Creating interactive multiuser touchwalls with multitouch screens

Interactive displays are a rising trend in communication technology, because they allow for the user to be a part of the communication process. With touch-displays it is easy to navigate visually. Traditional platforms can only serve one person at a time efficiently, but what if many people could use a touch display at the same time and the display knew who was touching it?

The Finland-based company MultiTouch is a leading developer of interactive display systems. MultiTouch’s MultiTaction technology identifies hands rather than only points of contact. That lets the client implement a wider set of interactions. The multiuser, multi-touch interactive displays allow more than one person to use them at a time. The system can recognize an unlimited number of touch points. Even if users interact close to, or even reach across one another, the system is capable of tracking the users.

The MultiTouch Cells are stackable and have a super thin bezel, which lets you connect them together edge to edge to create a touch-screen table or wall of any size. A maximum of 24 displays can be stacked together to form one very large interactive touch screen. The software of these Full HD LCD displays provides unlimited contact points, hand recognition and object recognition on different operating systems. They work on a range of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

The need for unlimited touch points is essential for a multiuser environment. When multiple multi touch cells are stacked together to form a larger multitouch wall, the display changes from a single user interface into one that’s used by multiple people. Besides that, the users may use their whole hand instead of just one finger. The multi touch screens are also not limited to being used only with hands. They can also able to recognize 2D barcodes, IR pens and objects that interact or are placed on the system, so there are quite a few ways to use the system. So if you have for example a product or a business card that includes a 2D barcode, simply place it on the multitouch display and the cameras of the device will recognize it and get all the relevant information.

Janna is a technology writer interested in new products and breakthroughs in communication technology