OVERVIEW OF TOUCH SCREEN

S.AMRISH Department Of Computer Engineering Suguna Polytechnic College e-mail : [email protected] Introduction A touchscreen is a display which can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touch or contact to the display of the device by a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. However, if the object sensed is active, as with a light pen, the term touchscreen is generally not applicable. The ability to interact directly with a display typically indicates the presence of a touchscreen. digitizing tablets. Their new project was to develop a transparent version of the tablet on curved glass so that it could fit over a CRT the user vacuum deposited transparent conductors serve as primary sensing element. Vacuum coated layers can account for a significant fraction of touch system cost. Cost & application parameters are chief criteria for determining the appropriate type determining the system selection. Primarily, the touch system integrator must determine with what implement the user will touch the sensor with & what price the application will support. Applications requiring activation by a gloved finger or arbitrary stylus such as a plastic pen will specify either a low cost resistive based sensor or a higher cost infra-red (IR) or surface acoustic wave (SAW) system. Applications anticipating bare finger input or amenable to a tethered pen comprises of the durable & fast capacitive touch systems A higher price tag generally leads to increased durability better optical performance & larger price. The most commonly used systems are generally the capacitive & resistive systems. The other technologies used in this field are Infrared technology & SAW (surface acoustic wave technology) these technologies are latest in this field A touchscreen is an easy to use input device that but are very much expensive allows users to control PC software and DVD video Evolution of Touch Screens by touching the display screen.A touch system consists of a touch Sensor that receives the touch input, a Controller, and a Driver. The touch screen sensor is a clear panel that is designed to fit over a PC. When a screen is touched, the sensor detects the voltage change and passes the signal to the touch screen controller. The controller that reads & translates the sensor input into a conventional bus protocol (Serial, USB) and a software driver which converts the bus information to cursor action as well as providing systems utilitiesAs the touch sensor The touch screen was derived from the digitizing resides between the user and the display while tablet. The digitizing tablet was invented by Sam receiving frequent physical input from.producer of Hurst in 1971. It was designed to allow scientists to

record data from graphs by placing the graph on the tablet and pressing the paper against the tablet with a stylus. Elographics became the first commercial screen. This new invention was named the AccuTouch. In 1982 Elographics displayed 33 televisions covered with the new transparent touchsensitive panels in the US Pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.The original touch screens were built by hand, but later on technologies allowed them to be totally and completely built by machines. In 1974, the first true touch screen incorporating a transparent surface was developed by Sam Hurst and Elographics. In 1977, Elographics developed and patented a five-wire resistive technology which is today, the most popular touch screen used. On February 24, 1994, the company officially changed their name from Elographics to EloTouchSystems. For the past 15 years WIMP devices (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing) have been serving computer users. WIMP devices include the keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately, their time is coming to an end. Today, food services are almost completely dominated by touch screen technology. Apple has even come out with the new iPhone, which doesnt have a keypad. Touch screens are taking the humancomputer interface to a whole new level. It is predicted by multimedia intelligence that 178 million touch screen phones will be sold by 2011. A benefit of a touch screen is that it uses gestures that people know how to do immediately.

equipment such as thin client terminals, DVD players, and specialized computer systems either do not use software drivers or they have their own builtin touch How Does a Touchscreen Work? A basic touchscreen has three main components: a touch sensor, a controller, and a software driver. The touchscreen 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. I.TouchSensor 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. There are several different touch sensor technologies on the market today, each using a different method to detect touch input. 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. The controller is usually installed inside the monitor for integrated monitors or it is housed in a plastic case Tor external touch addons/overlays. The controller determines what type of interface/connection you will need on the PC. Integrated touch monitors will have an extra cable connection on the back for the touchscreen. Controllers are available that can connect to a Serial/COM port (PC) or to a USB port (PC or Macintosh). Specialized controllers are also available that work with DVD players and other devices. 3.Software Driver The driver is a software update for the PC system that allows the touchscreen and computer to work together. It tells the computer's operating system how to interpret the touch event information that is

allows new applications to be developed without the need for touchscreen specific programming. Some

sent from the controller. Most touch screen drivers today are a mouse-emulation type driver. This makes touching the screen the same as clicking your mouse at the same location on the screen. This allows the touchscreen to work with existing software and screen driver. Types of Touch Screens

This type of touch screen has many different uses, but it is most commonly found in food service and medical monitoring. technology highly durable and suitable for applications where high clarity is desired. Devices

