12/SMS02/001 Abdulkareem Ameerah Accounting Management Information System

THE RECENT ADVANCEMENTS AND APPLICATIONS IN TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS A TOUCHSCREEN? A touch screen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touch screens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. The user can control it through simple or multi touch gestures by touching the screen with a special stylus/pen and/or one or more fingers. Touch screens can be found in; Smart Phones, tablets and mobile computers, eBook readers, Gaming devices, Remote Controls etc.

The touch screen has two main attributes; 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. It lets one do so without requiring any intermediate device, again, such as a stylus that needs to be held in the hand. Such displays can be attached to computers or as terminals, to networks.

Brief History Touch screens emerged from corporate and academic research labs in mid-1960 One of the first places they gained some visibility was in the terminal of a computer-assisted learning terminal Invented by E.A. Johnson (Royal Radar Est.) around 1965 for air traffic control HP-150 home computer using infrared technology in Apple’s Newton and IBM’s Simon 2002 Microsoft’s Windows XP Tablet 2007 Apple’s iPhone (Multi-touch)

Examples of touch screen First touch screen device First commercial touch screen(hp 150) Apple ipad Touch screen TV Nintendo Ds

ADVANCEMENTS IN TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY As technology advances, touch screen devices are becoming even more prevalent in our day to day lives. Initially, high resolution options were too expensive to make a touch screen home computer a feasible option. Costs have dropped drastically in recent years thanks to a number of technological advancements, making high resolution, high-contrast touch screen monitors a practical reality. Touch screen monitors are also incredibly easy to use, thanks to their literal hands-on method of operation.

The facilitation of multipoint touch screens facilitated the tracking of more than one finger on the screen; thus, operations that require more than one finger are possible, these devices allow multiple users to interact with the touch screen simultaneously. the ability to accurately point on the screen itself is also advancing with the emerging graphics tablet/screen hybrids.

APPLICATIONS OF TOUCHSCREEN The touch screen is one of the simplest PC interfaces to use, making it the interface of choice for a large number of applications. Following are uses of touch screen: Public Information Displays Tourism displays, trade show displays, Information kiosks and other electronic displays are used by large number of people that have little or no computing experience. The touch screen interface is easier to use than other input devices especially for novice users. A touch screen is useful to make your information more easily accessible by allowing users to navigate your presentation by simply touching the display screen.

Retail and Restaurant Systems Time is money, especially in a fast paced retail or restaurant environment. In retail or restaurant environment, touch screen systems are easy to use so employees can get work done faster which can become a bit cumbersome specially when creating images. Touch screens can suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display. This can be mitigated by the use of materials with optical coatings designed to reduce the visible effects of fingerprint oils, such as the oleo phobic coating used in the iPhone 3G, or by reducing skin contact by using a fingernail or stylus. The future of touch surface is touch screen video projectors. In a restaurant, for e.g., you can place your order using the surface of the table as the touch interface, instead of using a touch screen laptop. The ability to transform any surface in a touch screen means lower costs, making the technology more cost effective.

APPLICATIONS Public Access: Museums Library Resource Guides Corporate Information Public Transportation schedule/ status Airport terminal passenger internet and systems Automated travel and entertainment ticket dispensers Shopping mall directory BUSINESS: Gas stations Point of sales Restaurants Grocery stores Banks and financial reporting

Entertainment: Interactive computer games Casinos Government: Military control system Scientific research lab Future Touch screen Technology: RPO,S digital waveguide Touch: Minimal power requirements High inherent accuracy and precession Zero pressure touch and allows finger scrolling Low cost and excellent durability

REFERENCES Wikipedia How stuff works Arstechnica.com