JPH1139151A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform restoration and repair jobs, etc., to ensure normal operation of a device if an abnormal state occurs while the contents of a flash memory are rewritten. SOLUTION: An information processor 1 consists of a program storage means 2 including a main data holding means 5 which holds a program to be executed at the time of power application and a secondary data holding means 6' an address conversion means 7 which switches the allocation of addresses between both means 5 and 6; an auxiliary storage control means 3 which acquires a new program; and a program execution means 4 which executes the program that is recorded in the means 2 and also performs the data read/write operations to the means 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a program to be executed at power-on in a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and to an information processing apparatus having a means for safely rewriting the contents of the nonvolatile memory. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, microprocessors and microcontrollers have been used not only in computers but also in household electrical appliances. Usually, the programs executed by these microprocessors when the power is turned on are held in a nonvolatile memory. A flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory, and is a memory device that can erase and rewrite contents from a microprocessor. It has the advantage that it can respond to software bugs or additional functions in terms of software scale expansion. The new software for updating can be provided by a recording medium such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, or a communication line.

[0003] On the other hand, if the user turns off the power or enters a power failure state during the operation of rewriting the contents of the flash memory, the rewriting operation cannot be completed. As a result, even if the power is turned on again, the contents of the program executed when the power is turned on may be damaged, and the device cannot operate normally.

In such a case, repair work is usually performed such that a normal program is written into the flash memory using another device, or physically replaced with a flash memory in which a program has already been written.

[0005]

However, if an abnormal situation during the operation of rewriting the contents of the flash memory occurs in a home electric appliance such as a television set or a set-top box due to a local power outage, etc. In order to operate, recovery work, repair work, etc. are required,
It will cause enormous damage.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the conventional problem at the time of such an abnormality, and enables an information processing apparatus capable of easily and safely rewriting a flash memory even if an abnormal situation occurs during a content rewriting operation. The purpose is to provide.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided at least two programs for storing a program to be executed when the power is turned on.
Program storage means having two data holding means, auxiliary storage control means for acquiring a new program, executing the program held in the data holding means, and storing the new program acquired by the auxiliary storage control means in the program storage means. An information processing apparatus comprising: a program execution unit that writes data into at least two data holding units; and an address conversion unit that replaces addresses of at least two data holding units during an operation in which the program execution unit writes a new program into the data holding unit. It is.

In the above configuration, when two data holding means are used and the two data are used as a main data holding means and a sub data holding means, one of the main data holding means and the sub data holding means is provided with a main program. Hold the data diagnostic program, the data update program, and the programs required by the program execution means immediately after the power is turned on until the data diagnostic program and the data update program are executed.If the main program is in the main data storage means, If the main program is written to the slave data holding means, and if the main program is in the slave data holding means, a new main program is written to the main data holding means, until the writing of the new main program ends normally. , The old main program is kept without being destroyed.

According to the above-described configuration, even if an abnormal situation such as a power-off or a power failure occurs by a user during rewriting of a program, the information processing apparatus recognizes the fact, and By writing the latest program, it is possible to recover even if a problem of program breakage occurs, and normal operation of the device can be guaranteed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment uses a program storage unit 2 having a main data holding unit 5 and a sub data holding unit 6 for holding a program to be executed when the power is turned on, a recording medium, a communication line, and the like. Storage control means 3 for obtaining a new program from the outside, a program for writing the program obtained by the auxiliary storage control means 3 to the program storage means 2, and for executing the program stored in the program storage means 2 It comprises an execution means 4 and an address conversion means 7 for exchanging the address of the main data holding means 5 with the address of the slave data holding means 6.

The address structure of the main data holding means 5 and the slave data holding means 6 is as follows. As shown in FIG. 2, a program storage unit capable of holding 1M words is used as an example, and 0x00000 to 0
Description will be made from a state where addresses up to x7FFFF and addresses from 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF are assigned to the subordinate data holding means 6. Also, the program execution means 4 executes from the instruction held at 0x000000 after the power is turned on, and the data diagnostic program and the data update program execute 0x00
It is assumed that the data is held at addresses from 000 to 0x7FFFF.

Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, the information processing apparatus 1
Is turned on, the program execution means 4 executes a checksum of the data in the program storage means 2 in << Step S1 >> and diagnoses whether or not the data is missing. The checksum data is also stored in the program storage means 2. As a result of the diagnosis, when it is confirmed that no data is missing, the program execution means 4 shifts the control to << Step S2 >>.

In step S2, it is confirmed whether the program stored in the program storage means 2 is the latest version. Information on the version is also stored in the program storage means 2. As a result of the confirmation, when it is confirmed that the program held in the program storage means 2 is the latest version, the control is transferred to << Step S3 >>. In << Step S3 >>, the program execution means 4 starts normal boot-up.

If it is determined in step S2 that the data stored in the program storage means 2 is the old version of the program, the control is transferred to step S4.

