JP2003500959A - Broadcast download technology - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] In a wireless microcell distribution system, software updates, enable and disable functions, channel reassignments, or other downloadable data are simultaneously broadcast to multiple cable microcell integrators. A conventional unreliable message delivery system in which a cable microcell integrator is manually updated, or each of the cable microcell integrators is individually addressed and the response recorded, is provided. Eliminate the time-consuming unicast process of experiencing In one embodiment, the request is transmitted to multiple cable microcell integrators simultaneously in broadcast mode, and no response is required. Next, each cable microcell integrator is queried on a unicast basis regarding the receipt of the broadcast information and whether any portion must be rebroadcast. If so, all or part of the information set can optionally be rebroadcast, with only the affected cable microcell integrator downloading the broadcasted information. The multicast / broadcast technique will thus update each of the cable microcell integrators quickly and simultaneously from a central location.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a wireless microcell distribution system, and more particularly to a technique for providing software updates and other information to a plurality of microcells to shorten the required download time.

[0002]

[Prior art]

In a wireless microcell distribution system, multiple microcells are coupled to a cable for transmission to and reception from wireless terminals. It is conceivable that up to 36 microcells may be combined in one cable and sometimes a downloadable software update must be provided for each of these microcells. The type of information transmitted to each of the microcells can be, for example, software that reconfigures each microcell, software that reconfigures the enable and disable capabilities of each microcell, software that changes channel assignments, There is software that provides other information to the microcell.

Traditionally, this has been accomplished on a unicast basis. In the case of unicast, the messages from the headend control unit are transmitted one at a time to each microcell. At that time, each microcell is a so-called cable microcell integrator threat (cable microcel).
l integrator threat). The cable microcell integrator responds to the request message from the headend interface converter and reconfigures its own internal software to match the transmitted information. Upon download, the cable microcell integrator returns a response to the headend control unit indicating the status of the downloaded information.

It is considered that this unicast technique requires a considerable amount of time. For example, downloading 1000 messages to a particular cable microcell integrator may take as long as an hour. Since this is multiplied by the number of cable microcell integrators in communication with this particular headend control unit, it may take weeks to complete the software download.

While it is believed that conventional technology may be able to properly download information to each cable microcell integrator, it is preferable that this process be accomplished in a shorter amount of time.

[0006]

[Outline of the Invention]

Instead of addressing each cable microcell integrator separately, in an improved process, a message is sent from the headend control unit to each cable microcell integrator and each cable microcell integrator is sent. Reconfigure the integrator to enter broadcast mode. This transmission is on a unicast basis.

The downloadable information is then broadcast to all of the cable microcell integrators in a so-called broadcast mode in which the information is simultaneously transmitted to each of the cable microcell integrators.

After the broadcast is complete, a leave broadcast mode message is broadcast to each of the cable microcell integrators. Then, in unicast mode, each of the cable microcell integrators is asked about the broadcast status. In one embodiment, each of the cable microcell integrators calculates a checksum that indicates the respective acknowledgment of the download.

In checking the status of the respective broadcasts in each of the cable microcell integrators, this information is transmitted to the headend control unit on a unicast base unicast basis. If most of the messages are lost or misinterpreted by multiple cable microcell integrators, in one embodiment the headend control unit rebroadcasts all or part of the download, A cable microcell integrator confirming receipt of the original message simply ignores the additional broadcast or properly received portion.

In this way, a process that may take weeks or so is completed in hours or minutes. An important point to note is that each cable microcell integrator is required to retransmit to the cable microcell integrator only the information that it needed but did not receive. is there.

In this way, the system according to the invention makes it possible to combine unicast and broadcast in an efficient manner to detect and correct erroneous messages in the respective cable microcell integrators. ing.

