Embedded System Design - Commercial Kitchen Video Terminal

When you visit a fast-food restaurant, you might notice that the staff working in the kitchen using computer display monitors to see what food they need to prepare. Chances are that those displays are part of a system that one our customers sells in high volume to restaurant operators around the world. It takes your order information from the point-of-sale at the service counter and formats that information for quick and accurate preparation.

Hardware Optimization Needed

After perfecting their software and building on proven success for years, our customer was poised for rapid growth. To maximize success, however, they decided to improve their hardware design. Some minor engineering issues needed to be addressed, and supply line problems due to obsolete components were starting to appear. While these improvements were desirable, modifying any of the core embedded software or application code was not. Their features and reliability were already meeting the market need very effectively.

From Leadership to Dominance

Some of the design features of the new hardware included :

Lower operating temperature by modernizing the power supply
Increased power-up reliability by improving certain design margins
Selection of key long-life components to avoid future design revisions
A low-cost embedded Ethernet implementation
Dramatically reduced labor requirement in assembly - complete transition to surface mount components
Completely "backward compatible" firmware implementation - no application software changes required
Exact mechanical fit to the previous enclosure - no mechanical design changes required

The new design has been very effective. Previously successful with major chains in North America, our customer now holds the lead market share in their category throughout the world.

Contact Tier One to learn how your project can benefit from our experience.

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