Patent ID: 8427447

Claim:
A multi-user multi-touch input system for use by a plurality of users as an input device, said multi-user multi-touch input system comprising: an input portion capable of being touched by said plurality of users; a user-identifier component configured to: detect that a particular user of the plurality of users has touched the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch input system, determine an identity of the particular user independent of a location of the touch by the particular user on the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch input system, and provide a first indication indicating that the touch by the particular user has been detected at a first time by the user-identifier component; a touch-locator component configured to: detect a touch at a particular location of the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch input system, and provide a second indication indicating that the touch at the particular location has been detected at a second time by said touch-locator component; and a controller configured to: determine, based on the first indication and the second indication, whether the particular user identified by the user-identifier component has touched the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch input system at the particular location detected by the touch locator component, and generate an output indicating that the particular user has touched the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch system at the particular location when it is determined that the particular user has touched the input portion of the multi-user multi-touch input system at the particular location detected by the touch locator component.