THE RECENT ADVANCEMENT AND APPLICATION IN TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS  Introduction  Technologies  Applications  Future Touch screen technology  Advantages and Disadvantages  Conclusion  Reference

INTRODUCTION  A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that the user can control through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching the screen with a special stylus/pen and-or one or more fingers. Touch screen are common in devices such as game consoles, personal computers, tablet computer and smart phones.  Touchscreen technology is the direct manipulation type gesture based technology. Direct manipulation is the ability to manipulate digital world inside a screen without the use of command-line-commands.

Continues… The touchscreen has two main attributes : 1. It enables one to interact with what is displayed directly on the screen, where it is displayed, rather than indirectly with a mouse or touchpad. 2. It lets one do so without requiring any intermediate device, again such as stylus that needs to be held in the hand. Such displays can be attached to computers or as terminals to networks.

History  Touchscreens emerged from academic and corporate research labs in the second half of the 1960s.  One of the first places where they gained some visibility was in the terminal of a computer-assisted learning terminal that came out in 1972 as part of the PLATO project.  The HP-150 from 1983 was probably the world’s earliest commercial touchscreen computer.

Technologies Resistive touchscreens – They are made from glass coated with metal sheets that provide conductivity. They are the most stylus-friendly type of touchscreen. These types of screens are cost-effective, can operate with a pointing device like a pen and are useful for handwriting recognition. They don’t offer multi-touch functionality. Capacitive touchscreens – Composed of an indium tin oxide sheet that retains electrical charge, capacitive touchscreens offer easy finger driven navigation and multi-touch capability. People love capacitive touchscreens because they’re easy to use, provide multi-touch functionality, easy to use in direct sunlight. Most of the newer smartphones and tablets, i.e. iPad, XOOM, Galaxy, use capacitive touchscreens. The downside is you can’t use your fingernail or a stylus on the screen and they’re typically more expensive. Surface wave – They use ultrasonic waves to determine touch inputs. Surface wave touchscreens are superior to both capacitive and resistive touchscreens in image clarity, resolution, light transmission and accuracy. But they can’t be completely sealed, making them useful in only less harsh environments. Infrared (IR) touchscreen – IR touchscreens use infrared sensors along the edges of the screen to sense warmth, i.e. heat generated by the user’s finger. The computer registers the heat on a grid that allows the computer to calculate the location. These touchscreens are durable, but much slower than other touchscreen technologies.

Touchscreen Images

Applications Public Access :  Museums  Library resource guide  Corporate information  Public transport schedule/status  Airport terminal passenger internet and systems  Automated travel and entertainment ticket dispensers

Business  Gas stations  Restaurants and grocery stores  Banks and financial reporting  Bank cash advance and teller machines Entertainment  Interactive computer games  Casinos Government  Military control system  Scientific research lab

Future touchscreen technology The technology is certainly being developed, so it’s only a matter of time before touchscreens make their way into more everyday products and activities. With the increased functionality of these new advances, touchscreens can improve the quality of many common products. The classic chalkboard has also been replaced by projectors in most schools and offices. Next are smart whiteboards that pull up slides and other saved projects at the swipe of a finger. ATMs are a common touchscreen example that will soon be transferred to other public places. Kiosks or information centers in the mall will help customers get to where they are going quicker than the usual billboard that requires a long scan to find “E-7” on a map. Our mobile devices may have been among the first to utilize the functionality of a touchscreen, but they certainly won’t be the last. Technology is advancing every day, and with it, incredible power at your fingertips.

Advantages  Easy access – Touchscreens provide an easy to understand, intuitive interface for the human brain. Touch is a natural way for us to interact with the world around us and pointing at something with our finger is as natural as breathing air.  Improved experience – Touchscreens provide end users an opportunity to interact with the computer, improving the human-computer interface and improving the user’s experience. This may seem like a small thing to many, but this simple idea is one of the reasons that the iPad from Apple has been so successful with users. The device provides a pleasurable experience for the end user secondary to the intuitive touchscreen interface.  For the people worried about hygiene, most devices are easy to clean, some are even dirt, dust and grease resistant.

Continuation… Space Saving: Another benefit of touch screen technology is that it saves space. Not only does this save space, but it also takes away the cost of external accessories. Furthermore, touch screen technology also gives designers and engineers more freedom in product development because they don't have to incorporate keyboards into smartphones and tablets. This allows for more compact, aesthetic products.  Potential to save money – Full touchscreen technology requires no keyboard or mouse, which both cost money and have to be replaced. Of course this only makes sense if the touchscreen technology does not exceed the cost of a typical monitor.

Disadvantages  The screen has to be big enough to be able to touch the buttons without missing.  If a touchscreen devise were to crash the whole screen would be unresponsive, and because of the lack of buttons revering it would be very difficult.  They can suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display.  The screens will get very dirty.

Conclusion o In the future there is no use of mouse and keyboards as they will be replaced by touchscreens. o Today, a larger population share is PC literate, yet the touchscreen has become adopted by computer users of all abilities because it is simple, fast and innovative.

References Last visited 5 th October :30pm 2. technology Last visited 5 th October :45am 3. of touch screen technologywww.talyst.com/applications 4. En.wikipedia.org/wiki/touchscreen last visited 3 rd October :15pm