TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY

By, K Naresh Kumar 07991A0494 4th ECE

St. Theressa Institute of engineering &Technology Garividi , Vizianagaram Dist.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION
Touch screens best suit applications that require frequent interaction with non-technical users or must work in dirty environments. The devices are easy to use and can tolerate dirt and moisture that would quickly disable a keyboard or a mouse. Some Touch screens can work through a 2-inch thick barrier. This feature can protect both the system from user abuse and the user from the systems environment. Compact designs can also benefit from touch screen technology. Because Touch screens are integral to the display device, the screens eliminate the need for a separate keypad. You can make hand-held devices with Touch screens as small as the display itself. Touch screen technology comprises a variety of options that let you match the technology to your application. For example, a touch screens sensor uses one of five mechanisms; resistance, capacitance, acoustics, optics, and mechanical force. The first step in successfully applying Touch screens, therefore, is to understand these options

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 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 TYPES Resistive Touch Screens

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.

Capacitive touch screen

Structure Projected capacitive touch screens 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

 Structure
Surface capacitive technology consists of a uniform conductive coating on a glass panel. Electrodes around the panels 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.

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

Advantages:
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.

Compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

Does not interfere mouse and keyboard function.

 Make computing easy, powerful and fun.

Disadvantages: 1) Finger stress: Stress on human fingers when used for more than a few minutes at a time. (for example, ATMs). 2) Finger prints: Touch screens can suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display

Applications:
Museums Library resource guides Corporate information Public Transportation Schedule / Status

Airport terminal passenger internet and email systems Automated travel and entertainment ticket dispensers Shopping mall directory

Conclusion:
Designers are trying to use touchscreen to simplify input commands for largely unsophisticated computer users. Today, a larger share of population is PC literate, yet the touchscreen has become adopted by computer users of all abilities because it is simple, fast, and innovative.

In future there is no usage of mouse and keyboards as they will be replaced by touchscreens.