please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with wikipedia s quality standards . you can help . the discussion page may contain suggestions . may 2009 this article does not cite any sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message cirque corporation industry touchpad touchscreen secure touchscreen genre capacitive touch solutions headquarters salt lake city utah u.s. area served world wide products glidepoint glidetouch glidepath owner alps electric website www.cirque.com cirque corporation is a salt lake city utah based company which developed and commercialized the first successful capacitive touchpad now widely used in notebook computers . cirque develops and sells a variety of touch input products both in oem original equipment manufacturer and end user retail form . cirque was founded in 1991 by george e. gerpheide phd and james l. o callaghan to commercialize the glidepoint technology invented in the 1980s by dr. gerpheide . contents 1 history 2 technology 3 products 4 awards 5 references 6 external links history edit for many years gerpheide and o callaghan traveled in an attempt to convince makers of notebook computer to agree to use glidepoint . dr. gerpheide recalls we would often drive to the comdex trade show in las vegas and stay in a seedy hotel . there wasn t money for a booth at the show so we carried our glidepoint prototypes around the convention center making demonstrations to whoever was willing to watch . the early prototypes had a suitcase full of electronic circuits . i knew they could be shrunk into an integrated circuit but we didn t have money for that either . so we were seeking a large leap of faith for a manufacturer to agree to use the technology . it was even worse because at that time most notebook computers were running dos which did not need a pointing device in april 1994 cirque adapted glidepoint into an integrated circuit and began selling a retail glidepoint touchpad . the first notebook computer containing glidepoint appeared soon thereafter . glidepoint technology was licensed to alps electric corporation ltd and alps launched touchpad products into the market . in 2003 cirque was acquired by alps electric as a wholly owned subsidiary . cirque continues to function as an independent research and technology development facility . technology edit glidepoint glidepoint was the first touchpad technology to be adopted in notebook computers as a system pointing device that is performing the same function as a mouse . before that system pointing was performed mostly using a small trackball embedded in the notebook computer case and other mechanical devices . after glidepoint s commercial introduction in april 1994 its popularity in notebook computers steadily increased and synaptics and logitech also introduced capacitive touchpad technologies . presently in 2009 both synaptics and glidepoint touchpads are used widely with approximately 90 % of notebook computers using touchpads . glidepoint was not the first touch input technology . for example it was pre dated by resistive membrane input pads such as used in the model 3155 keyboard from keytronic inc. transparent resistive membrane technology is used in pdas such as the palm pilot point of sale terminals video poker machines and information kiosks and other touch screens . there are also prior capacitive touch input pads in the patent literature . one the unmouse was invented by james logan and marketed by his company microtouch systems inc. as a retail plug in mouse alternative product in the 1980s but discontinued after a few years . glidepoint technology senses the presence and absolute position of a finger on the pad s surface using capacitive techniques . because of the capacitive technique it does not require electrical contact with the finger nor does it require the finger to exert pressure on the pad . it measures very small capacitance changes due to a finger s proximity among electrodes in a grid buried beneath the insulating surface of the pad . from these measurements it can determine if a finger is touching the pad and if so the finger s absolute position horizontally and vertically on the surface . subtraction of a preceding absolute position from the present absolute position yields the relative motion of the finger during that time . this relative motion is the same as a mouse for controlling position of a computer screen cursor . glidesensor cirque glidesensor solutions are an extension of glidepoint capacitive touch technology . they are configured to allow the rapid design of non conventional touch input products . glidesensor touch arrays may now be designed to take the form of thin films flexible surfaces and irregular shapes . glidesensor s mixed mode asic controller was designed to blend the performance of glidepoint with a low voltage low power eeprom programmable processor . the result is a touch controller capable of being rapidly configured to solve the most unusual input application . key glidesensor technology features at a glance include design sensors in circular linear flexible shapes programmable controller for custom solutions interfaced by spi i2c or ps2 for easy integration to microprocessor and pc based systems efficient low power management can sense through plastic materials of many colors ideal for handheld portable battery operated products products edit a cirque easy cat desktop touchpad compared with a mouse and mousepad . in addition to oem odm solutions cirque designs manufactures and markets its own line of consumer desktop touchpads cirque smart cat pro cirque smart cat and cirque easy cat . in addition there are a some lines of touchpads now discontinued and no longer supported by new drivers although these touchpads have the same specifications as the current range and differ only slightly in shape and size . awards edit best products of 1994 . pc magazine . 10 january 1995 glidepoint touchpad recognized as one of six best products on the cover . the company was twice recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing private company in america the 1997 ranking of the fastest growing private companies in america . inc. magazine v. 15 no. 19 p. 149 . references edit a lay description of glidepoint touchpad technology exists working knowledge touchpad pointing device . scientific american . july 1998 p. 118 . u.s. patent no. 5 305 017 . gerpheide parent application filing 16 august 1989 . external links edit cirque corporation retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cirque corporation & oldid 655046764 categories computer peripheral companieshidden categories wikipedia articles needing 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