instance of technology.
CNN used your multi-touch screen extensively during its coverage of the 2008 presidential election. How did your relationship with CNN come about and what are your thoughts on this use of your technology?
I met CNN at a geointelligence trade show. Our work was initially focused on mapping, and CNN made the connection and wanted to use that for their upcoming election coverage more than a year away. I'm extremely proud of CNN for the way they used the technology—as a tool to help them cover the election rather than having the technology be a thing unto itself. [CNN reporter] John King was able to use the display very much like a teacher would in a classroom. One of the great things King ended up doing was working on the display even when he wasn’t on-camera.
What are some multi-touch technology's limitations at this point?
One area is that the display doesn't yet know which contact point is coming from which user. At this point, if you're working on a big screen someone could come up next to you and interfere with the work you're doing. Right now we have to rely on social conventions [think personal space] to avoid this. We want to be able to understand how each person is using the display. The key is understanding more about the touch points than just the actual touch.
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7 Comments
Add CommentI like to think that infrared sensors will be able to maintain a lock on individual users in front of a device.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, I like to imagine not having to touch the screen at all, but have the system identify your movements and gestures via your infrared signature... but that is yet another step into the future.
I'm really pleased to know Han continues to be a pioneer in touch technology. I imagine the solution to improving a touchscreen's ability to differentiate between various users' gestures lies in biometric recognition. Ultimately, what would require a screen that not only displays, but also sees. IR solutions exist (Han has actually shown how easy it is to implement using a Nintendo Wii paddle in reverse to simulate hands free responsiveness for an individual user, a user would need IR reflective gloves and headgear), the use of an accelerometer also expands "hands free" usage and interface, but that still requires a peripheral component. I think the point of the touchscreen though is to get away from using such peripherals in preference of a tactile, easy to use and immediately responsive interface.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFantastic work Han. I hope you, and some other very intelligent people, rapidly develope this computer and get it on the market soon.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"...on people realizing that there's more to computing that simply doing one thing at a time, you can bring your other hand around and use that too."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...I think we all know what the other hand is doing
I wonder if Han worked on this project with a team, or was he... Solo?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImportant to distinguish - near IR from true IR. All of these systems, wiis, Han's table, remotes, etc. use near-IR (860nm-940nm) range. There is no "IR signature" in this range. Going to true IR is very expensive. Han is one of the first people on the multi-touch scene. He got his idea for using FTIR from fingerprint scanner devices. It is basically a macro version of the same thing. He was (is?) a professor at NYU, and had quite a bit of help from his students in the beginning. I don't know if it is true but I've heard rumors that he got a large amount of his funding for perceptive pixel by selling patents for gestures (a ridiculas idea in my opinion) to apple.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's cool looking but fingers make a mess of a computer screen pretty quickly. Having the computer interact by watching the user's movements resolves that but there needs to be some type of feedback and a way to know when the user is interacting. A pair of input gloves that contained feedback devices combined with shutter goggles for 3D interaction would be powerful. Ultimately, no one input device will fit all.
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