JPH07225725A - Down load method and center communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable down load to a down load space by utilizing the idle time of telephone line while receiving service when terminal user can receive the service concerning a program on the memory of a terminal at present. CONSTITUTION:Even during the service, a host station 1 can transmit a data block to a terminal 2 for the idle time of a telephone line 3, and the terminal 2 can transmits an ACK/NAK to the host station in the idle time of the telephone line 3 as well. In the case of continuously performing down load next time when the service is finished during the execution of down load, the down load is properly executed. Therefore, there is an effect to enable version-up without securing the time of several tens minutes dedicated to down load for the version-up of a terminal software.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a download method and a center communication system, and more particularly to a program download method and a center communication system in a center communication system configured between a host station and a plurality of terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Down load is data communication by a computer, which is to send data from an upper computer to a lower computer. In personal computer communication, it is usually sent from a host computer (network side). Saving data and programs to disk at the same time as receiving them. Reading data while receiving it takes time, so once download it, stop communication, then read the data from the disk and read it slowly, which can shorten communication time and save telephone charges. Become. The above is the "Computer Glossary" (West East Co., Ltd. 1991)
Issued December 25, 2012, P.175-176).

A conventional program download method is as follows:
As in XMODEM shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the data transmitted from the host station side is divided into several-byte data blocks 41, and additional information 42 is added to the data blocks to form download data blocks 43. The download data block a48 is transmitted to the terminal. The terminal receives the download data block a48, checks the validity of the received data based on the added information, and if it is correct, ACK (A
Acknowledge 44) is transmitted. The host station that has received the ACK 44 transmits the next download data block b46, and if it is NAK (Negative Acknowledge) 45, retransmits the download data block 47. In this way, transmission of all blocks is completed.

A known document describing a conventional download system is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-253434.
There is No. 6 publication. This publication relates to an information download system in a system in which a host computer and a plurality of terminals are connected. The terminal sends version data via a communication control unit and a line at a predetermined time, and the host computer controls the communication. The version data is received via the section, it is determined whether or not the version information to be originally downloaded to the terminal is downloaded, and the information is downloaded from the host computer. That is, a method of managing whether or not a new download is performed using the version number has been proposed.

[0005]

As described above, according to the conventional download method, the terminal user cannot receive the service (home shopping service, information service, etc.) while downloading the upgraded terminal operation program, There was the inconvenience of having to wait for the download to finish. For example, if a program of 100 kbytes is transmitted at a transmission rate of 2400 bps and 1 byte is transmitted at 10 bits, it takes about 7 minutes even if the binary data is transmitted without overhead. It can be faster if you use a high-speed communication line, but it is a problem that if you use a relatively slow telephone line, it only takes minutes to download the software.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when the terminal user can receive the service by the operation program currently stored in the memory of the terminal, the idle time of the telephone line can be received while receiving the service. It is an object of the present invention to provide a download method and a center communication system capable of downloading to a download space by using.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides (1) a host station, even during services such as home shopping and information services, stores a data block for a terminal in a free time of a telephone line. If the terminal sends an affirmative response / negative response to the host station even when the terminal is idle on the telephone line, and if the service ends while the download is being executed, the download will be executed correctly when the next download is performed. Or (2) the host station and a plurality of terminals are provided, and when the terminal user is provided with services such as home shopping and information service and the terminal operation program is upgraded, In the center communication system in which the upgraded program is downloaded from the host station to the terminal When the terminal user receives a service from the storage means of the non-volatile memory and the operation program on the non-volatile memory, the terminal downloads by utilizing the idle time of the telephone line while receiving the service. And (3) above (2)
In the non-volatile memory, the operation program,
The version number of the operation program, the program start address, the download space of the operation program, the start address of the download space, the version number of the program currently being downloaded, and the address in the process of being downloaded are stored. Is (4)
In the above (2), when the program is upgraded and downloaded to the terminal, if the program currently in the memory is usable, the control means leaves the current program as it is, and the terminal user can use the program. In the free space of the telephone line, the upgraded terminal operation program is downloaded to the memory of the download space, and if the service ends during the download, remember the address where the download was interrupted. The next feature is that it can be downloaded from there.

[0008]

In the downloading method according to the present invention, the host station can transmit the data block to the terminal during the idle time of the telephone line even during the service, and the terminal also operates during the idle time of the telephone line.
ACK / NAK can be sent to the host station. In addition, if the service ends while the download is being executed, the download will be correctly executed the next time the next download is performed. Therefore, it is possible to upgrade the version of the terminal software without spending several tens of minutes exclusively for downloading.

