Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today introduced the CapSense
Express™ capacitive touch sensing solution for
button and slider replacement. The CapSense Express solution enables
designers to implement up to 10 buttons and/or sliders in as little as
five minutes – with no coding. The PSoC Express™
visual embedded system design tool and CapSense Express configuration
tool allow designers to monitor and tune the performance of the buttons
and sliders in real time using a graphical user interface. Competing
solutions require designers to program and test each adjustment, adding
design time and cost.
Cypress is the worldwide leader in capacitive sensing with the industry’s
broadest portfolio. Its PSoC®-based CapSense
devices have implemented over 2.5 billion buttons, sliders and other
touch sensing interfaces in systems worldwide. The CapSense portfolio
offers unmatched flexibility and integration, addressing a broad range
of designs from complex, feature-rich applications to simple button
replacement. More information about the new solution is available at www.cypress.com/capsense.
“Mechanical buttons and sliders are prone to
wear and tear from prolonged usage and exposure to heat, moisture and
other elements. In addition, they do not provide the clean, elegant
styling preferred by today’s consumer,”
said Robert Dunnigan, vice president of Cypress’s
Non-Volatile and Mixed-Signal Business Unit. “The
CapSense Express solution offers our customers an easy to use,
cost-competitive solution to button replacement that enables innovative
new products with the fast time-to-market needed to beat the competition.”
CapSense Express Features
The CY8C201X0 and CY8C201X2 CapSense Express devices offers up to ten
capacitive and/or general purpose I/Os (GPIOs), allowing design
flexibility to implement combinations of buttons, sliders, and general
purpose functions like LED control and interrupt outputs. For
battery-powered applications, the devices offer low power consumption of
just 1 µA active current and 2.6 µA
in sleep mode. The new devices offer a wide operating voltage of 2.4V to
5.25V and an industrial temperature range of -40º
C to +85º C. In addition, 2 Kb of Flash
memory and an I2C communication interface are
provided so designers can choose whether to store tuning values in Flash
or load them over I2C at power-up.
Availability
The new CY8C201X0 and CY8C201X2 CapSense Express devices are available
today. They are packaged in 8- and 16-pin SOIC and 16-pin QFN packages.
Cypress is offering three evaluation kits for designers using the
CapSense Express solution. The CY3218-CAPEXP1 kit features three
CapSense buttons, three backlighting LEDs, three LEDs for status and 1
mechanical button. The CY3218-CAPEXP2 kit offers a 5-segment slider with
four status LEDs and 1 Mechanical button. The CY3218-CAPEXP3 features
two CapSense buttons with two status LEDs using the smallest package,
the 8-pin SOIC. The kits are available from the OnLine Store at www.cypress.com
and from authorized distribution partners. The three kits are priced at
USD $44.99 each. More information is available at www.cypress.com/capsense.
Download a high-resolution image of the CapSense Express solution at www.cypress.com/go/41.
About CapSense
A single CapSense device can replace dozens of mechanical switches and
controls with an elegant touch-sensitive interface, and the solution
supports touch screens and proximity sensing for superior product
differentiation. CapSense-based “button”
and “slider”
controls are more reliable than their mechanical counterparts because
they are resistant to environmental wear-and-tear from temperature
change and moisture. Cypress has garnered well over 100 CapSense design
wins worldwide in applications that include mobile handsets, portable
media players, white goods, computers, printers and automotive, among
others.
Cypress's CapSense solution offers system designers numerous advantages
over capacitive sensing products built around modules and
sub-assemblies, including increased flexibility, reduced board space and
lower cost. Because of the unique PSoC architecture, designers can
easily integrate multiple functions (e.g., LED drivers and LCD
displays), in addition to capacitive sensing. The PSoC CapSense solution
also delivers benefits such as easy communications using either I2C, SPI
or USB interfaces, the ability to implement both touchpad (x-y matrix)
and linear slider applications with the same device, and the ability to
make quick design changes using the flash-based PSoC architecture. In
addition, users can complete CapSense designs with pre-configured and
verified "user modules" within Cypress's PSoC Designer™
4.4 Integrated Design Environment (IDE), and experience real-time sensor
tuning and monitoring with PSoC Express™
visual embedded system design tool.
PSoC -- Because Change Happens
PSoC devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture
for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a
field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices
integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an
on-chip microcontroller, providing enhanced design revision capability
and component count savings. They include up to 32 Kbytes of Flash
memory, 2 Kbytes of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator,
power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I2C
communication.
The flexible PSoC resources allow designers to future-proof their
products by enabling firmware-based changes during design, validation,
production, and in the field. The unique PSoC flexibility shortens
design cycle time and allows for late-breaking feature enhancements. All
PSoC devices are also dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to
morph internal resources on-the-fly, utilizing fewer components to
perform a given task.
A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions
saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while
improving system quality. Customers can save as much as $10 in system
costs. Learn more about PSoC products at www.cypress.com/psoc
and receive free online training at www.cypress.com/psoctraining.
About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions
that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system
value. Cypress offerings include the PSoC®
mixed-signal array, USB controllers, general-purpose programmable clocks
and memories. Cypress also offers wired and wireless connectivity
solutions ranging from its WirelessUSB™ radio
system-on-chip, to West Bridge™ and EZ-USB®
FX2LP controllers that enhance connectivity and performance in
multimedia handsets. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer,
computation, data communications, automotive, industrial, and solar
power. Cypress trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CY. Visit
Cypress online at www.cypress.com.
Cypress, the Cypress logo and PSoC are registered trademarks and
CapSense, CapSense Express, PSoC Express and PSoC Designer are
trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks are
property of their owners.
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