Touchless interface enhances hygiene levels for multi-user screens
Adding gesture sensing capability enables hygienic, touchless operation for screens, without requiring a new or additional sensor element, electrodes or other hardware, says TouchNetix.
Its Touchless User Interface technology is integrated with touch, force, proximity and hover sensing and haptics control in its aXiom touchscreen chip.
The aXiom touchscreen chips can now detect air gestures to allow for hygienic, touchless operation of multi-user devices such as kiosks, elevators and ticket sales machines as well as medical equipment, and in vehicles.
The integrated aXiom chips operate via a standard touch sensing element with up to 112 sensor channels in displays with a standard or arbitrary aspect ratio.
The aXiom IC can be operated from more than 60mm above the touch surface. It enables air dwell, air tap, air swipe and air spin gesture recognition, replacing button presses, scrolling through a series of screens, and actuating graduated controls such as a virtual rotary knob. This Touchless User Interface technology is supported by gesture recognition software running in the host system’s controller or processor.
The range of air gestures can be configured and extended by system designers using a TouchNetix development tool. Normal touchscreen operation is implemented seamlessly alongside the new touchless controls.
The aXiom chip implements gesture sensing using a touchscreen’s normal touch sensor element instead of requiring additional electrodes, board-level components, sensors or other hardware, as alternative options do, says TouchNetix. This makes it quick and easy for touchscreen manufacturers to design, test and qualify a new touchscreen product with touchless interface capability – with a lower component count and lower system cost than any competing solution, claims TouchNetix.
Chris Ard, managing director of TouchNetix, believes the introduction is timely: ‘There is very strong market interest for touchless controls now the world has been made hyper-aware of disease transmission via hand contact since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now touchscreen manufacturers have an easier and more integrated way to implement gesture control and eliminate the need for users to touch the surface of the screen,” he said.
