Appliance Design - February 2009 - (Page 15)

CONTROLS & SENSORS The resulting touch screen is more durable than either resistive or capacitive systems as there is no surface-mounted film to wear out. The absence of film also means there will be no optical degradation of the display, so the screen appears naturally brighter and clearer, enabling its use in a broad range of indoor and outdoor environments. The zTouch touch-screen system also supports an alternative form of multi-touch. In addition to detecting where a touch occurs, the system can determine the force level of that touch. In other words, how hard the screen is pushed can be measured and used as an application input. This three-dimensional touch input can be applied to fixed thresholds, where a soft touch represents mouse movement, and a force over a certain threshold represents a mouse click. Alternatively, the force input levels may also be used for smoothly variable-input controls, such as the heat setting of a cooktop or the volume setting of an audio control. Touch sensitivity and filtering can easily be controlled through software. Screen sensitivity can be dynamically adjusted higher or lower to match usage and behavior. For example, in rugged environments the touch screen can be made less sensitive to excessive force. As the typical force sensor provides an analog input, the sensitivity of the touch screen is primarily limited by the bit rate of the analog-to-digital signal conversion and the noise level, both of which can be optimized to deliver extremely high resolution. For most zTouch touch-screen implementations, the resolution is typically more then ten times the pixel resolution of the display. One final benefit of force-based touch screens is that the user can touch the touch screen with any type of object. The zTouch system works with a finger, gloved finger, stylus, or any other object. In contrast, most capacitive touch screens require the touch to be from a finger or special stylus. Resistive touch screens require a rather large pressure over the touch surface area, delivering good sensitivity when using a stylus, but poor sensitivity when touching with a finger or a soft object. Other technologies can have difficulty in differentiating between a touch and a press, forcing the product designer to integrate multiple technologies, such as infrared sensor for mouse movement and resistive sensors for key press/selection. Building on the user benefits that the force-sensing touch screen provides, there are a number of natural application areas for zTouch. The most obvious and valuable application areas are POS, kiosks, ATMs, vending machines, and control units for a variety of devices. By selecting appropriate force sensors, in terms of size, cost and performance, force-sensing technology can also be used for mobile phones, computing devices, monitors, navigation systems, and many other applications. The broad adoption of touch-screen controls has been hampered by the weaknesses of traditional touch technologies. Force-sensing systems can free product designers from these constraints, delivering touch technology that can be deployed in almost any venue or product. < For more information, email: f-origin@f-origin.com www.applianceDESIGN.com AD02094Dymax.indd 1 applianceDESIGN February 2009 15 1/13/09 9:34:02 AM http://www.dymax.com/speed http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - February 2009 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Force-Sensing Technology Offers Designers an Alternative Approach to Creating Touch-Control Interfaces A Flammable Vapor Sensing Technology that was Originally Developed for use in Water Heaters has Evolved for use in a Broader Array of Applications Latches, Hinges, and Slides Must Reliably Secure Parts Together, Sometimes for Hundreds of Thousands of Cycles. Beyond their Utilitarian Functions, They Can Also Change Consumer Perceptions Elastomeric Electrical Connectors Can Solve Space Constraint Problems in Electronic Products and Provide Some Cost Advantages as Well A Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor with a Novel Electrode Design Can Suppress Electromagnetic Interference, Improve Circuit Performance, and Reduce the Number of Needed Components Design Marts Association Report: AHRI Advertisers’ Index

Appliance Design - February 2009

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