Visualplanet Ltd specialises in the manufacture and global distribution of projected capacitance interactive

touch screen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

foils, which are designed to be used in a wide variety of Touch Screen applications from through-window touch to direct integration into

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

Screens. From its headquarters in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

, the company distributes high quality products to an international network of partners.

History

In 2001, the company was founded after noticing the potential to allow customer access to information after

high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

closing hours. Main activities included sourcing and developing

components Circuit Component may refer to: •Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit. In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems * System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assem ...

and technologies for through window interactive solutions. Dominant activities presently include the manufacture of projected capacitance touchfoils and distribution to an established group of global

reseller A reseller is a company or individual (merchant) that purchases goods or services with the intention of selling them rather than consuming or using them. This is usually done for profit (but can be done at a loss). One example can be found in the ...

s, integrators, and distributors. In 2006 the company moved

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

to Cambridge, UK. Between 2006 and 2007 visualplanet's turnover had doubled and the company currently has over 100 partners in major markets around the world who are prominent in the

Digital Signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in public ...

, Audio Visual, and Touch Screen markets. The company's main focus has progressed from a service-oriented company to that of a touch screen technology manufacturer and global distributor. In 2011 visualplanet rebranded their marketing communications and introduced a new identity within the corporate logos and website. Visualplanet went into voluntary liquidation in December 2018.

Products

Visualplanet touchfoil

Visualplanet's Projected Capacitance Interactive Touch Screen Foil known globally as the “touchfoil” can be applied to and work through any non-

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

lic surface and create a fully functional touch screen. The touchfoils can be built into glass partitions, doors, furniture, external windows, and street signage. Since 2002 visualplanet have been committed to developing and improving the touchfoil. Producing the world's first 150" film based projective capacitive touch sensor; visualplanet invented the touchfoil permanent and reusable mounting methods to enable long and short-term installations; pioneered the integration of UV blocking, rear-projection and scratch resistant films into the product. Previous to the rebrand in 2011 the product was known as the ViP Interactive Foil.

Projected capacitance

Projected capacitance is used to allow interactivity through any non-metallic surface and involves the relationship between a

conductive In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is an object or type of material that allows the flow of charge (electric current) in one or more directions. Materials made of metal are common electrical conductors. Electric current is gener ...

pad and a third object. In touch screen applications, the third object can be a

human finger A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers ( Pentadactyly). Chambers ...

. Capacitance forms between the user's fingers and the wires in the conductive pad. The visualplanet touchfoil is made up of a clear laminated plastic foil with an XY array of sensing wires. These

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

s are connected to a

controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

. Once a

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

is made, the change in capacitance is detected and the X and Y

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

are calculated. Sizes of the touchfoil vary from , maximum sizing dependent on 4:3, 16:9 or 21:9 display formats. The company's customers can choose the position of the

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

components. When applied to

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

, the touchfoil can be programmed for different thickness of glass and even be used with

glove A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves usually have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb. If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless glov ...

d hands.

Touch functions and gestures

Visualplanet's MA9 software provides mouse pointer options for use with the visualplanet touchfoil which is suitable for standard mouse emulation within

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

, MacOS and Linux Operating Systems. Pinch and zoom operates when the user touches the interactive screen with two fingers thus utilizing the function of the centre mouse roller for Windows XP, Vista and 7. In September 2011 visualplanet's

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...

function was launched offering Windows 7 gesture support and a software development kit.

Electronic Control Boards

From 2009 onwards the visualplanet touchfoil has been made available with a choice of two electronic control boards. These are Serial and

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

. Both controller board versions can be removed from the touchfoil's touch area and secured into position once the touch screen is fully installed.

Thru-Window Touch

The visualplanet touchfoil can be applied directly to a window or a glass sheet. A rear projection screen or LCD can then be mounted behind the touchfoil to create a through-window/glass touch experience. The touchfoil can be permanently mounted or mounted with the intention of later removal. With the touchfoil being applied one side of the glass, and the user being the other side, the controller and electronics are completely safe from

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...

and

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

conditions. The electronics can be programmed for different thicknesses of glass up to 25mm thick.

Interactive Projection and LCD Screens

The visualplanet touchfoil can be applied to

holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

and high contrast

diffusion Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...

screens to provide large dynamic information displays. To turn any standard LCD from a passive display into an interactive touch screen simply apply the touchfoil on to a glass or acrylic sheet, it can then be used as a Touch screen overlay or integrated directly into a LCD.

The Gadget Show

Future Technology

On 17 December 2007, the visualplanet touchfoil appeared on

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

via 5's,

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geor ...

. The show's presenter, Jon Bentley visited Visualplanet and with his

crew A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involve ...

, filmed numerous stages of the

production process Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical, physical, electrical or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacturing of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy ind ...

. During the eighth and final

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning t ...

of series 7, the visualplanet touchfoil featured alongside companies such as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

and BT in the "Future Tech" section showing how R&D departments are contributing to the future technology of gadgets. This particular Winter Special episode also reviewed products such as watches, personal

media players A media player could refer to: *Digital media player, home appliances that play digital media *Media player software, software that plays digital media *Portable media player, portable hardware that plays digital media *Windows Media Player Wi ...

, and

batteries Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

. This was Visualplanet's first appearance on television.

Lord Mandelson

Advanced Manufacturing

Lord Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

visited visualplanet's Cambridge base on 25 July 2009 launching the advanced manufacturing scheme aimed to offer support to firms trying to make new strides in design, aerospace, electronics and other emerging fields. The launch was mainly aimed at a £150 million nationwide package of measures aimed at helping businesses develop manufacturing

skill A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...

Awards

The company has won a variety of awards including the

British Computer Society Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957 BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, known as the British Computer Society until 2009, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in infor ...

(BCS), award for its

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

technology. When received in 2006, Visualplanet's ViP Interactive Foil had been sold through a network of 60 added value resellers across the world. In 2003 Visualplanet won awards at the Nabarro Nathanson Technology Industry Awards in two of the eight categories. These were "Most Innovative Project", and "Most Innovative use of Technology in a Project". Further to this, 2003 saw visualplanet claim the "Personalised Information Product Award" at the Information Management Awards for the most exciting and innovative new product that enables the delivery or personalised information in a business or home environment.

"Because it's a Visual World"

"Because it's a Visual World" was the slogan for visualplanet prior to the rebrand in 2011 with reference to the visual solutions that the company and the touchfoils offer, on a global scale. The

phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

featured on the company

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

, other literature such as letterheads, brochure inserts, and on the company website. There was also reference to visualplanet's connection with partners both on a worldwide basis, and those who address the retail, corporate, entertainment, education, and local authority industries. The technology provides solutions already widely used in shops, offices, libraries, and public spaces worldwide.Workplace Revolution
''Intranet Broadcasting'' - businessweekly.co.uk

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Cambridge Companies established in 2001 Liquid crystal displays