KR20080095515A - Method for upgrading software in wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

A software upgrade method in a wireless telecommunication system is provided to prevent the software version difference of each mobile terminal previously by simultaneously upgrading the software of all mobile terminals in the wireless communication system. A software upgrade method in the wireless telecommunications system is as follows. A software version stored in an upgrade server is confirmed(204). When the software version of the upgrade server is recent version than the software version of a mobile station, the software and upgrade time of the recent version provided from the upgrade server are stored(206, 208). If the upgrade time of the mobile terminal is reached, the software of the mobile terminal is upgraded as the recent version.

Description

How to upgrade software in a wireless communication system {METHOD FOR UPGRADING SOFTWARE IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM}

1 illustrates a structure of a wireless communication system to which the present invention can be applied.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a preparation process before a mobile station performs a concurrent software upgrade in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software by a mobile station in a wireless communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software by a mobile station in a wireless communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly to a method for upgrading software in a wireless communication system.

Recently, a wireless communication system provides a service for satisfying various needs of users. When a new service is provided in the wireless communication system, the user must upgrade the old version of the software installed in the terminal owned by the new version of the software corresponding to the new service.

Software upgrade methods to date include the following.

1. A method in which a terminal user directly visits a terminal service center to upgrade software.

2. How to upgrade manually by receiving a software upgrade program through a wireless network.

3. The terminal automatically receives the software upgrade program through the wireless network to upgrade automatically.

Among the above methods, a method in which a terminal performs software upgrade by itself is known as the most advanced software upgrade method. In the method in which the terminal performs the software upgrade by itself, each terminal may upgrade the software at different points in time. Therefore, until all the software upgrades of all the terminals are completed, the terminal in which the software upgrade is completed and the terminal which are not completed may coexist together in one system.

In order for a base station to provide a service to both types of terminals, it is necessary that the old version of the software and the new version of the software are compatible with each other. Accordingly, when the old version of the software and the new version of the software are not compatible with each other, the terminal cannot receive a new service.

The present invention was devised to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for performing a concurrent software upgrade in a wireless communication system.

The first method of the present invention for achieving the above object; In the wireless communication system, in the software upgrade method of the mobile station, checking the software version stored in the upgrade server, and if the software version of the upgrade server is newer than the software version of the mobile station, provided from the upgrade server And storing the new version of the software and the upgrade execution time, and upgrading to the new version of the software when the upgrade execution time is reached.

The second method of the present invention for achieving the above object; In a wireless communication system, a method of causing an upgrade server to perform software upgrade of a mobile station, the method comprising: broadcasting code information related to software upgrade to a mobile station; and transmitting a new version of software when the mobile station accesses the upgrade server. And notifying the time of performing the software upgrade.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, only parts necessary for understanding the operation of the present invention will be described, and other background art will be omitted so as not to distract from the gist of the present invention.

The present invention provides a system and method in which all terminals can simultaneously perform a software upgrade in a wireless communication system. As described above, in the present invention, since software upgrades of all terminals are performed at the same time, a software version difference does not occur. The present invention can be applied to all wireless communication systems, preferably to a broadband wireless access communication system.

In the case of the broadband wireless access communication system, when the software used in the system is upgraded to a new version of the software, a MAP message or a downlink channel descriptor and a downlink channel descriptor (DCD and UCD) are control messages. A broadcast message such as an Uplink Channel Descriptor) message may be changed. In this case, compatibility between the old version of the software and the new version of the software may not be maintained. Accordingly, the base station transmits only control messages and broadcast messages corresponding to software corresponding to one version. In other words, when the terminals perform the software upgrade at different times, there are two or more kinds of terminals having different types of software. Among the terminals, a terminal having software whose version does not match the base station does not receive or receive a control message and a broadcast message from the base station. In this case, only a terminal having a version of software used by the base station can access the system.

Therefore, in the present invention, at a certain point in time, all the terminals perform the simultaneous software upgrade to have the same version of the software.

1 is a diagram showing the structure of a wireless communication system to which the present invention can be applied.

Referring to FIG. 1, a plurality of wireless terminals 100 are managed at a base station 120. The base station 120 supports software upgrade of the wireless terminals 100 in association with the upgrade server 140. Here, the upgrade server 140 may be included in the base station 120.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a preparation process before a mobile station performs a concurrent software upgrade in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, in step 202, the mobile station accesses the upgrade server through a base station and proceeds to step 204. In step 204, the mobile station checks the latest software version provided by the upgrade server and proceeds to step 206. Here, the terminal periodically checks the latest software version. Instead of the terminal's periodic confirmation method, the base station may periodically broadcast a broadcast message such as a DCD message including a software transaction code as shown in Table 1 below. The change code may be included in the message in the form of TLV (Type / Length / Value). When the mobile station receives the broadcast message containing the new variation code value, it connects to the upgrade server.

