Jason Williamson and Audrey Li-Brouwer
Altia and Altera

Traditionally, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for home appliances have been composed of devices like buttons, knobs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs). Today home appliances and consumer devices are transforming due to the reduced cost of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). LCDs with highly interactive graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are now being deployed as a cost-effective replacement for the traditional "mechanical" HMIs currently found on most home appliances.

This article explores the technologies that are necessary to deliver graphical touch interactivity in home appliances, as well as an innovative total solution architecture for delivering low-cost, high-performance HMIs on virtually any home appliance or consumer device.