Touch Screen technology

LET’S TOUCH THE FUTURE

PRESENTED BY: YUSUF T RATLAMWALA

 Agenda
• Introduction.
• History
• Components of touch screen.
• Types of touch screen
• Comparing touch screen technologies
• Multitouch
• Future of touch screen
• What Are Touch screens Used For?
• Pros and Cons of Touch screens
• Conclusion
 Introduction
• The term touch screen generally refers to touch or contact to the display of
the device by a finger or other pointing device.
• A touch screen is an input device that allows users to operate an application
by simply touching the display screen
• A touch screen is a display which can detect the presence and location
of a touch within the display area.
• The touch screen is one of the simplest PC interfaces to use
Ex: Touch Screen
 History

• In 1971, the first "touch sensor" was developed by Doctor Sam Hurst
(founder of Elographics).

• This sensor called the "Elograph“ .

• The "Elograph" was not transparent like modern touch screens; however, it
was a significant milestone in touch screen technology.

• On February 24, 1994, the company officially changed its name from
Elographics to Elo Touch Systems.
Elograph–Electronic Graphing Device
 Touch Screen Technology

• A basic touch screen has three main components:

1. Touch sensor
2. Controller
3. Software driver.
 1.Touch Sensor
• A touch screen sensor is a clear glass panel with a touch responsive surface.
• The sensor generally has an electrical current or signal going through it and
touching the screen causes a voltage or signal change.
• This voltage change is used to determine the location of the touch to the screen. 
 2.Controller
• The controller is a small PC card that connects between the touch sensor and
the PC.
• It takes information from the touch sensor and translates it into information
that PC can understand.
 3.Software Driver
• The driver is a software update for the PC system that 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.
 Types of Touch screens
There are four basic systems that are used to recognize a person's touch:

• Resistive
• Capacitive
• Surface acoustic wave
• Infrared
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
• Resistive touch screens have a flexible top layer and a rigid bottom layer
separated by insulating dots.
• the inside surface of each layer coated with a transparent conductive coating
• An electrical current runs through the two layers while the monitor is
operational.
• Pressing the flexible top sheet creates electrical contact between the resistive
layers, essentially closing a switch in the circuit.
• The voltage at the point of contact is read from a wire connected to the top
sheet. 

There are two types of Resistive touch screen technology.

• 4-Wire Resistive Touch screens
• 5-Wire Resistive Touch screens
Resistive Touch Screen technology
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
4-Wire Resistive Touch screens
• Touch measurement in 4 Wire technology is a 2 step process
• First, the distance along the x axis at the point of touch is measured by
creating a horizontal voltage gradient on the top sheet, with the bottom
acting as the return layer
• Second a vertical voltage gradient is created on the bottom layer, to measure
the y axis.
• The technology and electronics are simple, making 4 wire the cheapest
touch screen technology
• This type of screen is recommended for individual, home, school, or office
use, or less demanding point-of-sale systems, restaurant systems, etc.
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
4-Wire Resistive Touch screens
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
4-Wire Resistive Touch screens

Advantages
• High touch resolution
• Most Affordable Touch Screen technology
• Lifespan more than 5million touches.
• Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light
• Affordable touch screen technology
Disadvantages
• 75 % clarity
• Resistive layers can be damaged by a sharp object
• Less durable then 5-Wire Resistive technology
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
5-Wire Resistive Touch screens

• In 5 Wire resistive, the main electronics are on the glass bottom layer. A
uniform voltage is applied to the top plastic layer
• Depending on the point of touch the voltages at the 4 corners of the glass are
different and used by a complex algorithm in the controller to calculate the x-
y coordinate of the point of touch.
• 5 wire is more expensive than 4 wire technology.
• Also, since the voltage measurement is on the stable glass bottom layer,
despite damage to one portion of the top layer the touch screen keeps
working.
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
5-Wire Resistive Touch screens
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
5-Wire Resistive Touch screens

Advantages
• High touch resolution
• Pressure sensitive, works with any stylus
• Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light
• Tested for 35 Million Touches without failure on single point
• More durable then 4-Wire Resistive technology
Disadvantages
• 75 % clarity
• Resistive layers can be damaged by a sharp object
 Resistive Touch Screen technology
Advantages.
• Low cost solution.
• Low power consumption.
• It can be accessed with a finger (gloved or not), pen, stylus, or a hard object.
• Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light
• Affordable touch screen technology

Disadvantages
• The flexible top layer has only 75%-80% clarity.
• Less durability compared to other technologies.
 Capacitive Touch Screen Technology
• Capacitive touch screens are curved or flat glass substrates coated
with a transparent metal oxide
• A voltage is applied to the corners of the overlay creating a minute
uniform electric field.
• A bare finger draws current from each corner of the electric field,
creating a voltage drop that is measured to determine touch location
 Capacitive Touch Screen Technology
Advantages

• High touch resolution and high image clarity

• Not affected by dirt, grease, moisture.
• tested to withstand over 225 million touches in any one location.
• Do not need to be recalibrated when environmental conditions change.
• High Light Transmission and Clarity.
• Does not require front coatings, which can be easily damaged or wear
excessively at one location due to repetitive touches.

