JP2002149536A - Communication terminal device, program updating method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily upgrade firmware. SOLUTION: A user makes a call out to a firmware upgrade server in upgrading the firmware of a video CODEC 22 or a sound CODEC 32. After connection with the server is established, a video channel, a sound channel and a data channel are opened. New firmware is received from the server and stored in a RAM 16. A system controller 10 closes the video channel and the sound channel, updates the firmware area for the video CODEC and the firmware area for the sound CODEC of a flash memory 14 and restarts the CODECs 22 and 32. Then, the controller 10 opens the video channel and the sound channel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication terminal device and a program updating method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Modern electronic and electrical equipment is operated by software, not less. Therefore, it may be necessary to upgrade the firmware after the product shipped from the factory reaches the hands of the user. For example,
This is when a firmware bug is found. Of course,
Firmware upgrades may occur as a result of firmware upgrades to accommodate new technologies or to add new features.

When the firmware is upgraded after the product is shipped, it is general that the product is once returned to a sales company or a support center, and a specialized worker upgrades the firmware. However, such a method is costly, and is limited only to cases where fatal bugs have to be avoided or similar.

[0004] A less costly upgrade method is a user-owned method. However, in that case, it is impossible to ask the user for specialized knowledge, and it is not expected that the user will be provided with a special tool. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the operation by a simple operation without requiring a special tool. is there.

[0005] As such a method, a method conventionally used in computers and their peripheral devices is a method of executing firmware and software for executing an upgrade on an external storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or CD-ROM. Is stored, and the user activates the upgrade software.

[0006] Recently, an environment for connecting a computer to a network is being prepared, so that a method for taking in necessary firmware from an FTP server connected to the network and performing an upgrade has been proposed.

[0007]

Whether upgrading from an external storage medium or upgrading from an external server connected by a communication line, in the conventional method, the user executes a dedicated procedure for the upgrade. There must be. It is not easy for the user to perform such an unusual operation, and the user often falls into a situation where he or she does not know what to do during the operation.

Also, firmware upgrades often fail. In that case, it is necessary to perform the upgrade operation again. However, conventional methods generally require a system reboot after a firmware upgrade. In the case of upgrading from a communication line, the communication line is temporarily disconnected at the time of reboot, so that if the firmware upgrade fails, the upgrade cannot be performed again.

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal device, a program updating method, and a storage medium that solve such inconveniences.

[0010]

A communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises a communication interface, a nonvolatile memory for storing a stream processing program, and a loading of the stream processing program stored in the nonvolatile memory. A stream processing means for compressing or decompressing the stream information, and an updated stream processing program of the stream processing means being downloaded via the communication interface and written to the nonvolatile memory; And a system control unit for loading the updated stream processing program stored in the nonvolatile memory into the stream processing unit and executing the loaded stream processing program.

A program updating method according to the present invention comprises a communication interface, a non-volatile memory for storing a stream processing program, and loading or unloading the stream processing program stored in the non-volatile memory to compress or decompress stream information. And updating the stream processing program of the communication terminal device having the stream processing means. The updated stream processing program of the stream processing means is downloaded via the communication interface and written into the nonvolatile memory. A writing step; and a restarting step of restarting the stream processing means, loading the updated stream processing program stored in the nonvolatile memory into the stream processing means, and executing the loaded stream processing program. .

The storage medium according to the present invention stores program software for executing the above-described program updating method.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention applied to a terminal device in a H.323 video conference system.

The system controller 10 comprises a CPU 12, a flash memory 14, a RAM 16, and a power supply 18, and controls the operation of the entire system. The CPU 12 stores the program written in the flash memory 14 in R
Load to AM16 and execute.

The video compression / decompression device 20 comprises a video codec 22, an internal ROM 24 and a RAM 26. The video compression / expansion device 20 compresses / expands a video signal,
According to the control from the system controller 10, user interface (UI) display data to the video monitor is created. The video codec 22 starts the monitor program from the internal ROM 24, receives the video codec program from the system control device 10, loads it into the RAM 26, and receives an instruction from the system control device 10, and starts executing the loaded program. I do.

The operation of the codec program of the video codec 22 will be described. The video interface 28 converts an NTSC format video signal input from an externally connected video camera or the like into CCIR 601 format video data including a luminance component Y and color difference components Cr and Cb, and supplies the video data to the video codec 22. The video codec 22 converts video data input from the video interface 28 into H.264. 2
Compression encoding according to the 63 standard, and the system controller 10
To supply. The video codec 22 also decodes and decompresses the compression-encoded video data from the system control device 10 to generate a C signal including a luminance component Y and two color difference components Cr and Cb.
The video data is converted into video data in the CIR 601 format and output to the video interface 28. Video interface 28
Converts the video data input from the video codec 22 to NT
The signal is converted into an SC video signal and output to a video monitor connected to the outside.

