Surface Computer

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MICROSOFT SURFACE COMPUTER

INTRODUCTION

A surface computer is a computer that interacts with the user through the surface of an ordinary object, rather than through a monitor and keyboard. This technology is entirely based on the Multi-touch interface property. This was created by Microsoft in the year 2007. iPhone is an example of multi-touch screen, which everyone thinks of innovation ways to control their machines just using finger, which uses the electric properties of the users finger to detect touch, the surface of which utilize a system of infrared cameras to detect input. Surface computing is the word used to specify the working of a surface computer. It can be used as a coffee-table at home. Microsoft Surface is a touch-based graphical user interface. Using specialized hardware designed to replace the keyboard and mouse used in typical computing applications, Surface enables a level of interaction previously unattainable with conventional hardware. The system is composed of a horizontal touch screen under a coffee table-like surface, with cameras mounted below to detect user interaction activities. All interface components such as dialogs, mouse pointer, and windows, are replaced with circles and rectangles outlining "objects" that are manipulated via drag and drop. The "objects" in question can be either virtual objects displayed on the screen, or physical objects such as cellophanes, digital cameras, and PDAs placed on the screen. Physical objects are automatically identified and connected to the Surface computer upon their placement on the screen. With no interface text, the Surface computer can be used by speakers of any language and any competency level.

HISTORY

The technology behind Surface is called multi-touch and has at least a 25-year history, beginning in 1982, with pioneering work being done at the University of Toronto (multi-touch tablets) and Bell Labs (multi-touch screens). The product idea for Surface was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research. In October 2001, a virtual team was formed with Bathiche and Wilson as key members, to bring the idea to the next stage of development. In 2003, the team presented the idea to the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, in a group review. Later, the virtual team was expanded and a prototype nicknamed T1 was produced within a month. The prototype was based on an IKEA table with a hole cut in the top and a sheet of architect vellum used as a diffuser. The team also developed some applications, including pinball, a photo browser and a video puzzle. Over the next year, Microsoft built more than 85 early prototypes for Surface. The final hardware design was completed in 2005. A similar concept was used in the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report . As noted in the DVD commentary, the director Steven Spielberg stated the concept of the device came from consultation with Microsoft during the making of the movie. One of the film's technology consultant's associates from MIT later joined Microsoft to work on the Surface project. Surface was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 30, 2007 at The Wall Street Journal's 'D: All Things Digital' conference in Carlsbad, California. Surface Computing is part of Microsoft's Productivity and Extended Consumer Experiences Group, which is within the Entertainment & Devices division. The first few companies to deploy Surface will include Harrah's Entertainment, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, T-Mobile and a distributor, International Game Technology. On April 17, 2008 AT&T became the first retail location to launch Surface. In June 2008 Harrah’s Entertainment launched Microsoft Surface at Rio iBar and Disneyland launched it in Tomorrowland, Innoventions Dream Home. On August 13, 2008 Sheraton Hotels introduced Surface in their hotel lobbies at 5 locations. On September 8, 2008 MSNBC began using the Surface to work with election maps for the 2008 US Presidential Election on air. MSNBC's political director, Chuck Todd, was placed at the helm.  

FEATURES OF SURFACE COMPUTER

1) DIRECT INTERACTION
2) MULTI-TOUCH CONTACT
3) MULTI-USER EXPERIENCE
4) OBJECT RECOGNITION


Direct interaction refers to the user's ability to simply reach out and touch the interface of an application in order to interact with it, without the need for a mouse or keyboard. Multi-touch contact refers to the ability to have multiple contact points with an interface, unlike with a mouse, where there is only one cursor. Multi-user is a benefit of multi-touch -- several people can orient themselves on different sides of the surface to interact with an application simultaneously. Object recognition refers to the device's ability to recognize the presence and orientation of tagged objects placed on top of it. The technology allows non-digital objects to be used as input devices. In one example, a normal paint brush was used to create a digital painting in the software. This is made possible by the fact that, in using cameras for input, the system does not rely on restrictive properties required of conventional touch screen or touchpad devices such as the capacitance, electrical resistance, or temperature of the tool used. The computer's "vision" is created by a near-infrared, 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the surface. When an object touches the tabletop, the light is reflected to multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1280 x 960, allowing it to sense, and react to items touching the tabletop. Surface will ship with basic applications, including photos, music, virtual concierge, and games, that can be customized for the customers. A unique feature that comes preinstalled with Surface is the pond effect "Attract" application. Simply, it is a "picture" of water with leaves and rocks within it (a lot like a screen saver used in Windows XP or Vista). By touching the screen, you can create ripples in the water just like you were putting your hand into a real stream. Additionally, the pressure of touch alters the size of the ripple created, and objects placed into the water create a barrier that ripples bounce off, just as they would in real life.

