Source: EE Times-Asia
Posted: 16 Mar 2009
Omron Corp. and Renesas Technology Corp. have reached an agreement to jointly develop capacitive touch sensor solutions, a field that is attracting a great deal of interest as a next-generation man-machine interface. Based on this agreement, Renesas will integrate Omron's touch sensor technology into its R8C Family 16bit MCU products and supply touch sensor solutions for a wide range of fields, including household appliances and mobile devices.
Touch panels are increasingly being used in a wide variety of products, including household appliances, A/V equipment, office equipment, game machines, mobile phones and portable music players.
The objectives of this joint development project are to achieve adoption of Omron's touch sensor solutions throughout the world market and to establish Renesas' MCU products in a dominant position in the touch sensor market.
Yasushi Akao, Renesas Technology board director and executive general manager of the MCU business group, said, "I think that by fusing our MCU and analog peripheral circuit technology with capacitive touch sensor technology from Omron, we will be able to offer our customers MCUs with highly reliable and cost-effective touch sensor functionality."
Soichi Yukawa, Omron senior managing officer and electronic components company president, remarked: "In recent years, touch sensors have come to be used as the input method for many electronic products, but there have been problems regarding design flexibility and convenience. I am confident that the products that will result from this joint development project will combine sensor technology and MCU technology to realize systems with a new level of 'user friendliness' and lead to wider adoption of touch interfaces."