Silicon Integrated Systems Corp., (SiS), a Taiwan-headquartered, worldwide, leading integrated circuit design company was an early adopter of the Universal Stylus Initiative’s cross-platform, active stylus specification (USI 1.0) joining the association early in 2015. SiS is well-regarded for their human input solutions for PCs, interactive white board (IWB), and consumer devices market. Adopting the USI 1.0 specification made sense for SiS because it is the first industry standard, non-proprietary, active stylus protocol that enables development of a new generation of active styluses to provide consumers a consistent, customizable and interoperable experience across device make, model and form-factor. SiS has been developing USI technology since 2016, and have a USI-enabled touch controller and USI stylus controller available for testing and plan to have commercial product ready in 1H2019.

“SiS has been developing various human input technologies for years including finger touch solutions for PCs, interactive white board (IWB), the automotive and industrial PCs markets, acoustic solutions for PCs, consumer devices and smart speakers along with stylus solutions for the PC and IWB markets,” said Jonathan Shyi, president of SiS. “USI technology provides a feasible approach for active pen solutions with its cross-platform support, which, when matched with the SiS product portfolio, will create the opportunity for more product innovation leading to increased end-user benefits.”

Three USI Key Advantages

Shyi sees three key advantages of using USI 1.0 specification. First, it supports two-way communication so a USI device can communicate with a USI-enabled stylus to update or change the parameters in the stylus. In short, this is why a USI stylus can work with different screen sizes and types of devices — such as notebooks, all in one devices and IWBs — by simply updating the proper parameters through a two-way communication scheme. The second USI advantage is its multi-pen support, which is a good feature for large screen-sized products, such as those found in the IWB market. Finally, according to Shyi, as an open, industry standard, the 30+ USI members work together to define USI specifications, establish USI certification requirements and develop mutually-agreed upon roadmaps leading to improved interoperability which is good for original equipment manufacturers (OEM), independent hardware vendors (IHV) and consumers.

About USI 1.0: First Open, Non-proprietary Active Stylus Specification

The USI 1.0 Specification provides IHVs and OEMs for the first time an industry standard, non-proprietary, active stylus protocol. It enables the OEM, IHV and software ecosystem to develop a new generation of active styluses that provide consumers a consistent, customizable and interoperable experience across make, model and form-factor.

The USI 1.0 Specification also enables new usages for active styluses, such as multiple styluses operating simultaneously on a single device. The USI specification can be implemented on a wide range of touch-enabled devices, including phones, tablets, computing and entertainment platforms.

About Universal Stylus Initiative

Launched in 2015, Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) is an international not-for-profit technology trade association whose mission is to define industry-wide standards for interoperable communication between an active stylus and touch-enabled devices such as phones, tablets, and computing and entertainment platforms. The USI specification provides for a stylus capable of communicating with different touch sensors and touch controller integrated circuits, so that users can employ the same stylus across numerous touch-enabled devices, as long as each device’s touch controller is compliant with the USI specification.