For the first issue of 2010, we thought we’d look back on Stantum’s major news events of 2009 that we recapped in Touch Point during the year:

 

DECEMBER 2009

 

Stantum and Gunze USA Announce Partnership to Develop Multi-Touch Solutions for the North American Professional Market

 

Stantum and Gunze USA, a world leader in resistive touch-panel manufacturing, today announced a partnership to co-design and deliver multi-touch solutions to the North American professional market.  The joint commitment will allow Gunze USA’s clients to benefit from Stantum’s multi-touch technology, with advantages such as:

• 10+ touches;
• fingers and stylus input;
• finger-pressure detection;
• low power consumption; and
• native Windows 7 support, with no driver required.

 

The two companies will co-design multi-touch modules based on the joint expertise of Stantum’s seven years of pioneering, proven multi-touch experience and Gunze USA’s leading manufacturing of touch-panels solutions, its workforce and its know-how.  Gunze USA will provide these custom multi-touch modules to the North American market for use in industrial, automotive, defense, aerospace, medical, kiosk/point-of-sales, and other professional applications.

 

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NOVEMBER 2009

 

Microsoft Grants Windows 7 Logo Certification to Stantum's Multi-Touch Technology

 

Stantum’s Slate PC demonstration platform has been certified “Compatible with Windows 7.”  The certification was achieved for up to 10 simultaneous touch points, enabling users and developers to benefit from Stantum’s best-in-class multi-touch technology.  Having the official logo paves the way for OEMs to consider Stantum’s unique multi-touch technology for their future Windows 7-compliant products.

 

The Slate PC demonstration platform features a 10.1-inch touch screen and exemplifies the major benefits of Stantum’s multi-touch technology:

• 10 or more simultaneous cursor points;
• finger and stylus input;
• finger-pressure detection;
• low power consumption; and
• native Windows 7 support, with no driver required.

 

Based on the Dell Inspiron Mini netbook platform, the demo is a slate PC with the multi-touch display screen replacing the keyboard. All operations – typing, handwriting, gestures, and classic cursor control – are input via the multi-touch screen, enabling an unprecedented user experience.

 

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OCTOBER 2009

 

Stantum Opens Office in Japan

Stantum has officially opened a liaison office in Japan.  The new office in Tokyo will allow building new partnerships with Japanese OEMs and touch panel/display/silicon vendors, as well as offering greater commercial and technical support from local professionals to their increasing demand for Stantum’s multi-touch technology.

 

 

 

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SEPTEMBER 2009

 

Stantum Opens U.S. Office

Stantum announced it has opened its first office in North America.  Located in Berkeley, Calif., Stantum’s U.S. office will enable the company to build new partnerships with North American OEMs and touch-panel, display and silicon vendors, as well as offer greater commercial and technical support.

Heading Stantum’s new U.S. office is François Jeanneau, director of sales & business development, North America.  With more than 15 years of technology and international experience, Jeanneau brings a variety of sales, marketing and business development skills to Stantum.  Most recently, he was director of sales for the Americas at UPEK, Inc., where he helped establish the company’s leadership position in the PC market for trusted fingerprint biometric solutions.  He has also held key marketing and management positions at such companies as STMicroelectronics and PeopleSoft.  Jeanneau holds an engineering degree from ICAM France and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.  He can be contacted via email at f.jeanneau@stantum.com.

 

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JUNE 2009

 

Stantum and Sitronix Team to Meet Demand for Cost-Effective, High-Performance Multi-Touch in Consumer and Mobile Applications

Stantum and Sitronix, a global leader of LCD driver and SoC IC design, announced a partnership to provide voltage matrix multi-touch single-chip solutions.  Under a licensing agreement, Sitronix will integrate Stantum’s patented multi-touch screen technology into its own products and supply high-performance multi-touch controllers for consumer electronics and mobile applications.

The first Sitronix product based on Stantum technology will be able to drive small to medium touch panels – up to 10.1 inches, depending on the touch panel specifications. Two or more chips can be cascaded in order to control larger touch panels.  The product will benefit from the latest capabilities of Stantum’s multi-touch technology and Sitronix’s IC design integration, including an unlimited number of touches, finger and stylus input (a must-have for handwriting recognition), finger pressure detection, and unmatched performance in terms of scanning rate and power consumption.

 

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MAY 2009

 

Stantum Granted Key Patents on Its Multi-Touch Technology

Stantum has announced that both the European Patent Office and the China Patent & Trademark Office have granted the company patents (EP1719047 and CN100447723C) on its multi-touch technology.  In 2004, under its former name, JazzMutant, Stantum became the first company ever to develop and bring to market a multi-touch electronic device – the award-winning Lemur remote controller for creative professionals. The recently granted European and Chinese patents extend the original patent filed in France in February 2004.

The patents describe a method and a system for controlling electronic devices by manipulating graphic objects on a transparent multi-contact touch panel.  Beyond the process enabling the detection and tracking of an unlimited number of simultaneous contact points on a touch screen, the patents disclose various multi-touch interaction techniques, such as applying specific behavior to graphic objects according to finger gestures.

 

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MARCH 2009

 

Stantum Secures $13 Million in Series B Funding Round Co-Led by CDC Innovation and Auriga

Stantum has secured $13 million in Series B funding.  CDC Innovation and Auriga Partners co-led the round with XAnge Private Equity as historical investor (2007).  Valery Huot, managing partner of CDC Innovation, and Philippe Granger, partner at Auriga Partners, have joined Stantum’s board of directors, alongside Nicolas Rose, partner at XAnge Private Equity.

According to Stantum CEO Etienne Paillard, the new funding will be used to develop a worldwide sales and marketing organization in the U.S., Europe and Asia; increase R&D capacity for next-generation sensing technologies and new products; and establish and increase mass manufacturing capabilities through partners.

 

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FEBUARY 2009

 

Stantum Adds Finger-Pressure Detection to Its Patented PMatrix Multi-Touch IP Core and Firmware

Stantum is demonstrating at the Mobile World Congress a unique new finger-pressure detection capability for its patented PMatrix™, a resistive multi-touch IP Core and Firmware that lets users simultaneously move an unlimited number of fingers, fingernails or utensils (such as styli) on a screen.

The new feature can differentiate three distinct levels of pressure: soft, medium and hard.  Depending on how strong the user touches the screen, the device is able to react differently.  This allows implementation of safer and more sophisticated interactions with devices such as mobile phones, gaming consoles, digital cameras, computers, PDAs and PNDs.  Sample applications include:

• a camera shutter: half pressure to engage autofocus, full pressure to take the picture;
• the trigger button of a game console’s joypad: half pressure to aim, full pressure to shoot; and
• drag and drop: soft touch to select an item, medium touch to move it.

In addition, the finger-pressure detection feature significantly improves the comfort and reliability of typing on a touch screen by allowing the device to visualize which key the user is about to press before it is actually pressed.