Touchscreen controller shrinks to mixed-signal SoC

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jun 4, 2004

Elo TouchSystems has a new controller for its IntelliTouch, iTouch and SecureTouch surface wave touchscreens.

Elo TouchSystems has a new controller for its IntelliTouch, iTouch and SecureTouch surface wave touchscreens.

The new 2700 controller - the next generation of Elo's 2500 controller - uses a new combined analogue and digital chip and is less than half the size of its predecessor.

It is the first and only one of its type to incorporate an entire control system for a surface wave touchscreen on a single chip.

Elo's 2700 controller also features both USB and serial interfaces combined within the same board to provide greater configuration flexibility and inventory/logistics savings.

Its inbuilt autodetect feature uses instant feedback to accurately determine the correct interface.

Elo's new 2700 surface wave touchscreen controller was recently previewed at Cebit 2004, Hanover, Germany.

"The new 2700 controller is the work of Elo's innovative design team", says Chris Dews, Elo's Manager of Electronics.

"The R and D accomplished what a lot of people considered impossible: producing a mixed-signal (analogue and digital), custom application-specific integrated circuit for surface wave touchscreens".

Elo, however, not only produced the SoC, but also incorporated its own Flash memory, making it remotely programmable.

"This is a huge leap forward in chip design", Dews adds, "and would not even have been considered possible five years ago".

The development of the 2700 controller was spearheaded by a desire for product flexibility and size reduction, spurred by customer demand.

"The new 2700 controller makes another leap forward over its predecessor", says Mike Sigona, Elo's Marketing Manager Europe.

"In addition to combining both a USB and serial interface on the same board, the 2700 has a smaller footprint - just 35 x 60mm - which makes it ideal for integration in today's slimmer monitors".

The versatile 2700 controller uses the popular 5V supply voltage and is not only backwards-compatible with Elo's SmartSet touch protocol, but can also easily be integrated with other popular touch protocols.

"Elo has built a degree of future-proofing into the new 2700 controller by making its firmware field upgradeable", adds Sigona, "so any future changes to the firmware can be made without replacing the controller board".