The touch screen is a technology that has revolutionised the way we interact with electronic devices. It is a computer display screen that is sensitive to touch, allowing a user to control the device by simply touching the screen with their finger, stylus, or other pointing device.
The technology has been around since the early 1970s, but it has only become widely used in the last decade or so. To understand how a touch screen works, it is important to understand the different types of touch technology that are available. The most common type is resistive touch technology, which consists of two thin layers of metal that are separated by a thin gap. When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact and the electrical current is interrupted, which is detected by the device and translated into a command.
Capacitive touch technology is another type of touch screen technology. In this case, the screen is made up of a conductive material, such as an indium tin oxide coating, which is suspended over an insulated substrate. When a user touches the screen, the electrical charge in the material is interrupted, resulting in the device detecting the touch.
Infrared touch technology is the third type of technology and it works differently than the other two. In this case, the device contains an array of infrared light emitters and sensors that are placed around the edges of the screen. When a user touches the screen, the light is interrupted, which is detected by the device. Once the device has detected the touch, it needs to know where the touch originated from. This is accomplished through a process called coordinate mapping. The device uses a special algorithm to map the coordinates of the touch to the corresponding points on the screen. This allows the device to determine what part of the screen was touched, which in turn allows it to execute the appropriate command.
Finally, the device must be able to interpret the touch. This is done through a process called gesture recognition. The device uses a special algorithm to identify the type of gesture that was performed and interpret it accordingly. For example, a single tap could be interpreted as a “click” command, while a swipe could be interpreted as a “scroll” command.
The touch screen is an incredible technology that has revolutionised the way we interact with electronic devices. It has made it easier and more intuitive for us to control our devices, and it continues to evolve as technology progresses.
