Description:Complete Specification:
The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

Field of the invention
[0001] The present disclosure relates to a touch simulation device to test the capacitive touch screens of touch-based systems.

Background of the invention
[0002] Capacitive touch screens function by detecting distorted electric fields caused by touch. The sensors placed on the periphery of the electronic device (smartphone, tablet etc) detect the exact coordinates where the electric field distortion has taken place, the coordinates are sent to the controller which then performs a function based on the command pressed on the touch pad.
[0003] The finger is conductive surface. When it is placed near the electric field formed by the touch screen electronics, the electric field gets distorted and the capacitance on the area where the finger is placed changes. This change in capacitance is detected by the sensors and the coordinates are known.
[0004] For testing of these touch screens systems, automatic stimulation of touchscreens are used which are mostly based on mechanical movement of stimulus “finger” which is brought to the desired coordinates on the touch-screen and moved down to touch the screen. Therefore, the currently available solution is based on Robotic arms and are very expensive. The same are not also suitable for large scale testing.
[0005] The prior art CN202011505319 discloses a touch screen multifunctional test board, which comprises: a substrate used for printing conductive leads; the connecting end that is arranged on the substrate and used for being connected with a touch screen to be tested; the first test area that is arranged on the substrate, is connected with the connecting end and is used for testing the screen display function of the touch screen to be tested; and the second test area that is arranged on the substrate, is connected with the connecting end and is used for testing the touch function of the touch screen to be tested. The touch screen test board can be connected with a touch screen to be tested, different test items of the touch screen are tested by connecting different test modules to the test board, the different test modules do not need to be reconnected when the different items are tested, and the touch screen test board is convenient and fast to use.
Brief description of the accompanying drawings
An embodiment of the invention is described with reference to the following accompanying drawings:
[0006] Figure 1 depicts a touch simulation device for a touch-based system.
[0007] Figure 2 is the cross-sectional view of the conductive touch pads placed on a display surface.

Detailed description of the drawings

[0008] Figure 1 depicts a touch simulation device for a touch-based system. A transparent PCB consisting of transparent touch pads is used in a sub module. This sub-module is placed on the display screen on which touch is to be simulated.
[0009] Based on the size of the screen, there can be more than one sub-module that can be used. On top of the sub-modules will be the main module which acts as a housing assembly and will have connectors to connect to the adapter. The adapter board will de-multiplex the incoming command from the controller and decides which pad to activate and simulate the touch. The controller board receives the command from the test PC and converts it into the adapter board understandable format.
[0010] Referring to Figure 1, the device comprises Touch Pads (1). These conducting touch pads are used for inducing the touch. The size of these conducting touch pads is thoroughly calibrated to properly induce touch and swipe actions on touch screen display.
[0011] The Sub-Module (2) is a flexible PCB which shall contain different touch pads spaced equally and attaches itself to the display surface. The idea of submodule is to keep the complete solution scalable. Based on the display size, the number of sub-modules may vary. The Main-Module (3) contains the sub-module. There is a connection between the main module and the sub-module. The main module also has a connector to which the wiring cables (4) are connected. The wiring cables are used to connect the main module and the adapter board to pass the signal, so that whenever a touch needs to be induced, the signal can be transmitted through wiring cable.
[0012] The adapter (5) is a combination of Demultiplexers, transistors and resistors which constitute the hardware logic to drive the voltage to zero for a specific touch pad where the touch is to be induced. The number of adapter board in a system will vary based on the number of sub-modules to be used according to the display size.
[0013] The controller board (6) is required to get the necessary commands from a computer system via a USB cable (7) (or any other connection channel) and then command the adapter board to induce a voltage drop for a specific touch pad. The number of controller board in a system varies in proportion to the number of adapter boards to be used. The USB cable (7) may be used as a communication medium to pass the commands from the touch PC to the controller board. The user interface (8) can be a computer used to create the automation test case scripts and pass the commands to controller board to induce touch/swipe as necessary.
[0014] The commands to controller board include amongst the others to induce gestures such as zoom in, zoom out, swipe, long touch, pinch. The same can be extended to any other gestures that the users of a touch based device use to navigate through the device. The gap between the touch pads is kept minimum to generate the same. However, the touch pad size and the distance between the touch pads may also vary depending on the specification of the touch screen which is to be tested.
[0015] Referring to figure 2, figure 2 is the cross-sectional view of the conductive touch pads placed on a display surface. The transparent conductive touch pads (10) and the transparent dielectric material (11) between them form a capacitor placed on top of the display surface (12). Principally, electric field of the capacitive touch-screen is disturbed when a finger is introduced inside the capacitor formed by the touch-screen. The finger acts as a long conductor connected to the human body. It therefore “carries away” the charge induced on it by the capacitor and leaves the part of the capacitor without electric field, reducing the overall
capacitance of the capacitor. Similarly in the present disclosure, finger’s touch can be simulated by touching the touch-screen with a long conductor connected to the ground. This is achieved by connecting the conductive touch pads to ground. The conductive touch pads are in wired communication with the adaptor board which constitute the hardware logic to drive the voltage to zero for a specific touch pad where the touch is to be induced.
[0016] Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2, disclosed is a touch simulation device for a touch-based system. The device comprises a main module (3). The main module comprises at least one transparent printed circuit board (PCB) as a sub-module(2); an adaptor(5) in communication with the main module, said adaptor(5) configured to stimulate touch; and a controller(6) in communication with the adapter board to stimulate touch at a specific position, wherein the said controller receives command from a user through an interface(8).
[0017] Said sub-module(2) comprises at least one grid with plurality of conductive touch pads(1) placed on top of a display screen of the touch-based system. Said touch pads are placed on top of the display screen(12) as capacitors with a dielectric material (11)between them. The plurality of conductive touch pads discharge capacitance to induce touch.
[0018] The conducting touch pads and the dielectric material(11) between the conductive touch pads is transparent. The gap between the capacitive touch pads is less than a predefined value to perform at least one command received from said user. The adapter drives the voltage to zero for the respective conductive touch pad where the touch is to be induced.

[0019] The present disclosure advantageously allows for prolonged testing of touch-based systems without human intervention. The same is low cost and highly scalable solution to simulate single touch, multi touch, swipe, pinch to zoom-in/out on touch screen-based systems. Further the transparency of the sub-module allows the user to monitor more efficiently in real time.
, Claims:We Claim
1. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system, the device comprising:
-a main module(3) comprising at least one transparent printed circuit board (PCB) as a sub-module(2);
-an adaptor(5) in communication with the main module(3), said adaptor configured to stimulate touch; and
-a controller(6) in communication with the adapter(5) to stimulate touch at a specific position, wherein the said controller receives command from a user through an interface(8).

2. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sub-module(2) comprises at least one grid with plurality of conductive touch pads(1) placed on top of a display screen of the touch-based system.

3. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said touch pads(10) are placed on top of the display screen(12) as capacitors with a dielectric material(11) between them.

4. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the plurality of conductive touch pads(10) discharge capacitance to induce touch.
5. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conducting touch pads(10) and the dielectric material(11) between the conductive touch pads is transparent.
6. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the gap between the capacitive touch pads(1) is less than a predefined value to perform at least one command received from said user.
7. A touch simulation device for a touch-based system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adapter(5) drives the voltage to zero for the respective conductive touch pad where the touch is to be induced.