Touch screen

Introduction
A touch screen is a computer display screen that is also an input device. The screens are sensitive
to pressure; a user interacts with the computer by touching pictures or words on the screen.
The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, it enables one to interact directly with what is
displayed, rather than indirectly with a cursor controlled by a mouse or touchpad. Secondly, it
lets one do so without requiring any intermediate device that would need to be held in the hand.

Types

Resistive: A resistive touch screen panel is coated with a thin metallic electrically conductive
and resistive layer that causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch
event and sent to the controller for processing. Resistive touch screen panels are generally more
affordable but offer only 75% clarity and the layer can be damaged by sharp objects. Resistive
touch screen panels are not affected by outside elements such as dust or water.

 Surface wave: Surface wave technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch
screen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change
in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this
information to the controller for processing. Surface wave touch screen panels are the
most advanced of the three types, but they can be damaged by outside elements.
 Capacitive: A capacitive touch screen panel is coated with a material that stores
electrical charges. When the panel is touched, a small amount of charge is drawn to the
point of contact. Circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the charge and send
the information to the controller for processing. Capacitive touch screen panels must be
touched with a finger unlike resistive and surface wave panels that can use fingers
and stylus. Capacitive touch screens are not affected by outside elements and have high
clarity.
 2.Surface acoustic wave
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sumit technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the
touchscreen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This
change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this
information to the controller for processing. Surface wave touch screen panels can be
damaged by outside elements. Contaminants on the surface can also interfere with the
functionality of the touchscreen,an din surface acoustic wave system, two transducers
(one receiving and one sending) are placed along the x and y axes of the monitor's glass
plate. Also placed on the glass are reflectors -- they reflect an electrical signal sent from
one transducer to the other. The wave setup has no metallic layers on the screen, allowing
for 100-percent light throughput and perfect image clarity. This makes the surface
acoustic wave system best for displaying detailed graphics (both other systems have
significant degradation in clarity).

3.Capacitive
Capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glass, coated with a
transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO).As the human body is also a
conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the local
electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Different technologies may be
used to determine the location of the touch. The location can be passed to a computer
running a software application which will calculate how the user's touch relates to the
computer software. And in capacitive system, a layer that stores electrical charge is
placed on the glass panel of the monitor. When a user touches the monitor with his or her
finger, some of the charge is transferred to the user, so the charge on the capacitive layer
decreases. This decrease is measured in circuits located at each corner of the monitor.
One advantage that the capacitive system has over the resistive system is that it transmits
almost 90 percent of the light from the monitor, whereas the resistive system only
transmits about 75 percent. This gives the capacitive system a much clearer picture than
the resistive one.
 4.Surface capacitance
In this basic technology, only one side of the insulator is coated with a conductive layer.
A small voltage is applied to the layer, resulting in a uniform electrostatic field. When a
conductor, such as a human finger, touches the uncoated surface, a capacitor is
dynamically formed. The sensor's controller can determine the location of the touch
indirectly from the change in the capacitance as measured from the four corners of the
panel. As it has no moving parts, it is moderately durable but has limited resolution, is
prone to false signals from parasitic capacitive coupling, and needs calibration during
manufacture. It is therefore most often used in simple applications such as industrial
controls and kiosks.

5.Projected capacitance
Projected Capacitive Touch (PCT) technology is a capacitive technology which permits
more accurate and flexible operation, by etching the conductive layer. An XY array is
formed either by etching a single layer to form a grid pattern of electrodes, or by etching
two separate, perpendicular layers of conductive material with parallel lines or tracks to
form the grid (comparable to the pixel grid found in many LCDdisplays).
Applying voltage to the array creates a grid of capacitors. Bringing a finger or conductive
stylus close to the surface of the sensor changes the local electrostatic field. The
capacitance change at every individual point on the grid can be measured to accurately
determine the touch location.The use of a grid permits a higher resolution than resistive
technology and also allows multi-touch operation. The greater resolution of PCT allows
operation without direct contact, such that the conducting layers can be coated with
further protective insulating layers, and operate even under screen protectors, or behind
weather and vandal-proof glass.
PCT is used in a wide range of applications including point of sale systems, smartphones,
and public information kiosks. Visual Planet's ViP Interactive Foil is an example of a
kiosk PCT product, where a gloved hand can register a touch on a sensor surface through
a glass window.Examples of consumer devices using projected capacitive touchscreens
include Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod Touch, HTC's HD2, G1, and HTC Hero, Motorola's
Droid, Palm Inc.'s Palm Pre and Palm Pixi and more recently the LG KM900 Arena,
Microsoft's Zune HD, Sony Walkman X series, Sony Ericsson's Aino and now Vidalco's
Edge, D1 and Jewel, and the Nokia X6 phone.

