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Anti-glare
An anti-glare screen is designed to cut down on the amount of light that reflects off the LCD display. Reflected light or glare can reduce the view ability of the display by impacting the contrast, colors and sharpness of the display.
The matte finish anti-glare computer screen also has a disadvantage, by scattering the light coming out of the display, resulting in a slightly less-crisp image for the viewer.
A good way to choose between anti-glare finishes is to consider the environment in which you will be using your display. A light anti-glare touch screen may be well-suited for use when there is mostly ambient light that you can control. A heavier anti-glare maybe suited for environments where harsh overhead lighting or changing ambient light conditions are common.
Blob detection
Blob detection refers to the process of picking out bright areas of a camera image and somehow relaying them to a computer as a touch.
Blob tracking
Assigning each blob an ID (identifier). Each frame we try to determine which blob is which by comparing each with the previous frame.
Detect
Detect is the touch system's ability to recognize the presence, but not necessarily the precise location of a touch event on the touch surface or in the touch field. The ability to detect more than one touch event may enable some technologies to perform events such as gesturing.
Diffuser
Something that spreads and scatters light. A diffuser is used in various multi-touch techniques to create even lighting.
Diffused Illumination (DI)
A multi-touch technique that makes use of a diffused surface to help filter shadows (Front DI) orilluminated fingers (Rear DI) from a touch surface. Sometimes this is referred to as Direct Illumination.
Diffused Surface Illumination (DSI)
A multi-touch technique that uses a special acrylic Endlighten to help disperse even light supplied by edge lighting the acrylic. The effect is similar to DI.
Drift
The term "drift" originated when touch screens were first integrated with CRT monitors. Since the CRT image could shift over time it would appear that the touch screen would lose calibration or "drift." With the industry's change to LCD displays and fixed pixel arrays, image shift is no longer a problem. Also, early generation touch screens utilized materials, components, and integration techniques which could be susceptible to drift, but today’s advanced electronics, improve materials and processes have virtually eliminated the drift phenomenon, a.k.a., calibration drift.
Dual touch
Dual touch or two touch refers to a touch system that can detect and resolve two discrete, simultaneous touch events. The best demonstration of dualtouch capability is to draw two parallel lines on the screen at the same time. Two Touch systems can also support gesturing.
Electric Static Discharge (ESD)
ESD is the rapid transfer of electrostatic charge between two objects. Depending on the strength of the electrostatic field, the transfer can occur when objects touch or come within a close proximity. ESD can cause damage to electrical components. ESD can be controlled by utilizing a safe dissipation of the field (ground) or prevention of the static build up.
Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR)
A multi-touch technique that exploits the phenomena of Total Internal Reflection(TIR) [2]. Light within a transparent channel of low refractive index will reflect internally until an object with a higher refractiveindex, such as a finger, touches or frustrates the surface thus lighting up the frustrated area.
Hard Coat
Hard coat is typically a coating applied to a film or glass substrate for the purpose of improving the surface durability of the product. Film-based hard coats are measured on the "pencil hardness" scale and coatings applied to glass may be measured by the MoHS scale.
Laser Light Plane (LLP)
A multi-touch technique that uses a laser and line generating lens to cast a beam over a touch surface.When the beam plane is broken by an object, the area is lit up.
Light Transmission
Light (optical) transmission is the percentage of light that passes through a touch screen from the LCD display or light source. Typical touch screens range from 70% to 92%. All other optical characteristics being equal, higher transmission is better.
Linearization
Linearization and calibration are often confused, but each is distinctly different. Linearization is the process of correcting for or improving the performance of a touch screen as a part of the manufacturing process and special equipment is used to reach this accuracy requirement. Under normal conditions linearization should be a one time event.
MoHS
MoHS rating is a "scratch hardness" test that is typically associated with minerals or gems. Glass-based touch screens often use this scale to define their resistance to surface scratches. The higher the MOHS rating, the more resistant the material is to surface scratches. The MoHS rating is calculated on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 representing the hardness rating of diamond.
MTBF
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is a measurement of how reliable a product is. MTBF is typically specified in units of hours; the higher the MTBF, more a product is considered reliable.
Multi-modal
A form of interaction using multiple modes of interfacing with a system.
Multi-touch
Multi-touch refers to a touch system's ability to simultaneously detect and resolve a minimum of 3+ touch points. All 3 or more touches are detected and fully resolved resulting in a dramatically improved touch experience. Multi-touch is considered by many to become a widely-used interface mainly because of the speed, efficiency and intuitiveness of the technology.
Multi-user
Multi-users is a touch screen environment where multiple users can utilize the same touch system simultaneously. In a multi-user environment it may or may not be required that the individual be identified with a particular on-screen event.
Palm Rejection
Palm rejection refers to a touch screen’s ability to "reject" or ignore the presence of a palm during the process of drawing or signature capture. Palm rejection capabilities allows for accurate on-screen drawing and for capturing of a more accurate signature.
Pen Input
Pen input refers to a touch screen's capability to accept input from an active pen or inactive (dumb) stylus. Active pen technology may be "driven," where a signal is injected into the touch system, or grounded where a signal is drawn from the screen. The most common active type of pen is the electromagnetic type found in tablet devices.
Pencil Hardness
Pencil hardness is determined by a "scratch hardness" test that uses pencils of various hardnesses to determine a surface's ability to resist scratching. A rating of 9H is highest value of the Pencil Hardness scale. This test is often used to determine the rating of resistive touch screens and other film- or surface-coated materials.
Resolve
Resolve is the touch system’s ability to determine the precise location of a touch event on the touch surface or in the touch field.
Single touch
Single touch occurs when a finger or stylus creates a touch event on the surface of a touch sensor or within a touch field so it is detected by the touch controller and the application can determine the X,Y coordinates of the touch event. These technologies have been integrated into millions of devices and typically do not have the ability to detect or resolve more than a single touch point at a time as part of their standard configuration.
Single touch with gesture
Enhancements to firmware, software and hardware by many single touch technologies have increased their touch functionality. Some touch technologies can use advanced processing capabilities to "detect" or recognize that a second touch event is occurring, which is called a "gesture event." Since single touch systems can't resolve the exact location of the second touch event they rely on algorithms to interpret or anticipate the intended gesture event input. Common industry terms for this functionality are two-finger gestures, dual touch, dual control, and gesture touch.
Single touch with pen
Single touch with pen input functionality can range from a simple, inactive pointer or stylus to complex, active tethered pens. Inactive pens enable the same input characteristics as a finger, but with greater pointing accuracy, while sophisticated, active pens can provide more control and uses for the touch system with drawing and palm rejection capabilities, and mouse event capabilities.
Stereo Vision or Stereoscopic
A two camera multi-touch technique.
Surface
Microsoft® Surface™ is a multi-touch/multi-user system that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects, helping people interact with digital content in a simple and intuitive way. With a large, horizontal user interface, Surface offers a unique gathering place where multiple users can collaboratively and simultaneously interact with data and each other.
Tabletop computing
Interactive computer displays that take place in the form of tabletops.
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is a display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the active display area. The term generally refers to touch or contact to the display of the device by a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. However, if the object sensed is active, as with a light pen, the term touchscreen is generally not applicable. The ability to interact directly with a display typically indicates the presence of a touchscreen.
The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, 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. Secondly, 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. They also play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as the personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite navigation devices, mobile phones, and video games.
Video Alignment
Video alignment is performed during the integration of the touch screen to the display. This process compensates for the variability in touch screen placement during the integration and helps compensate for x and y placement and skew.
Zero Force
Refers to the amount of force or pressure needed to trigger a touch event. In this case, 'zero' means 'little.'
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