ThinSight: versatile multi-touch sensing for thin form-factor displays

  • Authors:

  • Steve Hodges;Shahram Izadi;Alex Butler;Alban Rrustemi;Bill Buxton

  • Affiliations:

  • Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge, United Kngdm;Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge, United Kngdm;Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge, United Kngdm;Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge, United Kngdm;Microsoft Research Limited, Redmond

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 20th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

ThinSight is a novel optical sensing system, fully integrated into a thin form factor display, capable of detecting multi-ple fingers placed on or near the display surface. We describe this new hardware in detail, and demonstrate how it can be embedded behind a regular LCD, allowing sensing without degradation of display capability. With our approach, fingertips and hands are clearly identifiable through the display. The approach of optical sensing also opens up the exciting possibility for detecting other physical objects and visual markers through the display, and some initial experiments are described. We also discuss other novel capabilities of our system: interaction at a distance using IR pointing devices, and IR-based communication with other electronic devices through the display. A major advantage of ThinSight over existing camera and projector based optical systems is its compact, thin form-factor making such systems even more deployable. We therefore envisage using ThinSight to capture rich sensor data through the display which can be processed using computer vision techniques to enable both multi-touch and tangible interaction.