JP2007065938A - Information processing system, electronic device, version upgrading method used therefor and its program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic device being version-upgraded without letting a user of the device to be version-upgraded select an appropriate system file or installing and executing a wizard program on a terminal in a transmission side. <P>SOLUTION: A version upgrading file 24 is copied from a terminal 2 to the electronic device 1 and retained once as a version upgrading file 17. After that, an extraction section 12 inside the electronic device extracts an appropriate system file 18 in a system file group 170 in the version upgrading file 17 based on a machine model ID 14. The extracted system file 18 is written in a system file storage area 15 to be version-upgraded. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing system, an electronic device, a version upgrade method used therefor, and a program thereof, and more particularly, to a method for upgrading firmware such as a system file for operating an electronic device.

  Conventionally, as this type of version upgrade method, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, when attempting to upgrade a certain apparatus, an electronic device targeted by a user who intends to perform the version upgrade is used. The first method [see FIG. 8 (a)] for manually selecting a system file suitable for the above, or a wizard program that can be executed on the terminal used for upgrading by the manufacturer who developed the file for upgrading It is necessary to perform the second method [see FIG.

  In the first method, in order to rewrite the storage area 72 in the upgrade target device 7, the user who performs the upgrade from the system file group 4 in which various system files are collected is manually updated by the user 5. 7 selects an appropriate system file 61.

  The user transmits the selected system file 61 from the terminal 6 into the version upgrade target device 7, whereby the system file 61 is written as a system file 71 in the storage area 72.

  In the second method, the user installs the wizard program 82 in the terminal 8 in order to rewrite the storage area 92 in the upgrade target apparatus 9. The wizard program 82 is prepared by the manufacturer who created the system file of the upgrade target apparatus 9.

  When the wizard program 82 is activated, it reads out the model ID (identification information) 93 existing in the upgrade target device 9 to determine the model of the upgrade target device 9, and appropriately selects the upgrade target device 9 from the system file group 81. System files 83 are automatically selected. The selected system file 83 is copied from the terminal 8 into the version upgrade target device 9 and written into the storage area 92 as the system file 91.

  Further, as a conventional version upgrade method, in the broadcast station server system, the updated version control program is multiplexed with the broadcast wave together with each model ID and transmitted to the operation terminal, and the operation terminal side sets the model ID of the own terminal. There is a method of receiving a corresponding updated version control program and performing version upgrade (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2005-018547 A

  In the conventional version upgrade method described above, in the case of the first method described above, manual operation 5 is required to select an appropriate system file 61 from the system file group 4. Further, in the case of the first method, in order to select an appropriate system file 61 in the manual operation 5, it is determined which file in the system file group 4 is compatible with the upgrade target device 7. Knowledge is required for the user.

  In the case of the second method, the wizard program 82 needs to be installed in the terminal 8. Since this wizard program 82 often depends on the execution environment such as the OS (Operating System) of the terminal 8, the type of terminal used is limited or the manufacturer prepares a wizard program 82 for each type of terminal. There is a need to.

  As described above, in the conventional version upgrade method, in the case of the first method, the user needs to select the system file with knowledge, and in the case of the second method, the manufacturer uses a wizard for the terminal used by the user.・ It is necessary to prepare a program. Since the technique described in Patent Document 1 requires special transmission processing on the transmission side, a special electronic device or program for transmission is required for the terminal on the transmission side as in the second method. To do.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and install a wizard program on the transmission-side terminal without the user of the device trying to upgrade the version selecting an appropriate system file. The present invention provides an information processing system, an electronic device, a version upgrade method used therefor, and a program thereof that can be upgraded without being executed.

An information processing system according to the present invention is an information processing system that upgrades a system file of an electronic device by transmitting a file for upgrading from the terminal to the electronic device to be upgraded,
The electronic device is suitable for its own device based on the identification information from means for holding the identification information of the own device and a single file received from the terminal and collected and connected to a plurality of system file groups. Means for extracting a system file, and means for writing the extracted system file into the system file storage area of the device itself.

