DisplaySearch Blog

2007 SID Trends – “I’m Touched”

by Dale Maunu, Vice President

Every once in a while you get to see something that is simple, elegant and makes you wonder why no one did it sooner. Today, I was able to see something that perfectly fits that description: the InfiniTouch Force Panel from QSI Corporation. It is a touch screen technology that measures the amount of force applied to the surface of a panel. They have developed a way of mounting a panel on “beams” that flex slightly when pressure is applied. Strain gauges on the beams measure the amount of force, and the DSP calculates the x and y coordinates of the touch. For example, you can mount a display (I had to use a display as an example; we are DisplaySearch, after all….) in an assembly that is supported by the “beams.” You can touch anywhere on the display, such as the active area or the bezel, and the InfiniTouch will accurately record the location. It is sensitive enough to capture signatures, and can be made strong enough to be used in explosion-proof terminals on oil rigs.

The drawback to the technology is that it is not multi-touch enabled; if you touch in two places at once, it will naturally integrate the resulting forces and give you a result between the two points. Considering all of the pros and cons about resistive touch, capacitive touch, projected capacitive touch, 4-wire, 5-wire, 8-wire, etc, it seems like QSI has a nifty technology (patent pending) that should be a viable for a great many applications. In the California vernacular, it is way cool.

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