Patent Application
20080231604
Touch screens generally refer to display overlays which have the ability to display and receive information on the same screen. The effect of such overlays allows a display to be used as an input device, removing the keyboard and/or the mouse as the primary input device for interacting with the display's content. Such displays can be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks.
Touch screens generally use two types of touch sensing, including 1) resistive sensing and 2) capacitive sensing. Each type has advantages over the other type. For example, the screen clarity of the resistive sensing type may be less than that of the capacitive sensing type, but may be less expensive.
Touch screens are commonly found in retail stores, where they may be used by the customer to enter their signature or personal identification number (PIN) to make a purchase. In this case, the customer will often use a stylus to enter the signature. The touch screen prompts the customer for their signature to be “written” in a specific area, the signature area, of the touch screen demarcated by a graphical box. Every signature entered into the touch screen contributes to wear from rubbing of the stylus tip. A reasonably busy store will have many signature entries, and the rubbing affects of the stylus quickly begin to destroy the signature area of the touch screen where the signature is entered.
In addition to signature entry, a customer may be prompted by the touch screen to enter a PIN, a telephone number, and yes/no answers to a series of purchasing questions. Like the signature, a stylus may be used for the entry of this information. The user's finger tip is also commonly used. In either case, wear on the touch screen becomes noticeable at the fixed locations where the virtual keypad buttons are displayed on the touch screen.
Worn down touch screens contribute to performance degradation. The damaged touch screen has a scratched appearance and, more significantly, a deteriorated responsiveness to input, leading to user frustration. To make matters worse, the deteriorated responsiveness means that the user must press harder on the touch screen, which further accelerates the damage.
The conventional touch screen's signature area and virtual keypad are displayed at a fixed screen location. Thus, all the wear and damage to the touch screen is concentrated at these specific locations, while other areas of the touch screen may be pristine with no damage. Despite the undamaged areas, the touch screen's useful lifespan is determined only by its most damaged areas.
Capacitive sensing touch screens tend to be more durable than their resistive sensing cousins. But even the most durable touch screens eventually succumb to the wear and tear of normal use.
Example embodiments relate to methods for extending the life of touch screens. More particularly, example embodiments relate to a method of extending the life of touch screens by varying the position of touch screen elements so that normal wear and tear is not isolated to one or a few locations of the touch screen.
In an embodiment, a signature area and virtual keypad, among other display elements, are displayed in more than one location on a touch screen display. As a result, wear and tear may be strategically distributed evenly across the touch screen, instead of isolated to fixed locations, thus increasing the touch screen's useful lifetime. Display degradation is detected in a novel embodiment from physical parameters that are conventionally used for the touch screen's touch sensitivity. By detecting the display degradation according to display location, display elements can be strategically located to enhance the life of the touch screen.
The above and other features and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes of objects and regions may be exaggerated for clarity.
Continuing with
Meanwhile, an unused portion 40 of the touch screen display 10 does not experience wear and tear caused by a user input. Because the life of the touch screen display 10 is determined by the most damaged location, no benefit exists for having undamaged screen portions.
In this embodiment, a touch screen display device 100 (see
In a simple calculation, one can see how the touch screen display 10 may have its life doubled by incorporating the embodiment of
The embodiment of
In another embodiment, the blank portion 50 of
The embodiments described above may be implemented by simply modifying a graphical user interface (GUI) for the touch screen display device 100. The modification may include a software or firmware modification, leaving the remaining touch screen display device 100 physically unchanged. The need to only modify the GUI is advantageous because this type of modification may be readily implemented to the very large number of conventional touch screen displays that are already in use without a large device overhaul or outright replacement.
Another advantage of the fact that only the GUI need be modified is that operational details of the touch screen display 10 may be easily and readily changed. For example, the details of how the elements 25 are relocated can be customized to reflect administrator needs, the administrator being the one that operates the touch screen display device 100. Examples of these details are explained below.
To administer the novel embodiments, the GUT logic 110 is configured to receive display instructions from control logic 120. Control logic 120 includes a location logic module 130 and a time logic module 140. Control logic 120 is configured to receive usage data, which is described below.
Although shown as separate blocks, the GUI logic 110 and the control logic 120 may be a single entity. In other words, the control logic 120 may merely be an inherent part of the GUI logic 110. This being the case, the control logic 120 and the GUI logic 110 may collectively be referred to as the GUI, which is a familiar term to one skilled in the art. In
In addition, the components shown in
The GUI logic 110 instructs the touch screen display 10 about display details, such as where elements 25 are to be displayed, and for how long they are to be displayed at a particular location. In turn, the GUI logic instructions may be responsive to the control logic 120.
The control logic 120 may process the usage data that it receives. For example, usage data may include the number of times each location of the touch screen display 10 has been used for a signature input. Usage data may also include physical parameters of the touch screen display 10. Because some physical parameters of the touch screen display 10 change with usage, by normal wear and tear, their change will reflect the touch screen display's usage. More will be said about this later.
The location logic module 130 may include display information, such as the number and location of various positions that can be displayed, the size of the elements 25, and a memory of displayed locations for the elements 25.
The time logic module 140 may include display information regarding time, such as the duration that each element 25 is displayed at a particular location.
Equipped with the location logic module 130 and the time logic module 140, the control logic 120 is enabled to process the usage data to determine the frequency of user input for each display location, the duration that each input and output element is displayed at a particular location, the physical wear and tear experienced by the touch screen display 10, and so on. The GUI logic 110 can then incorporate this information to optimize the touch screen display 10 so that all portions of the display are evenly used, or most effectively used to evenly distribute normal wear and tear throughout the touch screen display 10. The GUI logic 110 may do this by following a set of rules that can intelligently direct the touch screen display device 100 to move the elements 25 at certain times or after a certain number of inputs are performed, for example. This set of rules may be embodied in an endless number of ways, some of which are explained below.
In an embodiment, the display locations of the elements 25 may be based on a clock or calendar. For example, an input element 30 may be displayed at a first location for 4 hours, and then relocated to a second location for 6 hours.
As a side note, the 6 hour duration versus the 4 hour duration in this example may reflect the fact that the first location is worn down more than the second location. Thus, a display practice such as this tends to even out the wear and tear for the entire touch screen display 10.
In another embodiment, the display positions of the elements 25 may be based on a usage number or a frequency of usage for respective locations of the touch screen display 10. For example, if a first location has been used 100 times while a second location has been used 50 times, the input element 30 can be displayed at the second location twice as often as the first location until the usage between the two locations becomes equal.
In another embodiment, the display locations of the elements 25 may be based on a parameter that is chosen by the administrator. For example, an input element 30 may be displayed at a first location for one day, and then displayed at a second location the next day, and so on. The administrator may have a specific reason for his choice, such as for accommodating touch screen advertisements 60 that may change size from one day to the next.
In yet another embodiment, the display locations of the elements 25 may be based on the user choosing a location by touching that location. The user may choose the location because he finds it most convenient, or he wishes to “customize” the touch screen display 10. Though this embodiment may not be optimal for uniformly applying wear and tear to the entire screen, it is an improvement over the conventional art for at least the reason that more than one location of the though screen display 10 is utilized.
In still another embodiment, the display positions of the elements 25 may be based on actual wear and tear of the touch screen display 10. This is possible because the usage data includes a feedback 150 from the touch screen display 10, as shown in
Continuing with the last-described embodiment, the GUI logic 110 may optimally determine where to display the input element 30 on the touch screen display screen 10. The GUI logic 110 may have the entire screen mapped with respect to levels of wear. The GUI logic 110 may then display input element 30 at the location of least wear.
The number of times considered to be too many may also be determined by utilizing the usage data that includes the touch screen display parameters such as the resistivity and capacitance, as described above.
If the number of display times at the location n is not too many, then the display location variable n is incremented in step S450 so that a subsequent user input will be at another location.
If the number of display times at the location is too many, then the administrator is notified, as in step S430. Here, a notification may simply include a recording of this event into a memory for future analysis.
Next, in this embodiment, the display location n, which has been used too many times, is removed as an option for all subsequent uses, in step S440.
As described in the embodiments above, relocating display elements to various locations of a touch screen display may greatly prolong the life of the touch screen display. The foregoing is illustrative of some embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although a few exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. Therefore, it is to be understood that the foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications to the disclosed embodiments, as well as other embodiments, are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
