AN64846 - Getting Started with CapSense
®
Doc. No. 001-64846 Rev. *X
89
4.
CapSense Selector Guide
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Cypress is the world leader in capacitive sensing technologies. Our broad range of solutions provide robust noise
immunity, enable quick time to market and system scalability, and have replaced more than 5 billion mechanical buttons
over the past several years. The CapSense portfolio ranges from simple buttons and sliders to more sophisticated
solutions integrating other system components to reduce total BOM cost and form factor. Cypress CapSense controllers
feature best-in-class liquid tolerance and capacitive proximity sensing, which is easy to implement with SmartSense
Auto-Tuning, an algorithm that constantly monitors and compensates for environmental conditions.
Salient features include:
Advanced sensing techniques for easy finger detection through 15 mm of glass or 5 mm of plastic
Revolutionary and unique SmartSense Auto-Tuning algorithm
Industry's best solutions for advanced features such as proximity and water tolerance
Ultra-low power with industry's widest voltage range
Industry's leading small form factor packaging such as WLCSP (2 mm x 2 mm)
4.1 Defining CapSense Requirements
You must consider several key system requirements when selecting the best CapSense device for your application.
Configurable/Programmable
Choose configurable controllers if you are looking for an easy and quick-to-market solution without firmware
development. These devices can work with or without a host controller. Choose programmable controllers if you
need more integration in one chip and more flexibility in designing your application. Cypress offers both hardware-
configurable and register-configurable controllers.
Configuration Interface
Configurable controllers have two configuration interfaces
– hardware-based and register-based. Hardware-
configurable controllers require external resistors for configuring different features and eliminate the configuration
step required during production or during system operation from a host controller. However, register-configurable
devices support register-based configuration and comprehensive status reporting through I
2
C. The same I
2
C
interface can serve as both configuration and host communication interfaces. These controllers support retaining
the configuration in EEPROM, enabling standalone operation without a host chip.
Programming Interface
The flexible design of PSoC allows the programming pins to be reused as GPIOs thus reducing the I/O count.
However, you should ensure in the design that the external components or long trace-length, required for the GPIO
function, do not interfere with programming and vice versa.
Updating the device firmware in-system from a host controller is an important requirement, particularly for mobile
applications. PSoC controllers offer two solutions.
Host-Sourced Serial Programming (HSSP)
This method uses the dedicated PSoC programming interface and does not require a change in the PSoC
firmware. However, it requires the reset pin of the PSoC to be controlled by the host. In this method, the host
requires a special firmware that programs the PSoC through bit-banging and may require the host-side I/Os to be
dedicated for programming.