A cornucopia of touch technology

The latest developments in touch-panel display technology that is applied in the electronics industry are discussed. The touch technologies include acoustic pulse recognition (APR), dispersive signal technology (DST), dual-force resistive touch, spatial projected capacitive, 3-D touch, IPT replacements, and armored resistive touch. The touch technology also include multiple independent touch displays, dual-mode pen and touch, infrared touch in sunlight, circular-polarized film-film resistive touch, mobile surface acoustic wave (SAW), and optical touch. Touch-enabling includes a sensor, a controller, and a hardware/software interface to a host computer. Optical and IR touch have architectural advantages over other touch panels in terms of scalability and resolution. The continued development and successful test marketing in touch technology is conducted by various companies.