JPH1069387A - Download module management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To reduce the communication cost and communication time of download by eliminating a service pause when downloading from a center to a base station. A center station connected to a line and a slave station connected to the line are provided, and the center station stores in advance a program to be downloaded for each subroutine together with its caller address information, and changes the program. Only the contents of a certain new subroutine are downloaded to the rewritable non-volatile memory of the slave station, and then the slave station loads the new subroutine from the non-volatile memory to an area other than the program storage area being executed in the RAM. During execution of the program in the RAM, at a predetermined timing, the head address information of the loaded new subroutine is overwritten on the RAM address based on the call source address information downloaded to the nonvolatile memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of downloading a program from a center connected to a line to a remote slave station, such as downloading a program from a center to a base station through a line like a portable telephone system. To execute a program without stopping the program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a base station of a cellular phone system, a program exists for each functional block (hardware).
Each program exists in a nonvolatile memory that can be independently read and written as a file. When these programs are activated, they are loaded into the RAM and executed. Also, when there is a change in each program by taking advantage of the connection to the network, the corresponding program is downloaded from the center via the network and stored in a readable and writable nonvolatile memory.

When executing these new programs, the service is temporarily interrupted by reset or the like, and the new programs are reloaded from the nonvolatile memory to the RAM.
Exchange with the old program is performed. After that, the new program is restarted from the beginning and the service is resumed.

[0004]

When a new program is executed, it is loaded into a RAM in functional block units.
Each function block had to be re-arbitrated and the system had to be reset. At that time, the service is naturally suspended, which may hinder the service.

[0005] In addition, since a new program is downloaded in units of functional blocks through a line, if the functional blocks are large, communication costs and communication time increase in proportion to the size.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, a download module management method of the present invention for updating and executing a subroutine program by download is connected to a line and stored for program management. And a slave station connected to the line and having a nonvolatile memory for downloading programs and a RAM for executing programs. The center station preliminarily stores a program to be downloaded for each subroutine (module). A procedure for storing in the storage means together with the call source address information, and a procedure for downloading the stored contents of the storage means to the rewritable nonvolatile memory of the slave station only for the new subroutine (new module) of the program concerned. And then the slave station A procedure for loading a new subroutine (new module) from the nonvolatile memory into an area other than the program storage area being executed in the RAM, and a procedure for loading the new subroutine (new module) at a predetermined timing during execution of the program in the RAM. ) Overwriting the start address information in the RAM address based on the caller address information downloaded to the nonvolatile memory.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a system block diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. A center 1 for centrally managing programs in operation, programs to be updated, and the like, a base station 2, and connecting the center 1 and the base station 2 are shown. And a readable / writable nonvolatile memory (FLASH) 4 for storing a program downloaded in the base station 2
And a RAM 5 on which a program is loaded when the base station 2 executes the program, and a CPU 6 for executing the program loaded on the RAM 5.

[0008] In the following description, ~ can be executed without stopping the service. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a memory map of M5, showing images before and after program switching.

The center 1 appropriately subdivides the program into subroutines, and manages the program for each subroutine together with the call source address information of the main program of each subroutine and the call destination address information stored in the address. Downloading from the center 1 to the base station 2 is performed through the line 3. At that time, the part to be downloaded is the stored contents of only the changed subroutine,
This subroutine is stored as a file in the readable / writable nonvolatile memory 4.

After the download, when executing the file created in, that is, the new subroutine, the CPU 6
Loads the program into an area on the RAM 5 other than the program being executed.

The CPU 6 obtains the call source address information of the loaded new subroutine from the nonvolatile memory 4 and separately obtains the start address (call destination address) information of the loaded new subroutine in the RAM 5.

At a predetermined timing, based on the address information, the CPU 6 overwrites the call source address of the RAM 5 with the start address of the new subroutine. As a result, the subroutine called from the main program immediately returns from the old subroutine to the caller address of the main program portion shown in FIG. The call destination switches to the new sub-tin. Therefore, the subroutine (module) program to be downloaded can be updated and executed without stopping the execution of the program.

As described above, the program such as the base station 2 of the simplified portable telephone system is managed by the center 1, the program is downloaded at the time of updating the program, stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory 4, and rewritable at the time of executing the program. In a system developed from the non-volatile memory 4 to the RAM 5 to execute the updated program, the center 1 manages the program to be updated for each relatively small subroutine, thereby minimizing the communication traffic at the time of downloading. Further, by managing the address information of the subroutine call, the subroutine can be changed, that is, the service program can be changed without stopping the service.

As described above, the management of the program is premised on a system for remotely updating the program through a line, so that the program must be managed at the center.

As for variable management, variables used in common in the old subroutine and the new subroutine must be managed so as to use the same address. When using a new variable that is not used in the old subroutine, information such as the initial value must be obtained separately.

[0016]

【The invention's effect】

1. In the prior art, since downloading is performed for each functional block, when the functional block is large, communication cost is increased in proportion to the size. However, according to the present invention, since the download program is managed for each small subroutine, the communication cost is reduced as compared with the related art.

2. In the prior art, after the download, a reset was required when the downloaded program was started, so that the service had to be temporarily stopped. However, since the present invention is based on the premise that the operation of rewriting the contents of the call source address of the subroutine to the start address of the downloaded new subroutine is performed instantaneously, there is no need to perform a reset, and there is no need to stop the service by changing the program. Was.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a memory map illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: center 2: base station 3: line 4: rewritable nonvolatile memory 5: RAM 6: CPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of managing a download module for updating and executing a subroutine program by downloading, comprising: a center station connected to a line and having storage means for program management; And a slave station having a non-volatile memory and a program execution RAM, wherein the center station stores a program to be downloaded in advance in a storage means together with its caller address information for each subroutine, A procedure for downloading the storage contents of the storage means to the rewritable nonvolatile memory of the slave station only for a new subroutine having a change, and then, the slave station reads from the nonvolatile memory an area other than the program storage area being executed in the RAM. New subroutine A step of loading, based on the downloaded calling address information start address information of the new subroutines the load at a predetermined timing during the execution of the program the RAM in the nonvolatile memory RAM
A download module overwriting the address of the download module.