Application of Single, Dual and Multi-Touch User Interfaces on

Projected Capacitive Touch Screens

By Dr. Farouk Zabel, Principal Touch Panel Technologist and Vice President of Strategic Business
Development for Europe at New Vision Display

One of the biggest advantages projected capacitive touchscreen technology has over
other touch technologies (especially resistive touch) is the capability to support the
recognition of two or more distinct touches. This is why many OEMs who design
capacitive touch sensors into their products, want to have this magical feature called
multi-touch.
However, very few applications actually require a user interface that supports true
multi-touch. For example, I have been using a smart phone for years and I cant
remember a single instance when I needed more than two fingers to operate any
feature or game on that phone. Even the two-finger operation is limited to the zoom
function. Therefore, its important to consider the scope of the products UI when
designing a projected capacitive touch sensor and defining its specification. This way,
OEMs can avoid designing-in an expensive touch panel, when one at a lower cost would
be fully sufficient.
Here is an overview of the capacitive touch panel designs used in various user
interfaces, and their performance related to the number of touches and supported
gestures. The designs are listed according to their cost starting from lowest to highest.
1. Icon-Based User Interface:
This type of UI utilizes predefined touch areas distributed over the screen. Within
these touch areas are icons that display on the screen, often in varying menu
screens. Gestures such as swiping or scrolling are not supported. The corresponding
sensors only require a single layer of ITO with a predefined button layout and a
simple button-type controller with limited input pins depending on the number of
buttons.
2. Low-Resolution, Single-Touch, Gestures in One Direction Only:
With this type of UI, single touches can be sensed anywhere on the screen, not just
on predefined areas. Its suitable for devices which typically dont display pictures
that require a zoom feature, but still need single touch gesture support for scrolling
or swiping. This type of interface is commonly found in industrial and household

applications, remote controls, and consumer medical devices. Here, the sensor can
also be realized by a single layer of ITO, typically employing a triangle or
backgammon pattern. Reliable gesture recognition is supported by this pattern only
in one direction, i.e. either vertically or horizontally. It requires a simple capacitive
touch controller with the number of inputs depending on the screen size. Typically,
these types of sensors are limited to approximately 4 diagonal.
3. Medium-Resolution with Single Touch and Single- and Dual-Touch Gestures:
This is a common user interface found on devices designed for very specific
purposes, such as navigation devices, industrial, and professional medical devices.
These typically feature pictures or maps that need to be zoomed but are not used for
fancy games and applications. The sensor that supports such a UI typically exhibits a
pattern of conductive rows and columns perpendicular to each other that are
applied on a single substrate often referred to as a caterpillar pattern. This
requires an elaborate layout where the rows and columns do not intersect on the
visible part of the screen. The disadvantage of this pattern is the relatively low
resolution it provides. It can be applied on sensors up to 5 diagonal.
4. High-Resolution with Multi-Touch:
This is the most common user interface found on consumer devices such as mobile
phones, tablets, laptops and automotive applications. As mentioned above, the
feature of multi-touch is not indispensable for everyday use, but sensors designed
for higher resolution and larger screens practically provide this feature for free. Both
high resolution and large size sensors require an ITO pattern on two different layers
separated by a dielectric. This could be realized by laminating two substrates
together (GG or FF), having the layers on opposite sides of the same substrate (DITO)
or on the same side of a single substrate (SITO) where only the crossovers of the
rows and columns of the sensing pattern are separated by an insulation layer. This 2layer technology is the biggest cost factor that makes this sensor more expensive
than the others. The only component specific to multi-touch is a controller that
supports mutual capacitive sensing technology whereas a self-capacitive sensing
touch controller would be sufficient for all the previously mentioned designs.
However, such a controller does not contribute significantly to cost.

New Vision Display is a custom LCD, OLED display and capacitive touch screen
manufacturer based out of Roseville, CA. For more information, please visit
www.newvisiondisplay.com.