JPH1083309A - Information processor, program updating method and information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To update BIOS(basic input/output system) after storing original BIOS in a prescribed storing area. SOLUTION: BIOS stored in the bank A of the flash ROM of a flash ROM board 52 is moved to a bank B, and new BIOS supplied for a network interface card 57 from a home server is stored in the bank A to update BIOS. When new BIOS does not operate satisfactorily, BIOS in the bank B of flash ROM is moved to the bank A through RAM 53 to recover original BIOS.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program updating method, and an information processing system, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, a program updating method, and a program suitable for updating a program such as a BIOS via a network. , An information processing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a network represented by the Internet has been developed, and a personal computer or the like can be connected to the network to exchange various kinds of information.

[0003] Such connection to the Internet is made by analog telephone lines, ISDN (Integrated Services).
Digital Network). Also, recently, it has become possible to access a network such as the Internet via a cable of a cable television (CATV) system.

As described above, when accessing a network such as the Internet, an information processing apparatus having a transmitting / receiving circuit for transmitting and receiving via a predetermined communication line is used.

FIG. 18 shows an example of such an information processing apparatus. This information processing device can transmit and receive via an analog telephone line using the modem 105. The CPU 101 has a flash ROM (F
EEPROM (Flash Electrical Erasable Programmabl)
e ROM) Hereinafter, simply referred to as flash ROM) 102
Executes various processes according to the program stored in the. The RAM 103 stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 101 to execute various processes as appropriate. CPU 101 receives data transmitted via an analog telephone line using modem 105. Then, the CPU 101 processes the data, and causes the display (not shown) to display the received image data via the display interface 106, for example.

The flash ROM 102 stores the modem 10
In addition to a program for processing the data supplied via the CPU 5, a basic program (depending on hardware) that is executed by the CPU 101 when the apparatus is started up and performs settings of the configuration of the RAM 103 and initial settings of the floppy disk drive 104. B) which is a control program group
An IOS (Basic Input / Output System) is stored. The flash ROM 102 is a non-volatile memory that can be electrically rewritten (erased and written), and its storage contents can be changed. By using the rewritable flash ROM 102 in this way, when the specifications of other devices connected to the present device are changed or when the OS (Operating System) of the present device is updated, such a change can be performed. The BIOS can be updated in response to the update.

When updating the BIOS in this information processing apparatus, first, a predetermined BIOS update program is operated, and the BIOS stored in the flash ROM 102 is updated.
After the IOS is recorded on the floppy disk with the floppy disk drive 104, the floppy disk is removed, another floppy disk on which the new BIOS is recorded is inserted into the floppy disk drive 104, and the new BIOS is read from the floppy disk. The data is stored in the flash ROM 102.

As described above, when the update of the BIOS fails by recording the original BIOS on the floppy disk, and when the floppy disk recording the new BIOS is defective and the new BIOS cannot be read, Alternatively, when the new BIOS program itself has a defect (bug) and does not operate normally, the original BIOS can be restored.

[0009]

However, the CAT
In an information processing apparatus that does not have a floppy disk drive, such as a set-top box (STB) used when accessing a network such as the Internet via a cable of the V system, for example, a predetermined connection terminal is connected. After connecting another terminal device to the terminal and storing the original BIOS in the terminal device,
Since the BIOS is updated, there is a problem that the operation for updating the BIOS is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. By updating the BIOS after saving the original BIOS to a spare storage area, even if a failure occurs in the writing of the BIOS, Can be immediately returned to the original state, and the original BI
It is intended to prevent a situation where the OS is lost beforehand.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising: a main area in which a current basic program is stored and held; and an update program indicating a procedure for updating the basic program. A storage unit having an area and a spare area in which the basic program before the update is stored and held, and the current basic program read from the main area based on the update program stored in the common area of the storage means in the spare area. Processing means for performing an update process of writing a new basic program into the main area after copying.