In summary, in a wireless microcell distribution system, software updates,
A multicast system is provided that simultaneously broadcasts enable and disable functions, channel reassignment, or other downloadable data to multiple cable microcell integrators, thereby
Manually update the cable microcell integrator or
Eliminates the time-consuming unicast process in which each of the microcell integrators experiences traditional unreliable message delivery where each is individually addressed and the response is recorded. In one embodiment, the request is simultaneously transmitted in broadcast mode to multiple cable microcell integrators and no response is required. Each cable microcell integrator is then asked on a unicast basis regarding the receipt of the broadcast information and whether any part should be rebroadcast. If so, optionally all or part of the information set may be rebroadcast, with only the affected cable microcell integrators downloading the broadcasted information. Multicast broadcast technology will thus update each of the cable microcell integrators quickly and simultaneously from a central location.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The above and other features of the present invention can be better understood with reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, in a wireless microcell distribution system, a headend control unit 10 is coupled to a headend interface converter 12. The head-end interface converter 12 may include a number of cable microcell integrators 14, 1 via a network including cable television plants, which may be, for example, optical fibers, cables or microcells.
6, 18 and 20 are connected in series. It should now be understood that at times, each cable microcell integrator must be provided with software update, channel reassignment, or enable and disable capabilities that must be changed. Therefore, what is sometimes required is to remove software bugs, enhance capabilities, or configure channels. In the past, as already mentioned, such software updates have been accomplished by individually downloading the required information to each cable microcell integrator. Thus, for example, each cable microcell integrator is separately addressed and provided with the information downloaded at that time. An acknowledgment that the information was received is then sent back to the headend control unit via the network. If some of the information was not downloaded properly, the appropriate information is retransmitted to the particular cable microcell integrator that needs it.

Referring now to FIG. 2, unlike the above-described method of providing software updates to cable microcell integrators, in the system of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, information is downloaded. Information is transmitted to each cable microcell integrator on a multicast basis which is simultaneously transmitted to each cable microcell integrator. This is reference numeral 22
It is directed by the information on the request path illustrated in.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the broadcasting of downloadable information may be done in a multicast or simultaneous mode, and after the information has been transmitted, the system may proceed to FIG.
Placed in unicast interrogation mode, as illustrated in FIG. 2, an interrogation message is sent to a particular cable microcell integrator, and the response from it is evaluated, as illustrated in line 24. This response is sent back on path 26 as illustrated.

In one embodiment, the query message requires a response from the addressed cable microcell integrator for the confirmation message. The confirmation message is in some cases a simple checksum. Other types of confirmation messages are possible, such as those that indicate which part of which message was not properly downloaded or received. As is typical in such verification techniques, checksums are provided for each section of downloaded information. Cyclical redundancy check (cy
clic redundancy check) etc.

With reference to FIG. 4 below, in terms of information flow, the headend control unit, as illustrated in box 30, heads to each cable microcell integrator for that cable microcell integrator. Carries the need to place the cell integrator in broadcast mode. The downloadable information is then broadcast, sending N broadcast messages, as illustrated in box 32. The number of messages may exceed 1000. These messages are sent simultaneously from the particular headend control unit to the respective cable microcell integrator, as already mentioned.

After the information has been broadcast to the respective cable microcell integrators, a broadcast “leave”, as shown in box 34.
The message is simultaneously multicast to each cable microcell integrator, after which the "question" message regarding the broadcast status is unicast, as illustrated in box 36. In this task, each cable microcell integrator is queried serially by the headend control unit and its broadcast state is evaluated one state at a time. Then any of the broadcast messages, ie,
The original information is broadcast to all cable microcell integrators, as indicated by the dashed line 38, assuming there is some or all common transmission. Each cable microcell integrator only responds to the portion of the message that was not properly received.

Next, a program written in C language will be described. This program is for a unicast / broadcast mixed system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]

[Table 1]

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

[0028]

[0029]

[0030]

[0031]

[0032]

[0033]

[0034]

[0035]

[0036]

[0037]

[0038]

[0039]

[0040]

[0041]

[0042]

[0043]

[0044]

[0045]

[0046]

[0047]

[0048]

[0049]

[0050]

[0051]

[0052]

[0053]

[0054]

[0055]

[0056]

[0057]

[0058]

The system described above is a hybrid of unicast / broadcast.
Mode operation is more efficient in downloading information to multiple cable microcell integrators. A more efficient method for downloading information is the data format technology shown in the following program. This is also written in C language and batch instructions. Of importance is the efficiency due to the fact that addresses in broadcast mode are not required.
This eliminates the need for address blocks to place the data in it.

