JP2014013484A - Program update system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program update system in which a number of terminal devices can download an update program efficiently.SOLUTION: A plurality of terminal devices are classified into groups. A download request timing is set by using, as a reference, a point of time when a first group terminal device requests a program provision device of an update program, each terminal device of a remaining group sets a request timing of download on the basis of time needed for download of an update program. When, after terminal devices of a previous group is downloaded, a request timing of a next group reaches, a terminal device requests an update program. Each terminal device downloads an update program by shifting a timing for each group.

Description

  The present invention relates to a program update system that downloads an update program and updates the program.

  A terminal device incorporating a microcomputer is communicably connected to a program providing device such as a server, and executes predetermined processing in accordance with a program provided from the program providing device. When the program is updated due to version upgrade or the like, the terminal device downloads the update program from the program providing device.

  When there are a large number of terminal devices connected to one program providing device, when each terminal device downloads an update program at the same time, the load on the program providing device increases and the time required for downloading also increases.

  In the download system described in Patent Document 1, when a terminal device downloads, information indicating that the download is continuing is broadcast to other terminal devices. Other terminal devices do not request download upon receiving broadcast communication.

JP 2007-109149 A

  When the terminal device downloads the update program, it notifies the other terminal device that the update program is to be downloaded. Then, when the terminal device that has received the notification downloads the update program, it must notify another terminal device. When a large number of terminal devices update the program, such notifications are performed in order, so that it takes time to complete downloading of all the terminal devices, which is not efficient.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a program update system in which a large number of terminal devices can efficiently download an update program.

  The program update system according to the present invention includes a program providing device that provides a program and a plurality of terminal devices that can communicate with the program providing device. Each terminal device requests the program providing device to provide an update program. The program providing device in response to the request provides an update program, and each terminal device downloads the update program and updates the program. At this time, a plurality of terminal devices are grouped, and each terminal device downloads the update program at different timings for each group.

  Since the update program is downloaded in the same number of times as the number of groups, the load of the program providing device can be reduced compared to the case where the program providing device individually corresponds to the terminal device, and the terminal device can be transferred to other terminal devices. No need to notify. Therefore, the update program can be downloaded efficiently.

  After the terminal device of the previous group downloads the update program, the terminal device of the next group requests the update program. Downloads for each group do not overlap and communication is not congested.

  On the basis of the time point when the first group of terminal devices request the program providing device for the update program, the remaining group of terminal devices sequentially request the update program at a timing determined based on the time required for downloading the update program.

  The update program request timing is determined based on the data amount of the update program. Since there is no change in communication time, if the amount of data is known, the time required for downloading can be calculated, and the timing for requesting downloading of each group can be determined. As a result, the terminal device can download smoothly without useless waiting time.

  Each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups based on the unique information possessed by the terminal device. Terminal devices can be distributed uniformly to each group.

  When the data amount of the update program updated by each terminal device is different, each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups according to the data amount of the update program. Although the time required for downloading for each group differs, the time required for downloading each terminal device in the group is the same, and the time required for the entire download can be shortened.

  The program providing apparatus determines the download priority of each group according to the data amount of the update program, and notifies each terminal apparatus of the priority. The terminal device of each group downloads the update program at a determined timing. Although the program providing apparatus provides a plurality of update programs, it can be provided for each update program and can be processed efficiently.

  Each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections to the program providing device. The program providing device cannot communicate with a terminal device exceeding the maximum number of simultaneous connections at a time. Since the terminal devices belonging to one group are equal to or less than the maximum number of simultaneous connections, the update program can be reliably downloaded for each group, and the time required for downloading does not increase.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of terminal devices download the update program at different timings for each group, the terminal devices do not download at the same time. Therefore, the load on the program providing device can be reduced, communication between terminal devices can be made unnecessary, and the time required for downloading the entire system can be shortened.

