JP2000207180A - Information processor and program rewriting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable proper individual correspondence according to changes of computer environment after product shipment by storing a routine for deciding in which device a program should be rewritten on a card memory side and deciding whether the program needs to be replaced by a newer version. SOLUTION: Once a CPU 2 detects character string data of 'header information showing that a program is stored' from management information of a flash memory card 9, the CPU 2 reads in a main boot program address from the management information of the flash memory card 9 and calls the address. Then a rewrite decision program stored on the flash memory card 9 is executed. Consequently, a program execution area is moved from an internal ROM 7 of the CPU 2 to the flash memory card 9 mounted on a main substrate 1. That is, when the power source is turned on, the rewrite decision program stored on the flash memory card 9 is executed from the device side to give the decision routine for program replacement to the memory card side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program rewriting method capable of rewriting a program using a memory card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, many electric devices are operated by programs stored in devices, and new functions can be added by upgrading the programs.

Conventionally, there is a technique for rewriting an old program in an electric device to a version-upgraded program using a memory card. In this technology, a memory card storing an upgraded program is inserted into a card slot of an electric device, and the device compares the version numbers of the program in the memory card and the program in the device, and compares the program number in the memory card. Is a new version, the program in the device is replaced with the program in the memory card.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional example, version determination is performed by a fixed program that has been ROM-burned from the time of shipment to the apparatus side, and if the version of the program in the memory card is newer, the version is always determined. Since rewriting is performed, there are the following problems.

In other words, when the program in the apparatus is rewritten depends on various conditions even after the product is shipped, if it is assumed that the program is always rewritten under the fixed condition set on the electric device side, There is a problem that it is not possible to respond to various requests of each user and the usability is poor.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and information capable of individually and appropriately responding to a version upgrade of a program in an apparatus in accordance with various environmental changes after product shipment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing device and a method for upgrading a program.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the following means are provided to solve the above-mentioned problems. In other words, instead of setting a fixed routine on the device side, a determination routine for rewriting the program in the device in each case is stored separately in the card memory together with the rewriting program,
By allowing the apparatus to execute a determination routine on the card memory to determine whether or not to upgrade, it is possible to individually and appropriately cope with various environmental changes after product shipment.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first aspect of the present invention is a memory card which is removably inserted into an apparatus main body and stores a rewriting program and a judgment program for judging whether or not to rewrite, A rewritable internal memory for storing a device control program, a determination control means for executing the determination program on the memory card from the device side, and a program for rewriting the memory card in the memory card based on the determination result. And a transfer control means for transferring the data to the internal memory.

According to this configuration, since the necessity of program rewriting is determined by the determination program on the memory card, any determination condition can be set in the determination program stored in the memory card, and various conditions after shipment of the product can be set. Appropriate measures can be taken individually according to the change.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the determination control means detects that the memory card is inserted into the apparatus main body, and the detected memory card is detected. The header information is extracted from the memory card to determine whether or not the program is stored. If it is determined that the program is stored, the determination program is executed on the memory card.

[0011] According to this configuration, since it is determined that the memory card is inserted into the main body of the apparatus, and it is determined whether or not the program needs to be rewritten, the memory card is inserted into the main body of the apparatus during the power-on startup process. Many information processing apparatuses set to determine whether or not the program has been performed can determine whether or not the program needs to be rewritten when the power is turned on. Also, since the determination program is activated only when the program is stored in the memory card inserted in the device, the memory card inserted in the device is used for other purposes such as storing image information. Sometimes, the execution of the determination program can be prevented, and unnecessary processing can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, a transfer program is stored together with a rewriting program and a determination program in the memory card, and the transfer control means is provided. The program in the memory card is downloaded to the internal memory using the transfer program.

According to this configuration, since the transfer program for transferring the program is stored in the memory card, it is not necessary for the user to prepare the transfer program in the apparatus in advance. In addition, since a transfer program can be prepared in accordance with the program stored in the memory card, appropriate and detailed processing can be performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to the first, second or third aspect, the transfer control means transfers the transfer program to an auxiliary internal memory of the apparatus.
A configuration is adopted in which a transfer program is executed on the auxiliary internal memory to transfer a rewrite program in the memory card to the internal memory.

According to this configuration, since the transfer program is executed on the auxiliary internal memory of the apparatus, the processing speed of the program transfer can be increased as compared with the case where the transfer program is executed on the card.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a memory card storing a rewriting program and a judgment program for judging whether or not to rewrite the program is inserted into the apparatus, and the apparatus which detects the memory card operates as described above. This is a program rewriting method for executing a determination program on a memory card to determine whether to rewrite the program.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, a facsimile apparatus will be described as an example of one of the electrical devices whose main program can be rewritten by a memory card.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus having a main board to which a memory card can be attached and detached. A program flash memory 4, an image information flash memory 5, and a work DRAM 6 are connected to the CPU 2 on the main board 1 via the internal bus 3. The flash memory card 9 is attached to and detached from a card slot of the main board 1 having an interface function with the flash memory card 9.

