QNX provides development tool to bring enhanced JVC in-car DVD player to market

The Customer
JVC Japan is a leading developer and manufacturer of audio, visual, computer-related consumer, professional electronics and software, and media products.

The Challenge
When JVC needed to create a reliable and cost-effective new DVD receiver and graphical user interface (GUI) for in-car use, they turned to the QNX® Neutrino® realtime operating system (RTOS).

This latest infotainment device from JVC for the automotive aftermarket offers a receiver with "dual zone" capability for front and back seat simultaneous operation, a detachable monitor, and a 5.1 channel audio system. The LCD touch panel would display information from different input sources such as CD, DVD, and radio tuner, as well as from the vehicle’s operation software. To give the unit its high reliability and automotive-grade performance, JVC took advantage of many QNX software innovations, including a highly modular embedded windowing system, a code-generating application builder, easy-to-customize user-interface controls, and advanced multi-language support.

Because of the competitive nature of in-car telematics market, JVC needed an operating system and development tools that would enable them to bring their product to market ahead of the competition. Not only did they need to implement their new product quickly, but they needed a real-time system that would be cost-effective and very reliable.

The QNX Advantage
JVC looked to QNX Software Systems to provide a complete development solution to power their telematics application cost-effectively and within a short timeline. The QNX Momentics® application builder enabled JVC developers to reduce time-consuming programming tasks, allowing them to focus on quality design instead.

Other QNX features that reduced JVC's development time included high-speed message passing, which enable them to easily synchronize the device's multiple software programs, and full POSIX support, which allowed engineers with Unix/Linux experience to become productive almost immediately.

JVC used the QNX® Photon microGUI® windowing system to develop their new GUI. QNX Photon is a full-featured customizable foundation for creating human machine interfaces for small embedded systems. Like QNX Neutrino, this windowing system starts with a tiny microkernel and provides most of its services through optional, memory-protected processes. The result: a resilient and dynamically scalable graphical user interface (GUI) that lets developers create feature-rich products with a unique look and feel. JVC was particularly interested in its mulit-lingual support, and its ability to integrate with existing devices, including the Hitachi SH4 and Q2SD.

The Result
JVC was pleased with the result because it enabled them to deliver the GUI with the first release of their in-car DVD.

“The major challenge for us was to meet a tight delivery deadline, while working with limited man hours,” said Nobuo Maeda, Mobile Entertainment Category Manager of JVC. QNX provided us with a good cross-development environment. We were able to begin development on x86 PCs even before the hardware was ready, which reduced development time significantly.”