In overview, the purpose of the code called HEX2CDL is to output the output file (HEL) of a certain cable microcell integrator compilation:
It is to propose a change to the CDL file format using the broadcast download message of the cable microcell integrator. The CDL messages are arranged in a particular order in the CDL file, which allows the headend control unit to quickly download a new image checksum to the cable microcell integrator, and • Allows easy access and transmission of any particular sector of microcell integrator code. Each sector of this code is represented by as few CDL messages as possible.

Specifically, the following is a list of tasks performed by the HEX2CDL code. First, the HEX2CDL code separates the ROM code from the EEPROM code. Please note that ROM code is not downloaded. The EEPROM is divided into 57 512-byte sectors (0 to 56). A 32-bit checksum is calculated for each sector. The checksum is placed inside the message marked sector 56 (0x38). These checksum messages have an order with sector 0 first, and are placed above the CDL file. Each sector of the EEPROM code is processed to yield a minimum number of CDL messages and run length encoding. All messages regarding sectors should be included in the same group.
The tag field of each message contains a sector number, which is how the headend control unit can download any particular sector. Each line of CDL is a separate message that is all ready to be sent by the headend control unit.

In more detail below, a sample CDL output file is shown. The comment is
To the right of //, not included in the file. Typically, there are about 3000 lines in one CDL file. The third and fourth characters of each line are considered to be the TAG byte, 0x38 = sector 56, which is H
Informs the ECU that it is checksum information. F000 is an address for writing.

[0063]

[Table 2]

[0064]

[0065]

[0066]

[0067]

[0068]

[0069]

[0070]

[0071]

[0072]

[0073]

[0074]

[0075]

[0076]

[0077]

[0078]

[0079]

[0080]

[0081]

[0082]

[0083]

[0084]

[0085]

[0086]

[0087]

[0088]

[0089]

[0090]

[0091]

[0092]

[0093]

While some embodiments of the present invention have been described above and some modifications and variations of these embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art will now be described using examples. It should be clear that the content is merely exemplary and is not intended to be limiting. Many modifications and other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art, which are deemed to be within the scope of the invention which is defined solely by the appended claims and their equivalents. To be

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a unicast system according to the prior art. In this case, the information is downloaded individually to each cable microcell integrator, and the response from each cable microcell integrator is evaluated for each microcell.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system according to the present invention. In this case, software updates and other information are simultaneously broadcast to their respective cable microcell integrators and no response is required.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the system of FIG. After the information is broadcast to each cable microcell integrator, a question message is sent on a unicast basis to each cable microcell integrator,
The response from each cable microcell integrator is evaluated.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a sequence of events in the downloading of information broadcast to each cable microcell integrator.

[Procedure for Amendment] Submission for translation of Article 34 Amendment of Patent Cooperation Treaty

[Submission date] March 29, 2001 (2001.3.29)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Contents of correction]

[Claims]

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, I T, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE), OA (BF, BJ , CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, K E, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG , ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, CA, C H, CN, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DZ , EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, K G, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT , LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, S D, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR , TT, TZ, UA, UG, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW (72) Inventor Rigazio, Joseph El, The Third             New Hampshire, United States             03045, Goffstown, Buck Mountain             Road 746 F term (reference) 5B076 AB20 AC03 BB06 EA18                 5K030 GA01 HA08 HB19 HC20 JL01                       LA01 LA19 LD05 MB10                 5K033 AA02 CB03 CB13 DA05 DA17                       DB18                 5K067 AA21 AA41 BB04 DD27 DD57                       EE10 EE16 EE23 EE41 HH23 [Continued summary] Can be striking, in which case the affected cable ・ Only the microcell integrator has a broadcast Download the posted information. Multicast Broadcast technology is thus Center each microcell integrator It will be updated quickly and simultaneously.

