Sharp Microelectronics' ARM Microcontrollers Selected by Fisher Price for Product Roadmap
CAMAS, Wash.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 19, 2003—
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas announced today
that Sharp has been selected as the microcontroller platform for
Fisher-Price's product roadmap for certain electronic toys.
Sharp's family of Blue Streak(TM) 16/32-bit microcontrollers
offers superior flexibility, integration and performance via Sharp's
ARM7-based MCU. Sharp's high level of support - both generic software
and development tools and dedicated support - also differentiates
Sharp from other MCU companies. With these features, the LH754xx
family suits designs of today's products while also providing enough
power for future, more advanced electronic toys from Fisher-Price.
The first product from Fisher-Price to include Sharp's
ARM7TDMI-based microcontroller is its Pixter(TM) Color digital
creativity system, now available in stores. With the Pixter Color's
high-resolution LCD touch screen and improved audio capability,
Fisher-Price required an alternative to the incumbent proprietary
8-bit MCU; one that would boost system performances and add
functionalities, all in a cost-effective manner. The company found
Sharp's 16/32-bit microcontrollers fit its requirements well.
Sharp's LH754xx family of microcontrollers, which includes a 70
MHz ARM7TDMI core, is among the fastest ARM7 microcontrollers in the
market today, and provides greater flexibility and simpler system
development. Sharp's 16/32-bit microcontroller product family also
offers a pathway from proprietary 8-bit and 16-bit MCU architectures
to a more widely supported ARM architecture.
With the high computational power of Sharp's ARM7 LH754xx
microcontroller, Fisher-Price engineers were able to shift
compute-intensive algorithms from costly hardware to inexpensive and
easily modifiable software. Processing advanced graphic and audio
sound effects was no longer possible with an 8-bit microcontroller.
In addition to the Pixter Color, future Fisher-Price products,
currently in development, will also be powered by Sharp's
microcontrollers.
"Fisher-Price's electronic and educational toys are ideal
applications for our ARM 16/32-bit microcontrollers," said Christophe
Chene, Senior Director of Integrated Circuits Marketing at Sharp
Microelectronics of the Americas. "The components cost-effectively
offer the processing power and integration needed as Fisher-Price
continues to design increasingly advanced toys that incorporate more
functionality."
"We were impressed by Sharp's level of customer service and
technical support" said Ronald Baker, Vice President of Product
Engineering at Fisher-Price. "With Sharp's help, we were able to bring
to market a new toy with greater audio and graphic capabilities at a
lower system cost."
About the BlueStreak LH754xx Family
The four BlueStreak MCUs in the LH754xx family are designed to
meet specific customer requirements for speed, support, performance,
power consumption and functionality. The family features Color LCD
Controllers on the LH75401 and LH75411, which support a wide range of
LCD displays (STN, CSTN, TFT, AD-TFT and HR-TFT) with up to 4,096
colors. Other key features included within the family are:
-- 8-input 10-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter with integrated
touch screen controller,
-- 32KB of on-chip SRAM,
-- a Vectored Interrupt Controller to speed the serving of
interrupts,
-- three UARTs,
-- Synchronous Serial Port,
-- three 16-bit Counter/Timers with Capture, Compare and PWM
logic,
-- Watchdog Timer and Low Voltage Detector.
All parts operate up to 70 MHz at 3.3 V over the industrial
temperature range of -40(degree)C to +85(degree)C.
The Sharp's LH754xx family is part of a larger portfolio of
microcontrollers featuring both ARM7 and ARM9 devices. In addition,
all popular operating systems, including WinCE.Net, Linux, VxWorks,
uC/OS-II, and Thread-X are already ported to the BlueStreak line of
MCUs, further improving time-to-market.
About Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, Camas, Wash., is a
U.S.-based company and a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation,
which is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Sharp is a
worldwide developer of core digital technologies that are playing an
integral role in shaping the next generation of electronic products
for consumer and business needs. Sharp Microelectronics of the
Americas offers breakthrough memory, LCD, opto, CCD, RF/IR,
microcomputer and system-on-chip components, along with packaging and
integration skills that help design engineers throughout North and
South America bring their ambitious ideas to market. Sharp
Microelectronics of the Americas is dedicated to improving people's
lives through the use of advanced technology and a commitment to
innovation, quality, value and design. For more information, visit
www.sharpsma.com.
Contact:
Sharp Media:
Young & Roehr Group
Becky Engel, 503-222-0626 ext. 711
bengel@young-roehr.com
or
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas
Christophe Chene, 360-834-2500
