(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| New OS to Highlight Sony's Software Assets: Sony Engineers
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January 28, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Sony Corp. developed a proprietary operating
system, "Aperios," that is targeted for use in household electrical
appliances, including a robot.
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Sony exhibited a dog-shaped robot and a reading tool
for electronic book listings, both of which employed Aperios, at COMDEX/
Fall '98, which was held in Las Vegas last November.
Nikkei Personal Computing interviewed Yoshiaki Kagawa (left), manager
of Sony's Home Application Development Laboratory of Platform Software
Development Center, and Haruyoshi Suzuki (right), SMAP general manager
of Sony's Home Application Development Laboratory of Platform Software
Development Center, about the goals for Aperios.
Nikkei PC: What is the purpose of developing Aperios?
Kagawa: The major purpose is to reuse our software property used
in products such as our game machines and audio/ visual equipment. We
want to reuse it by making many software modules and combining them.
The dog-shaped robot exhibited at COMDEX/ Fall '98 was composed of a
suite of several software modules, and we think it was a good example
of the concept.
Nikkei PC: Do you have any plans to apply it to set-top equipment
such as Internet terminals?
Suzuki: Maybe SMAP (Single Media Activated Platform) is similar
to such equipment.
The SMAP platform supports a liquid-crystal display, keyboard and mouse,
but it has no hard disk drive. Only start-up software is installed in
14MB flash memories.
It starts with a mini disc (MD), which includes whole system such as
basic input/output system, operating system, a driver and application
software, inserted into a slot on the side of the body.
The MD's data storage capacity is 140MB. It is possible to allow the
other operating systems to be used in addition to Aperios if they are
smaller than 140MB.
Even if one application program causes trouble, users can continue to
use the system by replacing the MD. The purpose of implementing the
whole system into the MD is to "detach" problems easily.
Related stories:
Sony Proposes New Platform Aimed at Non-PC Users
TCI Selects Sony Home Networking Module For
Set-top Boxes
Sony Proposes Basic Format For Entertainment Robots
(Nikkei
Personal Computing)
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