The audio compression / decompression device 30 comprises an audio codec 32, an internal ROM 34 and a RAM 36. The audio codec 32 starts a monitor program from the internal ROM 34, receives the audio codec program from the system control device 10, loads it into the RAM 36, and receives an instruction from the system control device 20, and starts executing the loaded program. .

The operation of the codec program of the audio codec 32 will be described. The audio interface 38 performs sampling and A / D conversion of an electric audio signal from an externally connected microphone, and supplies the audio data obtained thereby to the audio codec 32. The audio codec 32 compresses and encodes the audio data from the audio interface 38 according to the G711 standard, and outputs the encoded data to the system control device 10. The audio codec 32 is also used by the system control device 1.
The audio data compressed and encoded from 0 is decoded and decompressed and supplied to the audio interface 38. Voice i / f8 is
The audio data from the audio codec 32 is converted into an analog signal, filtered, and output to an externally connected speaker.

The user interface 40 notifies the system controller 10 of a user operation of a keyboard and a mouse to be connected. LAN interface 42 is a CP
The data from U12 is packetized and sent to the LAN, and a packet addressed to its own address is received from the LAN.
Output to PU12.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram when the firmware of the terminal device shown in FIG. 1 is read from a remote server and upgraded.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the system controller 10 when the system is started. When the power is turned on, the CPU 12 starts a boot program written in a predetermined position of the flash memory 14 (S1), and the boot program loads and executes a flash loader program from a predetermined position on the flash memory 14. (S2).

The flash loader program builds a simple file system on the flash memory 14 and allows access to various programs and setting information by file name. The flash loader program is C
The program is executed by the PU 12, reads the system control program from the flash memory 14, loads it into the RAM 16, and transfers control to the execution start address (S3). CPU1
2 starts the operation of the system control program.

The system control program starts communication with the waiting video codec 22, sends a video codec reception request to the video codec 22 (S 4), and transmits the video codec program written in the flash memory 14 to the video codec 22. The data is transmitted to the codec 22 (S5). The system control program also starts communication with the standby audio codec 32, sends an audio codec reception request (S6), and transmits the audio codec program written in the flash memory 14 to the audio codec 32 (S7). .

FIG. 4 shows an example of a file configuration in the flash memory 14.

The system controller 10 further sets LAN information including an IP address and a MAC address in the LAN interface 42, and initializes the LAN interface (S8). The system control device 10 transmits a screen display instruction to the video codec 22 (S9), and displays an initial menu screen on the video monitor. with this,
All initialization is completed. Then, the system controller 1
0 accepts a user input via the user interface 40 (S10), and accepts an incoming video conference from the outside via the LAN interface (S11).

The operation of the video codec 22 and the audio codec 32 when the system is started will be described. When the system is turned on, the CPU 12 is first turned on, and after a short time, the video codec 22 and the audio codec 32 are turned on.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the video codec 22 when the system is started. Video codec 22
Starts the boot program written in the internal ROM 24 when the power is turned on. The boot program has a monitor function for communicating with the CPU 12, and stands by in a state of receiving control from the CPU 12 (S21).

The video codec 22 in the standby state is
Upon receiving an instruction to receive a video codec program from the PU 12 (S22), the video codec program stored in the flash memory 14 is received and loaded into the RAM 26 (S23). The video codec 22 has a RAM 26
The video codec program loaded in the program is started from the execution start address, and the video codec operation is started. During non-communication, the video codec 22 operates in the local loopback mode, and loops back video input from the local camera to a local video monitor (S2).
4). When an instruction to display an initial screen is received from the system controller 10 (S25), an initial menu screen is output to the video interface 28 (S26). As a result, an initial menu screen is displayed on the video monitor.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the audio codec 32 when the system is activated. Audio codec 32
Starts the boot program written in the internal ROM 34 when the power is turned on. The boot program has a monitor function for communicating with the CPU 12, and stands by in a state of receiving control from the CPU 12 (S31).

The audio codec 32 in the standby state has C
When receiving an instruction to receive the audio codec program from the PU 12 (S32), the audio codec program stored in the flash memory 14 is received and loaded into the RAM 36 (S33). The audio codec 32 includes a RAM 36
Is started from the execution start address of the audio codec program loaded in the program. During non-communication, audio codec 3
2 operates in the standby mode (S34).

