Sunnyvale, Calif.—Leadis Technology Inc. has boosted the performance of its LDS60xx family of button ICs with a technology called TapTouch that it says lowers the cost of capacitive touch implementation in high button count applications.

Leadis' TapTouch technology supports up to 56 independent touch zones with a single 15-channel IC, enabling the integration of large numbers of capacitive touch buttons while keeping system cost and power consumption to a minimum.

Applications include remote control and telephony applications, as well as screen applications such as mobile handsets and handheld games.

Unlike traditional architectures using one sensor per button, TapTouch leverages a two-layer sensor array that allows each sensor to support multiple touch zones, often eliminating the need for multiple touch controllers. The technology minimizes experience-inhibiting first-touch latency by enabling continuous scanning of touch zones without the high power consumption typically associated with low- or no-latency implementations.

It also supports icon selection and gesture-recognition functions without the need for a more expensive full-resolution touch screen controller.

Leadis Technology Inc., www.leadis.com