Hyperdroid™ FastBoot
A high-performance boot-up technology for Android™ and embedded Linux® devices
Hyperdroid™ FastBoot is eflow's original boot-up technology for systems using embedded versions of the Linux® kernel, including the Android™ operating system. It is also one component of the Hyperdroid™ platform, and is also available as a stand-alone technology.
Through a combination of optimizations, system and application start-up can be dramatically reduced, from about 1 minute for a typical Linux kernel-based embedded device to about 3 seconds (results may vary and conditions apply).
In Hyperdroid FastBoot, it is possible to dramatically accelerate the start-up of the Android environment, by loading at start-up a snapshot image taken at execution time, and by skipping the Linux kernel initialization -which usually consumes a lot of time- as well as the processes that start up the Dalvik virtual machine.
Features
Dramatic reduction in boot-up time
eflow's Hyperdroid FastBoot technology allows to dramatically accelerate the boot-up time of the device: it saves into non-volatile memory a image at execution time of the system, which usually consumes a lot o time to boot up in the Android platform, and then loads that snapshot image during the high-speed boot-up directly into memory, using hardware-supported copying functionalities such as DMA (Direct Memory Access).
Online update of the full system
Hyperdroid FastBoot updates both the high-speed boot-up module and the execution image, making it possible to update the entire system online.
Delivering an optimized solution for the specific target system
eflow will comply with each customer's licensing and source code delivery policies regarding the target system, and deliver a highly-optimized, customized implementation of its Hyperdroid FastBoot technology, whether it targets the Bootloader (Bootloader version), the Kernel (Linux Kernel version), or both (Hybrid version) -- whichever fits best the customer's requirements.
See details in the diagram below for a brief explanation of the differences between the Bootloader and the Linux Kernel versions.
[ click the image for an expanded view ]
Benefits
High-speed boot is available right out of the box
As a snapshot image at execution time is taken and saved in the built-in non-volatile memory before the device ships, the high-speed start-up functionality is available to the end user right from the first boot.
Changes on the device's desktop and in the settings reflected in the next boot
Users usually make changes to their device's desktop screen - removing, adding, or moving icons around - or modify the device's settings. Hyperdroid FastBoot technology tracks those changes, and will show them the next time the device is "fast-booted".
High-speed boot using a user-saved image
Available as an optional functionality, it is also possible to let the user himself take and save a snapshot image at execution time, and perform a high-speed boot using that same image.
Platform Independence
As eflow's Hyperdroid FastBoot technology is platform-independent, it can be applied to other systems that are not using the Android operating system.
Multi-core/processor support
eflow's Hyperdroid FastBoot technology can support multi-core and multi-processor architectures, which current-generation devices, from smartphones to tablets to set-top boxes, have already largely embraced.