JP2009080592A - Firmware rewriting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically and efficiently install firmware. <P>SOLUTION: An agent is prepared to control rewriting of the firmware of an adaptor mounted on a system device, an automatic start-up program for receiving the firmware from a server is stored in a management information storage area, the agent starts up the automatic start-up program, and the automatic start-up program receives an installation program from the server, to be stored into the management information storage area. Then, the automatic start-up program indicates the rewriting of the firmware to the agent, the agent starts up thereafter the installation program, rewrites the firmware of the adaptor to a new firmware, and restarts the system device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for rewriting firmware, and more particularly to a method for automatically rewriting firmware of a system apparatus.

  While there are a plurality of types of adapters such as I / O cards mounted on the system apparatus, the number of firmware is proportionally increased. Compared to hardware modifications, firmware can be dealt with more flexibly in terms of development period and development man-hours, and there is a current situation that countermeasures for hardware defects and functional improvements are frequently performed in firmware.

  Unlike application programs, firmware rewriting is a program that is built into an adapter such as an I / O card, so it is often necessary to restart the system device, and manual intervention often occurs. Often it must be attached.

  Currently, the user purchases a license code or license key, accesses a designated Web page on the Internet, inputs the purchased license code or license key, downloads the corresponding firmware to the system apparatus, and saves it. The installer of the saved firmware is automatically started and the firmware of the adapter such as an I / O card is rewritten. After rewriting, the system unit is shut down and restarted manually.

  As described above, there are many manual interventions and complicated operations such as accessing a Web page after purchase.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-249892 JP 2005-284506 A

  When installing the firmware for an adapter such as an I / O card installed in the system unit, it is necessary to manually enter the license key, access the specified website, download the firmware, etc. It is complicated and input errors are likely to occur. In addition, since it is necessary to restart the system manually by inputting a command, the efficiency of firmware installation is poor, and the problem is to make it more efficient and less cumbersome. is required.

In the method of rewriting the firmware of the adapter mounted on the system unit,
Prepare an agent for rewriting control of the firmware,
An automatic startup program for receiving the firmware from the server is stored in the management information storage area,
The agent starts the automatic start program stored in the management information storage area,
The started automatic startup program receives an installation program including new firmware from the server and stores it in the management information storage area, and then the automatic startup program instructs the agent to rewrite the firmware of the adapter,
The agent instructed to rewrite the firmware stops the running application, and then the agent starts the installation program stored in the management information storage area,
The started installation program rewrites the firmware of the adapter with new firmware,
After the rewriting of the firmware, the agent rewrites the firmware by restarting the system device.

  According to the present invention, the firmware of an adapter such as an I / O card mounted on the system apparatus is automatically installed without manual intervention, so that an input error such as a license code can be prevented and an operator can be prevented at the time of restart. By making it unnecessary, the firmware can be installed efficiently.

  In this embodiment, the license code and the automatic startup program are sold, the license key is placed on the management server, the agent of the system device manages the automatic startup program, and the management server sets the combination of the license code, the system device number, and the license key. When it is acquired, it is determined that it is a regular firmware update process, and the firmware can be downloaded.

  FIG. 1 shows an example in which elements constituting a system device-mounted adapter card according to the present invention are configured to implement firmware one-touch update. FIG. 1 includes a license / automatic activation program medium 101 purchased by a user, a system apparatus 102, and a management server 109. As the medium 101, a USB memory mounted on the system apparatus or other electronic medium may be used. The system apparatus 102 includes a reading unit 103 that reads the contents of the license / automatic startup program medium 101, an adapter 104 such as an I / O card, an agent 105, an operating system 106, a management information storage area 107, and a communication control unit connected to the Internet. 108.

  An agent in a normal system acquires information such as an error of each part, and stores the information such as the error in an area defined by the operating system in a format defined by the operating system 106.

  In this embodiment, the agent 105 of the system apparatus 102 cooperates with the automatic start program stored in the automatic start program area 202 of the license / automatic start program medium 101, and the information in the management information storage area 107 of the system apparatus 102 The management server 109 has a function of transmitting / receiving information in the management information / object storage area 113 and updating the firmware in the firmware area 301 of the adapter 104 such as an I / O card.