MULTI-TOUCH SCREEN

Multi-touch (or multitouch) denotes a set of interaction techniques which allow computer users to control graphical applications with several fingers. Multi-touch consists of a touch screen (screen, table, wall, etc.) or touchpad, as well as software that recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points, as opposed to the standard touch screen (e.g. computer touchpad, ATM), which recognizes only one touch point. This effect is achieved through a variety of means, including but not limited to: heat, finger pressure, high capture rate cameras, infrared light, optic capture, tuned electromagnetic induction, ultrasonic receivers, transducer microphones, laser rangefinders, and shadow capture. Many applications for multi-touch interfaces exist and are being proposed. Multi-touch is often associated with Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

ATTRIBUTES

The four key attributes of surface computing are:

Direct interaction: User can actually grab digital information with their hands and interact with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.

Multi-touch contact: unlike most touch screen, surface computer can respond to more than one touch at a time. During a demonstration with a reporter, Mark Bolger, the surface computing group’s marketing director, dipped his finger in an on-screen paint palette, and then dragged it across the screen to draw a smiley face. Then he used all ten fingers at once to give the face a full head of hair.

Multi-user experience: The surface computer can be used by multiple people at the same time. This interactive display can’t only recognize physical object’s identification tags similar to bar codes but also enables users to engage in hands-on activities such as digital finger printing and interact with content.

Object recognition: a surface computer is able to recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on direct control of contents such as- photos, music and maps.

INTERNAL CONFIGURATION

The internal configuration is as follows. The figure below shows the internal configuration:

1) Screen: A diffuser turns the Surface's acrylic tabletop into a large horizontal "multi touch" screen, capable of processing multiple inputs from multiple users. The Surface can also recognize objects by their shapes or by reading coded "domino" tags. The screen has two infrared features: • Multi-Touch Interface • Object-Identification




2) Infrared: • Infrared Multi-Touch : An FTIR (short for Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) setup involves three vital components: a sheet of transparent acrylic, a chain of infrared LEDs, and a camera with an IR filter. The LEDs are arranged around the outside of the sheet of acrylic so that they shine directly into the thin side surfaces. Once the IR light is inside the acrylic, it strikes the top and bottom surfaces of the acrylic at a near-parallel angle, and is subject to the effect known as total internal reflection. This causes it to be wholly maintained in the acrylic. This is a little tough to describe in words, so we’ve made a simple diagram:


The net effect of the setup described above is a sheet of acrylic full of internally reflecting infrared light. When a finger is pressed against the acrylic, it causes some of the light to be reflected down, through the acrylic and into the cabinet, where it is detected by the webcam. This effect, called frustrated total internal reflection is a little complicated, and involves something called an evanescent wave, but you don’t really need to understand why it happens, just that it does happen, as illustrated in this diagram:


• Infrared Object-Identification: Surface's "machine vision" operates in the near-infrared spectrum, using an 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the screen. When objects touch the tabletop, the light reflects back and is picked up by multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1280 x 960.

(3) CPU: Surface uses many of the same components found in everyday desktop computers — a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card. Wireless communication with devices on the surface is handled using WiFi and Bluetooth antennas (future versions may incorporate RFID or Near Field Communications). The underlying operating system is a modified version of Microsoft Vista.

(4) Projector: Microsoft's Surface uses the same DLP light engine found in many rear-projections HDTV. The footprint of the visible light screen, at 1024 x 768 pixels, is actually smaller than the invisible overlapping infrared projection to allow for better recognition at the edges of the screen.