The procedure for making a call to the firmware upgrade server in this embodiment will be described. After the initialization is completed and the system is ready for use, the user or service technician operates the mouse and keyboard according to the menu displayed on the video monitor, and contacts the service center to upgrade the video codec firmware. Connect (call).

Specifically, the user interface 40
Is an instruction for calling a TV conference from a user input device and a destination I
It receives the P address (or host name) and transfers it to the system controller 10. The system control device 10 is a LAN
A call setting message for calling a TV conference and a destination IP address are packetized and sent to the interface 42,
The LAN interface 42 sends the packet to the LAN.

When a call setting response is returned from the partner terminal specified by the IP address, the call connection is completed.
Next, the process proceeds to a master / slave determination phase and a capability exchange phase. A 245 control channel is established. These procedures are described in 323; 225 and H.E. 245
Follow the standard procedure of TV conference specified in the standard.

H. Once the H.245 control channel is established,
A video channel for video transmission is opened from both sides, and transmission and reception of video are performed. Both sides open a voice channel for voice transmission, and perform voice transmission and reception. Further, a bidirectional data channel for transmitting and receiving data is opened.

According to the above procedure, a video, audio and data conference can be performed between the video conference terminal on the user side and the video conference terminal for firmware upgrade on the service center side.

FIG. 7 shows a sequence of data flowing on the line between the server and the terminal when a video conference is called from the terminal of this embodiment to the firmware upgrade server. This procedure is the same as the standard H.264. This is exactly the same as the calling procedure of the H.323 TV conference terminal.

Next, the operation of the system controller 10 at the time of firmware upgrade will be described. FIG. 8 shows a main flowchart of the system control device 10.

The user has a conversation with a person in charge of upgrading at the service center in a TV conference and is informed about the upgrade operation, and then selects a video codec upgrade execution menu using the mouse.

The system controller 10 receives a user input from the user interface 40 and starts a firmware upgrade routine. The firmware upgrade routine first calls a firmware reception routine (S41). FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the firmware reception routine.

In the firmware reception routine (S41), the FT is transmitted to the server through the LAN interface 42.
P (file transfer protocol)
Connection is made by a protocol (S61). When the server inquires of the login user name and the password, the server automatically inputs the predetermined user name and the predetermined password and logs in to the server (S62). The video codec firmware is designated by a predetermined file name, the file is downloaded, and stored in the RAM 16 (S63). The FTP is disconnected (S64), and the process returns to the main routine.

The file transfer protocol FTP used for downloading firmware from a server is TCP
/ IP is a protocol that is very commonly used on networks. FIG. 10 shows an example of the FTP request sent from the terminal to the server. File name system controller 1
0 knows the IP address of the server when calling the server, and the file name of the video codec firmware is known. This FTP procedure is performed automatically without requiring user input. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the IP address of the server is "200.001.001.00
1 "and the user name is" firmmuggues
t ”, the password is“ Guestpass ”, and the file name of the video codec firmware is“ moviec ”.
od. sys ".

When the process returns from the firmware reception routine to normal, the system controller 10 checks the tag at the head of the firmware and confirms that the tag of the firmware for the video codec is written (S42). If the tag is not correct, an error message is displayed and the process ends (S
43). If the tag is correct (S42), the system control device 10 stops transmitting the video (S44) and closes the video channel (S45). System control device 10
Sends an instruction to the video codec 22, stops the codec operation, and puts the video codec 22 in a standby state (S
46). When the server closes the video channel,
Stop transmitting video and close the video channel.

Thus, the video transmission between the user terminal and the server stops.

Next, the system controller 10 starts a firmware write routine (S47). FIG.
Shows a flowchart of a firmware write routine. The power supply 18 applies a voltage for writing to the flash memory 14 (S71), and erases the video codec firmware area (S72). After that, RAM1
The firmware for the video codec is read from 6,
The data is written to the flash memory 14 (S73). When the writing ends, the application of the voltage to the flash memory 14 ends (S74), and the process returns to the routine shown in FIG.

When the firmware writing process is completed,
The system control device 10 starts a video codec restart routine (S48). FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the video codec restart routine. The system controller 10 sends a video codec program reception instruction to the video codec 22 (S81). System control device 10
Then, the video codec program is read from the flash memory 14 and transmitted to the video codec 22 (S82), and the process returns to the routine shown in FIG.

When the video codec 22 is restarted with the new firmware, the system controller 10 switches the video codec 22 from the local loopback mode to the H.264 mode. 3
A request signal for shifting to the 23 communication mode is sent to the video codec 22 (S49). Then, the video channel is opened (S50), and the transmission of the video is restarted (S5).
1).