A program updating method according to claim 7 is
A program updating method for updating a current basic program stored in a main area of a storage unit to a new basic program based on an update program stored and held in a common area of a storage unit. Copying the current basic program to a spare area of the storage unit;
Performing an update process of writing a new basic program in the main area based on the update program.

[0013] The program updating method according to claim 8 is a program updating method.
A program updating method for updating a current basic program stored in a main area of a storage unit to a new basic program based on an update program stored and held in a common area of a storage unit. Saving the current basic program to the temporary storage area, writing the current basic program saved to the temporary storage area to the spare area of the storage unit, storing the current basic program saved to the temporary storage area, Collating the current basic program written in the spare area of the storage unit, and writing the new externally supplied basic program to the temporary storage area, and then writing the new basic program to the main area of the storage unit And a new basic program written in the temporary storage area, and a new basic program written in the main area of the storage unit. Characterized in that it comprises a step of collating the ram.

An information processing system according to a ninth aspect provides an information providing means for providing information via a predetermined transmission channel, and a main area of the storage unit based on an update program stored in a common area of the storage unit. Information processing means for copying the current basic program read from the storage unit to a spare area of the storage unit, and then writing a new basic program supplied via the transmission channel to the main area of the storage unit to perform an update process. It is characterized by.

In the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the storage means includes a main area in which a current basic program is stored and held, and a common area in which an update program indicating a procedure for updating the basic program is stored and held. And a spare area in which the basic program before the update is stored and held, and the processing means replaces the current basic program read from the main area based on the update program stored in the common area of the storage means with the spare area. Then, an update process for writing a new basic program into the main area is performed.

In the program updating method according to the present invention, the current basic program stored in the main area of the storage unit is replaced with a new basic program based on the update program stored in the common area of the storage unit. A program updating method for updating a program, the method including a step of copying a current basic program read from a main area to a spare area of a storage unit, and an updating process of writing a new basic program to the main area based on the updated program. Performing.

According to the program updating method of the present invention, the current basic program stored in the main area of the storage unit is replaced with a new basic program based on the update program stored in the common area of the storage unit. A program updating method for updating a program, comprising: a step of saving a current basic program read from a main area to a temporary storage area; and a step of saving the current basic program saved to the temporary storage area.
A step of writing to the spare area of the storage unit, a step of comparing the current basic program saved to the temporary storage area with the current basic program written to the spare area of the storage unit, and a step of writing a new basic program supplied from the outside Writing the new basic program to the main area of the storage unit after writing the new basic program to the temporary storage area; and a new basic program written to the main area of the storage unit. And collating.

[0018] In the information processing system according to the ninth aspect, the information processing means provides information via a predetermined transmission channel, and the information processing means is based on an update program stored in a common area of the storage unit. Then, after copying the current basic program read from the main area of the storage unit to the spare area of the storage unit, the new basic program supplied via the transmission channel is written to the main area of the storage unit to perform an update process. .

[0019]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. In this specification, the term “system” refers to an entire device including a plurality of devices.

Servers 1-1 and 1-2 (information providing means)
Provides information about VOD (video on demand service) mainly composed of images and audio or data corresponding thereto to each home via a network. In this embodiment, the network is a cable television network 2, an ISDN
3, and an analog telephone line 4.

That is, for example, the server 1-1 provides information to the cable television center 2-1 or 2-2 via the cable television network 2. The cable television center 2-1 provides the provided information to the homes 5-1 and 5-2 subscribed to the cable television system. Similarly, the cable television center 2-2 includes homes 5-1 and 5-3 subscribed to the cable television system.
Provide information to 5-4.

The server 1-1 also provides information via the ISDN 3 or the analog telephone line 4. Therefore, the homes 5-1 to 5-6 can access the server 1-1 via the ISDN 3 or the analog telephone line 4 and receive information.

The server 1-2, like the server 1-1,
Various information is provided to homes 5-1 to 5-6.

