Bernina Selects Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS for Technology-Rich Bernina 830 Sewing System

Bernina, one of the world’s largest sewing machine manufacturers and the world’s only privately held sewing machine company, chose Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS to meet the high-technology demands of the 830. ThreadX is designed for microcontroller-based applications and features a small memory footprint as small as 2KB, so it can reside in even the most limited on-chip MCU memory. ThreadX provides preemptive, real-time, priority-based scheduling for optimum responsiveness and high performance and includes services such as thread scheduling, message passing, resource allocation, synchronization, and interrupt management. ThreadX also provides Preemption-Threshold™ technology that can be used to minimize context switches, while still maintaining system schedulability.

Selling approximately 100,000 Swiss-engineered machines annually into more than 20 countries, Bernina incorporates extensive electronic technology in each sewing machine such as:
• Fully automated touch screen that places a variety of functions at the sewer’s fingertips;
• On-screen Buttonhole Measuring System, allowing the sewer to simply hold a button up to the touch screen for an exact fit;
• Embroidery design rescalability, which resizes designs automatically recalculating the design stitch count to retain the original design’s integrity;
• The patented Bernina® Stitch Regulator (BSR) is a revolutionary foot that “reads” the fabric, activating when the fabric moves, even though the feed dogs are down, keeping the stitches regular and consistent.
• The 830 touchscreen is ergonomic centered, so you can see the needle and screen with one quick glance. This 7-inch, ultra-responsive display features cutting-edge TFT (thin film transistor) technology for the brightest, most vivid colors, the highest-definition graphics.

“As a provider of sewing and embroidery systems for a market segment with the uppermost performance demands, we rely on the stability and flexibility of the ThreadX operation system,” commented Boris Zickenberg, Senior Software Development Engineer for Bernina International AG. “ThreadX provides excellent real-time performance on the ARM9 platform along with being compact and versatile for add-on modules. These aspects together with a responsive development support makes it the OS of our choice.”
“Bernina’s 830 is evidence that technology is moving further and further into our everyday lives,” commented William E. Lamie, CEO of Express Logic. “It’s exciting to participate in this movement, and we’re proud and honored that Bernina has chosen to use our ThreadX RTOS for this ingeniously innovative sewing machine. ”