Touch Panels utilize force-based technology.
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Press Release Summary:
InfiniTouch(TM) Force Panel Technology(TM) measures user touch force, via 4 corner sensors, to enable any semi-rigid material such as metal, glass, wood, stone, ceramic, and plastic, to sense touch in harsh environments. Features include dynamic self calibration, scalability to sizes up to 1.2 m, light transmissiveness, usability in various elevations, signature capturing, and operability when covered with ice, water, dust, or debris.
Original Press Release:
QSI's New InfiniTouch Exceeds the Limits of Traditional Touch Screen and Offers Complete Freedom in Touch Surface Selection
Salt Lake City, Utah. 22 May 2007. To address the need for reliable, durable touch panels that can withstand continuous use, abuse, weather elements, harsh and unsecure environments, QSI Corporation today introduces InfiniTouch(TM), a patent-pending Force Panel Technology(TM) (www.forcepaneltechnology.com/) that enables any semi-rigid material - metal, glass, wood, stone, ceramic, plastic, or any combination of these materials, to sense touch.
"For nearly 40 years, engineers have worked to develop a commercially-viable, force-based technology. Today marks an industry milestone with the announcement that QSI has achieved success with the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology," said James Elwell, QSI Corporation chief operations officer and InfiniTouch co-developer. "The InfiniTouch technology represents a major advance in touch control. It also solves the problems of how to handle the non-orthogonal nature of touches, how to adjust for the force variations during touch duration, and provides a touch surface with the durability and reliability to meet the needs of diverse industries. All at an affordable price."
Different from existing bending wave and projected capacitive ruggedized touch screens, the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology offers:
Force-based touch sensing - InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology measures the force of a user's touch, rather than using a complex, indirect measurement. The location and force of the user's touch can be quickly and accurately determined by placing four force sensors near the corners of the touch surface. Relatively simple mathematical equations can be used to determine the X-Y location of the touch and the corresponding z-axis force.
Any semi-rigid surface can become a touch panel - the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology's unique configuration enables any semi-rigid material, of any shape, to become touch sensitive including metal, glass, wood, stone, ceramic, composite, plastic or any combination of these materials. This capability enables the freedom to construct the panel to be as durable, waterproof and aesthetically pleasing as desired.
Suited for use in both secure, indoor and harsh, unsecured environments, the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology is resistant to impacts of more than 1,400 g. InfiniTouch also offers unique capabilities not possible with existing technologies, such as the integration of multiple materials in a single touch surface, operable with elevated and irregular surfaces, attachments and penetrations. Additional features of InfiniTouch include:
-Capable of dynamic self calibration
-Scalable to any size, proven up to 1.2 meters
-Supports two-sided display
-Usable with various elevations: flat plane, curved surface, 3-D surface, projected surface, or a surface with holes, such as a speaker
-Highly light transmissive
-Touchable with a finger, gloved hand, stylus, or other object
-Operable when covered with ice, water, dust or debris
-Capable of capturing signatures
Available now, the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology is currently being field tested with the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) in Orange County, California at its toll road operations. Each tollbooth attendant averages 100,000 presses on the panel per month.
"The punishing level of continuous use at TCA's toll plazas proved too much for traditional touch screens," said Elwell. "Sensitive contact points quickly wore out, rendering the touch screens inoperable. The glass touch surface and sensor configuration of the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology eliminates this challenge and has consistently delivered 100% performance touch after touch."
InfiniTouch is the only technology that directly measures the force of a user's touch, rather than using an indirect method that must translate a touch. The most simple, purest form of touch technology, InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology is ideal for outdoor kiosks and ticketing machines, ATMs, restaurant and hospitality, POS and retail, industrial, gas pump, military, medical, and other applications.
About QSI Corporation
Established in 1983, QSI Corporation (www.qsicorp.com) the InfiniTouch Force Panel Technology innovator, is also a manufacturer of rugged handheld, panel-mount and pedestal-mount terminals for industrial OEMs and commercial vehicle systems integrators. QSI's human machine interface (HMI) and mobile data terminal (MDT) products include character and graphic terminals that are programmable, customizable, CE certified and NEMA 4/12/13 rated. Numerous interfaces are available, including EIA-232, EIA-422, EIA-485, J1708, Ethernet and Power-over-Ethernet. QSI excels at designing and building custom and semi-custom terminals able to withstand high levels of shock, vibration, humidity and other environmental parameters. All QSI Corporation products are manufactured in the USA at the company's headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, contact QSI Corporation at 801-466-8770 or info@qsicorp.com.
