07 March 2006

Sharp Solution Chosen For MonRoi Portable Chess Manager

Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas has confirmed that MonRoi has selected Sharp's System Solution for the MonRoi portable Chess Manager, a wireless device for professional tournament players.

With 4MB of memory, the MonRoi device supports more than 50 chess games, a minimum of 10 hours run time, and is able to record chess games tamper free. Professional players can review games instantly, broadcast each move during tournaments, and upload and download games from a PC. The MonRoi device is the only patented FIDE-certified Personal Chess Manager in the world. The U.S. Chess Federation, the European Chess Union and the China Chess Federation have all endorsed it.

Sharp's System Solution for MonRoi includes a component platform with Sharp's SoC, LCD, and Flash Memory. Drawing on Sharp's library of software tools and its collaboration with Sharp Microelectronics engineers, MonRoi's designers realised the full benefits of Sharp's hardware components, including the ARM7-based 16/32-bit LH75411 SoC, part of Sharp's BlueStreak family of SoCs.

"Sharp Microelectronics proved to be a vital partner during the conception of our Personal Chess Manager," said Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro, founder of MonRoi. "Our designers were able to tap into Sharp's collective knowledge through its comprehensive software and design tools, as they incorporated these complex pictorial features into a compact power-efficient design."

"The MonRoi design is ideal for our flexible and easily integrated ARM7 16/32 bit MCU," said Noel Giamello, Senior Director, Systems Solutions Business Unit for Sharp Microelectronics' BlueStreak line. "With the added benefit of strong integration with our LCD and Flash memory components, MonRoi will have an adaptable system for future product advancement."

The 16/32-bit LH75411 SoC provides a strategic balance of flexibility, performance and integration. Together with Sharp's 3.5-inch QVGA Advanced-TFT color LCD and the 16Mbit Flash Memory component, this System Solution provides a unique integration advantage over similar stand-alone components, the company said.

The 3.3V LH75411 SoC is a cost-effective choice for portable devices, enabling design engineers to achieve high computational power operating at 70 MHz, advanced graphical effects, and low power consumption with an ARM7-based microcontroller. As part of the MonRoi design, the LH75411 offers 32KB of on-chip SRAM, a colour LCD controller, and strong custom support through Sharp's extensive software and development tools library. The SoC also contains all the interfaces needed for portable design, including LCD and Flash.

The LQ035Q7DH01 LCD featured in the MonRoi device offers high contrast and high colour saturation with 262,144 colours and 100 nits of brightness from six high-efficiency white LED backlights. The 16/32-bit SoC and touch screen LCD interface seamlessly with the LHF00L31 Bottom Boot Block Flash Memory component, offering flexibility for design.

The MonRoi personal chess manager was successfully implemented at seven international chess competitions and is in production.