TI Announces Industry"s First Complete Programmable Touch-Screen Controllers For Handheld Computing Applications

Devices Simplify Data Processing and Improve System Speed and Accuracy

TUCSON, Ariz., March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Designed to address the needs of handheld computing applications, Texas Instruments (TI) Incorporated (NYSE: TXN - news) today introduced the industry's first complete programmable analog interface circuit for controlling position, pressure and plate resistance measurements in four-wire touch-screen applications. The high-performance devices from the company's Burr-Brown product line simplify data processing in a variety of handheld computing products such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, MP3 players, pagers and Internet appliances. (See dataconverter.ti.com/sc02048 ).

The TSC2000 and TSC2200 feature built-in processing units which allow them to perform all touch-screen processing tasks without microprocessor interaction such as touch detection, programmable touch screen (X/Y) driver and conversion control, data average filtering and memory, and touch-panel stabilization. This co-processing solution reduces microprocessor ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) overhead and saves significant number of MIPS for microprocessors -- allowing the system to run faster and more accurately.

"Building on TI's industry-leading portfolio of touch-screen controllers, the TSC2000 and TSC2200 provide a leap in touch screen processing by offering improved performance and functionality over existing touch screen solutions while lowering power consumption and cost," said Scott Ngo, senior strategic marketing engineer for TI's data acquisition products. "Acting as a true hardware peripheral, these unique devices detect touch activity, take several readings to allow for settling time and averaging, and interrupt the host controller only when valid data is available."

The TSC2000 and TSC2200 offer programmable resolution and sampling rates from 8 to 12 bits and up to 125kHz to accommodate different screen sizes and applications. The devices interface to the host microprocessor through a standard SPI serial interface.

The highly-integrated TSC2200 contains a 12-bit, 4-wire resistive analog- to-digital converter including drivers, the control to measure touch pressure, a 4x4 keypad interface, an 8-bit digital-to-analog converter output for LCD back light or contrast control, direct battery measurement, and two auxiliary inputs for USB or AC adapter detection. The TSC2000 is the same as the TSC2200, but without the keypad interface.

Other features include low power consumption with full power down control and single-supply operation from 2.7V to 5V. An on-chip temperature sensor provides readings with 0.3C resolution.

Available Today

The TSC2000 is packaged in a TSSOP-20 and priced at $2.25 in 1,000 piece quantities (suggested resale pricing). The TSC2200 is packaged in a TSSOP-28 and priced at $2.30 in 1,000 pieces.

Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at www.ti.com .

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