  The management server 109 includes a communication control unit 110 connected to the Internet, an operating system 111, a control program 112, and a management information / object storage area 113. The system apparatus 102 and the management server 109 are connected via an Internet network.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the license / automatic activation program medium 101 purchased by the user. License code area 201 storing the license code used for the first user authentication, automatic start program area 202 storing the automatic start program, and used for the second user authentication transmitted from the management server 109 It has a license key area 203 for storing a license key, and a use necessity area 204 for storing a flag for determining whether updating is possible. The license / automatic activation program medium includes a portable electronic medium such as a USB memory that is easy to carry.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the adapter 104 such as an I / O card of the system apparatus 102. The adapter 104 such as an I / O card has a firmware area 301 for storing firmware.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the management information storage area 107 of the system apparatus 102. The management information storage area 107 is a system apparatus identification number area 401 that stores a system apparatus number that is a unique number for each system apparatus, and an automatic start program that is loaded from the license / automatic start program medium 101. It has a boot program area 402 and a firmware rewrite program area 403 for storing a program for rewriting firmware received from the management server 109.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the management information / object storage area 113 of the management server 109. The management information / object storage area 113 stores a license code area 501 that is an area for storing a license code set in the license / automatic activation program medium 101 purchased by the user, and a system apparatus number of a system apparatus that is a target of firmware update. A system device number area 502 that is a storage area, a license key area 503 that is a storage area for a unique license key corresponding to a pair of a license code and a system apparatus number, and an adapter 104 such as an I / O card including firmware. A firmware (object) area 504 that is an area for storing a program to be installed, an issue count area 505 that is an area for recording the number of times the license / automatic startup program medium is used, and a license / automatic startup program medium can be used. And a limit number area 506 is an area for recording the number of times that.

  In this embodiment, since the method of adding the number of times of issue is described as an example, the management information / object storage area 113 has a limit number of times area, but every time the license / automatic activation program medium is used. There is also a method of subtracting from the number of times of issuance, and a method of restricting the number of times of use without having a limit number of times area by restricting the use when the number of times of issuance reaches zero.

  The user purchases the license / automatic activation program medium 101. On the provider side of the license / automatic start program medium, the license information corresponds to the license code area 501, the system device number area 502, the license key area 503, and the firmware (object) area 504 in the management information / object storage area 113 of the management server 109. Register the necessary data.

  That is, the license code of the license / automatic activation program medium 101 is stored in the license code area 501, and the system apparatus number of the management information storage area 107 of the system apparatus 102 is stored in the system apparatus number area 502. In the license key area, a unique license key corresponding to a pair of the license code and the system device number is generated and stored in the license key area 503. In the firmware (object) area, firmware purchased (to be updated) by the user is stored. The issue count area is initialized with zero.

  6 to 8 show a flow of automatic installation between the system apparatus and the management server. The contents executed by the system apparatus 102 are described on the left side of each figure, and the contents executed by the management server 109 are described on the right side.

  The user who has obtained the license / automatic startup program medium 101 attaches the license / automatic startup program medium 101 to the reading unit 103 of the system apparatus 102 (F601).

  When the license / automatic startup program medium 101 is loaded, the system apparatus 102 recognizes the license / automatic startup program medium 101 by the operating system 106, and the agent 105 has the automatic startup program area 202 in the license / automatic startup program medium 101. Then, the automatic startup program is extracted and stored in the automatic startup program area 402 in the management information storage area 107 (F602).

  The automatic startup program stored in the automatic startup program area 402 is extracted from the automatic startup program area 402 in the management information storage area 107 in response to a startup instruction from the agent 105 of the system apparatus 102 and operates on the operating system 106. Start (F603).

  The automatic startup program starts automatic execution, takes out the license code from the license code area 201 in the license / automatic startup program medium 101, and sets the system apparatus number from the system apparatus identification number area 401 in the management information storage area 107 Extraction and transmission to the management server 109 as a pair of unique data (F604).