An electronic device according to the present invention is an electronic device that receives a file for version upgrade from a terminal at the time of version upgrade, and upgrades the system file of the own device,
Based on the identification information, a system file suitable for the own device is extracted from means for holding the identification information of the own device and a single file received from the terminal and connected to a plurality of system file groups. And means for writing the extracted system file into the system file storage area of the device.

A version upgrade method according to the present invention is a version upgrade method for an information processing system that upgrades a system file of an electronic device by transmitting a file for version upgrade from a terminal to the electronic device to be upgraded,
A process in which the electronic device extracts a system file suitable for the device based on the identification information of the device stored in advance from a single file received from the terminal and collected by connecting a plurality of system file groups. And a process of writing the extracted system file into the system file storage area of the device itself.

The program of the version upgrade method according to the present invention is a program of a version upgrade method of an information processing system that upgrades a system file of the electronic device by transmitting a file for upgrade from the terminal to the electronic device to be upgraded. There,
A system file suitable for the device is extracted based on the identification information of the device stored in advance from a single file that is received from the terminal and connected to the computer of the electronic device. And a process of writing the extracted system file into the system file storage area of the own device.

  In other words, the electronic device according to the present invention can be used to upgrade a system file without a precise knowledge of the model ID of the electronic device to be upgraded by the user who performs the upgrade. It is possible to select the appropriate file and perform the upgrade without any special preparation.

  More specifically, in the electronic device of the present invention, in the case of a version upgrade target device, in order to rewrite the storage area in the device itself, a single file (hereinafter referred to as a single file) that is a collection of various system file groups connected together The upgrade file is prepared, and the prepared upgrade file is copied from the terminal to the own device and temporarily stored as the upgrade file.

  Thereafter, in the electronic device of the present invention, an appropriate system file is extracted from the system file group in the upgrade file by the extraction unit in the own device based on the model ID of the own device, and the extracted system file is stored in the storage area. The version is upgraded by writing to.

  In the version upgrade method of the present invention as described above, the user does not require accurate knowledge about the model of the device as in the first method described above, and as in the second method described above. In addition, there is no need to install a wizard program on the sending terminal. In the version upgrade method of the present invention, it is necessary to prepare a version upgrade file, but this does not depend on the execution environment of the terminal on the transmission side, unlike the wizard program of the second method.

  As a result, in the version upgrade method of the present invention, selection of a system file suitable for the device to be upgraded is automatically performed. There is no need to perform sorting.

  In the version upgrade method of the present invention, since a system file suitable for the device to be upgraded is automatically selected in the version upgrade target device, a wizard program is installed on the terminal on the transmission side. And no need to execute.

  Furthermore, in the version upgrade method of the present invention, it is not necessary to install and execute a wizard program, so that it is not necessary to prepare a wizard program for each type of execution environment of the terminal on the transmission side.

  The present invention is configured and operated as described below, so that a user of a device to be upgraded does not select an appropriate system file, and a wizard program is installed on the terminal on the transmission side. The effect that the version can be upgraded without installing and executing is obtained.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an electronic device 1 to be upgraded and a terminal 2.

  The electronic device 1 includes a file receiving unit 11, an extracting unit 12, a writing unit 13, a model ID 14, and a system file storage area 15 that stores a system file 16. The terminal 2 includes an input / output unit 21, a file transmission unit 22, and an internal storage unit 23 that holds an upgrade file 24.

  The terminal 2 holds a version upgrade file 24 for upgrading the electronic device 1 in the internal storage unit 23, and has a role of causing the electronic device 1 to perform version upgrade under the control of the user. The input / output unit 21 has a function of instructing the file transmission unit 22 to transmit the upgrade file 24 held in the internal storage unit 23 to the file reception unit 11 of the electronic device 1.

  In response to an instruction from the input / output unit 21, the file transmission unit 22 has a function of taking out the upgrade file 24 from the internal storage unit 23 and transmitting it to the file reception unit 11 of the electronic device 1. As the file transmission unit 22, a simple WEB browser that solves the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) protocol is used.

