Rapt Touch Sensing System

Touch sensing, particularly with multi-touch capability, is ideal for software-driven devices. Touch may also be used in combination with physical controls for applications related to gaming, audio and video manipulation, remote A/V control, industrial processing, medical devices (the controls can be sterilized without damage), amongst others.

Much work has been done to minimize the number of parts required and the power consumed by the touch sensing system. The result is a design which lends itself to use on battery-powered mobile devices.

For example, a music player can use the Rapt touch sensing method to give the operator responsive artist, album and song selection and playback control with minimal drain on the battery. Multi-touch capability means that many on-screen sliders (perhaps the bands of a graphic equaliser) may be adjusted at the same time.

An educational whiteboard can benefit from added touch sensitivity, particularly if this includes the ability to detect a stylus. Diagrams and text drawn by an instructor can be captured in real time and made available within the classroom and to students elsewhere. The data can also be stored for later recall.

The Rapt touch sensing system resolves the position of a whiteboard stylus with high precision even over a large area. Again, more than one touch or stylus can be used at one time, and the cost is lower than that of competing systems.

Touch control is well known in public kiosks for train and tram ticketing. The touch detection method used is predominantly 'resistive' which requires layers of electrically conductive material to be placed over the display area in such a way that they touch each other only when the user presses on part of the display area. The conductive layers reduce the clarity and brightness of the display image and can be permanently damaged by a sharp object, such as a pen. Also, resistive sensing cannot provide full multi-touch capability.

The Rapt touch sensing system costs a comparable amount to a resistive overlay but does not affect the image quality, is very robust and adds multi-touch sensing.