PSoC™ 6 - Designing an intelligent IoT printer

The printer market has always been highly cost-sensitive, with many vendors offering products for consumers. Using technology to differentiate products based on their feature-set is crucial. However, achieving a desirable printer with a minimum of components and within a realistic budget is challenging.

Ideal product specifications include -

• A user-friendly intuitive human-machine interface (HMI)
• Touch-sensitive controls such as buttons and sliders
• Wi-Fi-based internet connectivity to access a host of printing services
• Permit secure firmware over-the-air (OTA) updates
• High-spec processor to tackle intensive analog and digital computational tasks

Design solution based on PSoC™ 6 - Purpose-built for the IoT

A viable, cost-effective solution based around a 32-bit PSoC™ ™ 62 Performance Line dual-core processor meets all the design challenges of developing a competitively priced intelligent IoT printer. With its high-performance 150 MHz Arm Cortex-M4 and 100 MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ cores, the PSoC™ 62 features a host of analog and digital functions ideal for the IoT printer application. These versatile, programmable, and reconfigurable functions reduce component count and logistics complexities.

A set of universal digital blocks (UDBs) on the Arm Cortex-M4 core control the printer's graphic display, and various analog functions of the Arm Cortex-M0+ core manage LED status indicators, capacitive touch-sensing controls, and signal conditioning from the printer's sensors.

The PSoC™ 62 integrates op-amps and a multiplexed successive approximation register (SAR)-based 12-bit analog-to-digital converter ADC. The complete feature set of the PSoC™ 62 Performance Line family is highlighted in the table.

Wi-Fi wireless internet connectivity and secure OTA updates are achieved with a WICED (wireless connectivity for embedded devices) Infineon wireless microcontroller.

PSoC™  6 - Purpose-built for the IoT

In this application case study, we've highlighted how a programmable and reconfigurable Infineon PSoC™ 62 processor can assist printer manufacturer's design and build a competitive, cost-competitive, internet-connected printer while keeping component count to a minimum.