WHAT'S NEW−ARCHIVE 2002/June

Announcement of an ITRON-Specification Information Seminar

The TRON Association has released to the public a μITRON4.0 Specification Memory Protection Function Extension Specification (abbreviation: μITRON4.0/PX Specification). Together with making this public, the TRON Association will hold a a seminar titled "An Explanation of the μITRON4.0-Specification Memory Protection Function Extension Specification and Its Implementation" from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on July 9 at Kikai Shinko Kaikan (Shiba Koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo). Through this seminar, in addition to an explanation of the μITRON4.0/PX Specification, we will also introduce methods for using the IIMP kernel based on the μITRON4.0/PX Specification--which was developed under commission from the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan, as as an "information technology development support project"--and technology for implementing it (SH, ARM, Pentium). For details of the seminar, please refer to: http://www.assoc.tron.org/ μITRON4.0/PX Specification is an abbreviation of μITRON4.0 Specification Protection Function Extension. IIMP is an abbreviation of Implementation of ITRON with Memory Protection.

About the T-Engine Project

In the T-Engine project, we are in the process of developing T-Engine as an embedded systems development platform for the age of ubiquitous computing. By using T-Engine, it is possible to efficiently develop cell-phones and portable information devices plus information appliance products. T-Engine is something for configuring a target system centering on a CPU board with specified external dimensions and combining it with various types of expansion boards. As for CPU boards, the development of two boards (for SH and MR series processors) have been publicly announced; furthermore, two types of CPU boards (for ARM and MIPS series processors) are under development. For T-Engine, the following three types of platforms have been planned: the standard T-Engine, μT-Engine, and pT-Engine. In the T-Engine project, we are proceeding with the development of hardware, middleware, and software through the cooperation of companies participating in the project.

Yazaki Corporation's "YZ-320 Series" LP Gas Central Surveillance System

Yazaki Corporation has manufactured and is now marketing the "Bulldog System," a central LP gas surveillance system. In this system, the "YZ-320 Series" Bulldog transceiver installed in the surveillance center can accommodate up to a maximum of three public analog circuits, and together with receiving periodic meter readings and emergency reports from the controllers installed in homes that utilize LP gas, it possesses functions for remote control from the surveillance center. Because real-time performance is required for multi-circuit simultaneous data communication and I/O control in this "YZ-320 Series," μITRON is utilized here. Through the implementation of μITRON, the user can realize the accommodation of 80,000 controllers, thus making possible to deploy it in large-scale systems. http://www.yazaki-group.com/

Public Release of the μITRON4.0 Memory Protection Function Extension

The TRON Association's Next Generation Real-Time Infrastructure Group released to the public as μITRON4.0 Specification Memory Protection Function Extension Specification (abbreviation: μITRON4.0/PX Specification) an extension specification for incorporating a memory protection function in the μITRON specification that it has continued to study from the beginning of last year. The μITRON4.0/PX Specification makes it possible to set collections of tasks (strictly speaking, protected domains) that have been permitted access in every kernel object (tasks, semaphore, etc.) that includes a memory domain. Accesses that are not permitted are detected and forbidden by the operating system. The TRON Association developed an IIMP kernel in which the μITRON4.0/PX Specification is implemented as one theme of the "information technology development support project" by the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA). We will release the results together with the specification as free software to the general public.s an abbreviation of "Implementation of ITRON with Memory Protection."

ESS 2002 System LSI Solution Fair Participation Report

The TRON Association cooperated in and conducted lectures and presented an exhibit at ESS 2002 System LSI Solution Fair (sponsored by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association), an embedded systems technology exhibit that was held at Tokyo Big Sight from last April 16 through 18. At the parallel conferences, TRON Project Leader and University of Tokyo Professor Ken Sakamura gave a lecture titled "Ubiquitous Computing and TRON," and also, in a technical session, Mr. Noboru Koshizuka (University of Tokyo) gave a lecture titled "Recent Trends in the TRON Project," and Mr. Hiroaki Takada (Toyohashi University of Technology) and Mr. Tetsuro Takagi (Denso Create Inc.) of the Version Up Working Group gave a lecture titled "Importing a Memory Protection Function into the μITRON Specification." In the exhibit, we presented a display on the project's recent results and future developments, plus an introduction to what the project is taking on by 11 member companies of the TRON Association.

Cho Kanji 4

Personal Media Corporation's "Cho Kanji 4" is the latest version of the BTRON-specification-based, multilingual, multi-kanji operating system for IBM-PC/AT-compatible personal computers. With Cho Kanji 4, it is possible to freely mix together and display in writing more than 170,000 kanji and other characters from throughout the world in applications such as a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database. The operating system has as standard equipment a "variant character swing search function" that makes possible the batch search of variant characters, which raises convenience in a mutli-kanji environment. In addition, the operating system also comes bundled with a Web browser and an e-mailer. The standard price is 25,000 yen (consumption tax not included). In addition, the talked about "Tompa character" hieroglyphic character font, which can be utilized on top of Cho Kanji 4, is also being marketed at a direct sales price of 8,000 yen (consumption tax not included). A Cho Kanji 4 Tompa Character pack in which these are combined into a set has a direct sales price of 29,800 yen (consumption tax not included). For further details, please see:http://www.chokanji.com/