Next-Generation Cypress TrueTouch™ and CapSense® Solutions Enable Innovative Products With Tactile Feedback to Improve User Experience

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) and Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR) today announced that Cypress has licensed Immersion’s patented TouchSense® haptic (touch feedback) technology to deliver integrated touch-sensing solutions with tactile feedback. Cypress will integrate this technology with its TrueTouch™ touchscreen and CapSense® capacitive touch solutions to improve the user experience in mobile phones, GPS systems, keyboards, white goods and other systems. Products employing this technology will be available immediately for selected OEMs and via broader product roll-out toward the end of this year.

Haptics, also known as touch feedback, delivers a tactile confirmation to users when input to a system via a touchscreen, slider, touchpad, or other digital interface. Cypress’s unique PSoC® architecture offers the flexibility to add haptics to TrueTouch and CapSense solutions. PSoC also enables devices to perform additional functions such as driving LEDs and controlling backlights.

“User interfaces are one of the most important ways to differentiate products and add value to consumers,” said Dhwani Vyas, vice president of Cypress’s User Interface Solutions. “Integrating haptics into our TrueTouch and CapSense offerings allows us to offer customers a richer experience with touch and haptic feedback. We are pleased to be working with Immersion, which is the leading innovator in this space.”

“We are pleased that Cypress, the leader in touch sensing, will deliver Immersion’s TouchSense technology to provide the industry’s first integrated controller with touch feedback,” said Craig Vachon, senior vice president and general manager of Immersion’s Touch Business. “We expect Cypress’s new products to increase penetration of haptics into a wide range of products and revolutionize the user experience.”

About TrueTouch

The TrueTouch solution is based on proven Cypress capacitive sensing technology that has replaced over 3.5B mechanical buttons. TrueTouch products are targeted at consumer applications that require very low power, superior noise immunity, and tiny package options. The TrueTouch programmability allows customers to build custom solutions that meet unique user interface requirements, including gesture-based functions. TrueTouch works with various industrial materials such as glass and plastics, giving customers maximum flexibility to create sleek industrial designs. In addition, customers can also choose to work with a wide variety of touchscreen vendors and/or LCD module vendors to create their designs. Other touchscreen solutions are not programmable and require designers to implement a fixed solution with limited materials choices.

Cypress's TrueTouch touchscreen solution is based on projected capacitive touchscreen technology, offering numerous benefits over touchscreens based on resistive technology. These advantages include optical clarity, durability, reliability and cost-effective implementation of multi-touch features. TrueTouch also operates flawlessly in noisy environments with interference from RF and LCD noise sources.