  The control program 112 of the management server 109 receives the license code and the system device number from the system device 102. The control program 112 compares the received unique license code and system apparatus number with the license code in the license code area 501 in the management information / object storage area 113 and the system apparatus number in the system apparatus number area 502 (F605). .

  If the received license code and the system device number do not match the license code in the license code area 501 and the system device number in the system device number area 502 in the management information / object storage area 113, the control program 112 It is determined that the firmware is not updated (F606), and the system apparatus 102 is notified. The automatic start program of the system apparatus 102 receives this notification and displays an error message. After displaying the error message, the system apparatus 102 ends the processing of the automatic startup program, returns to the normal processing, and continues to execute as before the license / automatic startup program medium 101 is loaded (F607).

  When the received license code and system device number match the license code in the license code area 501 in the management information / object storage area 113 and the system device number area 502, the license key in the management information / object storage area 113 The license key is extracted from the area 503 and transmitted to the system apparatus 102 (F608).

  The reason why the firmware (object) 504 in the management information / object storage area 113 is not transmitted in the step F608 is that the malicious person impersonates a true user in the step F604, and the management server 109 This is because there is a possibility of being transmitted to.

  The automatic startup program of the system apparatus 102 receives the license key, and stores the received license key in the license key area 203 in the license / automatic startup program medium 101 (F609).

  Therefore, the automatic start program of the system apparatus 102 is the license code in the license code area 201 in the license / automatic start program medium 101, the license key in the license key area 203, and the system apparatus identification number area 401 in the management information storage area 107. Are sent to the management server 109 as a pair of unique data (F610).

In this way, since the steps F609 and F610 are automatically executed by the automatic startup program in the system apparatus 102, there is no room for a malicious person to impersonate a true user. That is, even if a malicious person transmits a license code and a system device number in step F604, it is necessary to receive, store, and return a license code, a system device number, and a license key. A malicious person who does not know the processing / procedure cannot perform appropriate processing.
For this reason, the management server 109 determines that there is no response from the system device within a predetermined period after sending the license code, system device number, and license key, and issues a command to terminate the automatic startup program. It is also possible to put out. As a result, convenience for the user is enhanced and security can be ensured.

  The control program 112 of the management server 109 receives the license code, system device number, and license key transmitted from the system device. The control program 112 receives the received license code, system apparatus number, license key, license code in the license code area 501 in the management information / object storage area 113, system apparatus number in the system apparatus number area 502, and license key area 503. The license key is compared (F611).

  The received pair of license code, system device number, and license key are the license code in the license code area 501 in the management information / object storage area 113, the system apparatus number in the system apparatus number area 502, and the license key in the license key area 503. If they do not match, the control program 112 determines that it is not a regular firmware update (F612) and notifies the system device 102 of the update. The automatic start program of the system apparatus 102 receives this notification and displays an error message. After displaying the error message, the agent 105 ends the process of the automatic startup program, returns to the normal process, and continues to execute as before the installation of the license / automatic startup program medium 101 (F613).

  When the received license code, system apparatus number, and license key match the license code in the license code area 501 in the management information / object storage area 113, the system apparatus number in the system apparatus number area 502, and the license key in the license key area 503 The control program 112 compares the issuance count in the issuance count area 505 in the management information / object storage area 113 with the limit count in the limit count area 506, and if it exceeds, notifies the system apparatus 102 that the specified count is overused. (F614).

  The automatic start program of the system apparatus 102 receives this notification, writes a flag of unusable information in the use necessity area 204 in the license / automatic start program medium 101, and displays an error message. After displaying the error message, the agent 105 ends the process of the automatic start program, returns to the normal process, and continues to execute as before the installation of the license / automatic start program medium 101 (F615).

  The unusable information flag in the use necessity area 204 is used to use a determination as to whether or not to execute the firmware update process when the license / automatic activation program medium is mounted on the system apparatus 102. .

  In other words, if the flag is present, the automatic startup program does not perform the firmware update process (F604 and subsequent processes), and after the error message is displayed, the agent 105 terminates the automatic startup program process, and the license / automatic startup Return to normal processing and continue execution as before the program medium 101 is loaded. On the other hand, if there is no flag, the automatic activation program performs firmware update processing.

  The unusable information flag in the use necessity / non-necessity area 204 may be written not only as a result of the determination of the number of issuances but also as a result of the determination in F606 or F612, when it is determined that it is not a regular firmware update.

  On the other hand, the number of issues in the issue count area 505 in the management information / object storage area 113 is compared with the limit count in the limit count area 506, and if it is within the limit count, 1 is set to the issue count 505 in the management information / object storage area 113. Add in (F616).

  Subsequently, the control program 112 of the management server 109 transmits a firmware installation program including firmware from the firmware (object) area 504 in the management information / object storage area 113 to the system apparatus 102. The automatic startup program of the system apparatus 102 stores the firmware installation program in the firmware rewrite program area 403 in the management information storage area 107 (F618).

  The automatic activation program issues a firmware rewrite command to the agent 105 (F619).

  The agent 105 terminates the automatic startup program and issues a command to stop all active application programs (F620). The agent 105 waits until all the application programs are stopped (F621). When the application 105 is stopped, the agent 105 takes out the firmware installation program including the firmware from the firmware rewriting program area 403 in the management information storage area 107 and starts it. (F622).

  The activated firmware installation program rewrites and updates the firmware area 301 of the adapter 104 such as an I / O card (F623). The firmware installation program waits until the update is completed (F624), and when completed, reports to the agent 105. Upon receiving the report, the agent 105 issues a restart command for the system apparatus 102 and restarts (F625). After the restart, the system apparatus 102 enters a normal processing state and executes normal processing.

  In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the automatic startup program is held in the license / automatic startup program medium and the firmware is updated. However, the automatic startup program is purchased and obtained via the Internet, and the firmware is updated. There is also a method.

Explanatory drawing showing the outline of connection between the system unit and the management server Explanatory diagram showing components of license / automatic program medium Explanatory drawing showing the components of an adapter such as an I / O card Explanatory diagram showing the components of the management information storage area Explanatory diagram showing components of management information / object storage area Flow diagram explaining the automatic installation mechanism between the system unit and the management server (1) Flow diagram explaining the automatic installation mechanism between the system unit and the management server (2) Flow diagram explaining the mechanism of automatic installation between the system unit and the management server (3)

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 License / automatic start program medium 102 System apparatus 103 Reading part 104 Adapter such as I / O card 105 Agent 106 Operating system 107 Management information storage area 108 Communication control part 109 Management server 110 Communication control part 111 Operating system 112 Control program 113 Management information / object storage area 201 License code area 202 Automatic activation program area 203 License key area 204 Usage necessity area 301 Firmware area 401 System device identification number area 402 Automatic activation program area 403 Firmware rewrite program area 501 License code 502 System apparatus Number 503 License key 504 Firmware (object)
505 Number of times of issue 506 Number of times of limit

Claims (3)

In the method of rewriting the firmware of the adapter mounted on the system unit,
Prepare an agent for rewriting control of the firmware,
An automatic startup program for receiving the firmware from the server is stored in the management information storage area,
The agent starts the automatic start program stored in the management information storage area,
The started automatic startup program receives an installation program including new firmware from the server and stores it in the management information storage area, and then the automatic startup program instructs the agent to rewrite the firmware of the adapter,
The agent instructed to rewrite the firmware stops the running application, and then the agent starts the installation program stored in the management information storage area,
The started installation program rewrites the firmware of the adapter with new firmware,
A firmware rewriting method, wherein the agent restarts the system device after rewriting of the firmware.   The automatic start program acquires a license code stored in an electronic medium attached to the system device and a system device identification number stored in the management information storage area, and the license code and the system device number are obtained. Transmitting the license code and the license key corresponding to the system device number from the server, transmitting the system device number, the license code, and the license key received from the server to the server, 2. The firmware rewriting method according to claim 1, wherein the installation program corresponding to a system apparatus number, the license code, and a license key transmitted to the server is received from the server.   The firmware rewriting method according to claim 2, wherein the electronic medium is a USB memory.

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