Nowadays, capacitive touch technology has become the main way of human-computer touch interaction, but in some cases, capacitive touch technology will expose some deficiencies. For example, when we usually use mobile phones, if the fingers are wet, or there is water on the screen, then the touch accuracy at this time will be very obviously affected. So is there a technology that can solve such a problem? The answer, of course, is "yes."
Recently, the ultrasonic touch solution released by Xiantong Technology can make up for many shortcomings of capacitive touch technology. So what kind of technology is this ultrasonic touch technology? How is it applied at this stage? What are the prospects for the future?
With these questions in mind, we interviewed Mr. Li Zhengyang, President and CEO of Xiantong Technology, Mr. Remi Lacombe, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Xiantong Technology, and Mr. Yang Xuefei, General Manager of Xiantong Technology China.
The scope of application of ultrasonic touch technology
At present, the ultrasonic touch technology of Xiantong Technology is mainly used in consumer electronic products, from small wearable devices to large screen devices, which can bring a better interactive experience through ultrasonic touch technology.
Whether it is wearable devices, or smart phones and other devices, more and more products nowadays will use curved screens, such as smart watches, smart phones on the edge of the screen, more or less have some bending, these positions have a commonality is not easy to control. In addition, as mentioned at the beginning, smart phones, smart wearables and other devices sometimes encounter the use of water, and when these application scenarios appear, ultrasonic touch technology will have a better control experience than traditional capacitive touch technology.
Nowadays, smart phones have also become mainstream game devices, but the smart phone body space is less, leaving less place for mechanical buttons, so the user's demand for virtual buttons has also come into being, ultrasonic touch technology can simulate physical buttons well, bringing players a better feel.
In addition, large-size screen devices are also the field of ultrasonic touch technology to "show fists", such as 55-inch, 65-inch large-screen devices. Overall, ultrasonic touch is a technology that combines size and size with a high cost performance.
Ultrasonic touch technology has a wide range of applicability
One of the most obvious advantages of ultrasonic touch technology over traditional capacitive touch technology is that it is very applicable. It can be implemented not only on the screen, but also on materials such as metal, wood or plastic. Because the ultrasonic touch technology itself does not rely on the material itself, it is to transmit the ultrasonic signal to the corresponding object, as long as the finger touches its coverage, it can bounce the ultrasonic wave, and after the receiver receives the signal, it can accurately locate the finger position and judge the finger pressure. Therefore, ultrasonic touch technology is actually not limited by materials.
At the same time, compared with the capacitive screen, ultrasonic touch technology will not only feedback position information, but also feedback pressure information, and the threshold for use is greatly reduced.
How is ultrasonic touch technology realized?
In the application and implementation of ultrasonic touch technology, Xiantong Technology is not just a single operation, but a hierarchical implementation. Mainly including:
First, Xiantong Technology has done a very in-depth study on the physical characteristics of ultrasonic technology and has many patents;
Second, by traditionalizing the signal into a dedicated large-scale integrated circuit chip, the signal can be analyzed and judged;
Third, Xiantong Technology also deeply studied how to present ultrasonic sensors through the form of modules, how to integrate these modules into a very small space, how to form an automated assembly of the integration process, and how to reflect the application of ultrasonic waves in software after installation. These different levels of technology are the core technologies of Xiantong Technology.
New module design: SNT520
In the past, most of the sensor production and assembly used FPC flex boards, but Xiantong Technology brought a new PCB hard board module. The advantages are more mature technology, lower cost, and excellent reliability. For the first time, Xiantong Technology has also developed a module assembly technology based on the PCB board, namely SNT520.
The SNT520 can effectively reduce costs, so that the assembly no longer needs to apply glue on the surface of the sensor, but by the adhesive on the back of the PCB to the desired touch interface, so that the overall adhesive area is much larger than the original sensor lamination, thereby improving reliability and better performance.
At the same time, the consumption of excess components can be reduced in this way. In the past, flex board technology required the assembly of the top block to be attached to the back of the flex board, while the PCB hard board technology can remove the top block, which makes the architecture simpler and more convenient to achieve modular design.
Application in actual products
Ultrasonic touch technology does not rely on a particular screen, so it can make the device touch-capable in an invisible place, so that it can be waterproof. And it is not limited by the condition of the surface of the material, whether it is flat or curved, touch support can be realized.
Nowadays, smart watches, smart glasses, Bluetooth headsets and other devices need touch technology support, and The ultrasonic touch solution of Xiantong Technology can be perfectly adapted to these devices. It does not need to consider what material these devices use, whether the surface is regular, whether the application scene cannot be wet, or whether the object space is not large enough.
