Finland - MultiTouch (www.multitouch.fi) announced the industry’s first infrared (IR) pen support for its MultiTaction® interactive Cells. MultiTaction IR Pen software will enable users to write, draw, sketch, and brainstorm designs and words on MultiTaction Cell displays using most IR pens, and to distinguish clearly between pen and touch interactions.

The MultiTouch MultiTaction platform delivers ultra-fast response times and a flush edge-to-edge work area. Combined with MultiTaction IR pen software, MultiTaction Cells demonstrate the benefits of digital whiteboard and multi-user interactive display, and provide a more effective presentation tool for corporate, educational, and media industry sectors, among others.

MultiTouch is demonstrating its MultiTaction IR Pen solution at INFOCOMM 2012 in Booth# N1463 in the North Hall of the Las Convention Center, from Wednesday, June 13 to Friday, June 15.

MultiTaction IR Pen software will be bundled as a standard feature in all new MultiTaction displays, and offered as a free software upgrade for all current MultiTaction displays. Enabling simultaneous pen and hand gesture input thanks to MultiTouch’s patented CVTS (Computer Vision Through Screen) technology, MultiTaction IR Pen software can be used with MultiTaction Cells for collaborative presentations, both as a table or a wall configuration of up to 24 stacked displays.

The software enables unlimited number of pens to draw on a single display, or an array of connected displays, while also accommodating an unlimited number of touches. It will complement MultiTouch products in the corporate, educational, museum, retail, oil & gas, and government/military markets. Clients can develop collaborative applications that enable more efficient and productive communication.

MultiTaction IR Pen software is a new addition to the rich feature sets associated with MultiTaction technology: 200 frames per second gesture tracking, for smooth, ultra-fast responsiveness; high brightness; operation in variable lighting conditions, stackability, and a software that is optimised for tracking multiple concurrent interaction methods, which – in addition to IR Pen – include hands, optical markers and real life objects.

MultiTaction IR Pen software:
• Allows the use of common IR pens as a new input method for MultiTaction displays
• Distinguishes between pen and finger/hand input, allowing user to draw or write with the pen and move and resize objects with his/her other hand
• Enables combined use of physical objects together with the pen, such as a real-life eraser
• Enables annotation on on-screen content

“The collaborative multitouch enterprise environment requires more creative inputs, and MultiTaction IR Pen software is another step toward completely free-flowing multi-sensory communication,” explains Tommi Ilmonen, CTO of MultiTouch Ltd. “The value of a powerful sensory peripheral married with multitouch displays will add to the adoption of this technology as the next-generation corporate whiteboard.”