[0009]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a center communication system according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a host station, 2 is a terminal, 3 is a telephone line, 4 is a computer, 5 is a modem, and 6 is The computer, 7 is a modem. The center communication system according to the present invention comprises a host station 1 and a plurality of terminals 2, the host station 1 comprises a computer 4 and a plurality of modems 5, and the terminal 2 comprises a computer 6 and a modem 7.

As described above, the host station 1 and the plurality of terminals 2
The center communication system, which is composed of and provides services (home shopping, information service, etc.) to terminal users, and when the terminal operation program is upgraded, the operation upgraded from the host station 1 to the terminal 2 is performed. The program is downloaded. The terminal 2 uses a non-volatile memory (disk, flash memory, etc.)
The operation program, the version number of the operation program, the start address of the operation program, the download space of the operation program, the start address of the download space, the version number of the operation program currently being downloaded, and the address in the middle of download are stored. To do.

When the operation program is upgraded and downloaded to the terminal 2, if the operation program currently in the memory is usable, the current operation program is left as it is and the terminal user can use the operation program as a service. In response to this, using the idle time of the telephone line 3, the upgraded operation program is downloaded to the memory of the download space, and if the service ends during the download, remember the address where the download was interrupted. I'll make it available for download next time.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the terminal computer in FIG. 1, in which 8 is the start address of the operation program, 9 is the version number, 10 is the start address of the download space, 11 is the version number being downloaded, and 1 is the version number.
2 is the address in the middle of downloading, 13 is the operation program,
14 is a download space, 15 is a CPU (central processing unit), 16 is an I / O (Input / Output) interface, 17 is a ROM (Read Only Memory), and 18 is a RAM.
(Random Access Memory), 19 is a non-volatile memory, 2
Reference numeral 0 is a console, and 21 is a modem.

The terminal computer has an I / O interface 16 connecting the CPU 15, the console 20 and the modem 21, a ROM 17 for storing a program for controlling download, and a work area RAM 18 for the program.
And a non-volatile memory 19 for storing the terminal operation program and its information.

The initial values of the non-volatile memory 19 are: version number 9: 0, version number 11: 0 being downloaded, address 12: 0 in the middle of downloading, operation program start address 8: 0, download space start address 10 : Set 0. In order to perform the information service, the host station 1 needs a function of communicating with the terminal 2, a database function for the information service, a function of downloading a terminal operation program (information service program), and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the non-volatile memory 19 of the terminal computer 6 has a terminal operation program start address 8, a program download space start address 10,
If you have a means to hold the address 12 in the middle of downloading, the version number 9 of the current program, and the version number 11 of the program being downloaded, and if the service ends during the execution of the download, the next time you download the next time, it will be downloaded correctly. To be executed.

The function of communication between the host station and the terminal and the function of downloading the terminal operation program will be described below. 4 to 6 are respectively a flowchart for upgrading the version of the host station (FIG. 4) and a flowchart for upgrading the terminal (FIGS. 5 and 6). Hereinafter, each step (S) will be sequentially described. The flow of data transmitted from the host station 1 enters from the computer 4 of the host station 1 to the modem 5, and the modem 5 transmits the telephone line 3
Is converted into a signal that can be carried by, and enters the modem 7 of the terminal through the telephone line 3. The modem 7 converts the signal into a signal understandable by the terminal computer 6, and the signal is processed by the computer 6. The transmission from the terminal 2 is the opposite.

When the host station 1 and the telephone line 3 of the terminal 2 are connected and the verification of the password is completed, the host station 1 sends the latest version number 9 and the size of the program to the terminal 2 (S1). The terminal 2 receives it (S2). If the address 12 during the download is not 0, it is determined that the download was interrupted last time (S
3) If the version number 11 being downloaded is smaller than the latest version number, it is determined that the version being downloaded is an old version (S
4) Request download from the host station 1 (S
5).

If the version is the same, the address for resuming the download is obtained from the address 12 during the download,
Notify the host station 1 (S6). If it is not in the middle of downloading, the current version number 9 and the latest version number are compared (S7), and if they are the same, the host station 1 is informed not to download (S8).

If the current version number 9 is smaller than the latest version number, it is determined that the current version is an old version, and it is checked from the non-volatile memory 19 whether a free memory suitable for the size of the program to be downloaded can be secured. (S10), if secured, the start address is the start address 1 of the download space.
It is stored in 0 (S11). Then, the host station 1 is requested to download (S5).

If the free memory cannot be secured, the host station 1 is informed of that fact (S9), and the current version number 9 and the higher version of the latest version number are compared (S16). If the operation program is smaller than the uppermost version of the latest version number and the operation program is changed significantly and the operation of the program of the current version is impossible (YES in S16), the operation program is terminated. If the higher version of the current version is higher than the higher version of the latest version, service is provided (S1).
7).