In addition, VR, AR, and the current hot meta-universe concept, ultrasonic touch technology can also play a role.
New integrated circuit processor: SNT8255
At the same time as launching a new module design, Xiantong Technology also launched a new integrated circuit processor - SNT8255. It is a very compact processor with a size of 2.7×2.7mm, so it can be applied to different types of wearable device products. At the same time, its power consumption is also very small, only 20 microamperes, which is extremely energy-saving.
In addition, the technology of Xiantong Technology can not only provide very good support for small-size applications, but also provide excellent user experience in the large-size product market, such as large POS machines, screens of bank ATMs, and larger smart TVs, smart whiteboards and other terminal devices, which can be applied.
At present, the ultrasonic touch technology provided by Xiantong Technology is mainly for large-size screens of 15 inches and above.
What are the advantages of ultrasonic touch technology compared with capacitive touch?
Traditional capacitive touch requires the use of multiple layers of content to achieve touch capabilities, including a lot of metal wires, sensing conductors and so on. Ultrasonic touch is very simple, only need to fit the ultrasonic sensor to the corresponding object can be achieved, the overall cost is lower, easier to control.
In addition, the main reason why ultrasonic touch technology has better performance is because of back-end processing. Through the ultrasonic identification processing chip, it is possible to achieve very good touch function in a simple structure, and to obtain a simpler and cost-effective touch architecture design with more powerful chip support.
Compared with capacitive touch, the advantages of ultrasonic touch mainly include the following aspects:
First, there is a cost advantage over larger sizes. The cost of the capacitive touch screen increases with the increase in size, that is, it is related to the square of the diagonal length of the display, and the larger the size, the greater the increase in cost. Ultrasonic touch is only to add sensors at the edge of the screen, and in a certain size range, may only need a sensor is enough, so the cost of ultrasonic touch and the size of the screen size is not so strong correlation, the cost advantage is more obvious.
Second, ultrasonic touch has a simpler production structure, structural structure, and can make production more convenient.
Third, ultrasonic touch technology is not only able to accurately locate position information, but also to identify certain pressure information. This pressure information itself provides the ability of capacitive touch does not have, and there have been many 3D touches in the past that have developed in this direction, but its cost is very high, and ultrasonic touch technology does not have such a problem.
Fourth, the anti-noise ability is stronger. There are many metal wires on the bottom of the capacitive touch, and these metal wires are easily affected by electromagnetic fields, resulting in a bad experience. Ultrasonic waves are a kind of mechanical waves, which do not interfere with each other and do not affect each other.
Therefore, ultrasonic touch technology is generally more advantageous than capacitive touch technology.
It is worth mentioning that the ultrasonic touch solution of Xiantong Technology is its unique technology. Mr. Remi Lacombe, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Xiantong Technology, said: "Whether in the field of technology, performance, or price, there is no ultrasonic technology application company in the world that can compete with us, which we are very proud of. ”
In fact, the ultrasonic touch technology of Xiantong Technology has been applied in the product for many years, and more than 2 million mobile phone devices currently use the ultrasonic technology of Xiantong Technology, HTC, Lenovo, Asus and other manufacturers are using the technical solutions provided by Xiantong Technology for a long time and stably, and have received very good market feedback.
What is the application prospect?
Ultrasonic touch solutions are still a relatively new technology, in addition to being used in mobile phones, smart wearable devices, large-screen devices, itself in the medical and other professional fields also have a wide range of applications.
As Xiantong Technology makes ultrasonic touch technology easier to use through the SDK and standardized modules, it will also have new application cases. In metal surfaces, complex IDs, large surfaces or wet touch use cases, the advantages of ultrasonic touch over capacitive touch are obvious, so its application prospects and fields are very broad.
Will ultrasonic touch technology replace capacitive technology?
Ultrasonic touch technology has obvious advantages over capacitive touch technology, does that mean that the latter will be replaced? Mr. Li Zhengyang, President and CEO of Xiantong Technology, said: "It will not be replaced. There is room for every technology. Capacitive touch is suitable for small glass surfaces. The advantages of ultrasonic touch on metal surfaces or on large, curved, wet surfaces are obvious. At the same time, in some cases, capacitive and ultrasonic touch may be used in combination. ”
Conclusion
Device diversification is the background of today's era, and no matter what kind of device, it is very important to provide users with a better experience. Therefore, the various technological innovations derived around these devices are self-evident in the improvement of user experience.
The pioneer in the field of software-defined intelligent surface interaction, Xiantong Technology, has launched an ultrasonic touch solution that can achieve virtual control on large displays and wearable devices, which can be said to bring technology driving force to user experience innovation, and ultrasonic touch technology will also bring more possibilities to users in the future.
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