ITRON Newsletter No.22 (HTML Edition)

ITRON Technical Committee, TRON Association
Katsuta Building 5F, 3-39, Mita 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, JAPAN
TEL: (03) 3454-3191    FAX: (03) 3454-3224

ITRON-related Publications

Listed below are the publications prepared and issued by the ITRON Technical Committee as of Aug. 1, 1996. The ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook is a one-volume compilation of µITRON (Ver 2.0) and ITRON2 specifications. Each of the publications below can be obtained directly from the sources indicated.

The latest version of µITRON3.0 is Ver 3.02.00. Changes made since the µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook was released (Ver 3.00.00) are noted in Newsletter No.5 and No.11, as well as in ITRON Standard Guidebook 2.

The ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 deals primarily with µITRON3.0. The earlier ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 remains as a valuable reference for use with the µITRON (Ver 2.0) and ITRON2 specifications, even though the dates in its title are now past.

ITRON-related Publications
Name Type Price Publisher Issued ISBN No.
ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 4,800Yen Personal Media Co. 1990 ISBN4-89362-079-7
µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 4,000Yen Personal Media Co. 1993 ISBN4-89362-106-8
ITRON/FILE Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 3,000Yen Personal Media Co. 1992 ISBN4-89362-092-4
ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 Textbook (Jap.) 3,500Yen Personal Media Co. 1992 ISBN4-89362-197-6
ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 Textbook (Jap.) 3,500Yen Personal Media Co. 1994 ISBN4-89362-133-5
µITRON Specification Ver 2.01.00.00 Specification (Eng.) 12,000Yen TRON Association 1989 -
ITRON2 Specification Ver 2.02.00.10 Specification (Eng.) 15,000Yen TRON Association 1990 -
µITRON3.0 Specification Ver 3.02.00 Specification (Eng.) - TRON Association 1994 -
NOTES:
- Prices do not include consumption tax.
- The documents are available to TRON Association members at a special discount rate.
- English-language specifications are distributed free of charge from here.

Revised Product Registration System to go into effect

As we noted in ITRON Newsletter No.20, the ITRON Technical Committee is putting a new ITRON-specification Product Registration System into effect as of October 1, 1996. Companies who implement the ITRON specifications (ITRON kernel, µITRON kernel, or ITRON/FILE specifications) are encouraged to register their products with the service. In return, the ITRON Technical Committee through its on-going promotional work is helping to make these products and the specifications more widely known in the industry. Newly registered products will also be introduced in this Newsletter.

The service that goes into effect in October has been slightly changed to reflect current realities. Products that were registered under the old system and are eligible for registration under the new system will continue to be registered. We plan to publish in our next Newsletter the list of products that remain registered. ITRON-related tools and publications will no longer be registered under the new system, but we will continue to introduce them actively in this Newsletter. The major differences between the old and new registration systems are detailed in Newsletter No.20.

Note that this service differs from so-called validation services in that the registered products are not certified to be in conformance with the ITRON specifications.

Report on the ITRON Open Seminar

The ITRON Open Seminar was held on Monday, July 15, in Tokyo. The seminar is held annually to introduce recent developments relating to the ITRON specifications, update the status of ITRON implementations, and describe enhancements to the ITRON development environment. This year was the sixth time the event was held.

The theme of this year's seminar was, "Looking ahead to the next step." There were presentations aimed at those new to ITRON, explaining the procedures for developing a system around a µITRON-specification OS, as well as presentations on the future outlook for the ITRON project. A highlight was a panel session on "Approaches to middleware standardization," an important new theme for the ITRON Technical Committee. Panel members representing users, semiconductor manufacturers, and middleware makers explored the ramifications of this issue from various angles. (Details of the discussion are given in TRONWARE Vol.41 [Japanese].)

Date: Monday, July 15, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Place: Shinagawa Community Center "Kurian"
Program:
  1. Latest on the ITRON subproject
    Kiichiro Tamaru (Toshiba)
  2. System development using µITRON: Micromouse case study
    Yasuhiro Kobayashi (Fujitsu), Shiro Kojima (Fujitsu Device)
  3. Panel session: Approaches to middleware standardization
    Moderator: Kiichiro Tamaru (Toshiba)
    Panel members:
    Hiroaki Takada (University of Tokyo)
    Norihiko Ito (Nihon Cygnus Support)
    Hisashi Takahashi (NEC)
    Tomihisa Kamada (Access)
    Yasushi Kasai (Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor Software)
  4. ITRON application case studies, development environment, and research trends
    (1) Real-time OS specifications for vehicle control use
    Koji Sato (Toyota Motor Corp.)
    (2) ITRON support of MULTI
    Hiroshi Fukutomi (Advanced Data Controls)
    (3) TCP/IP module and Web browser AVE-Front on ITRON
    Tomihisa Kamada (Access)
    (4) Realizing priority inheritance in a real-time OS for C++
    Osamu Higashihara (NEC Microcomputer Technology)
  5. Special speech: Computer-augmented environments and ITRON
    Ken Sakamura (University of Tokyo)
The seminar hall was filled to capacity by the more than 100 participants. Following the successful conclusion of the program, a reception party was attended by approximately 40 persons, offering a chance for socializing and information exchange.

Due to the unexpectedly large number of applications for the seminar, exceeding the capacity of the hall, we were forced to turn down applications received after the limit was reached. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our apologies to those who could not be accommodated. For the next seminar we plan to book a larger hall. We have also taken note of the increasing difficulty of both providing contents for seasoned veterans who attend these seminars each year and serving the needs of those who are relatively new to ITRON. For this reason, starting next year we are thinking about dividing the seminar into morning and afternoon sessions, with the former aimed at newcomers and the latter covering more advanced topics. At the same time we welcome other comments or suggestions regarding the way these seminars are held and their contents. Please contact the ITRON Technical Committee.

ITRON stickers

The ITRON Technical Committee has designed an ITRON logo and prepared stickers with this logo on it. Six different varieties are available, four small stickers and two larger ones. The small ones say, "Conform to ITRON Specification," "We support ITRON," or the same two slogans in Japanese. The large ones say, "We support ITRON" or the same in Japanese. These stickers will be distributed to companies that register an ITRON-specification OS in the Product Registration System described above, and will be displayed at seminars and other events.

Toward middleware standardization

As noted in the report on the ITRON Open Seminar, the ITRON Technical Committee attaches strong importance to the theme of middleware standardization for embedded systems, and is now in the process of deciding how to take up these issues.

Details will be offered as soon as they have been decided, but one activity being considered is to invite those who are already creating and providing middleware products to propose middleware interface specifications, and to start work on standardization for those aspects with the highest priority. Another theme to be taken up is kernel functions geared to middleware provision, and in particular those kernel functions supporting middleware with hard real-time characteristics.

For these activities we would very much like to have participation by middleware makers and others active in this field, in addition to the existing ITRON Technical Committee members. Anyone with an interest in middleware standardization for embedded systems, or in studying kernel functions geared to middleware provision, is urged to contact the ITRON Technical Committee.

! This newsletter is a special edition for WWW of the one appeared in TRONWARE vol.41 and TRON PROJECT JOURNAL No.45.

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