I-Rocks selects Cypress’s PRoC-UI to design wireless keyboard

USA: Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced that I-Rocks Technology, Ltd., a leading PC peripherals manufacturer in Taiwan, has selected Cypress’s PRoC-UI (Programmable Radio-on-a-Chip–User Interface) solution for its RF6496 wireless keyboard with built-in trackpad.

PRoC-UI lowers bill-of-materials costs for the keyboard by providing superior touch performance with support for Windows 8 compatible multi-touch gestures along with best-in-class wireless connectivity in a single chip. The RF6496 also employs Cypress’s enCoRe V low-voltage companion microcontroller for its mechanical buttons.

With PRoC-UI’s robust wireless connectivity, the I-Rocks RF6496 Touchpad Keyboard can operate up to 10 meters from a computer. This allows users to connect a PC to their TV and easily surf the web, play music, and watch films from the comfort of their couch. The PRoC-UI solution combines the 2.4-GHz proprietary WirelessUSB-NL Radio with Cypress’s CapSense and TrueTouch capacitive touch technologies.

The one-chip solution also offers standard HID microcontroller functionality, effectively combining three chips into one to save BOM cost, board space, and power, while increasing reliability compared with multi-chip implementations.

“PRoC-UI eliminates the need for us to purchase capacitive touch controllers and wireless radios from multiple vendors for our RF6496 touch keyboard,” said Toby Lin, GM of I-Rocks. “Cypress offers great support and their capacitive touch performance is best in class.”

“The I-Rocks RF6496 Trackpad Keyboard design is an excellent example of the value PRoC-UI brings to wireless HID products,” said Jayant Somani, senior director of worldwide marketing for Cypress’s Data Communication Division. “PRoC-UI helped simplify the design and shorten time to market, while enabling its trackpad to support a variety of gestures for a differentiated user experience.”

PRoC-UI boasts an impressive -87 dBm receive sensitivity at 1 Mbps. This enhanced sensitivity enables longer range operation and allows for lower-power transmit signals. The device features low active and standby currents, which enable longer battery life. It also offers superior performance in the presence of 2.4-GHz interference from common sources such as WiFi, Bluetooth, cordless phones, and microwaves.

PRoC-UI supports Cypress’s AgileHID protocol that allows existing WirelessUSB-NL customers to get started quickly on their designs without any additional effort. Customers who have existing designs with WirelessUSB-NL can reuse the same dongles for new PRoC-UI based touch products. PRoC-UI comes with free software to enable end-product customization.