The product and its applications are designed so that several people can approach the display from all sides to simultaneously share and interact with digital content.

The cameras’ vision capabilities enable the product to see a near-IR image of what’s placed on the screen, captured at approximately 60 times per second.

The Surface platform processing identifies three types of objects touching the screen: fingers, tags, and blobs.

The Samsung SUR40 is a 40-inch (102 cm) 16:9 LED backlit LCD (1920×1080) with integrated PC and PixelSense technology, which replaces the cameras in the previous product.

The size reduction enables the product to be placed horizontally, and adds the capability to be mounted vertically while retaining the ability to recognize fingers, tags, blobs and utilize raw vision data.

Objects of a specific size and shape, or with tag patterns, can be uniquely identified to initiate a preprogrammed response by the computer.

Microsoft states that sales of PixelSense are targeted toward the following industry verticals: retail, media and entertainment, healthcare, financial services, education, and government.

[4] In October 2001, DJ Kurlander, Michael Kim, Joel Dehlin, Bathiche and Wilson formed a virtual team to bring the idea to the next stage of development.

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.

[6] Surface Computing is part of Microsoft's Productivity and Extended Consumer Experiences Group, which is within the Entertainment & Devices division.

On June 18, 2012, the product was re-branded under the name "Microsoft PixelSense" as a result of the company adopting the Surface brand for its newly unveiled series of tablet PCs.

[13] Microsoft notes four main components being important in the PixelSense interface: direct interaction, multi-touch contact, a multi-user experience, and object recognition.

Developers already proficient in WPF can utilize the SDK to write applications for PixelSense for deployments for the large hotels, casinos, and restaurants.