STMicroelectronics Announces A New Smart-Reset Chip for Cure Frustration of ‘Frozen’ Gadgets

This new smart-reset chip allows the system to be restarted safely without removing the battery or finding a tool to push the reset button, usually hidden behind a hole in the casing. The arrival of this chip will enhance users’ experiences by providing a safe, convenient and easily understood means of restarting those frozen gadgets. For manufacturers, combining an improved manual reset with the system-controlled reset functions in a single chip offers better performance and saves cost and pc-board space. Its 2 x 2 mm package has a smaller overall footprint than using separate chips for system reset and one-key manual reset, or an equivalent network of discrete components that can occupy as much as 100 sq-mm on the board. ST’s new STM65xx family of smart-reset Integrated Circuits (IC) has two inputs that can be connected to two of the device’s normal function buttons. When these are held down for a certain time, which is programmable, the IC will send a reset signal to the main processor. The two inputs and programmable delay time allow a combination of button presses and hold-down times to guard against unintended resets. While other ICs on the market can control one reset key, only the STM65xx has this smart-reset capability with two inputs and also includes the system-controlled supervision and reset features that most product designs require…

STM65xx