When the download is performed, the memory for storing the downloaded data is the download space 14, which is different from the program area of the current version so that the program of the current version can operate. In the following cases, the service is not provided and only the download is performed (S14). (1) Compare the current version number and the higher version of the latest version number, and if the upper version of the current version number is smaller than the higher version of the latest version number and the operating program has changed significantly, the operation of the current version program will not be possible. If possible (YES in S12).

(2) When the version number 9 is 0, that is, the first download and the operation program is not in the memory (YES in S13). If it is not the first download, the service is performed while downloading (S15). While the host station 1 receives the download request from the terminal 2 (S18) and performs the service,
If necessary, the download is started in each mode (S19) (S25). That is, depending on the download mode, (i) download from the beginning (S2
0), (ii) Download from the middle (S21), (ii
The process is divided into i) no download (S22) and (iv) memory shortage (S23). If the memory is insufficient, error processing (S24) is performed. In addition, the version information of the operation program of each terminal can be managed by storing the terminal download for each terminal on the host station side.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining the download method. In order to distinguish the data 30 for performing the service and the data 31 (data block ACK / NAK) for downloading the terminal operation program, identification data 32 at the head of each is attached. Normally, data 33 for information service is exchanged between the host station and the terminal. At this time, the identification data 3 at the beginning of the data
2 identifies that it is data for an information service.

Telephone line 3 where data cannot be exchanged
, The download data block 34 is transmitted from the host station 1 to the terminal 2. The terminal 2 receives it, checks the validity of the data, and sends the ACK / NAK 35 to the host station 1. At this time, the data head identification data 32 identifies that it is data for download.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the host station 1 has means for distinguishing the data 30 for performing the service and the download data 31 (data block, ACK / NAK) of the terminal operation program. The download data block 34 can be transmitted to the terminal 2 in the idle time of the telephone line 3. Further, the terminal 2 can also send the ACK / NAK 35 to the host station 1 while the telephone line 3 is idle.

When the download is completed in this way, if the operation program start address 8 is other than 0, it is determined that the memory for the operation program 13 is reserved, and the memory is released. Next, the contents of the first address 10 of the download space held by the terminal 2 are copied to the first address 8 of the terminal operation program, the version number 9 is made the latest, and the address 12 in the middle of the download is set to 0.
And Next time, run the program downloaded here.

If the service is terminated before the download is completed, the address 12 being downloaded is updated, and the version number of the program currently being downloaded is copied to the version number 11 being downloaded. By doing so, the terminal user can upgrade the version of the terminal operation program by utilizing the idle time of the telephone line 3 while receiving the service.

[0028]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when the terminal operation program is upgraded, the terminal user can provide the service without waiting for the updated program to be downloaded. It will be possible to upgrade the program by taking advantage of the free time on the telephone line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining an embodiment of a center communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration diagram of a terminal computer in FIG. 1 and a memory map of a nonvolatile memory.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception procedure between a host station and a terminal in the download method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program version upgrade of the host station in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (No. 1) of upgrading the program of the terminal in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (No. 2) for upgrading the program of the terminal in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception procedure between a host station and a terminal in a conventional download method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Host station, 2 ... Terminal, 3 ... Telephone line, 4 ... Computer, 5 ... Modem, 6 ... Computer, 7 ... Modem.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. Even during services such as home shopping and information service, the host station transmits a data block to the terminal in the idle time of the telephone line, and the terminal also makes an affirmative / negative response in the idle time of the telephone line. A downloading method characterized in that when the service is transmitted to a host station and the service is terminated while the download is being executed, the download will be correctly executed the next time the next download is performed. 2. A host station and a plurality of terminals, which provide services such as home shopping and information services to terminal users, and when the terminal operation program is upgraded, the host station updates the version to the terminal. In the center communication system in which the updated program is downloaded, when the terminal user receives a service by the storage means of the non-volatile memory and the operation program on the non-volatile memory, while the terminal user receives the service, A center communication system comprising: a control means for downloading by utilizing idle time of a telephone line. 3. The non-volatile memory includes an operation program, a version number of the operation program, a program start address, a download space of the operation program, a download address start address, and a version number of the program currently being downloaded. 3. The center communication system according to claim 2, wherein the address and the address being downloaded are stored. 4. The control means, when the program is upgraded and downloaded to the terminal, if the program currently in the memory is usable, the current program is left as it is and the terminal user can use the program. By receiving the service and using the free time of the telephone line, the updated terminal operation program is downloaded to the memory of the download space, and if the service ends in the middle of the download, by remembering the address where the download was interrupted The center communication system according to claim 2, characterized in that it can be downloaded from the next time.