Capacitive

There are many different types technology used in current day touch screens. These types include: Resistive touch screen monitors, surface acoustic A capacitive touchscreen panel is one which consists wave touch screen monitors, capacitive touch screen of an insulator such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide monitors, and infrared touch screen monitors. (ITO). As the human body is also an electrical conductor, touching the surface of the screen results Resistive Touch Screens in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, Resistive touch screen monitors are usually made up measurable as a change in capacitance. Different of a flexible top layer and a rigid bottom layer. The technologies may be used to determine the location inside surfaces of these two layers contain another of the touch. The location is then sent to the layer of transparent metal oxide coating. This type of controller for processing. Unlike a resistive touch screen one of the most popular among users touchscreen, one cannot use a capacitive touchscreen because of its many advantages. First, the resistive through most types of electrically insulating touch screen monitors are very durable and are not material, such as gloves; one requires a special easily contaminated with items that may interfere capacitive stylus, or a special-application glove with with the acoustic waves. This touch screen is able to finger tips that generate static electricity. This easily withstand small scratches that could harm disadvantage especially affects usability in consumer other types. electronics, such as touch tablet PCs and capacitive smartphone SAW Touch Screen Technology Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) touch screen technology is based on sending acoustic waves across a clear glass panel with a series of transducers and reflectors. When a finger touches the screen, the waves are absorbed, causing a touch event to be

detected at that point.

Self capacitance: Circuitry monitors changes in an array of electrodes. Mutual capacitance: A layer of driving lines carries current. A separate layer of sensing lines detects changes in the electrical charge when you place your finger on the screen The display screen (protected glass is optional). Almost all kinds of stylus materials can be used in Infrared Touch Screen.Infrared is the earliest and most reliable touch screen technology, due to the improvement of LED materials. The lifetime of Infrared Touch Screen is much longer and more stable in operation. The Infrared Touch Screen controller sequentially pulses LEDs to create a grid of IR light beams. When a user touches the screen, enters the grid by a stylus which can interrupt the IR light beams, the photo transistors from X and Y axes detect the IR light beams which have been interrupted and transmit exact signals that identify the X and Y axes coordinates to the host. Surface Touch Screen Work when they are touched by absorbing ultrasonic waves on the touch screen panel. The change in the frequencies of the ultrasonic waves triggers information to be sent and then interpreted to the controller. These are the most advanced of all of the touch screens but they are however very prone to damage from the elements. The iPod touch Screen The thing that sets the iPod touch apart from other iPod models -- other than the latest nano -- is its touch-screen interface. When you touch the screen, the iPod's circuitry detects the presence of your finger. It keeps track of how many fingers you have on the screen and where you move them. It also gives the iPod touch the capability of running apps -something even the newest iPod nano can't do.

SAW touch screen technology is recommended for public information kiosks and other high traffic indoor environments.In Australia SAW technology is usually one of the more expensive technologies. Since there are few applications where it is superior to infrared, infrared is more often the recommended solution where high durability and screen clarity is required. Infrared Touch Screen ATouch's Infrared (IR) Touch Screen is developed by its R&D team, with its own design and continuously updating the most efficient touch screen to worldwide customers. ATouch's IR touch screen is available for: Flat display: 10.4"/12.1"/15"/17"/26"/32"/42" CRT flat display: 17"

The iPod touch does this using a layer of capacitive material under a protective covering. You can read 100% light transmission since no overlay covering How Capacitors Work to learn more about them, but There are two possible methods the iPod touch can the basic idea involves taking advantage of the use to measure changes in electrical states: electrical properties of the human body. When you touch a capacitive surface, the amount of charge it Infrared Touch Screen Benefits:

holds changes. devices like the iPod touch require you to touch them with your bare skin -- insulating materials like gloves, pens and styluses don't cause the same changes in the capacitive circuitry.

Back-side Touch Screen? According to Apple's patent filings, the company may have considered incorporating a touch screen on the back of the iPhone rather than the front. There are several Layers involved in touch screen they are -:

Electronic devices can use lots of different methods to detect a person's input on a touch screen. Most of them use sensors and circuitry to monitorchanges in a particular state. Many, including the iPhone, monitor changes in electricalcurrent. Others monitor changes in the reflection of waves. These can be sound waves or beams of near-infrared light. A few systems use transducers to measure changes in vibration caused when your finger hits the screen's surface or cameras to monitor changes in light and shadow.

The Apple iPhone is different -- many of the elements of its multi-touch user interface require you to touch multiple points on the screen simultaneously. For example, you can zoom in to Web pages or pictures by placing your thumb and finger on the screen and spreading them apart. To zoom back out, you can pinch your thumb and finger together. The iPhone's touch screen is able to respond to both touch points and their movements simultaneously. We'll look at exactly how the iPhone does this in the next section. The iPod touch matches what your fingers are doing with what's happening on the screen: The iPod touch determines the shape, size and location of your finger -- or fingers -- on the screen. The device uses gesture software in its memory to classify your touch. It takes into account whether your fingers move and what your iPod is doing at the time.