Name Type (byte) Length (byte) Value (4 bytes) Scope Transaction code for Planned S / W Update TBD One Transaction code: Operator assigns transaction code for each update schedule. When a MS (Mobile Station) finds new transaction code, the MS is expected to contact the S / W update server. DCD

In step 206, the mobile station compares the software version of the upgrade server with the software version currently held by the mobile station, and determines whether the software version of the upgrade server corresponds to the software version of the upgrade server. If it is determined that the software version of the upgrade server corresponds to the software version of the mobile station, in step 208, the mobile station stores the software of the new version of the upgrade server and upgrade date information provided by the upgrade server; Save information about the software upgrade procedure and proceed to step 210. In this case, the information about the software upgrade procedure means information indicating in which case the software upgrade should be performed. The mobile station informs the upgrade server that it is ready for software upgrade in step 210, which is predetermined in the system or which the upgrade server changes from time to time.

3 to 4, embodiments in which the mobile station performs a software upgrade according to various situations will be described.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software by a mobile station in a wireless communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step 302, the mobile station checks the stored upgrade date and time information and proceeds to step 304. In step 304, the mobile station determines whether the current time point is reached or has elapsed. The execution time may be variously determined such as a time unit, a day unit, a month unit, a year unit, and the like. As a result of the determination, when the upgrade execution time is reached or elapsed, the mobile station determines whether synchronization is obtained by receiving a preamble in step 306. If the synchronization acquisition is successful, the process proceeds to step 308. If the synchronization acquisition fails, the software upgrade procedure is not completed and the process is terminated.

In step 308, the mobile station determines whether MAP reception is successful. In this case, the reception success means a case in which a MAP or DCD message is received and completed until decoding. If the mobile station succeeds in receiving the MAP, it terminates without performing a software upgrade. However, if MAP reception fails, the mobile station upgrades the stored new software in step 310.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software by a mobile station in a wireless communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step 402, the mobile station checks the stored upgrade date and time information and proceeds to step 404. In step 404, the mobile station determines whether the current time point has reached or has elapsed. As a result of the determination, when the upgrade execution time is reached or elapsed, the mobile station determines whether synchronization can be obtained by receiving the preamble in step 406. If the synchronization acquisition succeeds, the process proceeds to step 408. If the synchronization acquisition fails, the software upgrade procedure is terminated.

In step 408, the mobile station determines whether MAP reception is successful. If the mobile station successfully receives the MAP, the process proceeds to step 410. If the mobile station fails to receive the MAP, the software upgrade procedure is terminated. In step 410, the mobile station determines whether the DCD message has been successfully received. If the mobile station has successfully received the DCD message, the process proceeds to step 412. If the mobile station fails to receive the DCD message, the software upgrade procedure is terminated. In step 412, the mobile station acquires the MAC version included in the DCD message, and determines whether its MAC version is newer than the acquired MAC version.

If it is determined that the acquired MAC version is newer than the MAC version of the mobile station, the mobile station performs a stored software upgrade in step 414. On the other hand, if the obtained MAC version is not newer than the MAC version of the mobile station, the mobile station terminates the software upgrade procedure.

In the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

As described above, the present invention provides an advantage in that a software upgrade of all terminals can be simultaneously performed in a wireless communication system to prevent a difference in software version of each terminal.

Claims (8)

In a wireless communication system, a method for upgrading a software of a mobile station, Check the software version stored on the upgrade server, If the software version of the upgrade server is newer than the software version of the mobile station, storing the new version of the software provided from the upgrade server and the time of performing the upgrade; And upgrading to the new version of the software when the upgrade execution time is reached. The method of claim 1, And said upgrade server is located in a base station. The method of claim 1, And if the software version of the upgrade server is newer than the software version of the mobile station, storing the procedure information necessary for the software upgrade provided from the upgrade server. The method of claim 1, wherein the upgrade process comprises: upgrading to a new version of software when the upgrade execution time is reached; Determining whether synchronization can be obtained by receiving a preamble from the base station; Upon successful synchronization acquisition, receiving and decoding a map MAP; If it is impossible to decode, upgrading the software of the mobile station to the new version of the software. The method of claim 4, wherein Receiving a downlink channel descriptor (DCD) message and decoding the DCD message when the MAP decoding is successful; And if the decoding of the DCD message fails, upgrading the software of the mobile station to the new version of the software. The method of claim 5, If the decoding of the DCD message is successful, if the MAC (Medium Access Control) version of the base station is newer than the MAC version of the mobile station, the method further includes upgrading the software of the mobile station to the new version of the software. The software upgrade method of the mobile station, characterized in that. In a wireless communication system, a method for causing an upgrade server to perform software upgrade of a mobile station, the method comprising: Broadcasting code information related to software upgrade to the mobile station; When the mobile station accesses the upgrade server, transmitting a new version of the software and notifying a time point at which the software upgrade is performed. The method of claim 7, wherein And transmitting the procedure information necessary for the software upgrade to the mobile station.

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