  The upgrade file 24 is an upgrade file that is stored in the internal storage unit 23 and transmitted from the file transmission unit 22 to the electronic device 1. The upgrade file 24 includes a system file for the system file storage area 15 and is a single file in a format that can be extracted by the extraction unit 12. The internal storage unit 23 holds an upgrade file 24 for upgrading the electronic device 1.

  The file receiving unit 11 of the electronic device 1 has a function of receiving the upgrade file transmitted from the file transmitting unit 22 of the terminal 2 and holding it inside the electronic device 1. It is assumed that HTTP is used as the communication protocol of the file receiving unit 11. The extraction unit 12 has a function of extracting a system file appropriate for the electronic device 1 from the upgrade file with reference to the model ID 14 and holding it as a system file.

  The writing unit 13 has a function of sending the system file to the system file storage area 15 and rewriting the system file 16. The model ID 14 is model information sufficient to select a system file that can be used by the electronic device 1 and is held in the apparatus.

  The system file storage area 15 is a storage area for storing the system file 16. The system file 16 is a system file suitable for the apparatus 1 stored in the system file storage area 15. The purpose of version upgrade in the embodiment of the present invention is to rewrite the system file 16.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a version upgrade operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. The version upgrade operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.

  In the version upgrade method according to the embodiment of the present invention, in order to rewrite the system file 16 in the system file storage area 15 in the electronic device 1 to be upgraded, various system file groups 241 are simply collected and connected. A version upgrade file 24, which is one file, is prepared.

  The prepared upgrade file 24 is copied from the terminal 2 into the electronic device 1 and temporarily held as the upgrade file 17. Thereafter, an appropriate system file 18 is extracted from the system file group 170 in the upgrade file 17 by the extraction unit 12 in the electronic device 1 based on the model ID 14. The extracted system file 18 is written into the system file storage area 15 to be upgraded.

  In the version upgrade method according to the embodiment of the present invention, unlike the conventional first method, accurate knowledge about the model of the electronic device 1 is not required from the user, and the conventional second method is used. There is no need to install a wizard program on the sending terminal.

  Also, in the version upgrade method according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is necessary to prepare the version upgrade file 24. However, this depends on the execution environment of the terminal as in the wizard program of the second conventional method. Absent.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, since the selection of the system file appropriate for the electronic device 1 to be upgraded is automatically performed, the user of the electronic device 1 who intends to perform the upgrade is appropriate. The effect of eliminating the need for selecting a system file is obtained.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, since automatic selection of system files suitable for the electronic device 1 to be upgraded is performed in the electronic device 1 to be upgraded, a wizard is installed on the terminal 2 on the transmission side. -The effect of eliminating the need to install and execute the program is obtained.

  Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is not necessary to install and execute a wizard program on the terminal 2 on the transmission side, so that it is not necessary to prepare a wizard program for each type of execution environment of the terminal 2. An effect is obtained.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electronic apparatus 1 of FIG. 3, the information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the configuration of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 and the operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals as in the embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 using data transferred between the components. The processing shown in FIG. 4 is realized by executing a program held in a program storage area (not shown) by a CPU (central processing unit) (not shown) of the electronic apparatus 1.

  The upgrade file 17 is an upgrade file that has been received by the file reception unit 11 and is passed to the extraction unit 12. The system file 18 is a system file extracted from the upgrade file 17 by the extraction unit 12 and passed to the writing unit 13.

  When upgrading the system file 16 stored in the system file storage area 15 of the electronic device 1, the user operates the input / output unit 21 of the terminal 2 to store the upgrade file 24 in the file transmission unit 22. It is taken out from the unit 23 and transmitted to the electronic device 1.

  The electronic device 1 receives the upgrade file 24 transmitted from the terminal 2 at the file receiving unit 11 (step S1 in FIG. 4), and holds it as the upgrade file 17 (step S2 in FIG. 4). When the reception of the upgrade file 17 by the file reception unit 11 is completed, the extraction unit 12 refers to the model ID 14 and extracts an appropriate system file 18 from the upgrade file 17 and stores it inside (step S3 in FIG. 4). .

