Handheld designers often grapple with ways to de-bounceand control the on/off pushbutton of portable devices.Traditional de-bounce designs use discrete logic, fl ipflops, resistors and capacitors. Other designs includean onboard microprocessor and discrete comparatorswhich continuously consume battery power. For highvoltage multicell battery applications, a high voltageLDO is needed to drive the low voltage devices. All thisextra circuitry not only increases required board spaceand design complexity, but also drains the battery whenthe handheld device is turned off. Linear Technology addressesthis pushbutton interface challenge with a pairof tiny pushbutton controllers.
