Multi-Touch Card®
An Unskimmable Ultra-Thin Card Linked with Contents That Can Be Changed Flexibly
With a Multi-Touch Card, just by simply pinching between your fingers one of the multiple icons printed near an edge of a card and tapping the card against a smartphone, the content you want to see or app operation you want to carry out is displayed. Since each icon corresponding to a different content, up to three can be assigned.
Description of How to Use a Multi-Touch Card
①By reading the QR code printed on the back side of the card with a smartphone, a browser pops open and a touch screen is displayed. (If desired the QR code may be printed on the front side.)
②Among the three icons printed near the edge of the card (generally on the front side as shown here), pinch with your fingers the icon that corresponds to “what you want to see” or “what you want to do.”
③By tapping the card pinched with your fingers onto a smartphone, you can view the content or you can carry out an operation of the application corresponding to the pinched icon.
* In the case of the use of the card for a content involving authentication or financial settlement, the card can be used with an additional means of security such as PIN codes. Thus, in this case, by having a user enter the PIN code printed on the card or sent by SMS, a special content can be displayed or an authentication/settlement can be accomplished.
Multi-Touch Card Technology
In conjunction with the human body through which electricity can flow, a sheet printed with an electrical circuit connected to multiple electrodes is embedded.
The smartphone detects the electrode arrangement pattern and decodes it into a “Capacitance Code.” This is a unique technology where by changing the position pitched by the fingers, the “Capacitance Code” changes and a corresponding different content is displayed.
Although there are a few devices, mostly stamp-type devices, in distribution that utilize electrostatic capacitance, the accurate recognition of the electrode arrangement pattern has been an issue.
After approximately three years of research, we have developed an electrical circuit that accurately detects electrode arrangement patterns with almost no misrecognition, and have implemented it in the Multi-Touch Card.
Confirmation of recognition accuracy has been carried out on about 400 smartphones distributed in Japan from the time the research was initiated up to now.
Practical Examples of the Multi-Touch Card
The more that is manufactured, the lower the price per card becomes.Companies and organizations have used the card for the promotion of events and facilities, and it has been used in the fields of sports, tourism and education. Another example is as personal business cards with icons that are linked to personal histories and YouTube videos.
Example 1
“Waterworks Caravan Expedition Team Membership Card,” by the Bureau of Waterworks of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.Distributed as a membership card to participants of the “Waterworks Caravan” an event for elementary school students hosted by the Bureau of Waterworks of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In the past, commemorative gifts were distributed to the participants, but by distributing this card, it is now possible to send out post-visit information.
Example 2
“Izu Hakone Railway 1-Day Unlimited Ride Ticket”
In collaboration with the animation “Handsome Guys High School Earth Defense Club HAPPY KISS!” unique tickets were sold not only for the fans but also for the general public. Six kinds of cards with different designs for each character were issued so as to make them collectibles. They were adopted for the purpose of public relations and to improve customer satisfaction.