SCREEN

-Older versions of screen

1) Resistive:
The resistive systems consist of a normal glass panel that is covered with conductive and resistive metallic layers. The two layers are held apart by spacers and a scratch resistant layer is placed on the top of the whole setup an electrical current runs through the two layers while the monitor is operational. When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact exactly at the spot. The change in the electrical field is noted and the coordinates of the point of contact are calculated by the processor. Once the coordinates are known, a special driver translates the touch into something that the operating system can understand, much as a computer mouse driver translates the movements of a mouse into a click or a drag. The change in the electrical current is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. Resistive touch screen
panels are generally more affordable but offer only 75% clarity and the layer can be damaged by sharp objects. Resistive touch screen panels are not affected by outside elements such as dust or water.

2) Capacitive:
In the capacitive system, a layer of and electro conductive material (most often indium tin – oxide) that stores electrical charge is placed on the glass panel of the monitor. When a user touches the monitor with his finger, some of the charge is transferred to the user, so the charge on the capacitive layer decreases. This decrease is measured in circuits located at each corner of the monitor. The computer calculates, from the relative differences in charge at each corner, exactly where the touch event took place and then relays that information to the touch screen driver software. One advantage of the capacitive system over the resistive system is that it transmits all most 92 % of the light emitted from the monitor, whereas as the resistive system transmits only about 75%. This gives the capacitive system a much clearer picture than the resistive system. Also, the capacitive system has a very long life (about 225 million clicks).The bad news is that this touch screen type cannot be activated by contact with inanimate objects (e.g., the gloves that you might wear). There are mainly two subtypes: one cannot register more than one touch at a time, while the other, called ‘Multi Touch’ (used in Apple iPhone and iPod) does.

3) Surface wave: Surface-wave technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel. On the monitor of a surface acoustic wave system, two transducers (ones sending and the other receiving) are placed along the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes of the monitor’s glass plate. Also placed on the glass are reflectors – these reflect an electrical signal sent from one transducer to the other. The receiving transducer is able to tell whether the wave has been disturbed by a touch event at any instant, and can locate it accordingly. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic wave registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the controller for processing. The wave setup has no metallic layers on the screen, allowing for 100 % light throughput and perfect image clarity. This makes the surface acoustic wave system best for displaying detailed graphics (both the other systems have significant degradation in clarity). Surface-wave touch screen panels are the most advanced of the three types, but these can be damaged by outside element. Another area in which the systems differ is the way stimuli are registered as a touch event. A resistive system registers a touch as long as the two layers make contact, which means that it doesn’t matter if you touch it with your finger or a rubber ball. A capacitive system, on the other hand, must have a conductive input, usually your finger, in order to register a touch. The surface acoustic wave system works much like the resistive system, allowing a touch with almost any object- except hard and small object like a pen tip.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION FEATURES

The Surface computer is been implemented with various features:

1) Bluetooth
2) Wi-Fi

BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth is a wireless protocol- a method by which devices can communicate without a physical connection such as a cable. Most devices that have cables of less than a meter's length are suitable candidates for being replaced with Bluetooth devices, such as cell phone headsets, computer keyboards, and PDA synchronization cables. One of the defining points of Bluetooth is interoperability between manufacturers- Bluetooth devices made by any company are, in theory, 100% compatible with devices made by another company. Bluetooth is limited by its own specification to a 10 meter (30 foot) range, however there are devices that do in fact support longer range transmissions. The first official Bluetooth specifications, v1.0 and v1.0B were problematic and were not very interoperable between manufacturers. Bluetooth v1.1 addressed this issue and many others. However, only with Bluetooth v1.2 have the devices found widespread use. This is mostly because v1.2 is slightly faster than the previous versions, and provides better audio quality. The newest v2.0 devices are 100% compatible with existing v1.x equipment, yet provide a threefold increase in transfer speeds and bandwidth, and lower power consumption. The name Bluetooth pays homage to the Scandinavian birthplace of the protocol. At the end of the first millennium AD, Scandinavia was torn by warring tribes. The Danish king Herald Blat and was the first man able to unite these tribes- and his own blue tooth earned him the nickname Bluetooth. As the new wireless protocol was also intended to unite separate devices, Harold's nickname was used as an early codename for the project. However, the name proved so popular that it was made permanent

