Instant Device Activation (also known as minidriver) allows you to provide higher levels of integration for your hardware. Advanced CPUs are providing higher levels of hardware integration than ever before. For example, the main CPU can now directly control CAN, J1850, and MOST interfaces.
This approach saves on hardware costs by reducing the need for extra chips and circuitry, but it also raises concerns for the software developer. For instance, a telematics control unit must be able to receive CAN messages within 30 to 100 milliseconds from the time that it is powered on. The problem is, the complex software running on such a telematics device can easily take hundreds of milliseconds, or more, to boot up.
For example, consider the critical milestones during the boot process for an in-car telematics or infotainment unit that typically boots from a cold condition (completely powered off) or from CPU reboot condition (returning from a state where SDRAM has been turned off). The unit must be able to:
In order to address the timing requirements described above, many embedded system designs rely on a simple but expensive solution that uses an auxiliary communications processor or external power module. This auxiliary hardware can be reduced in scope and sometimes even eliminated due to innovative software from QNX Software Systems. Also called minidriver technology, the approach consists of small, highly efficient device drivers that start executing before the OS kernel is initialized.