The IR ring: authenticating users' touches on a multi-touch display

Multi-touch displays are particularly attractive for collaborative work because multiple users can interact with applications simultaneously. However, unfettered access can lead to loss of data confidentiality and integrity. For example, one user can open or alter files of a second user, or impersonate the second user, while the second user is absent or not looking. Towards preventing these attacks, we explore means to associate the touches of a user with the user's identity in a fashion that is cryptographically sound as well as easy to use. We describe our current solution, which relies on a ring-like device that transmits a continuous pseudorandom bit sequence in the form of infrared light pulses. The multi-touch display receives and localizes the sequence, and verifies its authenticity. Each sequence is bound to a particular user, and all touches in the direct vicinity of the location of the sequence on the display are associated with that user.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: UIST
• Authors: Volker Roth, Philipp Schmidt, Benjamin Güldenring
• Keywords: Multi-touch Display, Pseudorandom Bit Sequence, Software Engineering, UIST 2010, User