Construction of Touch Screen

projected over the screen. In the other, bottommounted infrared cameras record screen touches.In each case, the system determines the intended command based on the controls showing on the screen at the time and the location of the touch. Optical imaging

There are several principal ways to build a touchscreen. The key goals are to recognize one or more fingers touching a display, to interpret the command that this represents, and to communicate the command to the appropriate application. In the most popular techniques, the capacitive or resistive approach, there are typically four layers; Top polyester coated with a transparent metallic conductive coating on the bottom Adhesive spacer Glass layer coated with a transparent metallic conductive coating on the top Adhesive layer on the backside of the glass for mounting.

This is a relatively modern development in touchscreen technology, in which two or more image sensors are placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared back lights are placed in the camera's field of view on the other side of the screen. A touch shows up as a shadow and each pair of cameras can then be pinpointed to locate the touch or even measure the size of the touching object (see When a user touches the surface, the system records visual hull). This technology is growing in the change in the electrical current that flows popularity, due to its scalability, versatility, and through the display. affordability, especially for larger units. Dispersive-signal technology which 3M created in Combined with haptics 2002, measures the piezoelectric effect the voltage generated when mechanical force is applied The user experience with touchscreens without to a material that occurs chemically when a tactile feedback or haptics can be difficult due to strengthened glass substrate is touched. latency or other factors. Research from the University of Glasgow Scotland [Brewster, Chohan, There are two infrared-based approaches. In one, an and Brown 2007] demonstrates that sample users array of sensors detects a finger touching or almost reduce input errors (20%), increase input speed touching the display, thereby interrupting light (20%), and lower their cognitive load (40%) when beamssufficiently long. Rather than pressing with touchscreens are combined with haptics or tactile the soft skin of an outstretched fingertip, the finger is feedback [vs. non-haptic touchscreens]. curled over, so that the tip of a fingernail can be used instead. This method does not work on capacitive touchscreens.

Ergonomics and usage Finger stress

An ergonomic problem of certain types of (resistive) touchscreens is their stress on human fingers when used for more than a few minutes at a time, as significant pressure can be required, depending upon the technologies involved. This can be alleviated for some users with the use of a pen or other device to add leverage and more accurate pointing. The introduction of such items can sometimes be problematic, depending on the desired use (e.g., Fingerprints public kiosks such as ATMs). Also, more accurate control is achieved with a stylus, because a finger is a rather broad and ambiguous point of contact with the screen itself, but requires the user to possess fine motor skills to hold such a stylus.

with a little experience), much less skin oil is smeared onto the screen, and the fingernail can be silently moved across the screen with very little resistance allowing for selecting text, moving windows, or drawing lines.The human fingernail consists of keratin which has a hardness and smoothness similar to the tip of a stylus (and so will not typically scratch a touchscreen). Alternatively, very short stylus tips are available, which slip right onto the end of a finger; this increases visibility of the contact point with the screen.

Fingernail as stylus
Touchscreens can suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display. This can be mitigated by the use of materials with optical coatings designed to reduce the visible effects of fingerprint oils, or oleophobic coatings as used in the iPhone 3G S, which lessen the actual amount of oil residue, or by reducing skin contact by using a fingernail or stylus Gorilla arm Pointed nail for easier typing. The concept of using a fingernail trimmed to form a point, to be specifically used as a stylus on a writing tablet for communication, appeared in the 1950 science fiction short story Scanners Live in Vain. These ergonomic issues of direct touch can be bypassed by using a different technique, provided that the user's fingernails are either short or repetitiveness of their movements while painting The fingernail's hard, curved surface contacts the touchscreen at one very small point. Therefore, much less finger pressure is needed, much greater precision is possible (approaching that of a stylus, repetitiveness of their movements while painting The Jargon File dictionary of hacker slang defined "gorilla arm" as the failure to understand the ergonomics of vertically mounted touchscreens for prolonged use. The proposition is that the human arm held in an unsupported horizontal position rapidly becomes fatigued and painful, the so-called "gorilla arm". It is often cited as a prima facie example of what not to do in ergonomics. Vertical touchscreens still dominate in applications such as ATMs and data kiosks in which the usage is too brief to be an ergonomic problem. Discomfort might be caused by previous poor posture and atrophied muscular systems caused by limited physical exercise. Fine art painters are also often subject to neck and shoulder pains due to their posture and the The moving of the mouse causes the ball to roll in