When video transmission is resumed at the terminal, the server opens a video channel in the reverse direction and resumes video transmission from the server to the user terminal. Thereby, transmission / reception of bidirectional video is resumed, and it can be confirmed that the video codec 22 has been correctly upgraded.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of the processing in the video codec 22. Upon receiving the codec stop request from the system control device 10, the video codec 22 shifts to the monitor mode (S91). The video codec 22 receives the video codec program reception instruction from the system control device 10 (S92), subsequently receives the video codec program from the system control device 10, and loads the received program into the RAM 26 (S93). The video codec 22 transfers control to the entry point of the received video codec program, executes the new video codec program, and starts a local loopback operation (S94). Video codec 2
2 from the system controller 10 Upon receiving a request to shift to the H.323 communication mode (S95), The H.263 codec operation is started (S96).

FIG. 14 shows a sequence of data flowing on the line between the user terminal and the server at the time of firmware upgrade. FIG. 15 shows a protocol configuration diagram of the present embodiment.

Although an example of upgrading the video codec 22 has been described, the present invention is not limited to the video codec 22, and the firmware can be upgraded not only for the video codec 22 but also for other devices while maintaining the connection with the communication partner.

In order to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, a computer connected to the various devices or a computer in the system stores program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments. And the computer (CPU or MPU) of the apparatus or system is operated by operating the various devices in accordance with the stored programs.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example,
A storage medium storing such a program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM and the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) or other operating system running on the computer. Even when the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized in cooperation with application software and the like, it goes without saying that such program codes are included in the embodiments of the invention according to the present application.

Further, the supplied program code is:
After being stored in the memory provided in the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs one of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that a case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing all or part of the processes and executing the processing is also included in the invention according to the present application.

[0056]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the firmware can be upgraded by a simple operation, specifically, by the same operation as a normal video conference. This allows the user to upgrade the firmware without requiring special tools or knowledge of the firmware upgrade operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of an upgrade system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the system control device 10 when the system is activated.

FIG. 4 is an example of a file configuration in a flash memory 14;

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the video codec 22 when the system is activated.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart of the audio codec 32 when the system is activated.

FIG. 7 is a data sequence on a line between a server and a terminal for a firmware upgrade.

FIG. 8 is a main flowchart of the system control device 10 at the time of firmware upgrade.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a firmware reception routine.

FIG. 10 is an example of an FTP request sent from a terminal to a server.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a firmware write routine.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a video codec restart routine.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a firmware upgrade process of the video codec 22.

FIG. 14 shows a sequence of data flowing on a line between a user terminal and a server during a firmware upgrade.

FIG. 15 is a protocol configuration diagram of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: System control device 12: CPU 14: Flash memory 16: RAM 18: Power supply 20: Video compression / expansion device 22: Video codec 22 24: Internal ROM 26: RAM 28: Video interface 30: Audio compression / expansion device 32: Audio codec 34: Internal ROM 36: RAM 38: Voice interface 40: User interface

Claims (7)

[Claims] A communication interface; a non-volatile memory for storing a stream processing program; a stream processing means for loading the stream processing program stored in the non-volatile memory to compress or decompress stream information; Downloading the updated stream processing program of the stream processing means via the communication interface, writing the updated stream processing program to the nonvolatile memory, restarting the stream processing means, and storing the updated stream processing stored in the nonvolatile memory A communication terminal device comprising: a system control unit that loads a program into the stream processing unit and executes the program. 2. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the stream information includes video information and audio information. 3. The system control unit according to claim 1, wherein the system control unit suspends transmission / reception of the stream information before restarting the stream processing unit, and resumes transmission / reception of the stream information after restarting the stream processing unit. The communication terminal device according to claim 1. 4. A communication interface, a nonvolatile memory for storing a stream processing program, and a stream processing means for loading the stream processing program stored in the nonvolatile memory and compressing or expanding stream information. A method of updating the stream processing program of the communication terminal device, the step of downloading the updated stream processing program of the stream processing means via the communication interface and writing the updated stream processing program in the nonvolatile memory; Restarting the means and loading the updated stream processing program stored in the nonvolatile memory into the stream processing means to execute the stream processing program. 5. The program updating method according to claim 4, wherein said stream information includes video information and audio information. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: a pause step for temporarily stopping transmission and reception of the stream information before the restart step; and a restart step for restarting transmission and reception of the stream information after the restart step. 4. The program updating method according to 4. 7. A storage medium storing program software for executing the program update method according to claim 4.