Each one of us is constantly surrounded by multi-touch technologies in everyday life. We keep our smartphones with us all the time, we work with tablet computers and touch screens. But also in stores, in museums and exhibitions, and on trade fairs, the intuitive touch-gesture on a surface has become second nature to us. But how exactly does the underlying technology work, and how can businesses make optimal use of them, e.g. at their point of sale (POS)? The multi-touch experts of Garamantis Interactive Technologies have gathered all information on this ubiquitous technology and “forged” them into one large infographic. This graphic is addressed to anyone who wants to become an instant expert on multi-touch technology within a few minutes, but particularly to businesses and agencies looking for a way to optimally apply this technology in their work.

1. www.garamantis.com
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How multi-touch technology
revolutionizes our approach to modern technicsMultitouch
A fine wire mesh is covered by protective glass.
Upon touch, the electricity flow in the wire matrix
changes. The most common multi touch technology,
particularly used in smartphones.
cheap and insensitive to light exposure
possible visibility of wire mesh; reduced light
transmittance due to wire mesh
Infrared light radiates on the plexiglass from
below or laterally and, when the display is touched,
is reflected by the fingers to a IR camera underneath
the panel.
ideally suited for marker recognition on a
glass panel
very dependent on ambient light conditions,
no ultra-thin displays possible
A frame surrounding the display creates an “infrared
curtain” in front of the display proper. This infrared
matrix is interrupted where the display is touched,
thus triggering the input.
inexpensive upgrade of regular displays; very
large touch-surfaces (“touch walls”) possible
sensitive to light exposure; raised frame not
flush with the display
System designed by FlatFrog, in which infrared light
radiates sideward through the glass panel and is
measured by sensors on the panel’s edges.
No camera is required.
A fine wire mesh is covered by protective glass.
Upon touch, the electricity flow in the wire matrix
changes. The most common multi touch technology,
particularly used in smartphones.
cheap and insensitive to light exposure
possible visibility of wire mesh; reduced light
transmittance due to wire mesh
Infrared light radiates on the plexiglass from
A frame surrounding the display creates an “infrared
curtain” in front of the display proper. This infrared
matrix is interrupted where the display is touched,
thus triggering the input.
inexpensive upgrade of regular displays; very
large touch-surfaces (“touch walls”) possible
sensitive to light exposure; raised frame not
flush with the display
System designed by FlatFrog, in which infrared light
radiates sideward through the glass panel and is
measured by sensors on the panel’s edges.
No camera is required.
Cover glass
Sensor foil
LCD panel
Wire mesh
Projected Capacitive Touch (PCT, PCAP)
Plexiglass
IR Camera
IR LEDs
„Total Internal Reflection“
Camera-based Systems
IR-LEDs and sensors
Infrared grid
Infrared-Frame
Sensors
Emitters
Pressure
strength
Interruption of IR radiation
LCD panel
InGlass Touch
precise touch control, pressure sensitivity,
high transparency
sensitive to light exposure
Double
FUN FACT
Today’s multi-touch
surfaces allow up to 50
simultaneous input
points
The term “retina display” was coined by Apple® to
promote the displays employed in their products,
which supposedly possess such a high pixel density
it becomes impossible for the human eye to discern
individual pixels from a typical average viewing
distance.
FUN FACT
The world’s largest multi-touch wall to date
was built in 2012 by MultiTouch Ltd. in
England. Its surface consists of 24 sepa-
rate multi-touch screens that combined
achieve a total resolution of 50
megapixels (50K) between
them.
FUN FACT
Already in 1982, Disney® Studios motion
picture “Tron” featured, amongst other
groundbreaking CGI effects,
the vision of a large-scale color
multi-touch table.
FUN FACT
In 2002, scenes from the US science-
fiction movie “Minority Report” that show
the main character (played by Tom
Cruise) controlling a computer with
multi-touch gestures gained
worldwide publicity.
Ivan Sutherland (MIT)
presents Sketchpad1963
Bent Stumpe (Denmark) builds the
first capacitive touch screens1972
CERN‘s double-sided
capacitive touch screen
1977First multi-touch display is designed at
Toronto University 1982
Microsoft
Surface Table2008
IBM designs the first
touch screens1960s
late
Reactable Tangible User
Interface by Music
Technology Group
2005
First multi-touch smart-
phone: IBM Simon1992
iGesture Pad and
TouchStream keyboard
by Fingerworks
1999
Jeff Han presentation
@TED
2006
iPhone 1
Release 2007
Microsoft Windows 7
with multi-touch
support
2009
Apple MacBook Pro
with Touch Bar2016
historical
Timeline
themostrelevant
Multitouch
Technologies
FUN FACT
In 2004, Apple® filed a patent application for
the technology and at the same time tried to
have the term “multi-touch” registered as
a protected trademark. The US Patent
and Trademark Office rejected this,
considering the term to be
“too general”.
