JPH0744393A - Program updating method for electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time required for updating a program by updating program data in the unit of module corresponding to program identification data to be registered in a reference file into relevant program data to be registered in a program file. CONSTITUTION:When performing the version up of an operating system (OS), among the program data of a new version stored in the OS file of a floppy disk 12 for OS setting, only the program data in the unit of module for which the program identification data or the like are set in the reference file, are installed on a hard disk 10. Therefore, since the program identification data or the like of program data changed by the version up are previously set in the reference file, the unchanged program data are not installed in the disk 10 and the relevant program data of an old version are used as the data of a new version as they are.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program updating method for an electronic device which operates based on a control program which is a combination of a large number of program data in module units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic device such as a POS (point-of-sale information management) terminal is composed of a combination of a large number of program data in module units for executing various processes such as task management, memory management, and input / output control. A control program, a so-called OS (operating system), is held on the hard disk, and the operation of the device is controlled by this OS program.

By the way, in the case of upgrading the version of the OS, conventionally, a new version of the program is first recorded on a floppy disk for OS setting. Next, this floppy disk is mounted in the floppy disk device mounted on the corresponding electronic device, and then started up in the program update mode. By doing so, the new version of the program was read from the floppy disk, installed in the hard disk, and the version of the OS was upgraded.

[0004]

As described above, the conventional O
The OS is upgraded by reading all the new version programs recorded on the S setting floppy disk and installing them on the hard disk.

However, the change of the program due to the version upgrade of the OS is a part of the program data of the module unit, and there are many program data of the module unit which are not changed by the version upgrade.
In spite of that, in the past, the entire OS program was
Since it was read from the setting floppy disk and installed in the hard disk, there was a drawback that it took time to upgrade the OS.

Therefore, the present invention provides a program update method for an electronic device, which can update a control program composed of a combination of a large number of module-unit program data in module units, and can shorten the time required to update the program. Is what you are trying to do.

[0007]

The present invention has a program storage means for storing a control program which is a combination of a large number of program data in module units, and the control program stored in the program storage means is stored in the control program. In an electronic device that operates based on the above, a reference file in which the program identification data of the program data to be updated among the program data of each module forming the control program is registered, and a program file in which at least the updated program data is registered are A means for reading data from the recorded external recording medium is provided, and when the program update mode is selected, the data in the external recording medium is read, and the program identification registered in the reference file among the control programs stored in the program storage means. Applies to data Program data that the module unit, in which so as to update the relevant program data registered in the program file.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an electronic device according to the present invention. This electronic device is provided with a CPU 1 as a control unit main body, and a hard disk device (HDD) controller 5 and a floppy disk device (FDD) controller 6 are provided to the CPU 1 via a bus line 2 in addition to main storage units of a ROM 3 and a RAM 4. And the interfaces 7, 8 and 9 are connected.

This electronic device also stores data in a hard disk device (HDD) 11 that reads and writes data from and into a built-in hard disk (HD) 10 and a floppy disk (FD) 12 that is detachably mounted from the outside. Floppy disk device (FDD) for reading and writing 1
3, a hard disk device 11 is connected to the hard disk device controller 5, and a floppy disk device 13 is connected to the floppy disk device controller 6.

The hard disk device controller 5 is C
The drive of the hard disk device 11 is controlled according to a command from the PU 1. Further, the floppy disk device controller 6 controls the drive of the floppy disk device 13 according to an instruction from the CPU 1.

Further, this electronic equipment is provided with a keyboard 14 as a data input device and a display 15 and a printer 16 as data output devices. The keyboard 14 is connected to the interface 7, the display 15 is connected to the interface 8, and the printer 16 is connected to the interface 9, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a main part file formed on the hard disk 10. As shown,
The hard disk 10 includes a large number of program data 21a, 21 in module units for executing various processes such as task management, memory management, and input / output control.
An OS file 2 storing a so-called OS, which is a control program formed by combining b, 21c, 21d, ..., 21m.
1 is formed.

Further, each program data 21 of the above OS
The program identification data of the version and the program name of each of
A version data file (hereinafter, abbreviated as VAR file) 22 stored together with data indicating a storage destination on a 21 m hard disk is formed.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows an O used for upgrading the OS filed on the hard disk 10.
It is a schematic diagram which shows the file structure of the floppy disk 12 for S setting.

