Cypress’s PSoC® CapSense Enables Touch-Sensitive Media Console In New Acer Aspire 6920 And 8920G Notebook PCs

Single-Chip Solution Lets Users Manage Entertainment Media, Navigate Menus,Adjust Volume and Control Media; Also Provides LED Control

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 23, 2008 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today announced that its PSoC® CapSense touch sensing solution enables the touch-sensitive CineDash media console inside Acer's new Aspire 6920 and 8920G Notebook PCs. The single-chip Cypress CapSense solution enables touch-sensitive buttons, sliders and shuffle controls that provide users with a stylish, convenient way to access and control a rich array of multimedia capabilities. The CapSense device also controls LED indicator lights on the new laptops.

The CapSense device offered Acer a programmable, flexible solution for the CineDash media console, a key feature in the new Aspire models. The CapSense solution allows designers to make last-minute changes, add features and control additional functions beyond the capacitive touch interface- capabilities that are not available from other capacitive sensing products.

"The Aspire Notebooks offer an excellent example of the benefits of CapSense," said Steve Gerber, director of marketing for Cypress's CapSense products. "They combine a stylish industrial design with a rich feature-set into a small, convenient area on the laptop. We are pleased to add differentiating value to these outstanding products."

"The CineDash media console is an integral part of the Aspire Notebooks' user experience," said Johnny Shyy, director of product management for Acer. "It provides the clean, sophisticated appearance and functionality preferred by today's consumer, and is less prone to everyday wear and tear than exposed buttons. We were able to implement this design quickly and efficiently using the CapSense solution and therefore were able to bring this line to market ahead of the competition."

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 hundreds of 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 quickly and easily using 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.  Learn more about CapSense online at www.cypress.com/capsense.

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 both 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 communications.

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.

Easy to use development tools enable designers to select configurable library elements for analog functions such as amplifiers, ADCs, DACs, filters and comparators and digital functions such as timers, counters, PWMs, SPI and UARTs. The PSoC family's analog features include rail-to-rail inputs, programmable gain amplifiers and up to 14-bit ADCs with exceptionally low noise, input leakage and voltage offset.

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 Acer
Since its founding in 1976, Acer has constantly pursued the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Focused on marketing its brand-name IT products around the globe, Acer ranks as the world's No. 3 (Q407) vendor for total PCs and No. 2 for notebooks, with the fastest growth among the top-five players. A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to Acer's continued growth, while a successful merger of Gateway Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary completes the company's global footprint by strengthening its presence in the U.S. and enhancing its strong position in Europe. Acer Inc. employs 5,300 people worldwide. Estimated revenue for 2007 is US$14.06 billion. See www.acer.com/us for more information.

Original text is here