Multi-touch (or multitouch) denotes a set of interaction techniques which allow computer users to control graphical applications with several fingers.

Multi-touch consists of a touch screen (screen, table, wall, etc.) or touchpad, as well as software that recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points, as opposed to the standard touchscreen (e.g. computer touchpad, ATM), which recognizes only one touch point. This effect is achieved through a variety of means, including but not limited to: heat, finger pressure, high capture rate cameras, infrared light, optic capture, tuned electromagnetic induction, ultrasonic receivers, transducer microphones, laser rangefinders, and shadow capture.

Many applications for multi-touch interfaces exist and are being proposed. Some uses are individualistic (e.g., iPhone, iPod touch, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, HTC Diamond ) . However, multi-touch technology is mainly used to incorporate collaboration into the computing experience.

History

Bell Labs

In 1984 Bell Labs engineered a multi-touch screen that could manipulate images with more than one hand. The group at the University of Toronto stopped working on hardware and moved on to software and interfaces, expecting that they would have access to the Bell Labs work.

A breakthrough occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch “Digital Desk”, which supported multi-finger and pinching motions.

Fingerworks

In 1999, Fingerworks, a Newark-based company run by University of Delaware academics John Elias and Wayne Westerman, produced a line of multi-touch products including the iGesture Pad and the TouchStream keyboard. Westerman published a dissertation in 1999 on the subject. In 2005, after years of maintaining a niche line of keyboards and touchpads, Fingerworks was acquired by Apple Computer.

==Recent developments== Various companies expanded upon these discoveries in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mainstream exposure to multi-touch technology occurred in the year 2007, when Apple unveiled the iPhone and Microsoft debuted surface computing. The iPhone in particular has spawned a wave of interest in multi-touch computing, since it permits greatly increased user interaction on a small scale. More robust and customizable multi-touch and gesture-based solutions are beginning to become available, among them TrueTouch, created by Cypress Semiconductor. The following is a compilation of notable uses of multi-touch technology in recent years.

Apple iPhone, iPod touch, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro

In 2005, Apple acquired Fingerworks. In 2007 they introduced the iPhone, marking the first time multi-touch technology was used on a phone. The iPhone includes such components as a web browser, music player, video player, and a cell phone without the use of a hard keypad or stylus.