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Multi-touch screen
Finger touching a multi-touch screen

In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a trackpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one[1][2] or more than two[3] points of contact with the surface. The term "Multi-Touch" was coined in 2007 by Apple Inc at the Macworld - iWorld iPhone stevenote. This plural-point awareness may be used to implement additional functionality, such as pinch to zoom or to activate certain subroutines attached to predefined gestures.


History of multi-touch[edit]


Prior to Multi-touch technology it was very difficult to manufacture a touch screen device without a pen interface. The idea of being able to use a keyboard interface built into the actual touch screen itself, which we see today, was impossible to attain because the screens were only able to utilize these single-touch points.[7]

The prototypes[8] of the x-y mutual capacitance multi-touch screens (left) developed at CERN

One of the early implementations of mutual capacitance touchscreen technology was developed at CERN in 1977[9][10] based on their capacitance touch screens developed in 1972 by Danish electronics engineer Bent Stumpe. This technology was used to develop a new type of human machine interface (HMI) for the control room of the Super Proton Synchrotron particle accelerator.



In 1983, Bell Labs at Murray Hill published a comprehensive discussion of touch-screen based interfaces.[13]




An advance occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch "Digital Desk", which supported multi-finger and pinching motions.[17][18]

Various companies expanded upon these inventions in the beginning of the twenty-first century. The company Fingerworks developed various multi-touch technologies between 1999 and 2005, including Touchstream keyboards and the iGesture Pad. Several studies of this technology were published in the early 2000s by Alan Hedge, professor of human factors and ergonomics at Cornell University.[19][20][21] Apple acquired Fingerworks and its multi-touch technology in 2005. Mainstream exposure to multi-touch technology occurred in 2007 when the iPhone gained popularity, with Apple stating they "invented multi touch" as part of the iPhone announcement,[22] however both the function and the term predate the announcement or patent requests, except for such area of application as capacitive mobile screens, which did not exist before Fingerworks/Apple's technology (Fingerworks filed patents in 2001–2005,[23] subsequent multi-touch refinements were patented by Apple[24]).


In May 2015, Apple was granted a patent for a "fusion keyboard", which turns individual physical keys into multi-touch buttons.[25]


Some of the first devices to support multi-touch were:

Brands and manufacturers[edit]

Apple has retailed and distributed numerous products using multi-touch technology, most prominently including its iPhone smartphone and iPad tablet. Additionally, Apple also holds several patents related to the implementation of multi-touch in user interfaces,[27] however the legitimacy of some patents has been disputed.[28] Apple additionally attempted to register "Multi-touch" as a trademark in the United States—however its request was denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office because it considered the term generic.[29]



A few companies are focusing on large-scale surface computing rather than personal electronics, either large multi-touch tables or wall surfaces. These systems are generally used by government organizations, museums, and companies as a means of information or exhibit display. Large scale multi-touch surfaces are manufactured by Finnish company MultiTaction on their 55" MT Cells (55" screens) who also have office locations in London, California and Singapore. MultiTaction also build unique collaboration software especially designed for multi-touch screens such as MT Canvus and MT Showcase.




Handheld technologies use a panel that carries an electrical charge. When a finger touches the screen, the touch disrupts the panel's electrical field. The disruption is registered as an computer event (gesture) and may be sent to the software, which may then initiates a response to the gesture event.[31]



Capacitive technologies include:[33]


Resistive technologies include:[33]



Optical technologies include:[33]


Acoustic and radio-frequency wave-based technologies include:[33]

Multi-touch gestures[edit]

Multi-touch touchscreen gestures enable predefined motions to interact with the device and software. An increasing number of devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops or desktop computers have functions that are triggered by multi-touch gestures.

Multi-touch software[edit]

Many vendors have developed multi-touch software products that allow people to drag, resize, and rotate photos, videos and electronic documents (e.g. unedged arena, nuiSense business, snowflake, omnitapps).

Multi-touch software often has common features that enable non-technical people to quickly configure multi-touch presentations. This software may be useful in museums, kiosks, education, storefront windows, fairs and showrooms. It can be also used for collaboration purposes.[citation needed]

Popular culture[edit]

Years before it was a viable consumer product, popular culture portrayed potential uses of multi-touch technology in the future, including in several installments of the Star Trek franchise.

The television series CSI: Miami introduced both surface and wall multi-touch displays in its sixth season. Another television series, NCIS: Los Angeles, makes use of multi-touch surfaces and wall panels as an initiative to go digital. Another form of a multi-touch computer was seen in the film The Island, where the professor, played by Sean Bean, has a multi-touch desktop to organize files, based on an early version of Microsoft Surface[3] (not be confused with the tablet computers which now bear that name). Multi-touch technology can also be seen in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, where MI6 uses a touch interface to browse information about the criminal Dominic Greene.[35] In an episode of the television series The Simpsons, Lisa Simpson travels to the underwater headquarters of Mapple to visit Steve Mobbs, who is shown to be performing multiple multi-touch hand gestures on a large touch wall.

A device similar to the Microsoft Surface was seen in the 1982 Disney sci-fi film Tron. It took up an executive's entire desk and was used to communicate with the Master Control computer.

The interface used to control the alien ship in the 2009 film District 9 features such similar technology.[36]

Microsoft's Surface was also used in the 2008 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.[37]


See also[edit]


  7. ^ "Multi-Touch Technology, Applications and Global Markets". Retrieved 2015-11-16. 
  9. ^ Stumpe, Bent (16 March 1977), A new principle for x-y touch system (PDF), CERN, retrieved 2010-05-25 
  10. ^ Stumpe, Bent (6 February 1978), Experiments to find a manufacturing process for an x-y touch screen (PDF), CERN, retrieved 2010-05-25 
  14. ^ Krueger, Myron. "Videoplace '88". 
  17. ^ Wellner, Pierre. 1991. The Digital Desk. Video on YouTube
  18. ^ Pierre Wellner's papers via DBLP
  23. ^ "US patent 7,046,230 "Touch pad handheld device"". 
  24. ^ Jobs; et al. "Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics". 
  25. ^ "Apple Patent Tips Multi-Touch Keyboard". 26 May 2015. 
  31. ^ Brandon, John. 2009. "How the iPhone Works
  32. ^ DIY Multi-touch screen
  33. ^ a b c d Knowledge base:Multitouch technologies. Digest author: Gennadi Blindmann
  34. ^ [2]
  35. ^ 2009. " Quantum of Solace Multitouch UI"
  36. ^ "District 9 - Ship UI" on YouTube

External links[edit]