  When the extraction unit 12 completes the extraction of the system file 18, the writing unit 13 writes the system file 18 into the system file storage area 15 to upgrade the system file 16 (step S4 in FIG. 4). The electronic device 1 repeats the above processing until all the version upgrades are completed (steps S1 to S5 in FIG. 4).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the upgrade file used in one embodiment of the present invention. Although FIG. 5 describes the configuration of the upgrade file 17, the configuration of the upgrade file 24 shown in FIG. 3 is the same as the configuration of the upgrade file 17 shown in FIG.

  The upgrade file 17 is a system file for upgrading a plurality of models (system file 172 for “model A”, system file 173 for “model B”, system file 174 for “model C”, “model D” in FIG. "System file 175)" is combined. It is assumed that the upgrade file 17 is created in advance by the manufacturer of the electronic device 1.

  An offset table 171 exists at the top of the upgrade file 17. The offset table 171 includes a model ID 171 a of a model to which each system file is applied, and an offset value indicating the top position of each system file in the upgrade file. 171b, and a Length value 171c representing the size of each system file is recorded.

  The extraction performed by the extraction unit 12 is to find a line that matches the model ID 14 from the Offset table 171 of the upgrade file 17 and use the information of Offset and Length described in the line to combine the upgrade files. 17 is to restore the system file 18 from 17.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since selection of an appropriate system file for the electronic device 1 to be upgraded is automatically performed, the user of the electronic device 1 who intends to perform the upgrade can select an appropriate system file. It is possible to obtain an effect that it is not necessary to perform sorting.

  Further, in this embodiment, since automatic selection of system files suitable for the electronic device 1 to be upgraded is performed in the electronic device 1 to be upgraded, a wizard program is installed on the terminal 2 on the transmission side. The effect is that there is no need to install and run.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, there is no need to install and execute a wizard program on the terminal 2 on the transmission side, so that it is not necessary to prepare a wizard program for each type of execution environment of the terminal 2. It is done.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the information processing system according to another embodiment of the present invention is provided with a file receiving / extracting unit 31 in which the file receiving unit 11 and the extracting unit 12 shown in FIG. Has the same configuration as that of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  The file reception / extraction unit 31 does not need to hold the upgrade file 17 as in the above-described embodiment of the present invention by sequentially extracting the system file while receiving the upgrade file from the terminal 2. I am doing so. In this case, the file receiving / extracting unit 31 sequentially analyzes each time a fragment of the upgrade file 24 is received, and reads and discards portions other than those constituting the system file appropriate for the electronic device 3.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a version upgrade file used in another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, in another embodiment of the present invention, the size of the upgrade file 32 is reduced by changing the format of the upgrade file 32 from a simple combination of system files to a format in which differences are extracted. Yes.

  The upgrade file 32 has an Offset table 321 that records the location of each file at the top, and then a basic file 322 common to each model, and a difference file containing the differences for each model (“model” in FIG. 6). Difference file 323 for "A", difference file 324 for "model B", difference file 325 for "model C", and difference file 326 for "model D". It is assumed that the upgrade file 32 is created in advance by the manufacturer of the electronic device.

  The Offset table 321 includes a model ID 321a indicating the model ID of each model, a basic file Offset value 321b indicating the location of the basic file 322, a basic file Length value 321c, and a difference file Offset value 321d indicating the location of each difference file. A difference file Length value 321e is recorded.

  Here, for example, when extracting and restoring the file for “model B”, the electronic device first searches the offset table 321 for a line whose model ID is “model B”. Thereafter, the basic file Offset value (“100”) indicating the location of the basic file 322 and the basic file Length value (“200”) are read to extract the basic file 322.

  Next, the electronic device reads the difference file Offset value (“400”) indicating the location of the “model B” difference file 324 and the difference file Length value (“100”) to obtain the “model B” difference file 324. Extract. The electronic device can restore the system file 33 for “model B” by combining the extracted basic file 322 and the “model B” difference file 324.