Disadvantages

• Must be touched by finger, will not work with any non-conductive

input.
• Gloved fingers will not activate the screen surface.
 Surface acoustic wave
Touch Screen Technology
• Acoustic wave touch screens use transducers mounted at the edge of a glass
overlay to emit ultrasonic sound waves along two sides.
• These waves are reflected across the surface of the glass and received by sensors.
• A finger or other soft tipped stylus absorbs some of the acoustic energy and the
controller measures the amplitude change of the wave to determine touch location.
 Surface acoustic wave
Touch Screen Technology
 Surface acoustic wave
Touch Screen Technology
Advantages
•High touch resolution.
•Highest image clarity.
•All glass panel, no coatings or layers that can wear out or damage.
•Tested over 50 Million Touches without failure. DustProof models with
unmatched touch life than any other technologies
•Very High Light Transmission.
•Fast Touch Response.
•Very Light Touch.

Disadvantages
•Must be touched by finger, gloved hand, or soft-tip stylus. Something hard like a
pen won't work
•Not completely sealable, can be affected by large amounts of dirt, dust, and / or
water in the environment.
 Infrared
• IR uses of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) “frame” around the perimeter of the
display.
• On two sides there are closely spaced IR LEDs and on the opposing two sides there
are matching photo transistors.
• The LEDs are turned on in sequence and the signal is read from the matching
transistor.
• If no signal is read, then that indicates a blocked IR beam, meaning a touch.
• No actual touch “screen” is required for operation.
Infrared
 Infrared
Advantages
•Highest quality of underlying image
•Very high transmittance.
•Can be activated with almost any device.
•Higher accuracy than other technologies
•One time factory calibration.
•No wear mechanism.

Disadvantages
•Surface obstructions can cause a false touch.
 Comparing Touch Screen Technologies

Product Capacitive SAW Infrared Resistive

Technology Electrostatic field Sound waves Light interruption Resistive

Activation Low activation pressure Low activation pressure Zero activation force Low activation pressure
required required required required

Transmission Very good >92% Very good >92% Very good >92% <82%, some distortion to
/optics graphics due to coatings

Touch method Human touch Finger only Can use any pointing Can use any pointing device
device

Main limitations of Requires human touch, Surface contaminants Surface contaminants Polyester top sheet affects
technology scratches in coatings cause dead zones and can cause false optics and is susceptible to
causes dead zones. requires periodic activation.  Thick damage. May not scale easily
Field replacement recalibration.  border area around over 19" screens
difficult due to display
calibration
 Multi-Touch
• Multi-touch denotes a set of interaction techniques which allow computer users
to control graphical applications with several fingers.
• Multi-touch consists of a touch screen  or touchpad, as well as software that
recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points.
 What's Next for Computer Interfaces?
• Tiny touch:
 A device called nanotouch has a touch-sensitive back to make it easier to view
the front-side display. Here, a credit-card-size gadget shows an image of a
person’s finger on the back to help him move a cursor around the screen. 
 Windows 7
• The next version of Windows, Windows 7, will boast support for touch-
screen interfaces.
 iPhone
• Apple's iPhone kicked off the latest touch-screen future.
 Microsoft Surface
• Microsoft Surface.
 ATMs
• Touch screens have become common on ATMs and kiosk machines.
 Samsung P3
• Unlike the iPod or iPhone, however, Samsung uses feedback to give a user a
little reassuring vibration whenever a menu item is selected.
 LG's Watch Phone

• LG's Touch Watch Phone with touch-screen interface .

 Coke machines
• Samsung's interactive uVend machine has a touch screen display to let users
pick out a refreshing beverage.
 What Are Touch screens Used For?
• Public Information Displays 

• Retail and Restaurant Systems 

• Customer Self-Service 

• Control and Automation Systems 

• Computer Based Training 

And many more uses... 

 Pros and Cons of Touch screens
Touch screen Pros

• Direct
• Fast 
• Finger is usable, any pen is usable (usually no cable needed).
• No keyboard necessary for applications that need menu selections only
hence saves desk space
• Suited to: novices, applications for information retrieval, high-use
environments.
 Pros and Cons of Touch screens
Touch screen Cons

• Low precision (finger)

• Sitting/Standing
• Dirt
• Screen coverage
• Fatigue
 Conclusion
• Today the touch screen technology is widely used in PDA, smart phone,
ATM, information kiosk and many other types of equipment in industrial,
medical and commercial environment.

• Today, more and more different fields are adopting touch screens or touch
panels for applications with human/machinery or human/computer interfaces.

• The proliferation of touch screens in electronic devices over the past two or
three years has been so rapid that you may have found yourself trying to press
an on-screen button or icon when sitting at your computer only to realise,
much to your frustration, that it is not a touch screen.

• Many mobile phones, most famously Apple’s iPhone, now have touch-screen
interfaces, as do satellite-navigation systems and portable games consoles.

• With the recent development in touch screen technology GUI has seen its
future in the form of NUI (Natural User Interface)
 Bibliography
• http://www.tvielectronics.com/Touch_Screen.html
• http://napkinlinks.com/node/348
• http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltouch.htm
• http://www.mobilehandsetdesignline.com/howto/218101759%3Bjsessionid=
QDT1KY2530AJJQE1GHOSKH4ATMY32JVN
• http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?
site=http://www.touchscreens.com/uses.shtml
• http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question716.htm
• http://www.microsoft.com/surface
• www.impulse-corp.co.uk
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_screen
• http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltouch.htm