The technology industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by factors such as cost-effectiveness, durability, and compatibility with stylus input, making them a popular choice for industries like healthcare, retail, and industrial automation, and growing importance of technologies such as the resistive layer structure and controllers that facilitate accurate touch detection and responsiveness. In the last three years alone, there have been over 1.5 million patents filed and granted in the technology industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in technology: resistive touch displays. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilizing and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
185+ innovations will shape the technology industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the technology industry using innovation intensity models built on over 1.6 million patents, there are 185+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, non-volatile flash memory, neuromorphic computing, and haptic feedback interfaces are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. RAID transmission error detection, projector-camera system, and optimized vector processing are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are resistive touch displays and digital watermarking, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the technology industry
Resistive touch displays is a key innovation area in technology
Resistive touch displays utilize a pressure-sensitive layer to register touch input. These screens consist of layers separated by insulating dots, and when pressure is applied, the layers make contact, sending a signal to the control board. This technology allows activation using various objects like fingers, pens, or styluses.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 200+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established technology companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of resistive touch displays.
Key players in resistive touch displays – a disruptive innovation in the technology industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to resistive touch displays
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Among the companies innovating in resistive touch displays, Fujifilm is one of the leading patents filers. The company’s patent describes the manufacturing process for a conductive member that involves creating either a conductive layer with metal nanowires or a light-scattering layer with insulating light-scattering fine particles on a substrate in a specific pattern. Then, the other layer, whether it's the conductive layer with metal nanowires or the light-scattering layer with insulating light-scattering fine particles, is formed on a different area of the substrate where the first layer was not applied. Some of the other prominent patent filers in the space include LG and Secom.
In terms of application diversity, DIC leads the pack, while Shenzhen Royole Technologies and Shenzhen O-film Technologies stood in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, TactoTek holds the top position, followed by Henkel and Asahi Kasei.
Resistive touch displays play a crucial role in interactive technology by allowing users to input commands through direct touch. Their versatility in responding to various types of touch input, including fingers, styluses, or gloved hands, makes them essential in a wide range of applications from consumer electronics to industrial control systems.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the technology industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Technology.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
