Touchscreens: Elo TouchSystems Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) Overview

Elo's Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) touchscreens use a completely new and unique way of sensing touches on a display. Consisting only of a glass overlay mounted in front of the display, together with a small electronic controller board, Elo's APR technology provides a new set of benefits that have only been partially achieved before by other touch technologies.

APR combines the ultimate in optical qualities, durability, and stability of surface wave (SAW) and infrared technologies, with the excellent dragging properties of capacitive, along with stylus, glove and fingernail activation, and low cost advantages of resistive technology. In addition, it is resistant to water and other contaminants on the screen, can be scaled from PDA to 42-inch displays, and provides palm rejection during signature capture.

As with many of the best inventions in history, APR works in a simple and elegant way—by recognizing the sound created when the glass is touched at a given position.