In such a video transmission system, the main line of the transmission channel is constituted by an optical fiber, and
An optical fiber node covering 0 to 500 households is installed, and from the optical fiber node to each home, an HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coa) that transmits information via a coaxial cable is provided.
x) can also be used. Alternatively, FTTC (Fibe), which transmits information by optical fiber to a pedestal (relay device) which covers about 24 households very close to the home, and provides information to each home via a coaxial cable from the pedestal.
r To The Curb) or FTTH (Fiber To The H
ome).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the transmission capacity of the network is in the order of the cable television network 2, the ISDN 3, and the analog telephone line 4 in descending order. Therefore, by using the cable television network 2, it is possible to receive a moving image with the highest image quality and a high speed in real time. Also, ISDN3
, It is possible to receive general moving images in real time, although not as quickly as the cable television network 2. However, it is not possible to receive a moving image that changes too quickly in real time. On the other hand, when the analog telephone line 4 is used, since the transmission capacity is small, a moving image cannot be received, and only a still image can be received. The audio signal can be received in real time regardless of which network is used.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of an information receiving system provided in the home 5-1. Although not shown, the other homes 5-2 to 5-6 also have basically the same information processing system.

The home server 11 is connected to the cable television network 2, the ISDN 3, and the analog telephone line 4, and connects at least one of the networks to the personal computers 12-1, 12-2, and ST.
B16 (information processing means) or a telephone 18.

A keyboard 14-1 and a mouse 15-1 are connected to the personal computer 12-1.
Various commands are input. Also, the personal computer 12- is displayed on the display 13-1.
The image from No. 1 is output and displayed as appropriate.

Similarly, the personal computer 12-2
Is connected to a keyboard 14-2, a mouse 15-2, and a display 13-2.

The STB 16 receives the image data supplied from the home server 11, demodulates the image data, outputs the demodulated data to the television receiver 17, and displays it. The STB 16 is also used for a video on demand (VOD) service that provides a program in response to a user request. The telephone 18 can make a call via the home server 11.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the internal configuration of the home server 11. The CPU 31 executes various processes according to a program stored in the ROM 32. The RAM 33 stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 31 to execute various commands as appropriate. The hard disk drive 34 records and reproduces information on a built-in hard disk.

The home server 11 has various interfaces. Network interface 3
Interfaces 5 to 37 perform interface processing when exchanging data with the cable television network 2, the ISDN 3, and the analog telephone line 4, respectively.
The STB interface 38 performs an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) mode interface process with the STB 16. The computer interface 39 is connected to the personal computer 12-1 and performs Ethernet interface processing. The computer interface 40 is connected to the personal computer 12-2 and executes interface processing corresponding to a protocol dedicated to the personal computer. The telephone interface 41 executes an interface process with the telephone 18.

FIG. 4 shows a personal computer 12-1.
Of FIG. The CPU 71 has a ROM 7
2 executes various processes according to the program stored in the storage device 2. The RAM 73 appropriately stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 71 to execute various processes. The hard disk drive 74 is controlled by the CPU 71 and records and reproduces various data and programs on a built-in hard disk. The floppy disk drive 75 executes a recording / reproducing process for a floppy disk.

The home server interface 76 performs interface processing with the home server 11. The keyboard interface 77 and the mouse interface 78 are respectively a keyboard 14-1 and a mouse 1
An interface process with 5-1 is executed.
Further, the display interface 79 executes an interface process for the display 13-1.

The personal computer 12-2
Is configured similarly to the personal computer 12-1.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the internal configuration of the STB 16 which is an embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. C
The PU 51 (processing means) includes a flash ROM board 52
And executes various processes in accordance with a program stored in a flash ROM 91 (FIG. 6) mounted on the CPU. The RAM 53 stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 51 to execute various processes as appropriate. The graphics controller 54 transmits the graphics data supplied from the CPU 51 to the television receiver 17.
And display it. MPEG (Moving Picture Expe
rts Group) 2 video decoder 55 and MPEG audio decoder 56
7 (receiver), the video data and the audio data supplied from the home server 11
The signal is decoded by the EG2 or MPEG method, output to the television receiver 17, and displayed or emitted.

