Patent reveals system allowing touchscreens to self-clean fingerprint smudges and more

Sure, General Motors (GM) might be an old-school automobile and truck manufacturer, but as such, it also has its finger on the pulse of today’s technologies. And GM has received a patent for a new invention that not only will be useful to drivers but will also improve the experience of using a smartphone, a tablet, or any device with a touchscreen. The patent protects GM’s idea to create a screen that eliminates fingerprints, grease, and oil via a self-cleaning process.

Many vehicles these days have a touchscreen panel that drivers can muck up with their fingerprints. Eventually, the screen gets covered with fingerprints and in the worst-case scenario, important data such as the current range of the vehicle’s battery, and when a charging stop will be necessary, can be obscured. This would also be useful for vehicles equipped with Android Auto or CarPlay.

According to patent US 11,579,340 awarded to GM by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via Gizmodo) titled “Self-cleaning system for displays using light-emitting diodes emitting invisible violet light,” the screen would use violet pixels that the human eye cannot detect in addition to red, blue, and green pixels. The touchscreen panel would also be coated with a photocatalyst that absorbs certain wavelengths.

GM’s patent will self-clean fingerprint smudges, grease, and oil off of a touchscreen

The violet pixels would be used during a cleaning cycle initiated by the driver during the day, or automatically when the vehicle is parked overnight. Ultraviolet radiation present in sunlight along with the violet pixels would activate the photocatalyst in the screen coating resulting in a chemical reaction that breaks down the organic material that creates fingerprint smudges on the display. Besides fingerprints, the process will also clean oil grease off of the glass along with fast food residue.

Other devices can use the system covered in the patent as long as the LED displays have the photocatalytic coating and there is a source of power to turn on the violet micro-LEDs incorporated with the LED panel. The other devices mentioned in the patent include “computers, mobile devices, kiosks, televisions, kiosks, teller machines, and household appliances.”

Of course, as with any patent, GM might decide never to implement this system. On the other hand, if this becomes practical, the patent could be licensed by a smartphone manufacturer and used on a future smartphone touchscreen. Currently, most smartphone displays sport an oleophobic coating that reduces fingerprints left on a smartphone’s glass panels.

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