Schematic configuration diagram of the program update system of the present invention Block diagram showing schematic configuration of terminal device Diagram showing the download sequence of update programs for each group Diagram showing update program download sequence when grouped based on update program data volume Diagram showing the download sequence of update programs when grouped based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections

  The program update system of this embodiment is shown in FIG. This system includes a program providing device 1 that provides a program and a plurality of terminal devices 2 that can communicate with the program providing device 1. The program providing device 1 and the terminal device 2 transmit and receive data by wireless communication.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 2 includes a CPU 21, a program memory 22, a work memory 23, and a communication unit 24, and the CPU 21 and peripheral devices such as the memories 22 and 23 are connected by a bus 25. The program memory 22 is a non-volatile memory such as a readable / writable flash memory that stores a program to be executed by the CPU 21. The work memory 23 is a volatile memory such as a RAM that provides a program execution space. The communication unit 24 performs wireless communication such as specific low power wireless and wireless LAN. The CPU 21, the program memory 22, and the work memory 23 constitute a control unit. The control unit executes predetermined processing according to the program. The program providing apparatus 1 is a server and has the same configuration as the terminal apparatus 2, and the control unit controls data communication with the terminal apparatus 2.

  Here, the program providing device 1 and the terminal device 2 are used in a wireless telemeter system that performs meter reading such as a meter. The program providing device 1 is a wireless master device that is communicably connected to the center device through a communication line. The terminal device 2 is a wireless slave installed in a house, and is connected to terminal devices such as a meter and a sensor. The control unit of the terminal device 2 periodically starts a program, collects data such as meter reading values from a terminal device such as a meter, and transmits the collected data to the program providing device 1. The program providing device 1 transmits data received from each terminal device 2 to the center device. Data such as a message from the center device is transmitted to the terminal device 2 through the program providing device 1. The control unit of the terminal device 2 performs a predetermined process based on the received data. For example, data is collected from the terminal device, and the data is transmitted to the center device.

  The data from the center device includes an update program. That is, the terminal device 2 is preinstalled with a program and the terminal device 2 is installed. When an update program is created by upgrading the program, the update program is provided from the center device to each terminal device 2 through the program providing device 1. The program providing apparatus 1 downloads an update program from the center apparatus and stores the update program in a storage unit such as an SSD. Each terminal device 2 downloads this update program.

  When updating the program, the program providing apparatus 1 notifies each terminal apparatus 2 of the program update. Each terminal device 2 requests the program providing device 1 to provide an update program. In response to this request, the program providing apparatus 1 provides an update program. Each terminal device 2 downloads the update program and stores it in the program memory 22.

  Here, if the plurality of terminal devices 2 update the program all at once, there is a possibility that the download from the program providing device 1 cannot be performed efficiently. Therefore, the plurality of terminal devices 2 are grouped and the update program is downloaded in units of groups. Therefore, the download of each group is performed at different timings.

  The grouping is performed based on unique unique information of each terminal device 2. As the unique information, the serial number of the terminal device 2 is given. For example, the terminal devices 2 having the same number in the last serial number are set as one group. Thus, the plurality of terminal devices 2 are divided into 10 groups. Or you may group into every lower 2 digits. When there are several hundred or more terminal devices 2, the number of terminal devices 2 belonging to one group can be reduced. Instead of the manufacturing number, an identification number such as an IP address assigned to each terminal device 2 for wireless communication may be used.

  This grouping is performed in advance. When the terminal device 2 is installed, the control unit of the program providing device 1 acquires the unique information of the terminal device 2 from each terminal device 2, and groups the terminal devices 2 based on the unique information. The control unit creates group information in which the terminal devices 2 belonging to each group are listed, and stores the group information in the storage unit. Then, the control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 transmits group information to each terminal apparatus 2. When receiving the group information, the control unit of the terminal device 2 stores the group information in the storage unit. The control unit of the terminal device 2 can recognize the group to which the own device belongs.

  When the update program is provided, the control unit of the program providing device 1 notifies the update information to all the terminal devices 2 by multicast. The update information includes information such as the data amount of the update program and the update start time. The update start time indicates the timing (date and time) when the first group requests download. The order of updating of each group is determined in advance, and for example, the ascending order starts from the group in which the last digit of the serial number is 0.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the set request timing is reached, the control unit of each terminal device 2 belonging to the first group makes a download instruction call to the program providing device 1. Upon receiving this instruction, the control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 transmits the update program data to the instructed terminal apparatus 2, and the terminal apparatus 2 receives the update program data and downloads the update program. Is called. When receiving the update program, the control unit of the terminal device 2 stores the update program in the program memory 22.