As shown in the figure, the floppy disk 12 contains program data 3 of a new version of the OS.
O as a program file storing 1a to 31m
S file 31 and each program data 31a to 31m
The VAR file 32 in which the program identification data of each new version and program name is stored together with the data indicating the storage destination of the program data 31a to 31m on the hard disk, and the program data 31a to
A reference file 33 storing the old version of the program data changed by the version upgrade and the program identification data of the program name and the hard disk storage destination data of 31 m is formed.

When the OS is upgraded in this embodiment, first, the OS files 31, V
OS storing AR file 32 and reference file 33
The setting floppy disk 12 is created.

Next, after mounting the OS setting floppy disk 12 in the floppy disk device 13, the electronic apparatus is started up in the program update mode. Then, the CPU 1 updates the contents of the OS file 21 on the hard disk 10 according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, first, the CPU 1 controls the drive of the floppy disk device 13 to control the floppy disk 12
All the data recorded in is read and temporarily stored in the RAM 4. At this time, an error occurs if the floppy disk is not for OS setting.

When the data on the OS setting floppy disk 12 is read, the counter n built in the CPU is set to "1".
After the initialization, the n-th data, that is, the first data (old version, program name, HDD storage destination) is extracted from the reference file 33 of the floppy disk data stored in the RAM 4. Then, the VA on the hard disk 10
The R file 22 is searched to see if there is data in which the old version of the retrieved data and the program name match.

If the same data exists, RA
The program data of the corresponding program name is read from the OS file 31 of the floppy disk data stored in M4, and this program data is saved in the OS file 21 of the hard disk 10 according to the HDD save destination data in the data extracted from the reference file 33. If the same data does not exist, the above processing is not performed.

Thereafter, if the counter n is incremented by "+1", the nth file from the reference file 33,
That is, the second data is taken out and processed in the same manner as above.

In this way, if the same processing is repeated for all the data registered in the reference file 33,
VAR of floppy disk data stored in RAM4
After copying the contents of the file 32 to the VAR file 22 on the hard disk 10, this process is terminated.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the version of the OS is upgraded, the reference file 33 is selected from the program data 31a to 31m of the new version recorded in the OS file 33 of the OS setting floppy disk 12. Only the program data in module units in which the program identification data and the HDD storage destination data are set are installed in the hard disk 10.

Therefore, the program identification data of the program data of the module unit changed by the version upgrade and the HDD storage destination data are stored in advance in the reference file 33.
By setting to, the program data in the module unit that is not changed by the version upgrade is not installed in the hard disk 10 and the corresponding program data of the old version is used as it is as the data of the new version, so all the program data is installed. Further, the time required for the OS version upgrade can be shortened as compared with the conventional case.

It is convenient to be able to confirm the update date and time of the changed program data on the display 15 after the OS version upgrade is completed. At this time, the directory list of the OS setting floppy disk 12 may be printed out in advance.

The floppy disk 12 for OS setting
The effect of the present invention can be obtained by setting only the program data of the module unit, which is changed by the version upgrade, in the OS file 31.

The external recording medium for OS setting is not limited to a floppy disk, but a magnetic tape,
It may be a memory card or the like. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the reference file in which the program identification data of the program data to be updated among the program data of each module constituting the control program is registered and at least the updated file A means for reading data from an external recording medium on which a program file in which program data is registered is recorded. When the program update mode is selected, the data on the external recording medium is read, and reference is made to the control program stored on the hard disk. The program data for each module corresponding to the program identification data registered in the file is updated to the corresponding program data registered for the program file. Therefore, the program data for each module is combined. Control program New can is carried out in each module can provide a program updating method of an electronic device that can shorten the time required for updating the program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an electronic device according to an embodiment of a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a main file structure formed on a hard disk of an electronic device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a main file structure formed on an OS setting floppy disk used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a main processing procedure at the time of selecting a program update mode executed by the CPU of the electronic device in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... CPU 10 ... Hard disk (program storage means) 11 ... Hard disk device (HDD) 12 ... Floppy disk (external storage medium) 13 ... Floppy disk device (FDD) 21, 31 ... OS file 22, 32 ... VAR file 33 ... File

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device having a program storage means for storing a control program formed by combining program data of a large number of module units, and operating based on the control program stored by the program storage means. The data is read from the external recording medium in which the reference file in which the program identification data of the program data to be updated is registered and the program file in which at least the updated program data is registered are recorded from among the program data of each module constituting the program. Means for reading the data of the external recording medium when the program update mode is selected, and a module unit corresponding to the program identification data registered in the reference file among the control programs stored in the program storage means. Program updating method of an electronic device, characterized in that as the program data, the program data corresponding registered in the program file update.