Elo TouchSystems Inc., a global leader in touchscreen technology, offers Acoustic Pulse Wave Recognition (APR) technology, a novel and unique tactile touch technology. Elo TouchSystems is a subsidiary of TE Connectivity, one of the world's largest manufacturers of electrical and electronic components. Composed of a single glass cover mounted on a display and a small electronic control board, Elo Touch's APR technology boasts all the advantages of other touch technologies. APR combines the excellent optical performance, durability, and stability of ultrasonic (SAW) and infrared (IR) touch technologies; the excellent drag and compatibility with styluses, gloves, and fingernails of capacitive touch technology; and the affordability of resistive technology. Furthermore, APR is highly resistant to water and other contaminants. It is available in various touchscreen sizes, from small touchscreens suitable for PDAs to large touchscreens for 42-inch displays, and effectively eliminates accidental touches caused by the palm of the hand in signature applications. Compared to many of history's greatest inventions, APR measures the position of a touched point on glass using a simple and elegant sound recognition method. The key is that each point on the glass produces a unique sound upon contact. Four tiny transceivers attached to the edge of the touchscreen glass receive the touch sound, which is digitized by a controller and then compared to a pre-recorded list of sounds for each point on the glass. The cursor position is immediately updated to the touch location. APR's design ignores external and ambient noise, as it doesn't match the pre-recorded audio. Unlike other technologies that attempt to identify touch location using transceivers or microphones, APR uses a simple sound table lookup method, which is superior to those that require powerful and expensive signal processing hardware to calculate touch location without any reference. Therefore, APR is the most cost-effective and size-independent touch technology. From Touch Technology Leadership The founders of EasyTouch invented touchscreens—resistive touch technology—35 years ago. To this day, resistive touch remains the most widely used touch technology worldwide, found in everything from PDAs and industrial control equipment to restaurant point-of-sale (POS) terminals. EasyTouch's five-wire resistive touchscreen is the most widely respected brand in resistive touchscreens. With the most patents and being the world's largest touch display supplier, EasyTouch offers all major touch technologies today, including resistive, capacitive, infrared, and acoustic – each optimized for specific applications and environments. Now, EasyTouch offers APR technology, a combination of technological advantages unmatched by any previous touch technology. While APR is a new technology, it shares some similarities with the acoustic technology that EasyTouch has successfully used for 20 years. Both operate on acoustic principles and use a clean glass transceiver attached to it. However, the acoustic transceiver both emits and receives signals, while APR only uses it to receive signals. Because EasyTouch is a leader in acoustic touch technology, its scientists and engineers have extensive experience in physics, materials, and manufacturing related to APR. EasyTouch effectively brought APR technology to the market, securing a unique and stable position. The operating principle of APR: APR consists of glass or other hard materials, along with four signal receivers assembled on the back. These receivers are embedded in the diagonally opposite corners of the visible area and connected to a control card via cables. When the screen is touched, a collision is generated, or when the user pulls on the glass with their finger or stylus, sound waves are produced. These sound waves radiate from the contact point to the signal receivers, causing them to generate proportional electronic signals. These signals are amplified at the control card and then converted into digital information. This digital information is compared with a previously stored database to determine the touch location. APR touch technology is designed to prevent ambient noise and surrounding noise from interfering with previously stored information. APR performance characteristics: Touch displays typically require a touchscreen overlaid on the LCD panel to sense touch and prevent the LCD panel from being touched. Display manufacturers aim for brighter displays and purer colors; therefore, touchscreens should minimize any degradation in image quality. Unfortunately, touchscreens can degrade image quality in four ways: reduced light transmittance, increased surface reflection, reduced sharpness, and altered original colors. From an optical perspective, and considering hardness and durability, glass is the ideal choice for touchscreen materials. * Pure glass can achieve up to approximately 92% light transmittance (per ASTM D1003). This allows the original brightness of the LCD to be well maintained even when using inexpensive LCD display panels. * Thin film layers and coatings used in resistive and capacitive touch technologies not only reduce light transmission but also alter the original colors of the display panel. Pure glass is the only acceptable option for many common touch applications, such as medical instruments and digital photo guides. * Pure glass minimizes reflections because it lacks thin film layers or metallic coatings. Reflections can cause eye strain for long-term users, such as cashiers or casino gamers, as displays often reflect ceiling lights, which can be distracting. * Because of the glass covering, reflections are already minimal, eliminating the need for anti-reflective or anti-glare coatings and maintaining maximum sharpness. * Glass is scratch-resistant. Compared to the 3H or 4H hardness of resistive touchscreens, glass reaches a hardness of 7H. Glass is also resistant to most chemicals, unlike easily punctured plastics. Glass is relatively stable; it does not deform, expand, or shrink due to temperature changes. * Special shatterproof glass materials can also be used in highly destructive environments. Thickened, high-temperature, and chemically treated hardened glass can be used to replace ordinary glass. For these reasons, easily touchable acoustic wave technology has become the best choice for display machines or self-service machines in public places, and is also preferred by other applications such as gambling and medical imaging. APR technology has excellent optical and durability advantages due to the use of glass. Stylus Selection If optical quality and harsh environments were the only concerns, acoustic wave touch technology could be applied to all touch fields. However, for some special applications, stylus selection may outweigh visual effects. For example, the use by cashiers or waiters in restaurants. When displaying a menu, perfect image quality and pure colors are not necessary. More importantly, when a waiter