Network interface card 57
Is connected to the home server 11 and executes interface processing for the home server 11. The smart card interface 58 performs an interface process with the smart card 59. The smart card 59 is attached to and detached from the STB 16 as appropriate.
The smart card 59 stores personal information of the user, key information for scrambling data, or billing information.

The joystick interface 60
An interface process with the game machine 61 connected to the STB 16 is executed. The IR remote commander interface 62 is connected to the infrared (I)
R) A process for receiving the signal and outputting the command to the CPU 51 is executed.

The flash ROM 91 (storage means) mounted on the flash ROM board 52 stores a program for processing the data supplied via the network interface card 57 and a C program when the apparatus is started.
BIOS (a control program group depending on hardware, of the OS executed by the CPU 51), which is a basic program that is executed by the PU 51 and controls the setting of the configuration of the RAM 53 and the transfer of data with an external device such as the game machine 61. Is stored. The flash ROM 91 in the flash ROM board 52 is a non-volatile memory that can be electrically rewritten (erased and written), can change its storage contents, and retains the stored contents even after the power is turned off. Keep doing. By using the electrically rewritable flash ROM 91 in this manner, the BIOS can be updated as needed. New BIOS
Is transmitted by the server 1-1 or the server 1-2 and transmitted through a predetermined communication line and the home server 11.
The data is supplied to the TB 16 and received by the network interface card 57 of the STB 16.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of the flash ROM board 52. The flash ROM 91 is a rewritable nonvolatile storage element that stores data such as a program, and is used as two banks (a bank 91a (main area) and a bank 91b (spare area)). These banks A (bank 91a) and bank B (bank 91
b) is used by the CPU 51 as the same logical address space. That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, two physical address spaces (bank 91a and bank 91b) are allocated to the same logical address space. Then, in accordance with the bank switching of the bank switching circuit 92, the bank 9
Contents stored in 1a (data such as programs)
(FIG. 7B) or the contents (FIG. 7C) stored in the bank 91b are read. Even when data such as a program is stored (written), the data is stored (written) in the bank 91 a or the bank 91 b according to the bank switching of the bank switching circuit 92. That is, the bank switching circuit 92
The logical address addressed from the actual flash R
This is a circuit for converting the OM 91 into a physical address (of the bank 91a or the bank 91b).

A bank A of the flash ROM 91 stores a program such as a current new BIOS and a bank B.
Is configured to store and save a program such as a BIOS (of an old version) before updating. A part of the flash ROM 91 is used as a common area 91c. This common area 91c can be accessed regardless of the bank switching. That is, the same storage area (physical address) is specified by a predetermined logical address regardless of the bank switching. In this area, data to be read first when the device starts up, and the BIOS
An update program is stored, and its contents are not rewritten.

The bank switching circuit 92 is constituted by a hardware logic circuit, switches the bank in the flash ROM 91 to the bank A or the bank B according to the value held in the bank status register 93, and is supplied via the address bus. Data such as a program is stored in or read from the storage area of the address. Note that stored data and read data are input or output via a data bus.

The bank status register 93 holds a value corresponding to the bank to be used among the banks A and B. This value is supplied from the CPU 51 via the data bus. Since a normally used program such as a BIOS is stored in the bank A, the bank status register 93 holds a value corresponding to the bank A except when the BIOS is updated. Also, when the power supply of the STB 16 according to the present embodiment is turned on, the bank status register 93 is reset to a value corresponding to the bank A.

