Elo TouchSystems has introduced Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR), a brand-new breakthrough in touch technology. Its local distributor, Tactile Technologies, will make APR-enabled touch monitors available in Africa within the coming year.
Consisting solely of a glass-overlay mounted in front of the display, Elo's APR technology provides a new set of benefits that have only been partially achieved before by other touch technologies.
The key to the invention is a touch at each position on the glass generates a unique sound. Four tiny transducers attached to the edges of the touch screen glass pick up the sound of the touch.
The sound is then digitised by the controller and compared to a list of pre-recorded sounds for every position on the glass. APR is designed to ignore extraneous and ambient sounds, as they do not match a stored sound profile.
Although APR is a new technology, in some ways it is very similar to a widely successful technology that has been shipping for 20 years - Elo's IntelliTouch Surface Wave. Both are acoustic technologies using a pure glass overlay with transducers attached. Whereas IntelliTouch transducers are both generating and receiving signals, in APR the transducers are only listening.
APR combines the ultimate in optical qualities, durability and stability of surface acoustic-wave and infrared technologies with the excellent dragging properties of capacitive-, along with the stylus, glove and fingernail activation and low-cost advantages of resistive-technology.
In addition, APR is resistant to water and other contaminants on the screen; can be scaled from PDA to large displays and provides palm rejection during signature capture.
Tactile Technologies' Mauro Mercuri says his team is very excited about this new technology. "Once again, Elo is proving itself as the leader in this industry in terms of its expertise, knowledge and desire for innovation," Mercuri explains.
"Elo has invented both the 5-Wire resistive and the Surface Wave touch technology. This technology will set our competitors back as APR is not available in component format - hence APR-enabled monitors will only be available through the Elo distribution network."
For more info on acoustic pulse recognition, e-mail Tactile Technologies on info@tactiletech.co.za.
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Tactile Technologies is the sole distributor of Elo TouchSystems touch screen monitors in Southern Africa. For more information, please contact Mauro Mercuri on telephone (021) 551 2992; fax (021) 551 2964; e-mail mauro@tactiletech.co.za.
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