  After the terminal device 2 of the first group downloads the update program, the terminal device 2 of the next group requests download of the update program. The download request timing is determined based on the time point when the terminal device 2 in the first group requests the program providing apparatus 1 to download the update program. Since the communication speed of wireless communication is substantially constant, the time required for downloading the update program can be calculated based on the data amount of the update program. Therefore, when the control unit of the terminal device 2 receives the update information from the program providing device 1, the control unit determines the order of the group to which the own device belongs based on the download request timing of the first group and the calculated download time. Consider the download request timing. Specifically, the request timing is determined by adding a certain time to the download end time of the previous group.

  The update information may not include the update start time. When each terminal device 2 receives update information from the program providing device 1 almost at the same time, the control unit of the terminal device 2 sets the request timing with reference to the time when the update information is received. Alternatively, when the program providing apparatus 1 receives a download instruction from the terminal device 2 of the first group, the control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 has received a download instruction from the first group to the terminal devices 2 of the second and subsequent groups. Notify that. Each terminal device 2 in the second and subsequent groups sets the request timing based on this notification.

  The control unit of the terminal device 2 of the second group makes a download instruction call to the program providing device 1 at the set request timing. The terminal device 2 downloads the update program provided from the program providing device 1.

  In this way, the terminal devices 2 of each group download the update program in order, shifting the download timing. Therefore, the program providing apparatus 1 does not need to provide an update program to a large number of terminal devices 2 at a time, and therefore the load on the program providing apparatus 1 can be reduced.

  By the way, in the terminal device 2, the applicable program may differ. For example, the old terminal device 2 may not be able to execute the latest program. In this case, the update program in each terminal device 2 is different. That is, a difference occurs in the data amount of the update program. Therefore, when the data amount of the update program updated in each terminal device 2 is different, each terminal device 2 is divided into a plurality of groups according to the data amount of the update program. The terminal devices 2 having the same data amount of the update program are in the same group.

  The control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 confirms an update program suitable for each terminal apparatus 2, and groups the terminal apparatuses 2 according to the data amount of the update program. For example, each terminal device 2 is divided into three groups with large, medium, and small update program data amounts. The control unit also determines the priority order of each group with respect to the update timing. For example, a group with a large amount of data is first, a middle group is second, and a small group is third.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 notifies all terminal apparatuses 2 of update information such as the group to which the program belongs, the data amount of the update program for each group, and the priority order of the groups. When the terminal device 2 receives the update information, the control unit recognizes the group to which the own device belongs and the priority order, and sets the update program download request timing.

  When receiving the update information from the program providing device 1, the control unit of the terminal device 2 in the group with the first priority immediately issues a download instruction to the program providing device 1. Upon receiving this instruction, the control unit of the program providing apparatus 1 transmits the update program data to the instructed terminal device 2, and the update program is downloaded. The control unit of the terminal device 2 stores the downloaded update program in the program memory 22.

  The control unit of the terminal device 2 of the group other than the first priority order calculates the time required for downloading based on the data amount of the update program of the previous group, and uses the time when the update information is received as a reference. The download request timing is set to a time later by the time required for the group download.

  The terminal device 2 of the second group makes a download instruction call to the program providing device 2 at the set request timing after the download of the first group is completed. When the download of the second group is completed, the terminal device 2 of the third group downloads the update program according to the set request timing.

  Within the same group, the download time is the same, and the download is performed in units of groups. Thereby, even if the time required for the download differs, the download end time of each terminal device 2 does not vary. The program providing apparatus 1 can be processed collectively, and the load on the program providing apparatus 1 can be reduced. Moreover, the program providing apparatus 1 provides a plurality of update programs, but can provide them for each update program and can efficiently process them.

  Here, wireless communication is performed between the program providing device 1 and the plurality of terminal devices 2, but the number of terminal devices 2 that can be connected to the program providing device 1 is limited. As described above, when grouping is performed based on the unique information of the terminal device 1 or the data amount of the update program, the number of terminal devices 2 belonging to one group may exceed the maximum number of simultaneous connections to the program providing device 1. is there. Therefore, the terminal devices 2 are divided into a plurality of groups based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections.

