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The early version of the capacitive touch screen featured fixed buttons on a display. This gave the flexibility to re-map the buttons on screen as required.
Key technologies
Modern touch screen technology evolved from the capacitive touch screen. To understand how current generation touch screen technology works, we must understand how the most basic touch screen monitor---the capacitive touch screen---functions. There are several core touch screen technologies: Surface Capacitance Projected Capacitance Mutual Capacitance Self Capacitance Resistive Infrared Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Optical Touch Screens
Key technologies
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Projected Capacitance Two types of Projected Capacitance: Mutual Capacitance and Self Capacitance Used in iPhone More accurate than surface capacitance Relies on an X-Y axis grid, etched onto the electrodes on the conductive material behind the glass Operates under screen protectors / vandal-proof glass Common in POS systems that require signatures (i.e self-checkout counters that require a digital signature) Sweaty finger tips (i.e from humid environments) decreases the touch screen accuracy
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Mutual Capacitance (Derivative of Projected Capacitance) Used in multi-touch applications (i.e iPhone) Requires two distinct layers of material to operate Capacitor on every row and column, creating a grid pattern across the screen (i.e. a screen with a 10-by-10 layout will have a total of 100 independent capacitors. The capacitors operate in unison, with the ability to register multi-touch Each capacitor can register its own touch points Self Capacitance (Derivative of Projected Capacitance) Similar to Mutual capacitance, but does not register multiple touch points Each column and row on the screen operates independently
Resistive touch screens require two flexible surfaces to detect touch contact.
Key technologies
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Because iPhone relies on a capacitive touch screen, the screen operates only when a bare finger touches the screen. A gloved hand, or stylus will not activate a capacitive touch screen. The combination of Mutual and Self Capacitance technology allows the iPhone processor to register multi-touch functions.
Self Capacitance screens use a transparent electrode layer to register screen contact. Note that the diagram is not to scale.
Image courtesy of HowStuffWorks, 2007
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Sources
CERN Courier (2010), "The first capacitive touch screens at CERN". Retrieved online from: http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/42092 Colegrove, Jennifer (2010), "The State of the Touch-Screen Market 2010" Retrieved online from: http://www.walkermobile.com/March_2010_ID_State_of_the_Touch_Screen_Market.pdf Wikipedia (2010), "Touchscreen". Retrieved online from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#cite_note-5 Wilson, Tracy V, (2010), "How the iPhone Works". Retrieved online from: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone1.htm
Image Sources Electrotest (2010). "Capacitive Touchscreen". Retrieved from: http://www.electrotest.com.sg/images/ctdisp_r.gif Next Window (2003). "An Overview of NextWindow Optical Imaging Touch Technology". Retrieved online from: http://www.idt.com.au/NextWindow/Optical_imaging_technology_overview_whitepaper.pdf Quataris Technologies (2010) "Restrictive Touchscreens". Retrieved online from: http://quataris.com/main/images/stories/touchscreen/resistive-touchscreens.jpg