DiamondTouch
Encyclopedia
The DiamondTouch table is a multi-touch
, interactive PC
interface product from Circle Twelve Inc. It is a human interface device
that has the capability of allowing multiple people to interact simultaneously while identifying which person is touching where. The technology was originally developed at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) in 2001 and later licensed to Circle Twelve Inc in 2008. The DiamondTouch table is used to facilitate face-to-face collaboration, brainstorming, and decision-making, and users include construction management company Parsons Brinckerhoff
, the Methodist Hospital
, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
.
The principal feature that distinguishes the DiamondTouch table from other multi-touch interfaces, such as the Apple iPhone, HP TouchSmart
, Microsoft Surface
or do-it-yourself systems inspired by the work of Jeff Han, is that the DiamondTouch table can identify who is touching where. DiamondTouch achieves this feature through capacitive coupling between a transmitter array located in the touch surface and separate receivers located in the chair of each user.
The physical set-up of the system consists of the DiamondTouch device connected to a PC via USB cable, and a video projector
suspended above the table and aimed down onto the touch surface. Cables connect chairs or receivers to the DiamondTouch unit. The current products have four receivers, thereby supporting one to four users.
A software developer’s kit (SDK) allows developers to build custom software applications using standard programming languages including C
, C++
, Java, ActiveX
(for C#, DHTML, VB.NET) and Adobe Flash
. A mouse emulator enables operation of common software applications using multi-touch gestures for mouse functions (left button, middle button, right button and scroll wheel). A multi-user annotation software tool allows users to make mark-ups, selecting pen types from a pallet.
In September 2008, Circle Twelve introduced a software extension for the geospatial information systems (GIS)
software ArcView
from ESRI
. The software extension allows multi-user and multi-touch interactions in ArcView when used in conjunction with the DiamondTouch table.
In 2003, MERL started a university loan program in which DiamondTouch tables were provided to universities for research purposes, and tabletop computing research built around DiamondTouch began at research groups including Stanford University
, Carnegie Mellon University
, Georgia Institute of Technology
, and University of Tokyo
, leading to research papers presented at academic conferences including UIST, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII). Research in the field led to the formation the annual academic conference beginning in 2006 called Tabletop (initially, the IEEE International Workshop on Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer Systems or TableTop 2006, and most recently the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces or Tabletop 2010).
DiamondTouch first appeared publicly at a cocktail reception at the 2004 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) conference and soon after that at the first NextFest sponsored by Wired Magazine
. In 2006, MERL began selling the DiamondTouch table product commercially. In 2008, MERL licensed the DiamondTouch technology to Circle Twelve Inc, a company founded by MERL’s former VP of Business Development, Adam Bogue.
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
, interactive PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
interface product from Circle Twelve Inc. It is a human interface device
Human interface device
A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device that interacts directly with, and most often takes input from, humans and may deliver output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of Microsoft when he...
that has the capability of allowing multiple people to interact simultaneously while identifying which person is touching where. The technology was originally developed at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) in 2001 and later licensed to Circle Twelve Inc in 2008. The DiamondTouch table is used to facilitate face-to-face collaboration, brainstorming, and decision-making, and users include construction management company Parsons Brinckerhoff
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Parsons Brinckerhoff is a professional services firm with 14,000 employees in 150 offices providing construction and operation management, planning, design, engineering, program management, strategic consulting, environmental and sustainability services for clients and communities in the Americas,...
, the Methodist Hospital
The Methodist Hospital
The Methodist Hospital is a hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Established in 1919 as an outreach ministry of The United Methodist Church, Methodist is one of the most comprehensive teaching hospitals in the United States, with leading specialists in every field of...
, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security. NGA was formerly known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency ...
.
Overview
The DiamondTouch table is a front-projected interactive display that allows up to four users to sit face to face and work together on the same screen. The DiamondTouch hardware enables a class of software known as "single-display groupware" where collaborative work is supported by computer interfaces that allow participants to be physically close. While product literature mentions consumer uses such as gaming, customers of the DiamondTouch are using it for business and office applications.The principal feature that distinguishes the DiamondTouch table from other multi-touch interfaces, such as the Apple iPhone, HP TouchSmart
HP TouchSmart
HP TouchSmart is a series of tablet PC laptops and touchscreen all-in-one desktop computers designed by HP. It features various Intel or AMD processors and runs Windows Vista or Windows 7 as standard.-HP TouchSmart Crossfire:...
, Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface is a multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. This could involve the motion of hands or physical objects. It was...
or do-it-yourself systems inspired by the work of Jeff Han, is that the DiamondTouch table can identify who is touching where. DiamondTouch achieves this feature through capacitive coupling between a transmitter array located in the touch surface and separate receivers located in the chair of each user.