As described above, the flash ROM board 52
, The bank A or the bank B of the flash ROM 91 depends on the value held in the bank status register 93.
Is mainly used, except when updating the BIOS.
Is read from the memory.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG. 8 and the conceptual diagrams of FIGS.
The operation of this embodiment when updating the BIOS will be described. In this embodiment, since a device for driving a portable recording medium such as a floppy disk is not provided, a new BIOS is acquired by the network interface card 57 via a predetermined communication line, and
The OS is updated.

When the remote commander 63 or the like is operated and the BIO
Upon receiving an instruction to update S, the CPU 51 sets the common area 9
The following process is started based on the update program stored in 1c.

First, in step S1, as shown in FIG. 9, the CPU 51 reads the current version of the BIOS to be updated stored in the bank A (bank 91a) of the flash ROM 91, and temporarily stores (evacuates) it in the RAM 53. Let it.

Next, in step S2, the CPU 51
Changes the value of the bank status register 93 and switches the bank to the bank B.

In step S3, as shown in FIG.
Erase the old version BIOS (bank 91b),
In step S4, as shown in FIG.
3. Read the current version of BIOS from
(Bank 91b).

Next, in step S5, as shown in FIG.
And bank B of the flash ROM 91 (bank 91b)
Is checked in step S6 to determine whether or not they match. If it is determined that they do not match, the bank status register 93 is switched to bank A in step S7, and the process returns to step S1. The operation of moving the BIOS stored in the bank A (bank 91a) of the flash ROM 91 to the bank B (bank 91b) via the RAM 53 is performed again.

On the other hand, in step S6, the RAM 53
When it is determined that the BIOS of the flash ROM 91 matches the BIOS of the bank B (bank 91b), the process proceeds to step S8, and the CPU 51 changes the value of the bank status register 93 and switches the bank to the bank A.

Next, in step S9, the network interface card 57 receives the new BIOS supplied via the predetermined communication line and the home server 11, and as shown in FIG. New BIO received by
S is stored in the RAM 53.

Then, in step S10, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 15, after erasing the contents of the bank A of the flash ROM 91 (current BIOS), in step S11, the CPU 51 stores the new BIOS stored in the RAM 53 as shown in FIG.
One bank A (bank 91a) is stored.

Next, in step S12, as shown in FIG. 16, the CPU 51
B of flash ROM 91 bank A (bank 91a)
The IOS is collated, and it is determined in step S13 whether or not the two match. If it is determined that the two do not match, the process returns to step S9, and the new BIOS stored in the RAM 53 is again stored in the bank A ( The operation of moving to the bank 91a) is performed.

On the other hand, in step S13, the RAM 5
3 and the BIOS of the bank A (bank 91a) of the flash ROM 91 are determined to match.
The process of updating the BIOS ends. As a result, the update process ends in the state shown in FIG.

As described above, steps S1 to S
In step 7, the BIOS of the bank A (bank 91a) of the flash ROM 91 is moved to the bank B (bank 91b). In steps S8 to S13, the new BIOS supplied via the predetermined communication line is transferred to the bank A.
(Bank 91a) and update the BIOS. If the new BIOS does not operate properly after updating in this way, the operation reverse to the above-described steps S1 to S7 is performed, and the BIOS of the bank B (bank 91b) of the flash ROM 91 is transferred via the RAM 53. To Bank A (Bank 91a)
The original BIOS can be restored.

Although the flash ROM 91 having a plurality of banks is used in the above embodiment, a plurality of flash ROMs having a single storage area may be used instead of the flash ROM 91.

In the above embodiment, the BIOS is updated, but another program (for example, the OS) may be updated. Also, Flash R
OM is home server 11, personal computer 1
2-1 and 12-2 can also be used.

[0059]

As described above, according to the information processing apparatus of the first aspect and the program updating method of the seventh aspect, the current basic program read from the main area is copied to the spare area, and the update program is updated. , A new basic program is written in the main area. Therefore, even in a device that does not have a recording device such as a floppy disk drive, the original BIOS is saved to a spare storage area, and then the BIOS is updated. It can be performed. Therefore, B
Even when a failure occurs in the writing of the IOS, it is possible to immediately return to the original state, and it is possible to prevent a situation in which the original BIOS is lost due to a wrong operation or the like.

