Wednesday, August 26, 2015
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`Cirque Corporation
`
`From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
`
`Cirque Corporation is a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company which developed
`and commercialized the first successful capacitive touchpad, now widely used in
`notebook computers. Cirque develops and sells a variety of touch input products,
`both in OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and end-user retail form. Cirque
`was founded in 1991 by George E. Gerpheide, PhD, and James L. O'Callaghan, to
`commercialize the GlidePoint technology invented in the 1980s by Dr. Gerpheide.
`
`Contents
`◾ 1 History
`◾ 2 Technology
`◾ 3 Products
`◾ 4 Awards
`◾ 5 References
`◾ 6 External links
`
`History
`
`Cirque Corporation
`
`Industry
`
`Touchpad, Touchscreen, Secure
`touchscreen
`Capacitive Touch Solutions
`Genre
`Headquarters Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
`Area served World Wide
`GlidePoint, GlideTouch, GlidePath
`Products
`Alps Electric
`Owner
`www.cirque.com
`Website
`(http://www.cirque.com/)
`
`For many years, Gerpheide and O'Callaghan traveled in an attempt to convince makers of notebook computer to agree to use
`GlidePoint. Dr. Gerpheide recalls "We would often drive to the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas and stay in a seedy hotel. There
`wasn't money for a booth at the show, so we carried our GlidePoint prototypes around the convention center making demonstrations
`to whoever was willing to watch. The early prototypes had a suitcase full of electronic circuits. I knew they could be shrunk into an
`integrated circuit, but we didn't have money for that either. So we were seeking a large leap of faith for a manufacturer to agree to
`use the technology. It was even worse because at that time most notebook computers were running DOS, which did not need a
`pointing device!"
`
`In April 1994, Cirque adapted GlidePoint into an integrated circuit and began selling a retail GlidePoint touchpad. The first notebook
`computer containing GlidePoint appeared soon thereafter. GlidePoint technology was licensed to Alps Electric Corporation LTD,
`and ALPS launched touchpad products into the market.
`
`In 2003, Cirque was acquired by Alps Electric as a wholly owned subsidiary. Cirque continues to function as an independent
`research and technology development facility.
`Technology
`
`GlidePoint
`GlidePoint was the first touchpad technology to be adopted in notebook computers as a system pointing device, that is, performing
`the same function as a mouse. Before that, system pointing was performed mostly using a small trackball embedded in the notebook
`computer case, and other mechanical devices. After GlidePoint's commercial introduction in April 1994, its popularity in notebook
`computers steadily increased and Synaptics and Logitech also introduced capacitive touchpad technologies. Presently, in 2009, both
`Synaptics and GlidePoint touchpads are used widely, with approximately 90% of notebook computers using touchpads.
`
`GlidePoint was not the first touch input technology. For example, it was pre-dated by resistive membrane input pads such as used in
`the Model 3155 Keyboard from Keytronic, Inc. Transparent resistive membrane technology is used in PDAs such as the Palm Pilot,
`point-of-sale terminals, video poker machines, and information kiosks and other touch screens. There are also prior capacitive touch
`input pads in the patent literature. One, "The UnMouse" was invented by James Logan and marketed by his company Microtouch
`Systems, Inc. as a retail plug-in mouse alternative product in the 1980s, but discontinued after a few years.
`
`https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_Corporation
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`

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`Wednesday, August 26, 2015
`GlidePoint technology senses the presence and absolute position of a finger on the pad's surface using capacitive techniques. Because
`of the capacitive technique, it does not require electrical contact with the finger, nor does it require the finger to exert pressure on the
`pad. It measures very small capacitance changes, due to a finger's proximity, among electrodes in a grid buried beneath the insulating
`surface of the pad. From these measurements, it can determine if a finger is touching the pad, and if so, the finger's absolute position
`horizontally and vertically on the surface. Subtraction of a preceding absolute position from the present absolute position yields the
`relative motion of the finger during that time. This relative motion is the same as a mouse for controlling position of a computer
`screen cursor.
`
`GlideSensor
`Cirque GlideSensor solutions are an extension of GlidePoint capacitive touch technology. They are configured to allow the rapid
`design of non-conventional touch input products. GlideSensor touch arrays may now be designed to take the form of thin films,
`flexible surfaces and irregular shapes.
`
`GlideSensor’s mixed-mode ASIC controller was designed to blend the performance of GlidePoint with a low-voltage, low-power
`EEPROM programmable processor. The result is a touch controller capable of being rapidly configured to solve the most unusual
`input application.
`
`Key GlideSensor technology features at a glance include:
`◾ Design sensors in circular, linear, flexible shapes
`◾ Programmable controller for custom solutions
`◾ Interfaced by SPI, I2C or PS2 for easy integration to microprocessor and PC-based systems
`◾ Efficient low-power management
`◾ Can sense through plastic materials of many colors
`◾ Ideal for handheld portable battery-operated products
`Products
`
`In addition to OEM, ODM solutions, Cirque designs, manufactures and markets its own line
`of consumer desktop touchpads:
`Cirque Smart Cat Pro (http://www.cirque.com/cpages/?page=22), Cirque Smart Cat
`(http://www.cirque.com/cpages/?page=23) and Cirque Easy Cat
`(http://www.cirque.com/cpages/?page=24). In addition there are a some lines of touchpads
`now discontinued and no longer supported by new drivers, although these touchpads have the
`same specifications as the current range and differ only slightly in shape and size.
`Awards
`◾ "Best Products of 1994." PC Magazine. 10 January 1995, GlidePoint Touchpad
`recognized as one of six Best Products on the cover.
`◾ The company was twice recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing private company
`in America, "The 1997 Ranking of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in
`America." Inc. Magazine v. 15 no. 19 p. 149.
`References
`◾ A lay description of GlidePoint touchpad technology exists: "Working Knowledge, Touchpad Pointing Device." Scientific
`American. July 1998 p. 118.
`◾ U.S. Patent No. 5,305,017. Gerpheide, parent application filing 16 August 1989.
`External links
`◾ Cirque Corporation (http://www.cirque.com/)
`
`A Cirque Easy Cat Desktop touchpad
`compared with a mouse and
`mousepad.
`
`https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_Corporation
`
`

`
`Wednesday, August 26, 2015
`Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cirque_Corporation&oldid=655046764"
`
`Categories: Computer peripheral companies
`
`◾ This page was last modified on 5 April 2015, at 14:22.
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`
`https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_Corporation