The CPU 2 has an internal ROM 7 and an internal RAM
And a program stored in the internal ROM 7 to provide a function as a judgment control means and a transfer control means. FIG. 3 shows the memory mapping of the internal ROM 7. Character string data of header information indicating that the program is stored in the flash memory card 9 is described in the startup program. The internal ROM 7 stores a software codec program in addition to the startup program.

The program flash memory 4 stores the FA
The main program of the X main body is stored. CPU2
Performs the main function as a facsimile apparatus by executing the main program on the program flash memory 4. Program flash memory 4
Is a flash memory and can be rewritten, and this program is a program to be upgraded.

The image information flash memory 5 is a flash memory for storing image information, and stores image information to be transmitted by facsimile or received image information. Management information and backup information of the FAX main body are also stored in the image information flash memory 5. For example, information indicating that a timer transmission is being accepted is also stored.

The flash memory card 9 is a memory card that can be removed from the FAX body (card slot) and can be used as an optional card for storing image information. When upgrading the version of the main program stored in the program flash memory 4,
A new main program is stored in the flash memory card 9.

FIG. 2A shows a memory mapping of the flash memory card 9 in which a main program for upgrading is stored. As shown in FIG.
In addition to the new main program, a rewrite determination program and a program transfer processing program are stored at the same time. The management information includes header information indicating that the program is stored in the card, main boot program addres indicating the address where the rewrite judgment program is stored, rom label and rev indicating the version of the program, and the model code. .

FIG. 2B shows the memory mapping of the program flash memory 4. The rewrite determination program and the program transfer processing program stored in the program flash memory 4 are stored together with the main program from the flash memory card 9 at the time of the previous version upgrade, and are executed on the program flash memory 4. It will not be done.

The operation of the present facsimile apparatus having the above-described configuration relating to program rewriting will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows a process from power-on to execution of the main program of the FAX main body.

When the power is turned on, a startup program in the internal ROM is executed by the CPU 2 to set hardware (S41).

Next, the flash memory card 9 is accessed to check whether there is header information indicating that the program is stored (S42). Internal R
Since the character string data of “header information indicating that a program is stored” is stored in the OM 7, the same character string data as this character string data is detected from the management information of the flash memory card 9. For example, it can be determined that the flash memory card 9 storing some program is inserted.

However, at this point, it has not been decided that the version will be upgraded. If the character string data is not detected, the program of the main board 1 (such as the main program of the program flash memory 4) is executed without performing the version upgrade determination (S4).
8). Even when the flash memory card 9 is not mounted or is mounted but is used for image information, it is determined that the header information does not exist. Accordingly, when the flash memory card 9 is not mounted or is mounted but is used for image information, it is possible to eliminate wasteful determination of whether or not to upgrade the flash memory card 9.

When the CPU 2 detects the character string data of “header information indicating that a program is stored” from the management information of the flash memory card 9 in step S 42, the main boot is performed from the management information of the flash memory card 9. The programaddres is read and its address is called (S43). main bootprogram
When addres is called, the rewrite judgment program stored in the flash memory card 9 is executed (S4).
4). As a result, the program execution area moves from the internal ROM 7 of the CPU 2 to the flash memory card 9 mounted on the main board 1. As described above, when the power is turned on, the management information of the flash memory card 9 is read from the device side, and the rewrite determination program stored in the flash memory card 9 is executed, so that the memory card side has a version upgrade determination routine. be able to.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the judgment routine executed in step S44. First, the header information of the main program stored in the program flash memory 4 is extracted from the program flash memory 4 (S51), and the header information of the program flash memory 4 matches the header information of the flash memory card 9. It is checked whether it is (S52).

If the header information does not match, the program stored in the flash memory card 9 is written into the program flash memory 4. here,
The case where the header information does not match in the determination routine of step S44 corresponds to a state where no program is installed in the program flash memory 4. Therefore, in such a case, it is determined that the version is to be upgraded, and the program of the flash memory card 9 is installed in the program flash memory 4.

On the other hand, when the header information matches, the model code is further extracted from the management information of the program flash memory 4 (S53), and the model code in the management information of the program flash memory 4 is compared with the flash memory card. It is checked whether the model code in the management information of No. 9 matches (S54).

If it is determined in step S54 that the two model codes do not match, it is determined that the version is not upgraded. The reason that the model codes do not match is that programs of different models are stored in the flash memory card 9. This prevents rewriting to a program of a different model.

If the two model codes match in step S54, the main program stored in the program flash memory 4 and the main program stored in the flash memory card 9 have the same type of program (the version is different). ). That is, it can be seen that the program needs to be rewritten depending on the version.

In such a case, the version information is extracted from the management information of the program flash memory 4 (S55), and the version of the program in the program flash memory 4 and the version of the program stored in the flash memory card 9 are compared. Are checked to see if they match (S56). If the two versions match, it is determined that the version is not upgraded because they are completely the same program. On the other hand, when the two versions do not match, the determination table is loaded from the flash memory card 9 (S57).

FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the judgment table. Basically, if the version of the flash memory card 9 is newer than the version of the program flash memory 4, the version is upgraded (indicated by OK), and the version of the flash memory card 9 is older than the version of the program flash memory 4. If not, the version is not upgraded (displayed as NG).

Further, this determination table is set so that the determination is made in consideration of not only the new and old version numbers but also special data appearing in the version numbers.
For example, in a combination where the version number of the flash memory card 9 is V2.10 and the version number of the program flash memory 4 is V1.01, the version is not upgraded even though the version number of the flash memory card 9 is newer (NG). ). This is because the version number V1.01 of the program flash memory 4 indicates that the program has a special specification. In such a case, there is a possibility that the reserved operation before the version upgrade cannot be guaranteed, so that automatic version upgrade is not performed.

As described above, an arbitrary rule for version upgrade determination is set in the determination table. The rules of the judgment table can be set arbitrarily when the program is installed in the memory card even after the product is shipped.

In step S58, it is checked whether or not the combination cannot be upgraded by referring to the determination table (S58), and it is determined whether the version needs to be upgraded. It is determined by the above determination routine (S44) whether or not a version upgrade is necessary.

When the CPU 2 receives the version upgrade determination result from the determination routine of step S44, the CPU 2 moves the program execution area to the program flash memory 4 and determines whether or not the version upgrade is determined (S45). If it is determined in the determination routine that the version is to be upgraded, the program transfer processing program of the flash memory card 9 is executed by the CPU.
2 is copied to the internal RAM 8 (S46).

Next, the program transfer processing program is executed on the internal RAM 8 of the CPU 2 to transfer the program of the flash memory card 9 to the program flash memory 4. As described above, by transferring the program transfer processing program to the internal RAM 8 of the CPU 2 and executing the program transfer processing there, the processing speed is improved as compared with the case where the program transfer processing is executed on the flash memory card 9. There are advantages. The program transfer processing program may be executed on the flash memory card 9 to rewrite the program.

Then, the main program of the upgraded program flash memory 4 is executed (S48).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the rewriting judgment program is also written in the flash memory card 9 storing the program, and the rewriting judgment program is started from the device side and executed on the memory card. With this configuration, the conditions for the upgrade determination can be freely set even after the product is shipped, and the user's usability can be improved only by operating the rewrite determination program written to the memory card. Further, since the transfer program for transferring the program is stored in the memory card, the user is not required to prepare the transfer program in the apparatus in advance. In addition, since a transfer program can be prepared in accordance with the program stored in the memory card, appropriate and detailed processing can be performed.

In the judgment routine shown in FIG. 5, after comparing the version numbers in step S56, it is checked whether or not the combination cannot be upgraded by using the judgment table, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, steps 57 and 58 in FIG. 5 may be deleted to simplify the judgment. In the flowchart of the determination routine shown in FIG. 7, steps S71 to S76 are the same as the processes of steps 51 to 56 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 described above, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

In the above embodiment, a facsimile apparatus is described as an example of one of the electric devices. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to other apparatuses that can rewrite a program with a memory card.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a decision routine for determining when to rewrite a program in the device is stored in the card memory, and the device executes the decision routine on the card memory. Since the necessity of the version upgrade is determined in this manner, it is possible to individually and appropriately respond to various environmental changes after the product is shipped.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a memory mapping diagram of a memory card according to the embodiment; FIG. 2B is a memory mapping diagram of a flash memory according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a memory mapping diagram of an internal ROM in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart from power-on to execution of a main program in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a determination routine in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a judgment table in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a simplified judgment routine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main board 2 CPU 3 Internal bus 4 Flash memory for program 5 Flash memory for image information 6 DRAM for work 7 Internal ROM 8 Internal RAM 9 Flash memory card

Claims (5)

[Claims] A memory card storing a program for rewriting and a determination program for determining whether to rewrite, and a rewritable program for storing a program for controlling the apparatus. An internal memory, a determination control unit for executing the determination program on the memory card from the device side, and a transfer control unit for transferring a rewriting program in the memory card to the internal memory based on a determination result. Information processing device to be equipped. 2. The determination control means detects that the memory card is inserted into the main body of the apparatus, extracts header information from the detected memory card, and determines whether a program is stored. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the program is stored, the determination program is executed on the memory card. 3. A transfer program is stored in the memory card together with a rewriting program and a determination program, and the transfer control means downloads a program in the memory card to the internal memory using the transfer program. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The transfer control means transfers the transfer program to an auxiliary internal memory on the device side, executes the transfer program on the auxiliary internal memory, and executes a rewrite program in the memory card. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is transferred to an internal memory. 5. A memory card storing a rewriting program and a judgment program for judging whether or not to rewrite the program is inserted into the device, and the device which detects the memory card reads the judgment program on the memory card. A program rewriting method, characterized in that it is executed to determine whether or not to rewrite a program.