Rear Station vertical LCARS displays
Joe Krstulich
The vertical LCARS panels located at the back stations could be turned into touchscreens without the use of an overlay. While admittedly a 30-year-old technology, “game” screens located in the “Communicore” (and ride control panels in the attractions) at EPCOT Center’s opening used a matrix of infrared sensors along the top and left of the bezels. On the bottom and right sides were located infrared LEDs. When a player touched the screen, their finger broke the beams in specific X-Y locations. This result was relayed to the corresponding program and the subsequent button and action were processed.
The system was remarkably reliable but suffered from 4 issues:
- 1. Lighting had to be controlled – stations had to be kept away from windows to prevent natural UV from affecting results. (This should not be an issue in the enclosed space of the Bridge.)
- 2. Players tended to place items on the edges of the stations (such as keys, tickets, cigarette packs, etc.). These would block a portion of the beams and result in incorrect selection. (Again, this would not be an issue on the Bridge since the displays are vertically mounted in the console wall.)
- 3. The displays used were CRTs and occasionally, the curved surface of the glass would reflect other UV sources onto the sensors, resulting in selection failure. (Since we would be using flat screens, this would be unlikely to present a problem.)
- 4. Players would attempt to select multiple points on the screen at the same time. (A solution to this would be simple player training – “one tap at a time, please”.)
Given the current cost of these components, this would be an inexpensive way to turn these stations into full touchscreen panels. The resulting interaction would result in specific X-Y coordinates which could be converted by simple circuitry to single- or double-precision values, supplied to the system and interpreted based on definitions of the buttons (IE: The “Red Alert” button is located between X coordinates 15-40 and Y coordinates 25-32. A break of beams within those coordinates would indicate a “tap” of that button.)
The other advantage to this would be that the displays could be conventional LCD monitors (in a portrait configuration) and the full surface could be controlled – including the buttons, readouts and animations – by the Hydra TCS or the core system. One element that would be required would be a protective surface for the monitors. Since the touchscreen hardware would be located forward, in the bezel, a simple clear plastic or Plexiglass cover would suffice.
