Talk:Multi-touch interface

Outline

This is an outline that John Fischer, Anderson Osagie, and Jayvin Arora are developing to construct this article.Jayvin Arora 21:23, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

0. Introduction/Summary

1. Technology: How is it accomplished/implemented

2. History of touch technology ( single touch, ... )

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20008369-56.html?tag=mncol;mlt_related

3. Legal issues in Multi-Touch

    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/the-multi-touch-patent-game-who-was-first/2411
    http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f10/apple-does-not-own-multi-touch-legal-impossibility-5550/
    http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2008/02/multitouch_patents
    http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0262964.html
    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-htc-lawsuit-is-it-biting-off-more-than-it-can-sue/31565
    http://www.google.com/patents?id=dB4EAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20001424-260.html

4. Multi-Touch current implementations in different sectors.

5. How to develop apps for it. Basic framework, and things to keep in mind.

   a. Frameworks available (Java MT4j)

6. The Future of Multi-Touch

   a. Emerging Technologies
   b. Future Trends & Applications
   c. Pop-Culture/Movie Sightings

7. Shortcomings of the Multi-Touch (cons) (Ex: No Keyboard for feel, no mouse, etc...)

    a. Possible alternatives to MT that address flaws/problems.

8. References

Very nice.

I look forward to the article.

Interesting human factors can arise. Some years ago, I worked with an experimental high-resolution system for pathological examinations. We used a high-resolution touch screen.

For some reasons, physicians, who were very supportive of the project, were very reluctant to use the touch screen. Eventually, we found the problem: it was sufficiently photo-realistic that the tissue samples looked real to them, and subconsciously triggered their conditioning about ever touching tissue with bare hands. Once we gave them a light pen (or let them put on rubber gloves), it became user-friendly.

Howard C. Berkowitz 05:35, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Nominated for NDOTW

I've nominated it for CZ: New Draft of the Week. --Howard C. Berkowitz 21:22, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Biometrics

It occurred to me that multitouch could provide some very interesting applications for biometric recognition and authentication, and probably some privacy concerns as well. There has been some recent research into using keystrokes when typing as a biometric identifier (ref http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/04/keystroke_biome.html) that I'm sure could be extrapolated and applied to multitouch. You could probably gauge some unique biometrics from multitouch as well, such as body dimensions based on touch points, etc.

Justin C. Klein Keane 13:03, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

While I wish I remembered the source -- probably Security Executive or CSO magazines -- there's a very interesting biometric device that uses both human pattern recognition and multitouch. The display presents nine human faces, in randomized positions. The user will recognize some subset of them, and touch those. Even more challenging, different pictures of the same people can be used. Howard C. Berkowitz 01:29, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Minority Report question

Was that really multi-touch that Tom Cruise used in Minority Report? I thought he was just gesturing 3D in the air using some kind of magnetic gloves or something, that had nothing to do with touching a flat surface. Since there was no "touching", I'm not sure what this has to do with multi-touch interfaces, which detect points of touching and directional movements for the points of touch. Please clarify why this reference belongs here (if it does).Pat Palmer 08:56, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The reason this is included in here is because notice the similarities to multi-touch. Tom Cruise was interfacing with a computer using multiple hands, a number of different gestures, etc. This is exactly how we interact with multi-touch today except we are forced to touch. Also, according to Steven Spielberg, this technology from the movie resulted from a consult with Microsoft (one of those technology consultants went on to help design Microsoft Surface) and look at the similarities to Microsoft Surface. Also note that IR cameras (like in the Wiimote) allow you to interact with "multi-touch" with an LED light (Wiimote Whiteboard). This is exactly how the surface in Minority Report reacted, they did not use magnets, but rather, gloves with LED (or some other type) lights. Just because the surface was not flat and because there was no direct touching does not make the appearance of the technology irrelevant to the public introduction to multi-touch (this is exactly where I remember being introduced to multi-touch), note my future section in the presentation I mention touch-less "multi-touch." John Fischer 11:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Very interesting. This could go in the article IMO.Pat Palmer 01:06, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Intro

The article is coming along beautifully. I wonder if, directly after the opening sentence, it might be useful to frame the coming article by stating that, after decades of preliminary research, multi-touch interfaces burst upon the commercial scene starting with Apple's iPod in 200x?, and MTT has now become the de facto standard to reach for in mobile devices. Of something like that. Then maybe a paragraph break, followed by the technical introduction.Pat Palmer 00:33, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Hey, I like it!Pat Palmer 00:33, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

overall comments

This is a great beginning. The article as it stands today covers a lot of ground. It might also benefit from additional development; some ideas for this are detailed in the following subsections (to be added shortly):Pat Palmer 13:31, 17 August 2010 (UTC)