TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGIES
CONTENTS
History How does it work? Types of touch screen technologies Structure Characteristics Pros and cons Conclusion
HISTORY
Touch screens emerged from academic and corporate research labs in the second half of the 1960s. One of the first places where they gained some visibility was in the terminal of a computer-assisted learning terminal that came out in 1972 as part of the PLATO project. Touch screens became widely used in kiosk and point of sale systems in banks and stores. In 1983, the first touch screen computer, the HP-150, reached the market. Introduction of advanced touch screen technologies leading to the commercialization of tablet PCs, PDAs, and touch-screen phones
How Does a Touch screen Work?
A basic touch screen has three main components: 1 .Touch sensor 2. Controller; 3 . Software driver. The touch screen is an input device, so it needs to be combined with a display and a PC or other device to make a complete touch input system.
Touch Sensor
A touch screen sensor is a clear glass panel with a touch responsive surface. The touch sensor/panel is placed over a display screen so that the responsive area of the panel covers the viewable area of the video screen. The sensor generally has an electrical current or signal going through it and touching the screen can cause a voltage or signal change. This change is used to determine the location of the touch to the screen
Controller
The controller connects between the touch sensor and the PC. It takes information from the touch sensor and translates it into information that PC can understand. The controller determines what type of interface/connection you will need on the PC. Controllers are available that can connect to a Serial/COM port (PC) or to a USB port. Specialized controllers are also available that work with DVD players and other devices
Software Driver
The driver allows the touch screen and computer to work together. It tells the computer's operating system how to interpret the touch event information that is sent from the controller Most touch screen drivers today are a mouse-emulation type driver. This makes touching the screen as same as clicking your mouse at the same location on the screen. This allows the touch screen to work with existing software and allows new applications to be developed without the need for touch screen specific programming.
Touch screen technologies
Resistive Capacitive Surface Acoustic
RESISTIVE
2 Resistive Surfaces (Idium-Tin-Oxide) Metallically-coated Insulating Space Touch compresses and forms closed circuit
Characters:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Cost effective solutions Activated by a stylus, a finger or gloved hand Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light 75%~85% clarify resistive layers can be damaged by a very sharp object
Structure
Resistive touch screens consist of a glass or acrylic panel that is coated with electrically conductive and resistive layers made with indium tin oxide (ITO) .The thin layers are separated by invisible spacers.
Ex:LG phones
CAPACITIVE
Conductive lower coating (Indium-Tin-Oxide) No top coating, only rigid protective cover Finger serves as second conducting layer Characters: 1. Durable and resistant to scratches for demanding applications 2. Faster and more responsive 3. Immune to surface contaminants 4. Superior optical clarity, brighter display and less surface reflection 5. Must be touched by finger, will not work with 6. any non-conductive input
Structure
Capacitive touchscreens have
front and back protective glass providing optical and strength enhancement options. Its middle layer consists of a laminated sensor grid of microfine wires, and optical enhancement options Ex:Apple products, such as the iPod touch, iPhone, iPad,
SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVES
Based upon emission and absorption of sound waves Materials used: Transducers One glass screen Reflectors Sensors Two transducersare placed along the X and Y axes and generate sound waves.
Characters:
1. 2. 3. Durable glass construction High optical clarity Activated by a finger, gloved hand or soft tip 4. Not completely sealable, can be affected by large amounts of dirt, dust, and / or water in the environment Ex: Gaming machines
Pros: User friendly , Fast response. Error free input Easy to install. Use finger, fingernail, gloved hand, stylus or any soft-tip pointer to operate. Easy to clean and maintain. Cons: Fingerstress:Stress on human fingers when used for more than a few minutes at a time.(for example:ATMs) Fingerprints: Touch screen scan suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display
Pros and cons:
Conclusion
In my view conclusion for touch screen are which reduces human efforts, Touching a visual display of choices requires little thinking and is a form of direct manipulation that is easy to learn. Save space as no keyboard or mouse is required Touch screens are the fastest pointing devices Touch screens have easier hand eye coordination than mice or keyboards They are durable in public access and in high volume usage
