June 24, 2008 — Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has introduced the TrueTouch touchscreen solution based on the PSoC programmable system-on-chip architecture. The TrueTouch offering includes a single-chip touchscreen solution that can interpret up to 10 inputs from all areas of the screen simultaneously. This capability, known as “multi-touch all point,” enables designers to create new usage models for products such as mobile handsets, portable media players (PMPs), GPS systems and other products.
Examples of applications well-suited for multi-touch all point functionality include keyboard implementations, inputting multiple locations into a GPS, playing video games on a mobile handset, and making multiple adjustments to sound and/or video settings on a PMP.
In addition to the multi-touch all point products, the TrueTouch family includes devices that perform traditional touchscreen functions including interpreting single touches, and gestures such as tap, double-tap, pan, pinch, scroll, and rotate.
Touchscreens have become the user interface of choice for many applications. Touchscreen technology addresses the conflicting demands for smaller products with larger displays by eliminating traditional buttons without sacrificing screen size. They also enable users to manipulate new functions easily and intuitively by interacting directly with content on the screen. TrueTouch devices support “projected capacitive” touchscreens, which offer numerous benefits over touchscreens based on “resistive” technology. These advantages include optical clarity, durability, reliability and cost-effective implementation of multi-touch features.
“”Leading customers in a variety of markets, including smartphones, GPS and PMP devices, have worked with us to help define the TrueTouch family,” says Dhwani Vyas, vice president of PSoC products for Cypress. “We are leveraging our established leadership in the capacitive sensing markets to deliver the next generation of touchscreen solutions that offer user interface designers unparalleled flexibility and integration capabilities via the PSoC architecture.”
“Our research clearly indicates that projected capacitive touchscreens for consumer electronics devices are poised for strong growth,” adds Jennifer Colegrove, senior analyst, senior analyst and author of the “Touch Screen” 2008 report at market research firm iSuppli. “The TrueTouch family is targeted squarely at this segment.”
Because of the flexible and programmable TrueTouch architecture, customers can choose to work with a wide variety of touchscreen vendors and/or LCD module vendors to create their designs. In addition, the TrueTouch solution utilizes the PSoC architecture’s ability to integrate additional functions such as driving LEDs, backlight control and I/O expansion. These functions, in conjunction with flexible communication options (I2C and SPI), allow for unparalleled system integration for touchscreen systems.