Haptic IC offers ‘touchie-feelie” mobile screens

Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(02/03/10, 8:15 AM GMT)

San Jose, Ca. -  In an effort to provide users of touchscreen devices with a  "touch" experience, Maxim Integrated Products has just introduced what it says is the industry's first fully integrated, programmable HPC (haptic piezo controller) for single-layer and multilayer piezo actuators.

Target applications are any consumer or industrial equipment that has touch-screen displays or traditionally has mechanical buttons. Typical examples include cell phones, MIDs (mobile Internet devices), MP3 players, portable media players, digital photo frames, multifunction printers, digital still/video cameras, and POS (point-of-sale) terminals.

Users of such devices have been accustomed to "feeling" the button press on keyboards, keypads, and many modern devices. Touch screens and capacitive sensors provide an interactive user interface, but the user cannot feel the touch because there is no mechanical button.

The MAX11835 adds the feeling of mechanical feedback to touch screens and capacitive buttons. The product can be used with any touch-screen or touch-button controller.

However, as part of its new TacTouch concept, Maxim provides design-in support and reference designs guaranteeing an optimal touch experience and simplified design-in when combined with the company's touch-screen controllers.

The MAX11835 has sufficient on-chip memory to simultaneously store multiple user-defined haptic waveforms, which are downloaded at power-up through the serial I2C interface.

During operation, only a haptic trigger pulse is required from the system or application processor to play out the waveform. Unlike other driver ICs, no high-speed waveform pattern needs to be sent during operation.

This simplifies code design on the system or application processor, reduces software load, and improves haptic response time. Obtaining low latency (from the instant of touch detection to haptic response) is crucial to effectively mimic the real-world feeling of a button press.

To learn more, go to www.maxim-ic.com.  

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