Cypress Introduces WirelessUSB LS Keyboard/Mouse Reference Design Kit With Agilent Technologies

– Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY), the market leader in USB, today introduced the WirelessUSB™ LS Keyboard/Mouse Reference Design Kit (CY4632), a comprehensive offering that enables manufacturers of PC Human Interface Devices (HIDs) including mice, keyboards and gamepads, to quickly go to market with a 2.4 GHz WirelessUSB-based design.

Cypress collaborated with Agilent Technologies Inc., the industry leader in optical mouse sensors, to develop the reference design kit. The kit combines Cypress’s WirelessUSB LS radio system-on-a-chip and enCoRe™ (Enhanced Component Reduction) USB low speed controller with Agilent’s ADNS-2030 3.3V low power optical mouse sensor to implement a USB-certified, production-quality, 2.4 GHz wireless keyboard, mouse and dongle system.

"The WirelessUSB LS Keyboard/Mouse Reference Design Kit provides a very low component count, low cost implementation of a 2.4 GHz PC HID platform using WirelessUSB technology," said Norm Taffe, managing director of the wireless business unit in Cypress’s Personal Communications Division. "This offering is made better by the fact that Agilent has lent its optical mouse expertise to the design."

"Our teaming with Cypress is enabling an exciting new generation of optical mice, keyboards, presenter tools and PC remotes," said Ed Keane, navigation sensors business manager for Agilent’s Sensor Solutions Division. "The combination of our low power, wireless optical navigation technology with Cypress’ WirelessUSB system controller provides an easy-to-use platform for accelerated development of feature-rich cordless peripherals."

The CY4632 reference design kit contains a WirelessUSB optical mouse that incorporates state-of-the-art technologies from both companies, enabling low-latency of below four milliseconds and smooth cursor performance. Also included in the kit is a multimedia keyboard that does not drop keystrokes in a heavily crowded, 2.4GHz environment because it leverages WirelessUSB’s patent-pending interference immunity technology. The small form-factor dongle in the kit couples Cypress’ WirelessUSB chip with its low-speed USB enCoRe controller for true USB plug-and-play operation. No custom software drivers are required.

In addition to hardware, the CY4632 solution contains a software utility that displays a battery power/signal strength indicator and NUM, SCROLL and CAPS LOCK from the users’ system tray thereby eliminating the need for dedicated LEDs. It also contains extensive technical documentation including RF hardware layout files and radio protocol firmware to help PC HID manufacturers tailor the solution to their own requirements.

About WirelessUSB

WirelessUSB offers superior interference immunity, excellent range of greater than 10 meters, a simple layout, long battery life and excellent co-location properties. Cypress leverages a unique DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) coding scheme, ensuring robust operation of WirelessUSB devices in the presence of 802.11 and Bluetooth networks. This approach also enables WirelessUSB to support thousands of devices in close proximity, making it ideal for office and classroom deployments

Featuring a highly integrated radio transceiver plus digital baseband, Cypress’s WirelessUSB devices are single-chip solutions that enable designers to significantly decrease development time, component count and system cost. The devices are also noted for their very low standby power consumption. They have a standby current of approximately 0.25-microamp, which translates into months of battery life for a typical keyboard, mouse or gamepad. In addition, WirelessUSB devices feature a 62.5 kbps data transmission rate at greater than 10 meters with an average latency of below four milliseconds.

Pricing, Availability and Photo

The WirelessUSB LS Keyboard Mouse Reference Design Kit is priced at $199 (MSRP) and is available through Cypress sales offices and via the web at www.cypress.com. A photo of the kit can be downloaded from http://www.cypress.com/support/link.cfm?mr=wusblskbmrdk.

About Agilent’s Optical Mouse Sensors

The Agilent ADNS-2030 optical mouse sensor offers flexibility to optical mice designers, with frame rates from 500 to 2,300 frames per second (a faster frame rate is desirable for mice used to play computer games), 400 or 800 count-per-inch resolution, and speeds of up to 14 inches per second. It provides automatic power conservation during periods when the mouse is not moved and controlled drive for the light-emitting diode (LED) light source. The ADNS-2030 operates on a single power supply (3.3 V typical, 3.6 V maximum and is designed for use with the Agilent HDNS-2100 lens, HDNS-2200 clip, and HLMP-ED80-XX000 LED. Together these parts form a complete, compact solution for cordless optical mice.

Agilent has shipped more than 200 million optical mouse sensors since the release of its first navigation sensor in 1999. The company supplies these sensors to all major optical mouse manufacturers worldwide. The technology works on virtually all surfaces by taking thousands of digital pictures per second, and is used in a broad array of mice ranging from inexpensive, entry-level models to high-precision versions. Since their introduction, optical mice powered by Agilent’s optical sensing technology have established themselves as the standard in computer input devices. More information about Agilent's optical mouse sensors is available at www.agilent.com/view/opticalnavigation.

About enCoRe

Cypress’s enCoRe™ device (CY7C63723) features the company’s proprietary M8 controller core—the industry's smallest—along with an integrated USB serial interface engine (SIE) and transceiver; integrated EPROM plus RAM for storage and data buffering; and optimized output drivers for EMI reduction. Focusing on system cost reduction, Cypress’ enCoRe™ family of USB microcontrollers employs an internal crystal-less oscillator-eliminating the need for an external crystal or resonator-and integrates several other components typically found off-chip in low-speed USB applications, such as pull-up resistors, wake-up circuitry and a 3.3V regulator.

About Cypress

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) is Connecting From Last Mile to First Mile™ with high-performance solutions for personal, network access, enterprise, metro switch and core communications-system applications. Cypress Connects™ using wireless, wireline, digital and optical transmission standards, including USB, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, Gigabit Ethernet and DWDM. Leveraging its process and system-level expertise, Cypress makes industry-leading physical layer devices, framers and network search engines, along with a broad portfolio of high-bandwidth memories, timing technology solutions and reconfigurable mixed-signal arrays. More information about Cypress is accessible online at www.cypress.com.

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Cypress and the Cypress logo are registered trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. "Connecting From Last Mile to First Mile," "WirelessUSB" and "Cypress Connects" are trademarks of Cypress. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.