User:Jdsjes/Touch international

Touch International is a diversified global touch screen manufacturing company that produces a variety products including Apple iPhone-type projected capacitive touch screens, resistive sensors and glass filter products used in touch screens, EMI, anti-reflective or anti-vandal filters. Headquartered in Austin, TX, Touch International was established in 2002 by Michael Woolstrum and long-time technology veteran, Gary Barrett, the company’s CTO. The company, with its partner DMC, Co. Ltd. in Osaka, Japan, operates seven manufacturing facilities worldwide with 1,200 employees.

Timeline
2002 Touch International was founded in January 2002 by Michael Woolstrum and technology veteran Gary Barrett. The company focused on manufacturing and delivering high value touch components. TI developed curved, drop-in replacement touch screens. They opened a custom solutions center to design and manufacture custom touch screen components. In October of 2002, Touch International began manufacturing 17" Analog Resistive touch screens for the US Air Force Command and Control Center.

2003 In April 2003, TI released its 8-Wire Resistive touch screen. The following month they produced fourteen layer, self-extinguishing, shatterproof touch screens for in-flight entertainment for a leading aerospace manufacturer. In July, Touch International released the world's thinnest and only form fitting, unbreakable projected capacitive touch screen.

2004 In March of 2004, TI purchased the controlling interest of DMC in Japan and acquired high volume factories in Asia. They also partnered with Pentranic to build capacitive touch sensors and controllers for Pentranic's gaming and amusement product lines.

2006 In August, Touch International added filters and touch screen enhancements to its product line. In 2006, they released the rugged ExtremeTouch Projected Capacitive Touch Screens.

2007 In 2007 TI established locations in Austin, TX, Japan and China. They developed cutting edge proximity sensing technology.

2008 In May of 2008, Touch International acquired LCD display enhancement company DuPont Display Enhancements in Torrance, CA. They also introduced multi-touch projected capacitive technology with gesture.

2009 In 2009 Touch International released single layer projected capacitive touch screens (the iPhone method) and projected capacitive touch screens with active pen input. In February TI worked with Axiotron Corporation, an Apple Premier Developer based in El Segundo, California, to integrate touch screen technology into Axiotron’s Mac-based tablet computers, the Modbook® and the Modbook Pro. In 2009, TI also released the Extreme Touch Projected Capacitive Modules and a Chip on Flex tail design.

2010 March 1, 2010, Touch International introduced the Multi-Touch Analog Resistive Touch Screen (MARS). This multi-touch resistive technology allows for 10-finger input.

Touch Technologies
There are a variety of touch technologies used in the marketplace today. Some of these technologies include:

Projected Capacitive In the short time since the introduction of projected capacitive touch screens in iPhones, a myriad of construction methods have been developed. All projected capacitive designs have two key features in common - the sensing mechanism (ITO layer) that lies behind the touch surface and the use of no moving parts.

Advantages

–Extremely Durable

–Easy to Use –Highly Accurate –Exceedingly Reliable –Advanced Functionality –Operates in Environmental Extremes –Works with Finger, Gloves and Active Stylus

Multi-Touch Analog Resistive Multi-Touch Analog Resistive is a very new touch technology that allows for 10-finger touch and multi-user capabilities. Multi-Touch technology should be used for applications requiring pressure sensing (screwdrivers, long fingernails and scalpels).

Analog Resistive 4-Wire, 5-Wire and 8-Wire Resistive are the most widely used touch technologies around the world partly due to it's low cost.

Advantages

–Can be activated with any device

–Low cost solution

–Low power consumption

Disadvantages –Less durability compared to other technologies

–Less transmittance and overall optical quality

–Requires periodic recalibration

Surface Capacitive Surface Capacitive technology relies on the capacitance of the human body. When a person touches the screen, a small current flows to the point of touch, causing a voltage drop which is sensed at the 4 corners of the touch screen. Advantages

–More durable than resistive (because the top layer is not plastic)

–Higher transmittance than resistive (fewer layers)

Disadvantages

–Accepts input from finger only (or a special, tethered conductive stylus)

–Susceptible to electromagnetic interference can cause an erratic cursor location

–Accuracy is dependent on capacitance of person touching the display

–Requires periodic calibration