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. In a wireless microcell distribution system, from a first location,
A system for rapidly downloading information to a plurality of remote locations where a cable microcell integrator is located, comprising means for broadcasting information updating the cable microcell integrator from the first location. Which provides updated information to multiple cable microcell integrators simultaneously,
A system wherein a response from the microcell integrator to the first location is not required. 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for separately sending an interrogation message to each of the cable microcell integrators in the first location, the message being the information broadcast. A system characterized by asking about the receipt of. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein each cable microcell integrator reconfigures itself to receive a broadcast message to broadcast to each cable microcell integrator. The system further comprising means at the first location for transmitting a request to establish a mode to the cable microcell integrator. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the transmission of the reconfiguration request is accomplished serially on a per-address unicast basis. 5. The system of claim 1, providing status of information broadcast to the cable microcell integrator by confirming the integrity of the message broadcast from the first location. A system, further comprising means in each cable microcell integrator, and means for transmitting the status of the received broadcast in one cable microcell integrator to said first location. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the associated cable
It evaluates the status of broadcast messages from each of the microcell integrators and re-informs all of the cable microcell integrators with the purpose of correcting information that was not properly received at one cable microcell integrator. The system, further comprising means for broadcasting at the first location. 7. The system according to claim 6, wherein each of said cable microcell integrators confirms which of said rebroadcast information should be replaced by information which was not properly received and said properly received. The system further comprising means for replacing missed information with the appropriate rebroadcast information. 8. A method for providing rapid update from a headend control unit to each of the cable microcell integrators in a wireless microcell distribution system, each of the cable microcell integrators in a broadcast mode. In the unicast module, requesting that all of the cable microcell integrators simultaneously transmit information in a broadcast, and to each of the cable microcell integrators, By having the headend control unit provide in unicast mode a message indicating the status of reception of the broadcast message, the cable microcell integrator can Each of them is placed in broadcast mode on a unicast basis, the updates are transmitted in broadcast mode to the cable microcell integrator, and the state of reception of the broadcast information is in unicast mode. A step of returning to the headend interface converter. 9. In a wireless microcell distribution system, from a first position,
A method for rapidly downloading information to multiple remote locations where a cable microcell integrator is located, the method comprising broadcasting information updating the cable microcell integrator from the first location. That provides updated information to multiple cable microcell integrators simultaneously,
The method of claim 1, wherein a response from the microcell integrator to the first location is not required. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein in the first position,
The method further comprising separately sending an interrogation message to each of the cable microcell integrators, the message interrogating regarding receipt of the information broadcast. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein broadcast to each of the cable microcell integrators by reconfiguring each of the cable microcell integrators to receive a broadcast message. The method further comprising transmitting a request to establish a mode to the cable microcell integrator at the first location. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmission of the reconfiguration request is accomplished serially on a per-address unicast basis. 13. The method of claim 9, providing status of information broadcast to the cable microcell integrator by confirming the integrity of the message broadcast from the first location. Transmitting the status of the received broadcast at one cable microcell integrator to said first location, further comprising at each cable microcell integrator. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the associated cable
The status of the broadcast message from each of the microcell integrators is evaluated and the information is re-transmitted to all of the cable microcell integrators for the purpose of correcting information that is not properly received at one cable microcell integrator. The method, further comprising the step of broadcasting at the first location. 15. The method of claim 6, wherein in each of said cable microcell integrators it is determined which of said rebroadcast information should be replaced by the information not properly received and said appropriately. The method further comprising replacing unreceived information with the appropriate rebroadcast information. 16. A wireless microcell distribution method for providing rapid update from a headend control unit to each of the cable microcell integrators, each of the cable microcell integrators in a broadcast mode. Requesting to be placed in a unicast module, transmitting information simultaneously to all of the cable microcell integrators in broadcast, to each of the cable microcell integrators, to the head. Causing an end control unit to provide a message in unicast mode indicating the status of receipt of said broadcast message.