In touch with taste

Hamburg/Bologna, 27.07.2006

The Italian coffee machine manufacturer, Saeco International Group S.p.A. and Sharp Microelectronics are cooperating in the development of new coffee brewing products. The centrepiece of the latest generation of Primea espresso machines is the BlueStreak System on Chip (SoC) LH75411. The SoC is based on an ARM7TDMI-S 32-bit RISC core and operates at a clock speed of up to 84 MHz with a 1.8 V supply voltage. The SoC also has a 32 KB SRAM on-chip and includes a large number of peripherals such as a grayscale and colour LCDs controller and a high definition multi-channel analogue/digital converter with an integrated touch screen controller. Like all BlueStreak SoCs, the LH75411 operates at temperatures from -40°C to +85°C, covering the entire industrial temperature range. This mid-range processor offers ideal features, making it an economical solution for controlling all types of vending machines having display units.


It was this superior functionality that ultimately convinced the development engineers at Saeco. “For the new Primea, it was important for us to find a processor that already included a touch screen colour display controller, which serves as control panel, as our core compe-tence lies in the development of high-quality brewing systems to guarantee ultimate coffee enjoyment”, explains Andrea Castellani, R&D director at Saeco. The trend with coffee and other vending machines is increasingly towards intuitive operation via touch screens. This technology is not only interesting for household appliances like the Primea, but is also suitable for commercial coffee vending machines or combined drink and food vending machines in public areas, which are also featured in the Saeco product range. Gunter Wagschal, Product Marketing Manager for the BlueStreak SoCs at Sharp Microelectronics Europe, feels that this first cooperation is the start of a long-term partnership with Saeco. “The highly-integrated BlueStreak SoCs, with their many peripherals and interfaces for this type of application, offer an ideal price-performance ratio and therefore a good basis for further projects with Saeco”.


Overall, the ARM9 and ARM7-based SoCs offer a high degree of versatility. The products range from simple CPUs, with a clock speed of 76 MHz, to the high-performance 266 MHz class SoCs. All BlueStreak SoCs have a high level of integration and low energy consumption. The Sharp Microelectronics processors thus proved to be the ideal solution for a wide range of applications with low system costs. Typical applications include all of the next generation of mobile devices, e.g. hand-held games consoles or portable media and DVD players. They also perform well in PDAs, GPS receivers, measuring equipment and portable medical equipment. Thanks to their broad operational temperature range, BlueStreak SoCs are also suitable for many industrial and outdoor applications, as well as for controlling car infotainment systems. Regardless of the application, design engineers also particularly value the comprehensive range of peripheral units for the BlueStreak SoCs, including programmable LCD controllers with integrated touch screen support.


Availability
The BlueStreak SoC LH75411 is already in mass production. Samples can be obtained world-wide via the Sharp sales offices and distribution partners.



Saeco for design, technology and innovation
With Italian roots and international vocation the Saeco company founded in 1981 in a small village in the hills near Bologna, today is the leader in the market for fully automatic espresso coffee machines, thanks to patents developed internally. Saeco has made innovation and technology its tools to spread the culture of coffee throughout the world. It produces 1 million coffee machines per annum, has three production plants, 17 branches around the world and employs 2,700 people. Since the 1980s, Saeco’s innovations have revolutionised the market for automatic coffee machines. Saeco is the result of re-search and development, patents, design and the passion present in all of these.


About Sharp Microelectronics Europe
Sharp Microelectronics Europe, Hamburg, Germany, is a divisional company of Sharp Electronics (Europe) GmbH, which is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Sharp is a worldwide devel-oper 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 Europe offers ground-breaking solutions in the areas of memory products, LCD, Opto Components, CCD, RF/IR, microcom-puter and system-on-chip components, along with packaging and integration skills that help design engineers throughout Europe to bring their ambitious ideas to market. Sharp Microelectronics Europe is dedicated to improving people’s lives through the use of advanced technology and a commitment to innovation, quality, value and design.
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For further information and illustration material see: www.sharpsme.com
For more information about the BlueStreak line of microcontrollers, please visit www.sharpmcu.com.


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Phone: +49 (0)180/5073507
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