Hitachi Creates Projected Capacitive Touchscreen That Supports Fingers, Pens, And Insulating Materials

Hitachi has grown to be one of those companies that's focusing a lot on technology of the future lately, and we don't have a problem with that at all. Especially when they're making movies like Minority Report come to life. This time around, though, they've managed to create the same kind of touch panel that devices like the iPad and iPhone use, but with a bit of a twist.

When it comes to touchscreens, resistive panels let you use pretty much whatever you want, because instead of utilizing the electricity in your skin to make actions happen, it actually uses "pressure." Meaning you've got to put some effort into making a resistive screen do what you want it to do. However, it does mean you get to use stylus devices, or use your fingers tucked away nicely in an insulating material like a glove. Overall, though, capacitive touch panels have become the focus of mainstream consumers, based on their ease of use.

Hitachi must see some market in a capacitive touchscreen that will let you use a stylus, and even your gloved hand, because that's exactly what they've done. The stylus is actually a synthetic-resin pen, but the panel itself will allow owners to use it by a myriad of methods. You can use multi-touch if you want, that syn-resin pen, or even your gloved hand, without ever having to switch devices. The panel is able to fully detect both conductive materials and insulating materials seamlessly, by converting the input information to capacitive. What's better, though, is that a normal controller chip can be used for the whole thing, so more money doesn't have to get utilized for inclusion of special chips.

Hitachi, who loves to show off their future tech, plans on showcasing the display at this year's Createc trade show that takes place in Japan from October 5th to the 9th. As soon as we get to see more of it, you will to, so stay tuned.

[via Tech-On; thanks, Mike!]