6.Infrared
Conventional optical-touch systems use an array of infrared (IR) light-emitting diodes
(LEDs) on two adjacent bezel edges of a display, with photosensors placed on the two
opposite bezel edges to analyze the system and determine a touch event. The LED and
photosensor pairs create a grid of light beams across the display. An object (such as a
finger or pen) that touches the screen interrupts the light beams, causing a measured
decrease in light at the corresponding photosensors. The measured photosensor outputs
can be used to locate a touch-point coordinate.
Widespread adoption of infrared touchscreens has been hampered by two factors: the
relatively high cost of the technology compared to competing touch technologies and the
issue of performance in bright ambient light. This latter problem is a result of background
light increasing the noise floor at the optical sensor, sometimes to such a degree that the
touchscreenâ„¢s LED light cannot be detected at all, causing a temporary failure of the
touch screen. This is most pronounced in direct sunlight conditions where the sun has a
very high energy distribution in the infrared region.
However, certain features of infrared touch remain desirable and represent attributes of
the ideal touchscreen, including the option to eliminate the glass or plastic overlay that
most other touch technologies require in front of the display. In many cases, this overlay
is coated with an electrically conducting transparent material such as ITO, which reduces
the optical quality of the display. This advantage of optical touchscreens is extremely
important for many device and display vendors since devices are often sold on the
perceived quality of the user display experience.
Another feature of infrared touch which has been long desired is the digital nature of the
sensor output when compared to many other touch systems that rely on analog-signal
processing to determine a touch position. These competing analog systems normally
require continual re-calibration, have complex signal-processing demands (which adds
cost and power consumption), demonstrate reduced accuracy and precision compared to a
digital system, and have longer-term system-failure modes due to the operating
environment.
7.Strain gauge
In a strain gauge configuration, also called force panel technology, the screen is spring-
mounted on the four corners and strain gauges are used to determine deflection when the
screen is touched. This technology has been around since the 1960s but new advances by
Vissumo and F-Origin have made the solution commercially viable. It can also measure
the Z-axis and the force of a person's touch. Such screens are typically used in exposed
public systems such as ticket machines due to their resistance to vandalism.

8.Optical imaging
A relatively-modern development in touchscreen technology, two or more image sensors
are placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared backlights are
placed in the camera's field of view on the other sides of the screen. A touch shows up as
a shadow and each pair of cameras can then be triangulated to locate the touch or even
measure the size of the touching object (see visual hull). This technology is growing in
popularity, due to its scalability, versatility, and affordability, especially for larger units.
Introduced in 2002 by 3M, this system uses sensors to detect the mechanical energy in
the glass that occurs due to a touch. Complex algorithms then interpret this information
and provide the actual location of the touch. The technology claims to be unaffected by
dust and other outside elements, including scratches. Since there is no need for additional
elements on screen, it also claims to provide excellent optical clarity. Also, since
mechanical vibrations are used to detect a touch event, any object can be used to generate
these events, including fingers and stylus. A downside is that after the initial touch the
system cannot detect a motionless finger.

9.Acoustic pulse recognition

This system, introduced by Tyco International's Elo division in 2006, uses more than two
piezoelectric transducers located at some positions of the screen to turn the mechanical
energy of a touch (vibration) into an electronic signal. The screen hardware then uses an
algorithm to determine the location of the touch based on the transducer signals. This
process is similar to triangulation used in GPS. The touchscreen itself is made of ordinary
glass, giving it good durability and optical clarity. It is usually able to function with
scratches and dust on the screen with good accuracy. The technology is also well suited
to displays that are physically larger. As with the Dispersive Signal Technology system,
after the initial touch, a motionless finger cannot be detected. However, for the same
reason, the touch recognition is not disrupted by any resting objects.
10.Coded LCD: Bidirectional Screen
A new system that turns LCD displays into giant cameras that provide gestural control of
objects on-screen [12] was introduced by MIT Media Lab in December, 2009. Instead of
an LCD, an array of pinholes is placed in front of sensors. Light passing through each
pinhole strikes a small block of sensors producing a low-resolution image. Since each
pinhole image is taken from a slightly different position, all combined images provide a
good depth information about the sensed image.
Pinholes are problematic because they allow very little light to reach the sensors,
requiring impractically long exposure times. Instead of pinholes, an array of liquid
crystals could work similarly but more effectively: The LCD's panel is composed of
 patterns of 19-by-19 blocks, each divided into a regular pattern of differently sized black-
and-white rectangles. Each white area of the bi-colored pixels allows light to pass
through. Background software uses 4D light fields to calculate depth map, changes the
scene, and collects gesture information. The LCD alternates between mask pattern
display and a normal scene display at a very high frequency/rate.

Applications

Today's mobile phones have been transformed into a multi functional device for imaging, music
and accessing the internet. And now the touchscreen technology lends it another dimension to
give the phone a more heightened interactive experience.Research firm Strategy Analytics
predicts that 40 per cent of mobile phones will incorporate touch sensitive technology by 2012.
The latest global study by ABI Research says that more than 100 million handsets with touch
screens were shipped in 2008, and over 500 million will be shipped by 2012.Moreover, every
mobile manufacturer today is jumping into the touch screen bandwagon with handsets that are
breaking the high price barriers. But, more than the prices it is the new generation of touchscreen
technologies that are set to make the user experience even more amazing.