3M Launches 20-Finger Multi-Touch Display

By Kevin Parrish
published

Use your hands, AND your feet!

Back in January we saw 3M's multi-touch panel--the 22-inch M2256PW--on display at CES 2010. At the time, it only allowed for ten simultaneous inputs using the company's Projected Capacitive Technology. However that's all changed, and now the LCD is hitting the market with 20+ finger support. What this means is that the display will accept multiple users collaborating on a single panel at the same time.

Outside the 20+ finger support, the M2256PW has a 6 millisecond response time for 20 touches, and palm accommodation which allows for "interface manipulation with one or more hands resting on the screen." The display also has 3358 touch points for precision drawing and edge accuracy, and a smooth and natural draw response thanks to the display's "anti-stiction" touch surface.

Although the actual screen size wasn't specified in the press release, the product page indicates that the size hasn't changed since its debut back in January, measuring 22-inches. Other bells and whistles include a 1680 x 1050 resolution, DVI and VGA video inputs, a USB and serial-based RS232 dual-mode communications protocol, and an anti-glare surface. The device is also Windows Touch AQ tested for 20+ fingers, making it compatible with Windows 7 and requiring no additional drivers.

"With the release of the M2256PW multi-touch display, 3M is helping realize the full potential of the multi-touch ecosystem," said Chris Tsourides, business manager, 3M Touch Systems. "With 20-plus finger multi-touch capability, the M2256PW display offers software developers an important development tool that they’ve been missing until now."

3M's online store indicates that it will cost $1,549 USD, however it appears that the company is providing discounts for specific quantities.

Kevin Parrish
39 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sliem
    /palmface
    Why?
    Reply
  • jednx01
    Ok.... Not to ask stupid questions, but why would you need to have a screen that can have inputs from that many fingers at once? lol
    Reply
  • N.Broekhuijsen
    we have reached the point where further development in technology is getting increasingly useless... This in only useful for large surfaces, not a desktop display!
    Reply
  • tayb
    Think bigger than 22".
    Reply
  • jmchien
    jednx01Ok.... Not to ask stupid questions, but why would you need to have a screen that can have inputs from that many fingers at once? lolplaying a game with two people?
    Reply
  • theuerkorn
    Good technology for times to come, and for early adopters I guess. Nevertheless, once that's implemented in a bigger system it really sounds useful.
    Reply
  • digiex
    Now I can multi touch using my hands and feet, 5 fingers left hand + 5 fingers right hand + 5 fingers left foot + 5 fingers right foot = 20 fingers.
    Reply
  • tburns1
    I guess this means I can finally accurately input what I want to while I am using my monitor as a skateboard. Hooray for R&D!
    Reply
  • RS232....... motherboards still have those ?
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Isn't mutli-touch detection kinda like counting. Once you figured out that 2 came after 1, and that 3 came after 2, is it really that impressive that 20 comes after 19? I mean really, all they've done is increased the processing power to track 20+ inputs instead of the 3 or 4 of previous devices, right?

    And touch points? You mean my fingers are simply activating various points on a detection grid (like buttons or switches)? I suppose the detection had to be reduced to a discrete number at some point, but only 3358 touch points? That's 73x46 points. That's what, 3 every 2 centimeters or something? That's not a very precise surface. Maybe I'm just confused.
    Reply