Standard
TouchGestures
interestingfactsabout
Pixeldensity
55“ Full HD Screen
55“, 1.920x1.080 pixels, 40 ppi
55“ 4K UHD Screen
55“, 3.840x2.160 pixels, 80 ppi
65“ 4K UHD Screen
65“, 3.840x2.160 pixels, 68 ppi
iMac 5K
27“, 5.120x2.880 pixels, 218 ppi
127%
10“ (25cm)
20“ (50cm)
31,5“ (80cm)
31,5“
31,5“
iPhone 7
4.7“, 1.334x750 pixels, 326 ppi
Multitouchinstallations:
WaysofImplementation
Table
Interactive
kiosk
Wall
Projection
• up to 6 users
• suited for teamwork, collaboration or gaming
• maximum number of users depends on size
• ideal for presentations
• different possible viewing distances
• just 1 user possible
• optimally suited for information display
• adaptable to any desired size and number of users
• ideal for immersive rooms
In chargeoftheuserexperience:
Multitouch-Software
Dos
Don‘ts
smooth and fluent representation with
60 frames per second (FPS)
software development close to the
(graphics) hardware
intuitive user experience design (UXD)
immediate feedback to users
multi-user experience (e.g. freely
movable objects)
playful approach
web based applications
“top-down“ and “left-right“
navigation
display restricted to one page/
image or one user at a time
websites/ web browsers
PowerPoint presentations
PDF slideshows
PossibleAdd-onsforMulti-touch Installations:
PC-Power
Full-HD 4K
Full-HD as
Display Wall
Full-HD as
Display Wall
1x 1x
4x 12x
i5 CPU
Nvidia GTX
4GB GPU RAM
i7 CPU
Nvidia GTX
6GB GPU RAM
Intel Xeon
Nvidia Quadro
8GB GPU RAM
Dual Intel Xeon
3 x Nvidia Quadro
8GB GPU RAM
Near-field communication technology can provide an
additional interface, for instance to smartphones or
objects fitted with NFC chips
NFC
Multitouchinstallations:possible
Add-Ons
With multiple parallel touch inputs, any multi-touch system is unable to
determine the number of individual users or their exact positions of its
own accord. A built-in person detector solves this problem and orients the
display of contents towards the users.
Person Detector
Eye tracking can further simplify the interaction between user
and multi touch system, e.g. by triggering or facilitating inputs.
Eye Tracking
Just a few years ago, object recognition required large markers, whereas today’s
multi touch systems can easily recognize any object with the help of cameras.
Object Recognition
Near-field communication technology can provide an
additional interface, for instance to smartphones or
objects fitted with NFC chips
NFC
With multiple parallel touch inputs, any multi-touch system is unable to
determine the number of individual users or their exact positions of its
own accord. A built-in person detector solves this problem and orients the
display of contents towards the users.
Person Detector
Eye tracking can further simplify the interaction between user
and multi touch system, e.g. by triggering or facilitating inputs.
Eye Tracking
Object Recognition
Just a few years ago, object recognition required large markers, whereas today’s
multi touch systems can easily recognize any object with the help of cameras.
Object RecognitionObject Recognition
Near-field communication technology can provide an
additional interface, for instance to smartphones or
MarketData
Global market volume for multi-touch screens
in billion US$
(mostly smartphones and tablet computers)
The world’s top 3
markets with the biggest
economic growth
Europe
USA
Asia-Pacific
4K
1080p
720p
PAL
2K
105%
37 %
74 %
62 %
Approximation to retina resolution in %%Viewing distance
References:
www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/11/a-brief-history-of-touch-computing
www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/multi-touch-nui-technology-market-459.html
www.slideshare.net/ArnoutdeVries/multitouch-interaction-overview
www.strategyr.com/MarketResearch/Multi_Touch_Screens_Market_Trends.asp
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_device_gesture
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_Display
support.apple.com/de-de/HT202471
www.techpowerup.com/172331/worlds-biggest-multi-touch-wall-unveiled
Icons designed by Freepik from FlaticonRelease: 02/2017