A Technical Seminar on
TouchScreen Technology
Presented by
Abhishek Pandey
1DS04 IT 001
oIntroduction
oHow Does a Touch screen Work?
oTypes of sensors
oMulti Touch
oApplications
INTRODUCTION
A touch screen is an easy to use input device that
allows users to control PC software and DVD video
by touching the display screen. We manufacture and
distribute a variety of touch screen related products.
HOW DOES A TOUCHSCREEN
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. 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 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 DRIVERS
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.
TOUCHSCREEN
TECHNOLOGY
•Resistivetouchscreen
•Capacitive touchscreen
•Infrared touchscreen
•Surface acoustic wave (SAW) touchscreen
Resistive touchscreen
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.
Characters:
1. Cost effective solutions
2. Activated by a stylus, a finger or gloved hand
3. Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light
4. 75%~85% clarify
5. resistive layers can be damaged by a very
sharp object
Projected-capacitive touchscreen
Structure
Projected capacitive
touchscreens have front and
back protective glass
providing optical and
strength enhancement
options.
Its middle layer consists of a
laminated sensor grid of
micro-fine wires, and
optical enhancement options.
Projected-capacitive touchscreen
During a touch, capacitance forms between the
finger and the sensor grid. The embedded serial
controller in the touchscreen calculates touch
location coordinates and transmits them to the
computer for processing.
Surface-capacitive touchscreen
Structure
Surface capacitive technology consists of a
uniform conductive coating on a glass panel.
Electrodes around the panel’s edge evenly
distribute a low voltage across the conductive
layer, creating a uniform electric field.
Working principle
A human body is an electric conductor, so when you
touch the screen with a finger, a slight amount of current is
drawn, creating a voltage drop. The current respectively
drifts to the electrodes on the four corners. Theoretically,
the amount of current that drifts through the four electrodes
should be proportional to the distance from the touch point to the
four corners. The controller precisely calculates the proportion of
the current passed through the four electrodes and figures out
the X/Y coordinate of a touch point.
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
any non-conductive input
Infrared touchscreen
Infrared (IR) technology relies on the interruption of
an IR light grid in front of the display screen. The
touch frame contains a row of IR-light emitting diode
(LEDs) and photo transistors, each mounted on two
opposite sides to create a grid of invisible infrared
light.
The IR controller sequentially pulses the LEDs to
create a grid of IR light beams. When a stylus, such as
a finger, enters the grid, it obstructs the beams. One
or more photo transistors from each axis detect the
absence of light and transmit signals that identifies
the x and y coordinates.
Infrared touchscreen
Infrared touchscreen
Characters:
Clear as glass, improves reading ability
Most durable surface
SAW touchscreen
Principle
Surface waves are readily absorbed when a soft object such as a
fingertip touches the substrate.
SAW Touch Screen use pure glass with transmitting and receiving
piezoelectric transducers for both the X and Y axes.
The touch screen controller sends an electrical signal to the
transmitting transducer, which converts the signal into ultrasonic
waves within the glass.
When you touch the screen, you absorb a portion of the wave
traveling across it. The received signal is then compared to the
stored digital map, the change recognized, and a coordinate
calculate.
SAW touchscreen
SAW touchscreen
Characters:
Durable glass construction
High optical clarity
Activated by a finger, gloved hand or soft tip
Not completely sealable, can be affected by
large amounts of dirt, dust, and / or water in
the environment
Technology Capacitive SAW Infrared Resistive
Transparence Very good Very good Very good 75%~85%
>92% >92% >92%
Resolution Good Good Limited due to good
spacing of IR
sensors
Surface Resistant to Adversely Potential for Unaffected by
Contaminants moisture and affected by False activation Surface
/durability other surface moisture or or dead zones contaminants.
contaminants Surface From Surface Polyester top
contaminants Contaminants sheet is easily
scratched
Sensor Glass with ITO Glass with ITO Any substrate Polyester top
substrate coating coating sheet, glass
substrate with
ITO coating
Display size 8.4"-21" 10.4"-30" 10.4"-60" up to 19"
Touch method Human touch finger, gloved Can use any Can use any
pointing device pointing device
hand or soft tip
Multi-touch technology
Multi-touch denotes a set of interaction
techniques which allow computer users to
control graphical applications with several
fingers.
Products:
Apple iPhone, iPod touch, MacBook Air, and
Apple iPad
Microsoft Surface
HP Touch Smart
APPLICATIONS
1. Public Information Displays
2. Retail and Restaurant Systems
3. Customer Self-Service
4. Control and Automation Systems
5. Computer Based Training
6. Assistive Technology
THANK YOU …