According to the program updating method of the present invention, the current basic program read from the main area or a new program supplied from the outside is written in the temporary storage area and the spare area, and both of them are written. Since the collation is performed, the updating process can be performed more reliably.

According to the information processing system of the present invention, after the current basic program read from the main area is copied to the spare area, a new basic program from the transmission channel is written to the main area. Even in a device having no recording device such as a floppy disk drive, after saving the original BIOS to a spare storage area, the new BIOS is transferred via a network such as a transmission channel.
It is possible to acquire the IOS and update the BIOS.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information providing system to which an information receiving device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing device in a home 5-1 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a home server 11 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a personal computer 12-1 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of an STB 16 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a flash ROM 91 in FIG. 5;

7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a logical address space and a physical address space in the flash ROM 91 in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the STB 16 when updating the BIOS.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an information processing device having a recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-1, 1-2 server, 2 cable television network, 2-1, 2-2 cable television center, 3 ISDN, 4 analog telephone line,
5-1 to 5-6 home, 11 home server,
12-1, 12-2 Personal computer, 13
-1, 13-2 display, 14-1, 14-2
Keyboard, 15-1, 15-2 Mouse, 16
Set top box, 17 television receiver, 18 telephone, 51 CPU, 52 flash ROM board, 53 RAM, 57 network interface card, 91 flash RO
M, 92 bank switching circuit, 93 bank status register

Claims (9)

[Claims] A main area in which a current basic program is stored and held; a common area in which an update program indicating a procedure for updating the basic program is stored and held;
A storage unit having a spare area in which a basic program before update is stored and held; and a current basic program read from the main area copied to the spare area based on the update program stored in a common area of the storage means. Processing means for performing an update process of writing a new basic program into the main area after the update. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the basic program is a BIOS that is a control program group depending on hardware. 3. A receiving unit for receiving information supplied via a predetermined transmission channel, wherein the receiving unit receives a new basic program as the information from the transmission channel, and Is based on the update program stored in the common area of the storage means, and is copied by the receiving means after copying the current basic program read from the main area of the storage means to the spare area of the storage means. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an update process is performed by writing a new basic program into a main area of the storage unit. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving unit receives information on a video-on-demand service from the transmission channel. 5. The storage means is electrically erasable,
EEPROM which is a rewritable semiconductor memory element
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured by: 6. The main area and the spare area of the storage means are allocated to the same logical address space as separate banks, and one of the banks is selected and addressed by bank switching. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: 7. A program updating method for updating a current basic program stored in a main area of a storage unit to a new basic program based on an update program stored in a common area of a storage unit. Copying the current basic program read from the main area to the spare area of the storage unit; and performing an update process of writing a new basic program to the main area based on the update program. A method for updating a program, characterized in that: 8. A program updating method for updating a current basic program stored in a main area of the storage unit to a new basic program based on an update program stored in a common area of the storage unit. Saving the current basic program read from the main area to a temporary storage area; and saving the current basic program saved to the temporary storage area to a temporary storage area.
Writing to a spare area of the storage unit; a current basic program saved to the temporary storage area;
Collating the current basic program written in the spare area of the storage unit; and writing a new externally supplied basic program to the temporary storage area, and then storing the new basic program in the main storage unit. A program updating method comprising: writing to an area; and collating the new basic program written to the temporary storage area with the new basic program written to the main area of the storage unit. 9. An information providing means for providing information via a predetermined transmission channel, and a current basic program read from a main area of the storage unit based on an update program stored in a common area of the storage unit. And information processing means for performing an update process by writing a new basic program supplied via the transmission channel to a main area of the storage unit after copying to a spare area of the storage unit. Processing system.