In Step S4, the latest version of the program from 0x00000 to 0x7FF is stored in the addresses 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF (slave data holding means 6) of the program storage means 2.
Write the FF 512K word program (first half). When all writing operations have been completed,
5 >>.

In step S5, the address assigned to the main data holding means 5 of the program storage means 2 and the address assigned to the slave data holding means 6 are exchanged. As a result, the address assignment changes as shown in FIG. That is, the first half program of the latest version is held at addresses 0x00000 to 0x7FFFF, and the first half program of the old version is stored at address 0x80.
From 000 to 0xFFFFF.

The operation of exchanging the address assignment between the main data holding means 5 and the slave data holding means 6 by the address conversion means 7 is performed by the data read and data write control signals output from the program execution means 4 to the program storage means 2. Perform using. That is, a control signal of a predetermined specific procedure that cannot be normally performed is output from the program execution means 4, and when the address conversion means 7 receives this control signal, it recognizes it as an address replacement instruction. Alternatively, if the program executing means 4 rewrites all data in the main data holding means 5 or the subordinate data holding means 6 in order of address and then writes the same data again to the final address, the address conversion means 7
May be configured to recognize it as an address replacement instruction.

If the address assignment is completed in step S5, the control is transferred to step S6.

In step S6, a 512-Kword program (the latter half) of the latest version of the program from 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF is written to the newly allocated addresses 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF (main data holding means 5) of the program storage means 2. Then, the control is shifted to << Step S1 >> again.

During the writing operation in << Step S4 >>,
Alternatively, if the work is interrupted by turning off the power of the information processing apparatus 1 before the address assignment is changed in << Step S5 >>, the data stored in the program storage unit 2 will be missing. In this case, after the power is turned on again, the lack of the program is confirmed in << Step S1 >>. In this case, 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF of the program storage means 2 (slave data holding means 6)
Data is missing in the program storage means 2
The old version of the program remains in 0x00000 to 0x7FFFF (main data holding means 5). Therefore, the above-described processing can be executed again.

If the work is interrupted during the writing work in << Step S6 >> due to, for example, the power supply of the information processing apparatus 1 being turned off, the data held in the program storage means 2 is lost. Will be. in this case,
After the power is turned on again, the lack of the program is confirmed in << Step S1 >>. In this case, data is missing from 0x80000 to 0xFFFFF (main data holding unit 5) of the program storage unit 2, and the latest version of the program is stored in 0x00000 to 0x7FFFF (subordinate data holding unit 6) of the program storage unit 2. Remains. Therefore, also in this case, the above-described processing can be executed again.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when an abnormal situation such as a user turning off the power or a power outage occurs during the rewriting of the program, the information processing apparatus can recognize the fact. By recognizing and writing the latest program, it is possible to recover from the damage of the program and to guarantee the normal operation of the device. That is, even if an abnormal situation occurs during rewriting of the program, it can be easily recovered.

In the above embodiment, two data holding means are used, but three or more data holding means may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the data amounts of the two data holding units are the same, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention comprises address conversion means for exchanging the addresses of at least two data holding means during the operation of the program execution means for writing a new program into the data holding means. Therefore, the flash memory can be easily and safely rewritten even if an abnormal situation occurs during the content rewriting operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing address assignment before address assignment change in a program storage unit of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating address assignment after address assignment is changed in a program storage unit of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation in the information processing apparatus of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 2 Program storage means 3 Auxiliary storage control means 4 Program execution means 5 Main data holding means 6 Subordinate data holding means 7 Address conversion means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A program storage means having at least two data holding means for holding a program to be executed at power-on in a dividable manner, an auxiliary storage control means for acquiring a new program, and a data storage means for holding a program to be executed. Program execution means for executing a program and writing a new program obtained by the auxiliary storage control means in the at least two data holding means of the program storage means; and the program execution means stores the new program in the data holding means. And an address conversion means for exchanging addresses of the at least two data holding means during an operation of writing to the information processing apparatus. 2. The address conversion means receives a specific command using a predetermined data read and data write control signal output from the program execution means to the program storage means as a specific command. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the addresses assigned to the at least two data holding units are switched. 3. The program execution means rewrites all data in any one of the data holding means in the order of addresses, and then rewrites the same data to the final address, whereby the address conversion means can execute the data holding in the at least two data holding means. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein addresses assigned to the means are exchanged. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the new address assignment information is retained even after the power is turned off and then turned on again.
Or the information processing device according to 3. 5. A data storage program for diagnosing that there is no omission in the contents held in the program storage means, and a program execution means for writing new data to the program storage means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a data update program. 6. The data holding means according to claim 1, wherein:
Main programs include a data diagnosis program, the data update program, and a program required by the program execution unit immediately after power-on until the data diagnosis program and the data update program are executed. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein 7. A new main program is written in data holding means other than the one data holding means for holding the main program, and the old main program is held until the writing of the new main program is completed. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein