A Revolution in Touch Dave Gillespie R&D Fellow Synaptics, Inc

A Revolution in Touch

Dave GillespieR&D FellowSynaptics, Inc.

2© 2004 Synaptics Confidential

Synaptics and touch sensing

• Synaptics, Inc was founded in 1986 by Carver Mead and Federico Faggin

• www.synaptics.com

• Original mission: Find commercial applications for neural networks embedded in analog VLSI chips

• I came to Synaptics from Carver’s lab at Caltech in 1991

• The analog NN market never materialized, but two side projects at Synaptics took on a life of their own:

• One was Carver’s imaging chips, which spun off to Foveon

• The other was capacitive touch sensors

• Synaptics’ bread and butter today is capacitive input devices such as TouchPads for laptops and, now, MP3 players, etc.

• What is it about touch sensors that is so compelling?

• What led to their success? Where do we go from here?


Interacting through touch

• Machines of all kinds have always been controlled by an operator’s touch

• Through buttons, switches, knobs, dials, levers, handles

Largest machinesEarliest machines and tools

Humblest machines


Simple control paradigms work well for simple machines

First electronic digital computerENIAC, 1946

Telephone switchboard

Example: Plugging and unplugging

… but they are stretched as machines grow in complexity

… and can be stretched too far


Touch control is a kind of communication

• The more a machine is able to do, the richer must be the “language” we use to tell it what to do

• A control must be expressive enough to fit the “language” it communicates

• “Plugged / unplugged” is a language of just two words – great for a table lamp, but a clumsy way to express a computer program

“Which connection?”Barely manageable

“On or off?”A perfect match

“What computation?”Overwhelming!


As machines have grown more capable, their input devices have grown more expressive

• This evolution has been especially easy to see in computers• Computers have grown in complexity by leaps and bounds

during our lifetime

• Instead of controlling a computer, we converse with it• Today’s input devices must be able to express a rich

conversational language of actions and information

Direct connection

Arrow keys

MouseHandwriting


The Synaptics TouchPad

• We developed the TouchPad to meet a simple need• Portable computers needed a flat alternative to the mouse• Federico Faggin was on the BOD of Logitech, who supplied trackballs to the first generation of laptops

• But we have found that the greater expressiveness of the TouchPad takes it a step beyond the mouse• Handwriting entry is one example• Signature capture – pen TouchPad• Synaptics’ Virtual Scrolling feature

presaged mouse scrolling wheels

• Research continues in these areas

• But the real excitement and opportunityfor touch input devices lies beyondconventional personal computers


Remember this ad campaign?

• Applied Materials, “Information for Everyone”

• The message: Computers today are all around us, underlying the function of even the most commonplace objects


A revolution with big ramifications for touch input!

• As objects become computers, the character of our interaction with them changes fundamentally

• These devices are no longer simple tools we turn on and off

• They become intelligent partners in a conversation with us


Intelligent devices

• Devices that once were very simple …

… now have microprocessors and a rich user interaction


Intelligent devices and touch

• One thing these devices all have in common with their forebears:

• Each one is still operated by a person’s touch

• But the kind of touch control is far richer than before• From a ten-position phone dial to a fold-out full text keyboard• From “play” and “rewind” buttons to a nuanced scroll wheel• From “toast it now” to a detailed electronic control panel!• From a passive object to an active participant in a child’s play


For many intelligent devices today, buttons are becoming as “quaint” as the ENIAC’s plug board

• Fitting a 50+ key text keyboard onto a phone is a nifty feat of design, but there must be a better way!

• It is hard to navigate among thousands of MP3 tracks using just a few buttons

• With its handful of microswitches, Furby couldn’t tell whether it was being hugged, petted, drop kicked, or tickled


A new generation of touch sensors

• New touch sensors provide the expressiveness thatmodern intelligent devices require

• Capacitive touch sensors are a good example

• Such as Synaptics’ TouchPad™, ScrollStrip™, ScrollDisc™

• These sensors detect touch by measuring how the finger affects the electric field around it

• This is the electrical phenomenon of “capacitance”

Columns

Rows


Capacitive touch sensors are superbly expressive

• They sense close proximity as well as direct touch

• They can locate the finger to within 1/1000 of an inch

• They can sense smooth motion and gestures

• They can find the finger’s absolute location on the sensor

• They can measure the area of contact and finger pressure

• They can detect multi-finger touch

HELLO

Data Expression


Capacitive touch sensors are suited to many diverse applications

• They are inexpensive and completely solid-state

• They can be made in a variety of forms: Flexible, big, small, very thin, transparent, under thick plastic (or fur?)


A revolution in touch

• At Synaptics, we have found that the capacitive technology we developed for the laptop TouchPad is perfect for countless other applications

• Today: MP3 players, phones, PDAs

• In the future: Appliances? Toys? Cars? Light switches? Remote controls?

• As the devices all around us become intelligent devices, revolutionary touch sensing technologies will be there to meet their needs for a rich human interface

Documents

A Revolution in Touch Dave Gillespie R&D Fellow Synaptics, Inc