  In this embodiment, the size of the upgrade file can be reduced by using the above method, rather than combining complete system files for each model.

  In the present invention, in the description of the configuration of each embodiment described above, HTTP is used as the communication protocol used in the file reception unit, and the file transmission unit may be a simple WEB browser. If the server is a (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) server, any protocol can be used as long as the file transmission unit can be a simple TFTP client, as long as the file transmission unit can transfer the file from the file transmission unit to the file reception unit. .

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system by embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the version upgrade operation | movement of the information processing system by embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system by one Example of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the electronic device of FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the upgrade file used by one Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system by the other Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the upgrade file used in another Example of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the 1st method of the conventional version upgrade, (b) is a figure which shows the 2nd method of the conventional version upgrade.

Explanation of symbols

1,3 Electronic equipment
2 terminal
11 File receiver
12 Extraction unit
13 Writing section
14 Model ID
15 System file storage area
16, 18 System file 17, 24, 32 Upgrade file
21 Input / output section
22 File transmission section
23 Internal storage
31 File receiving / extracting section
170 System file group 171, 321 Offset table 171a, 321a Model ID
171b Offset value
171c Length value
172 System file for “Model A”
173 System file for “Model B”
174 System file for “Model C”
175 System file for “Model D”
241 System file group
321b Basic file offset value
321c Basic file Length value
321d Difference file offset value
321e Difference file Length value
322 Basic file
323 Difference file for “Model A”
324 Difference file for “Model B”
325 Difference file for “Model C”
326 Difference file for “Model D”

Claims (16)

An information processing system that upgrades a system file of the electronic device by transmitting a file for upgrading from the terminal to the electronic device to be upgraded,
The electronic device is suitable for its own device based on the identification information from means for holding the identification information of the own device and a single file received from the terminal and collected and connected to a plurality of system file groups. An information processing system comprising: means for extracting a system file; and means for writing the extracted system file into a system file storage area of the device itself.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the single file is a combination of a plurality of files having different application models.   3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device includes means for copying and temporarily holding the single file into the device.   3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the means for extracting the system file sequentially extracts the system file while receiving the single file.   The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the single file includes a basic file common to each model and a difference file containing differences for each model. An electronic device that upgrades the system file of its own device by receiving a file for upgrading from the terminal at the time of upgrade target,
Based on the identification information, a system file suitable for the own device is extracted from means for holding the identification information of the own device and a single file received from the terminal and connected to a plurality of system file groups. An electronic apparatus comprising: means; and means for writing the extracted system file into a system file storage area of the own apparatus.   The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the single file is a combination of a plurality of files having different application models.   8. The electronic device according to claim 6, further comprising means for copying the single file into the device and temporarily holding the file.   8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the means for extracting the system file sequentially extracts the system file while receiving the single file.   10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the single file includes a basic file common to each model and a difference file containing differences for each model. A method for upgrading an information processing system that upgrades a system file of an electronic device by transmitting a file for upgrading from a terminal to the electronic device to be upgraded,
A process in which the electronic device extracts a system file suitable for the device based on the identification information of the device stored in advance from a single file received from the terminal and collected by connecting a plurality of system file groups. And a process of writing into the storage area of the system file of the device with the extracted system file.   The version upgrade method according to claim 11, wherein the single file is a combination of a plurality of files having different application models.   The version upgrade method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the electronic device copies the single file into the device itself and temporarily holds the file.   13. The version upgrade method according to claim 11, wherein in the process of extracting the system file, the system file is sequentially extracted while receiving the single file.   15. The version upgrade method according to claim 11, wherein the single file includes a basic file common to each model and a difference file containing differences for each model. A program for an upgrade method of an information processing system that upgrades a system file of an electronic device by transmitting a file for upgrading from a terminal to an electronic device to be upgraded,
A system file suitable for the device is extracted based on the identification information of the device stored in advance from a single file that is received from the terminal and connected to the computer of the electronic device. A program for executing the processing to be executed and the processing for writing the extracted system file to the storage area of the system file of the own device.

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