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a family of communication protocols developed for wireless local area networks. The protocols are largely based upon the IEEE's 802.11 standard and subsequent revisions to it, though several proprietary extensions to the standard are in widespread use. While WiFi is most commonly associated with providing wireless Internet access to personal and laptop computers, the technology is slowly being adopted by cell phones, PDA's, portable gaming devices, and many other consumer electronic devices. WiFi compliance testing and product certification is handled by the WiFi Alliance, an umbrella group of wireless equipment manufacturers. WiFi has many benefits over traditional wired networks, however its drawbacks must also be taken into consideration when planning a local area network for wired or wireless use. WiFi enables Internet access in places inaccessible or impractical by use of cable such as existing structures that cannot be modified, large undeveloped lands such as construction zones, and even swimming pools. Undeterred Internet access allows a VOIP telephone or PDA to be used throughout a home or office, and there is no danger of pets or rodents gnawing a cable. Additionally, the cost of a single consumer-grade WiFi router may be significantly less that the switches and wiring that large offices with many endpoints would otherwise need. However, WiFi cannot yet offer the high data transfer rates that cables can, and they are more susceptible to interference. Battery life of portable components is also reduced due to the need of powering the wireless transmitter and encode/decode processing power. Finally, wireless transmissions are vulnerable to interception via malicious third parties who may spy on data, or even change it en route. Common WiFi security schemes such as WEP and WPA have proven crack able and cannot be relied upon. The name WiFi is short for 'wireless fidelity', a play on the term 'Hi-Fi' used to describe high fidelity audio reproduction. Although the WiFi Alliance takes the official stance that the terms are not related, the group's documentation makes several references to the use of 'WiFi' as shorthand for 'wireless fidelity'. The name was invented by Interbrand Corporation as a marketing buzzword for the new technology, as the official IEEE 802.11 specification on which WiFi is based did not have a name. The term 802.11 was deemed too technical for the average consumer that the technology is marketed for, hence the need for a name. Interbrand also designed the WiFi Alliance's logo such that it could be easily identified both in print and molded into a product's plastic casing. This allows the logo to be used to identify WiFi Alliance approved products, avoiding consumer confusion and ensuring device compatibility.

Application

Surface computing is slowly starting to catch on and is starting to be used in real world applications. Here is just a sample of what surface computing technologies have been used. The Microsoft Surface is starting to pick up popularity and has been used in various places and venues. • Various large companies have implemented it for their customers’ interfacing. • Similarly government institutions have also implemented for helping people. • Other places include hotels, motels, and industries. • Has been used for providing young minds user-friendly assistance for their projects. • Also some companies have used it as their help-desk.

ADVANTAGES

• It gives the only way of providing highly user interface
• Multi-Touch interface provides a very user friendly interface
• Also the experience of multi-user gives a ease for conference.
• Object-recognition is another feature that has further decreased the problems of device data transfer.  

DISADVANTAGES OF SURFACE COMPUTERS

* High Cost
* High Power Conception
* Handling is much difficult since the size is too big  

CONCLUSION

I am really happy to discuss my views and ideas about surface computers. It is a technology developed by Microsoft in2007. it is useful to make a computer to much more user friendly for a new user. We can feel the computers and computing by touching with our fingers, therefore we can say we are using multi- user touch system for surface computer. There it is much more reliable and accurate and is to being implemented in all field.  

REFERENCE MAGAZINES

MAGAZINES:
• Electronics For You
* October 2008
* March 2009
• InfoKairali
* February 2008

WEBSITES:

1.http://toostep.com/insight/microsoft_surface_computer_-_multi_touch_technology
2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/surface_computer
3.http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/29/microsoft-announc-es-surface-computer/
4.http://multi-touchscreen.com/microsoft-surface-video-multi-touch-jeff-han-apple-bill-gates.html