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The TRON Association's ITRON Committee issues the bimonthly ITRON Newsletter to keep everyone abreast of the latest ITRON project developments and to publicize widely the committee's activities. The newsletter contains information about newly added or revised ITRON specifications and about revised editions of publications put out by the ITRON Committee. It also serves to introduce ITRON-specification products, new publications and other literature as well as to announce upcoming trade shows, seminars and other events of interest.
The ITRON Newsletter appears in the TRONWARE magazine and can be perused at the ITRON Project Web site. Please contact the ITRON Committee if you wish to have an article put in the newsletter. The committee also welcomes your questions, comments or suggestions regarding the ITRON Project or ITRON specifications in general.
This year's ITRON Open Seminar will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 4-5. As in previous years, the first day of the seminar will be devoted to an introduction of the latest developments and activities of the ITRON project. The venue will be the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (Tokyo Big Sight). The seminar being planned for the second day will present the accomplishments of the JCG Project and detailed commentaries on ITRON specifications. It will take place at the Tokyo Fashion Town Building, located near the Tokyo Big Sight.
The seminar program is now being prepared, with the details and procedure for applying to be announced in the next issue of the Newsletter. A large turnout is expected again this year.
Two new observer members have joined the ITRON Committee, Grape Systems, Inc. as of December 1999 and U S Software Corporation as of January 2000. An updated membership list is available at the ITRON Project Web site.
Grape Systems, Inc.
Grape Systems is active in developing, marketing, importing and selling products in both the embedded systems and personal computer fields. It also develops software under contract. In the area of networking products, the company has an extensive record of accomplishments, including development of X.25, HDLC, ISDN, PIAFS, HTTP and SNMP protocols, installation of TCP/IP, SNMP and other protocols, and development of related drivers and applications. As the general agent in Japan for Nucleus PLUS, a real-time OS manufactured by America's Accelerated Technology Inc. (ATI) for embedded-system applications, Grape Systems is involved in marketing, customer support and development activities. It also markets an array of middleware components under the Grapeware brand. Except for some OEM products, Grape Systems sells all of its products on a project license basis that includes provision of the source code without any royalty fees. It has also adapted Nucleus PLUS to the mITRON4.0 specification. Together with ATI, Grape Systems intends to promote worldwide penetration of ITRON specifications.
U S Software Corporation
U S Software was established in Oregon in 1975 as a consulting firm specializing in software for embedded applications. It has since supplied the marketplace with a wide variety of software products, ranging from real-time OSs to TCP/IP protocol packages. Notably, the TCP/IP protocol packages and file systems it provides as middleware for ITRON applications are supported on many different platforms. In 1998, U S Software was the first overseas vendor to roll out an ITRON-compatible kernel in world markets. It has contributed significantly to the penetration of ITRON specifications in markets outside of Japan. Through its strong partnership with AI Corporation, its general agent in Japan, U S Software provides diverse solutions and services for ITRON applications.
The following laboratory has been authorized to use manufacturer code 0x0002 and the value noted below in the upper 8 bits of the kernel identifier. This assignment was made under the newly established system that allows universities and research institutes to apply for the use of a manufacturer code (see Newsletter No. 41).
0x01 Embedded and Real-Time Systems Laboratory, Toyohashi University of Technology
The table below lists all the publications that were created and issued by the ITRON Committee as of February 1, 2000. Please contact the relevant source to obtain copies.
The revised edition of the mITRON3.0 Standard Handbook contains the most recent version of the mITRON3.0 specification (Ver. 3.02.02). The revisions made between the old edition of the mITRON3.0 Standard Handbook (Ver. 3.00.00) and Ver. 3.02.00 are noted in the ITRON Standard Guidebook 2. The changes from Ver. 3.02.00 to Ver. 3.02.02 involve only organizational changes and additional explanations, and do not affect the technical contents.
The ITRON-mITRON Standard Handbook is a one-volume compilation of the mITRON Ver. 2.0 and ITRON2 specifications. As printed copies are no longer available, the entire contents have been posted at the publisher's Web site.
The ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 mainly deals with the mITRON Ver. 2.0 and ITRON2 specifications, while the ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 primarily concerns the mITRON3.0 specification. The former guidebook is still a valuable reference when using the mITRON Ver. 2.0 and ITRON2 specifications, even though the years in the title have passed.
ITRON-related Publications
| Name | Type | Price | Publisher | Issued | ISBN No. | ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook | Specification (Jap.) | (out of print) | Personal Media Corp. | 1990 | ISBN4-89362-079-7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook Revised Edition | Specification (Jap.) | 4,000 yen | Personal Media Corp. | 1997 | ISBN4-89362-154-8 |
| µITRON4.0 Specification | Specification (Jap.) | 5,000 yen (incl. tax) | TRON Association | 1999 | - | ITRON Standard Guidebook '92 - '93 | Reference work (Jap.) | 3,500 yen | Personal Media Corp. | 1992 | ISBN4-89362-197-6 |
| ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 | Reference work (Jap.) | 3,500 yen | Personal Media Corp. | 1994 | ISBN4-89362-133-5 |
| ITRON TCP/IP API Specification (Ver. 1.00.01) | Specification (Jap.) | - | TRON Association | 1998 | - |
| JTRON2.0 Specification (Ver. 2.00.00) | Specification (Jap.) | - | TRON Association | 1998 | - |
| µITRON Specification Ver 2.01.00.00 | Specification (Eng.) | 12,000 yen | TRON Association | 1989 | - | ITRON2 Specification Ver 2.02.00.10 | Specification (Eng.) | 15,000 yen | TRON Association | 1990 | - |
| µITRON3.0 Specification Ver 3.02.00 | Specification (Eng.) | - | TRON Association | 1994 | - |
| µITRON3.0: An Open and Portable Real-Time Operating System for Embedded Systems | Specification (Eng.) | $40.00 | IEEE CS Press | 1997 | ISBN0-8186-7795-3 |
| JTRON2.0 Specification (Ver. 2.00.00) | Specification (Eng.) | - | TRON Association | 1999 | - |
ITRON Committee Secretary Hiroaki Takada of Toyohashi University of Technology talked about the current status of the ITRON Project and standardization of the debugging interface specification at the third OSEK/VDX Project Workshop. This two-day workshop was held in Bad Homburg on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany on February 2-3.
The OSEK/VDX project is developing standards for OSs used in automotive control systems and for the protocols of in-vehicle communication networks. Its core members include German and French automobile manufacturers and electrical component suppliers. The ITRON project was also introduced at the second OSEK/VDX workshop held in October 1997, which was covered briefly in IITRON Newsletter No. 29.
Takada's presentation at this third workshop focused mainly on the achievements of the ITRON project since the previous meeting. With regard to standardization of the debugging interface, he proposed that the OSEK/VDX project and the ITRON Committee work together in developing common standards. In his remarks, Takada stressed the purpose and significance of standardizing the debugging interface specification.
This section is devoted to brief introductions of ITRON-related development tools and middleware products that have been released recently.
WindowsOCE and mITRON-specification OSs are managed using separate logical space and physical memory. A firewall that prevents each OS from mistakenly accessing the other's program data is provided along with a function for monitoring trouble in both OSs.
The priority order of each program run on the WindowsOCE and mITRON-specification OSs is converted to a normalized priority order indicating the importance of each system's programs and compared. Precedence is given to the OS that is running the program having the highest normalized priority order. This function assures quick responsiveness of the WindowsOCE GUI even while the mITRON-specification OS is executing a task.
Shared inter-OS memory, message communication and exclusion control function (inter-OS semaphore) are available as communication capabilities to enable high-speed data exchanges between the two OSs.
Individual devices such as monitors and the like can be used in common by both OSs.
Hitachi, Ltd.
Platform Promotion Department, New Business Promotion Headquarters
(Attention: Mr. Kamiwaki)
Ohmika Office, 5-2-1 Ohmika-cho, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture 319-1293, Japan
Tel: 0294-53-1111
This newsletter is a special
edition for WWW of the one appeared in TRONWARE vol.62.
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