has a plate in their other hand, they can touch the display with a pen, credit card, or employee card, or even with a fingernail or pen. For these reasons, despite the reduced optics and the wear and tear on the outer plastic layer of resistive touchscreens over time, resistive touchscreens remain the most widely used technology in retail, restaurant, and POS applications. In addition to the superior optical quality and scratch resistance of acoustic wave technology, APR technology also offers the advantage of resistive technology, allowing touch with fingers, fingernails, pens or styluses, or credit cards. Contaminant Resistance: For some applications, the primary concern is not optics, durability, or stylus selection, but contaminants. Resistive and capacitive technologies excel in this regard, functioning normally when liquids and other contaminants are present on the screen and easily sealed. However, resistive technology still leads capacitive technology in restaurant, industrial, and medical applications because it allows touch even with gloves. APR technology is resistant to contaminants on the screen, such as liquids, dirt, tomato sauce, grease, and ultrasonic gels, and is also scratch-resistant. APR touchscreens can be sealed in a waterproof manner using industrial sealing standards. They also possess the optical properties of glass and resistance to cleaning and anti-inflammatory chemicals, and can be touched with gloves and any type of stylus. Stability: The touchscreen and the display below each have an independent coordinate system. The corresponding positions of the touch and display require a regular calculation to transform from one coordinate system to the other. The accuracy of this transformation depends on stable touch and a stable image coordinate system. Unlike CRT displays, LCD displays have an inherent display position. Some touch technologies, such as acoustic and infrared technologies, have a fixed coordinate system. Others, such as capacitive and some inexpensive resistive technologies, require recalibration or periodic calibration over time; this is known as offset. Of all these cases, the best touch technologies never require calibration. APR has a fixed coordinate system that does not change with time, location, or environment. If the size and position of the display are fixed, the calibration required by traditional touchscreens is eliminated in applications using APR touch technology. Speed ​​and Sensitivity: Touch technology should be easy to touch and respond quickly to taps. APR won't fail to recognize brief touches like other technologies, as even brief taps produce a recognizable sound. Most touch applications require simple and rapid touches, designed for users in public places and employees with minimal training. Common PC techniques such as scrolling, drop-down menus, and dragging are rarely used in touch applications because not all users can intuitively grasp them. However, these techniques are used in some applications, and sometimes dragging is required. Capacitive touch is generally the best dragging option among touch technologies. APR can recognize fast taps and drag like capacitive touch. Unlike capacitive technology, APR also allows dragging with fingers and styluses. Currently, APR cannot perform "touch and stop" or "drag and stop" actions because no sound is emitted at the stop position. Simple structure, sealability, and narrow bezels are essential for device manufacturers (OEMs) seeking easily integrated touch technology components that meet the fundamental touch characteristics mentioned earlier for their applications. Touchscreens need to be unaffected by surrounding metal materials and operate reliably in harsh environments. They should be sealable to NEMA 4/IP 65 standards using a variety of materials, including gaskets, adhesives, or RTV, and must have the smallest possible bezel. Ideally, a touchscreen should be smaller than the LCD display panel. While LCD panel manufacturers have continuously strived to narrow the outer bezel, touchscreen manufacturers will face the challenge of achieving similarly narrow bezels. APR is an acoustic technology, so it is unaffected by surrounding metal or harsh environments. Furthermore, it can be waterproofed and sealed with any material, and it boasts ultra-narrow bezels unmatched by any other touch technology, including a minimum bezel area of ​​only 5mm. Because of the narrow bezel, multiple LCD panels can be directly mounted together, which is becoming increasingly common in medical, financial, and gaming applications. Other features of APR: APR's touch technology, when scanning for touch locations, easily skips or ignores certain areas of the screen based on a previously recorded list of sounds. This feature allows, for example, applications where the palm resting on the screen is not mistaken for a touch location, a characteristic that is difficult or impossible for other touch technologies to achieve. From very small PDAs to large displays like 42", APR (Audio-Resistant Touch) is the most cost-effective technology. For PDAs, price is paramount, and APR technology essentially consists of a piece of glass and a signal receiver, along with hardware and software for voice digitization and recognition – a configuration already implemented in today's mobile applications. In many applications, exposed glass is unacceptable, such as in food processing or bedside applications; therefore, infrared touch technology is the optimal choice. Like infrared touch technology, APR technology can also be applied to non-glass materials, such as acrylic materials. The Future of APR In time, all touch technologies will be improved, perfected, and their costs reduced; this is already a reality with APR. EasyTouch Systems, Inc. pioneered APR technology for retail and restaurant POS market applications because its specific characteristics are well-suited to these important touch applications. Following the introduction of APR technology, several popular POS touchscreen display models from EasyTouch will incorporate APR touchscreens as an alternative touch technology option, with mass production scheduled to begin at the end of 2006. The first models to adopt APR include EasyTouch's 1515L and 1529L, which will be waterproofed to the industry standard of Nema4/IP 65. These touchscreen displays will run on Windows XP with EasyTouch's drivers. Other drivers, including those for Linux, are under development. Combining the features of APR – the usability of a stylus with resistive technology and the waterproof, splash-proof, and stain-resistant properties of a sealable glass system with infrared and acoustic technologies – all integrated into a fully sealed, eye-catching POS touchscreen display – the touch technology revolution is just beginning. For more detailed technical information or high-resolution photos, please contact: Zheng Yiling, Tyco Electronics (EasyTouch Systems, Inc.) Tel: (021) 6485-32881124 Email: [email protected] http://www.elotouch.com.cn