The physical set-up of the system consists of the DiamondTouch device connected to a PC via USB cable, and a video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
suspended above the table and aimed down onto the touch surface. Cables connect chairs or receivers to the DiamondTouch unit. The current products have four receivers, thereby supporting one to four users.
A software developer’s kit (SDK) allows developers to build custom software applications using standard programming languages including C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, Java, ActiveX
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
(for C#, DHTML, VB.NET) and Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
. A mouse emulator enables operation of common software applications using multi-touch gestures for mouse functions (left button, middle button, right button and scroll wheel). A multi-user annotation software tool allows users to make mark-ups, selecting pen types from a pallet.
In September 2008, Circle Twelve introduced a software extension for the geospatial information systems (GIS)
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
software ArcView
ArcView
ArcView 3.x was a geographic information system software product produced by ESRI.-History:ArcView started as a graphical program for spatial data and maps made using ESRI's other software products. Over time more and more functionality was added to ArcView and it became a real GIS program capable...
from ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
. The software extension allows multi-user and multi-touch interactions in ArcView when used in conjunction with the DiamondTouch table.
History
DiamondTouch technology was developed by Paul Dietz and Darren Leigh at MERL, and presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) in 2001. The hardware complimented other Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, including the Personal Digital Historian developed by Chia Shen and others at MERL, and led to developments in tabletop computing, shared display groupware, and touch-based interaction. While the traditional computer interfaces (consisting of a mouse, keyboard and monitor) were originally designed to support individuals, the focus was to create a new type of computer interface to support face-to-face collaboration among small groups of people.In 2003, MERL started a university loan program in which DiamondTouch tables were provided to universities for research purposes, and tabletop computing research built around DiamondTouch began at research groups including Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, and University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
, leading to research papers presented at academic conferences including UIST, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII). Research in the field led to the formation the annual academic conference beginning in 2006 called Tabletop (initially, the IEEE International Workshop on Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer Systems or TableTop 2006, and most recently the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces or Tabletop 2010).
DiamondTouch first appeared publicly at a cocktail reception at the 2004 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) conference and soon after that at the first NextFest sponsored by Wired Magazine
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
. In 2006, MERL began selling the DiamondTouch table product commercially. In 2008, MERL licensed the DiamondTouch technology to Circle Twelve Inc, a company founded by MERL’s former VP of Business Development, Adam Bogue.
Notable Research
- Researchers from Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) developed a Collaborative Puzzle Game with the aim of fostering social interaction skills among children with Autism Spectrum DisordersAutismAutism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
. The work was presented at the 8th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR). - A system for conflict negotiation and resolution between Palestinian and IsraeliIsraeli–Palestinian conflictThe Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
youths was designed in which face-to-face interaction was mediated by the DiamondTouch table. Research took place at University of HaifaUniversity of HaifaThe University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
and was presented at CHI 2008. - A Shared Speech Interface was designed by researchers at UCSD to facilitate conversations between deaf and non-signing, hearing people. The work was presented at CSCW 2008.
- The use of multi-user tabletop interfaces in conjunction with vertical displays in operations centers like the New York City Police DepartmentNew York City Police DepartmentThe New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
’s Real Time Crime CenterReal Time Crime CenterThe Real Time Crime Center is the first centralized technology center for the New York and Houston Police Departments. Its primary purpose is to give field officers and detectives instant and comprehensive information to help identify patterns and stop emerging crime...
was explored by researchers at University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and MERL.
- A study at University of SussexUniversity of SussexThe University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
focused on comparing multi-user interaction around vertical displays versus horizontal displays and found that horizontal displays were better for collaboration, concluding that users of horizontal displays "switched more between roles, explored more ideas and had a greater awareness of what each other was doing," while users of vertical displays "found it more difficult to collaborate." - Recognizing that image orientation poses an interface issue with multi-user horizontal displays, researchers from MERL developed DiamondSpin, a java-based applications development framework." The DiamondSpin toolkit is available for download. http://diamondspin.free.fr/
- Researchers from University of South AustraliaUniversity of South AustraliaThe University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...
developed a system for mapping the multi-user capabilities of DiamondTouch into the multi-window device support of the X Window SystemX Window SystemThe X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
. The system, named Multi-Pointer X (MPX), works with operating systems such as LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
that support multiple pointing devices. - Multi-modal interfaces that combine speech recognition and direct touch interactions were explored by researchers at University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
and MERL, leading to applications that included an adaptation of WarCraft III on the DiamondTouch table. - Issues of social protocol in multi-user tabletop computer systems were explored by researchers from Stanford, MERL and University of ParisUniversity of ParisThe University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, proposing paradigms for user interface design in shared display groupware. - Researchers from MERL and University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
developed user interface design principles for multi-touchMulti-touchIn computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
screens, including the use of various hand postures in one and two-handed touch interaction concepts.