  When the number of communicable terminal devices 2 exceeds the maximum number of simultaneous connections, the control unit of the program providing device 1 performs grouping of the terminal devices 2. The control unit groups the maximum number of simultaneous connections based on the unique information of the terminal device 2. For example, when the maximum number of simultaneous connections is 30, the 30 terminal devices 2 become one group in ascending order of the serial number of the terminal device 2, and the next 30 devices become another group. Also, the control unit sets priorities in order from the group with the smallest production number.

  The program providing device 1 groups the terminal devices 2 based on the unique information or the data amount of the update program, and then checks whether the number of terminal devices 2 in the group exceeds the maximum number of simultaneous connections. If so, the program providing apparatus 1 performs grouping so as not to exceed the maximum number of simultaneous connections. For example, grouping is performed again so that one group does not exceed the maximum number of simultaneous connections. Alternatively, a group that exceeds the maximum number of simultaneous connections may be further divided into a plurality of groups.

  As illustrated in FIG. 5, the program providing apparatus 1 notifies all terminal apparatuses 2 of update information such as the group to which the program belongs and the priority order of the groups. When the terminal device 2 receives the update information, the control unit recognizes the group to which the own device belongs and the priority order, and sets the update program download request timing. Note that the data amount of the update program is the same. Then, the update program is downloaded from the terminal device 2 in the first priority group. Thereafter, the terminal device 2 of each group downloads the update program at the set request timing after the previous group has been downloaded.

  Thus, by grouping based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections, the terminal devices 2 in the group can be downloaded all at once. If downloading is performed a plurality of times in the same group, a situation occurs in which terminal devices of other groups cannot be downloaded at a predetermined timing. This situation can be prevented.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Of course, many corrections and changes can be added to the said embodiment within the scope of the present invention. The program providing device and the terminal device may be communicably connected via a network such as the Internet or a public telephone line network, and may be wired communication as well as wireless communication.

  Instead of grouping by the program providing apparatus, the terminal apparatus may perform grouping by itself. When receiving the update information notification from the program providing apparatus, the terminal apparatus determines the group based on the unique information of the own apparatus. The control unit of the terminal device determines a group to which the own device belongs based on, for example, the last digit of the manufacturing number or the identification number. Then, the control unit sets the download request timing based on the priority of its own group based on the time when the notification is received.

  When the terminal devices can communicate with each other, the terminal device may notify the download start to another terminal device. When the terminal device of the first group issues a download instruction, it notifies the time of the instruction to the terminal device of another group. Other groups of terminal devices set the request timing based on the time of the first download.

1 Program providing device 2 Terminal device 21 CPU
22 Program memory 23 Work memory 24 Communication unit 25 Bus

Claims (8)

A program providing apparatus that provides a program and a plurality of terminal devices that can communicate with the program providing apparatus. Each terminal apparatus requests the program providing apparatus to provide an update program, and the program providing apparatus responds to the request. Provides an update program, each terminal device is a program update system that downloads the update program and updates the program, wherein a plurality of terminal devices are grouped, and each terminal device is shifted in timing for each group A program update system for downloading an update program. 2. The program update system according to claim 1, wherein after the terminal device of the previous group downloads the update program, the terminal device of the next group requests the update program. Based on the time when the terminal device of the first group requests an update program from the program providing device, the terminal devices of the remaining group sequentially request the update program at a timing determined based on the time required for downloading the update program. The program update system according to claim 2. 4. The program update system according to claim 1, wherein the update program request timing is determined based on a data amount of the update program. The program update system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups based on the unique information of the terminal device. 5. The program update system according to claim 4, wherein when the data amount of the update program updated by each terminal device is different, each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups according to the data amount of the update program. 7. The program update system according to claim 6, wherein the program providing device determines the priority of downloading of each group according to the data amount of the update program, and notifies the priority to each terminal device. 5. The program update system according to claim 1, wherein each terminal device is divided into a plurality of groups based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections to the program providing device.

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