SAN JOSE, Calif., February 14, 2011 – Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) today unveiled a breakthrough feature for its TrueTouch™ touchscreen controllers that enables touchscreens in handsets, cameras, GPS systems and other mobile systems to function seamlessly while connected to noisy chargers. Low-cost, third-party and after-market battery chargers emit large levels of common-mode noise that adversely affects touchscreen performance, often resulting in inaccurate touch readings or phantom touches. Cypress’s new Charger Armor™ feature allows TrueTouch touchscreens to operate normally in the presence of extreme AC noise.
The new feature, which is available in Cypress’s CY8CTMA3XX TrueTouch family, is unique in the industry, and solves a common problem that mobile device manufacturers are struggling to overcome. Low cost chargers lack critical noise suppression components, and can generate tens of volts (peak to peak) across the frequency spectrum of 1Hz to 1MHz. These voltage spikes can go directly into the touch panel during the presence of touch, severely impacting touch performance. As such, many of the mobile phone vendors have worked together to create EN 62684 and EN301489, standards which regulate the noise spectrum for battery chargers. While Cypress’s TrueTouch technology alone can suppress noise at the levels of these standards, Charger Armor allows Cypress to go beyond the standards to deliver truly revolutionary charger noise immunity to the market, enabling mobile devices to operate with the lowest-cost chargers.
“Many of our customers struggle to overcome charger noise,” said Dhwani Vyas, vice president of the User Interface Business Unit at Cypress. “They are pleased to see an easy-to-implement, cost-effective solution to this problem. The flexibility of the PSoC-based TrueTouch architecture enables us to goes beyond simple frequency hopping and hardware filtering to address a wider range of noise issues than other touchscreen controllers. This is yet another example of Cypress’s leadership in providing innovative touchscreen solutions to problems such as LCD noise rejection, stylus support, water rejection, hover detection and others.”
Availability
The Charger Armor feature is available today, and Cypress expects customers to introduce systems with Charger Armor in the first half of 2011. A high-resolution photo depicting the feature is available at http://www.cypress.com/go/ChargerArmorPhoto.
About TrueTouch
The flexible TrueTouch solution allows customers to rapidly develop leading-edge solutions without having to buy turnkey modules. They have a choice of using touch sensors (glass or film) and LCDs from preferred partners, and can develop innovative mechanical designs ranging from flat to curved surfaces of varying thickness. In addition, TrueTouch devices offer Cypress’s legendary noise immunity with patented capacitive sensing technology that enables flawless operation in noisy RF and LCD environments.
The next-generation high performance TMA300 multi-touch all-point family provides best-in-class scan times for true multifinger touch and very high signal-to-noise ratio of more than 80:1 RMS, low power consumption (less that 1.3 mA low-power state current), best-in-class water rejection and wet-finger tracking, and more. Additional information about the TrueTouch solution is available at www.cypress.com/go/TrueTouch.
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 flagship PSoC® programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as PowerPSoC® solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting applications, CapSense® touch sensing and TrueTouch™ solutions for touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, including the high-performance West Bridge® solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Cypress trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.
