User:Wikiaznable/sandbox

= Electric Field Messaging = Electric Field Messaging (EFMTM) is a patented communication methodology using electric fields as the carrier. It was developed by Kendall Lo and Professor Alan Lau at Kazoo Technology, a Hong Kong technology company specialising in developing technologies and user interface applications that use capacitive touchscreens as a digital interfacing medium.

Principle
EFMTM operates on the electric field lines emitted by electrodes installed underneath capacitive or projected capacitive touchscreens. An electronic circuit equipped with EFMTM capabilities is placed on a capacitive touchscreen. The circuit electronically switches between absorbing electric field lines ("absorption state") and unperturbing ("non-absorption state") the same in both time and spatial domains on the touchscreen, effectively emulating a 1 and 0 bitstream in the touchscreen sensors underneath. By decoding this bit information in both time and space, an external device can effectively communicate vast amount of information digitally with another touchscreen device simply by being in direct contact with it.

Encoding in both Time and Space
In general, due to the ability of capacitive touchscreens to detect multitouch signals with reasonably precise resolution, any part or parts of the touchscreen can be configured by software to receive EFMTM signals. In addition, each spatial location on the touchscreen represents a possible, independent EFMTM communication channel. In theory, if the touchscreen controller has sufficient touch signal resolution and has sufficient processing power to support an unlimited number of simultaneous touch signals, the communication bandwidth of EFMTM can be indefinitely multiplied.

User Interface Experience
The EFMTM technology allows for an easy and intuitive connection between physical objects and virtual contents displayed on touchscreens, as an alternative form of Augmented Reality. For example, certain wearables or consumer devices that may not have a display attached can use EFMTM to quickly pair up with another generic touchscreen device to display relevant information about the device, or be configured via that same touchscreen interface.

Security
Because devices equipped EFMTM operates on modulating an external electric field to achieve the effect of digital communication, instead of emitting electromagnetic waves outward, it is a more secure form of transaction communication technology when compared with NFC, which can be eavesdropped from a distance using a rouge NFC reader.

Low Energy Consumption and Low Cost
Again, since devices equipped with EFMTM does not need to generate its own electromagnetic wave signals and broadcast outward to establish communication links, the power consumption of such a device can be very low. Without the need for RF components, EFMTM in principle can be manufactured at a lower pricing point than RF equivalent.

Internet-of-Things Applications
The lower energy consumption of EFMTM compared with other wireless alternatives makes it an ideal pairing and interfacing technology to use in Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

Recognition
The world's first embedded EFMTM transceiver, the Duplex Response Interface for Touchscreens (DRIFTTM), was selected a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree.