Accelerated Technology's Nucleus RTOS and Middleware Form Foundation for Sharp's New Open AQUOS Liquid Crystal Televisions
MOBILE, Ala.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 30, 2004—
Accelerated Technology(R), the Embedded Systems Division
of Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT), today announced that
the Nucleus(R) Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) and much of its
associated middleware have been used by Sharp Electronics Corporation
to develop its new Open AQUOS liquid crystal televisions. Released
Jan. 8, 2004 at the International Consumer Electronics Show, the Open
AQUOS televisions are the first to offer television recording (even
pausing live shows) without a set-top box. Fully wireless and Ethernet
networked-equipped, the Open AQUOS televisions have the ability to
share music, digital stills, video and more within a home networking
environment.
Wanting more from their home entertainment systems, consumers are
requesting features such as full media management over a home network,
a basic personal video recorder (PVR) for record and playback
capabilities, personalized applications like games, and a virtual
machine to allow easy integration of these applications with the
television. Sharp met all of these needs in the Open AQUOS television,
which gives consumers more flexibility in wireless home networking
than ever before.
"We found Accelerated Technology's Nucleus RTOS to have the
desired levels of flexibility, performance and integration. These
factors enabled Sharp to support the core applications included in the
AQUOS today, but also will enable Sharp to enhance future Open AQUOS
products with new applications desired by the consumer," said Paul
Martinez, program manager, broadband platform technology for Sharp
Laboratories of America.
The Nucleus RTOS from Accelerated Technology forms the basis of
the Open AQUOS televisions. The Nucleus PLUS real-time kernel, highly
scalable and robust, is the foundation for the Nucleus family of
products. The Nucleus kernel can scale down to as small as 22kb for
both code and data sizes. Tightly integrated with the real-time kernel
is the Nucleus NET TCP/IP protocol stack. The networking stack has
been developed for high-speed performance and optimal functionality,
allowing for the AQUOS television to be connected to the home network
Meeting the new wireless home network demands, the Nucleus 802.11
STA software allows consumers to wirelessly connect between their
AQUOS TV and the broadband home environment via wireless fidelity
(Wi-Fi(R)) technology. Consumers can send photos or music files from
their personal computers in another part of the house to the new Open
AQUOS TV using the 802.11b technology.
The Nucleus FILE file management software provides a way to store
digital still photographs, video clips or digital audio files in the
memory of the Open AQUOS television. The additional Nucleus PCMCIA
driver with hot swap capabilities also accompanies the Nucleus FILE
software, allowing consumers to watch slide shows of their favorite
digital still pictures using their camera's memory cards.
The final piece of middleware provided by Accelerated Technology
was the CEE-J(TM) virtual machine (VM) technology with advanced
graphics from Skelmir LLC. CEE-J provides the embedded VM technology
needed to support the core applications included in the AQUOS sets.
The implementation of both CEE-J and the Nucleus RTOS offer Sharp the
opportunity to enhance future products with new applications and
features desired by the customer.
"The Sharp Open AQUOS televisions are meeting the increased
demands of today's multimedia consumer. The increased connectivity
including wireless and memory cards means that a much closer
relationship between middleware and RTOS is necessary from RTOS
vendors. We are pleased that the Nucleus software and its associated
middleware have met the requirements for this exciting generation of
open televisions," said Robert Day, director of marketing, Mentor
Graphics Embedded Systems Division.
Pricing and Availability
The Nucleus embedded software is sold with source code and without
royalty fees. Licenses for the Nucleus software begin at $12,495. For
more information, please contact Accelerated Technology at
800-468-6853 or info@acceleratedtechnology.com.
Open AQUOS models are expected to be available second quarter of
2004 from Sharp.
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) is a world leader in
electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products,
consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most
successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in
1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of about
$675 million and employs approximately 3,700 people worldwide.
Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road,
Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are
located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314.
World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.
Accelerated Technology, Embedded Systems Division of Mentor
Graphics Corporation, is located in Mobile, Alabama with sales offices
and distributors worldwide. By providing embedded systems developers
with a focus on service, well-documented source code and
industry-leading non-royalty-based Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS)
software, AT's RTOS software shortens time-to-market and provides a
complete solution for engineers. For more information, please visit
www.acceleratedtechnology.com or email us at
info@acceleratedtechnology.com.
Mentor Graphics, Accelerated Technology, and Nucleus are
registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other
company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks
of their respective owners.
Contact:
Mentor Graphics/Accelerated Technology
Jennifer Tanveer, 251-208-3400 ext 3415
jennifer_tanveer@mentor.com
or
Mentor Graphics
Suzanne Graham, 503-685-7789
suzanne_graham@mentor.com
