KR20010069857A - Portable player be possible to formware upgrade and method for formware upgrading of the portable player - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A portable playback device and a method thereof capable of performing a firmware upgrade are provided to perform the firmware upgrade by using a CD/DVD-ROM disk as an upgrade firmware storage medium, and by storing the firmware at a flash memory, and by using a buffer storing a flash write code, and by using a PROM storing the flash write code. CONSTITUTION: A loader part(100) reads an upgrade firmware stored at CD/DVD disk, and outputs the upgrade firmware to a control part(106). The control part(106) stores the upgrade firmware at a buffer memory(104) temporarily. The control part(106) writes the upgrade firmware at a flash memory(102) by using a flash write code stored at the buffer memory(104). At this time, the control part(100) has to read a code for writing operation from the flash memory(102) in order to record the upgrade firmware at the flash memory(102). For this, a flash write code is stored at the buffer memory(104), because the flash memory(102) cannot read data in a write mode. The control part(106) records the upgrade firmware by the stored flash write code. At this time, the control part(106) performs a fetch of the flash write code stored at the buffer memory(104).

Description

PORTABLE PLAYER BE POSSIBLE TO FORMWARE UPGRADE AND METHOD FOR FORMWARE UPGRADING OF THE PORTABLE PLAYER}

The present invention relates to a portable playback device and method capable of firmware upgrade, and more particularly, to a portable playback device and method capable of firmware upgrade for efficiently performing a firmware upgrade for adding a new function. to provide.

In general, firmware is located between software and hardware and is the medium that connects the two.

For example, if you have a lot of hardware installed on the motherboard, it won't work on its own even when the power is on. In addition, the task of accessing each device for a desired task in an application program requires appropriate intermediary means, which is firmware.

This firmware runs the hardware, buffers the software, and passes the software control to the hardware. Since firmware is usually in the ROM area of a computer, data is retained even when the power is turned off, so it contains various routines and other programs that run automatically when the computer is turned on.

If there is any program problem in the firmware having such a characteristic or wants to add a new function, the firmware stored in the semiconductor memory device (for example, ROM) in the computer must be upgraded.

Firmware upgrade is a technology primarily addressed in the PC or mobile phone handset, and is the ability to upgrade the firmware to some of the cards that are inserted into the PC (for example, sound cards, VGA cards, or modem cards) or mobile phones. A product with was released.

However, in the home appliances other than the PC terminal or the mobile phone terminal, the firmware was not upgraded.

For example, the firmware of a CD player, which is a typical playback device using a CD (CD) as a playback medium, is configured in a semiconductor memory device such as a ROM inside a mask-type microcomputer, so that the firmware cannot be modified.

The CD player according to the prior art has a problem that it is difficult to upgrade the firmware except for the method of replacing the entire microcomputer controlling the CD player in order to upgrade the firmware in order to add a new function.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable playback apparatus and method capable of upgrading a firmware using a CD / DVD-ROM disk as an upgrade firmware storage medium.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable playback apparatus and method capable of upgrading a firmware for performing a firmware upgrade by storing upgrade firmware in a flash memory.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a portable playback apparatus and method capable of upgrading a firmware for performing a firmware upgrade using a buffer in which a flash write code is stored.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a portable playback apparatus and method capable of upgrading a firmware for performing a firmware upgrade using a PROM in which a flash write code is stored.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading a firmware according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating the durability of the loader section.

3 is a flowchart for performing a firmware upgrade of the portable playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic structural block diagram of a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading a firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart for performing an upgrade of a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading a firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: loader 102: flash memory

104: buffer memory 106: control unit

The present invention for achieving the above object is a loader unit for reading the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD or DVD disk, a buffer memory for temporarily storing the read upgrade firmware, a flash memory for storing the flash write code, flash firmware is temporarily stored A flash memory recorded by the code, and a controller for writing the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to the flash memory by the flash write code, wherein the controller is directly accessible to the buffer memory within the memory map. Its features are provided.

Another feature of the present invention is to read the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD or DVD disk, to temporarily store the read upgrade firmware, and to write the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to the firmware memory device by the pre-stored flash write code Included, the read upgrade firmware and flash write code is stored in the buffer memory, the buffer memory is directly accessed in the memory map to provide a method for upgrading the firmware of the portable playback device.

Another feature of the present invention is a loader unit for reading upgrade firmware recorded on a CD or DVD disk, a buffer memory for temporarily storing the upgraded firmware, and a PROM for storing flash light codes for temporarily storing the upgrade firmware. The present invention provides a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading firmware, comprising: a flash memory in which temporarily stored upgrade firmware is recorded, and a controller configured to record the temporarily stored upgrade firmware in a flash memory by means of a flash write code.

Another feature of the present invention is to read the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD or DVD disk, to temporarily store the read upgrade firmware, to write the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to the firmware memory device by the pre-stored flash write code It includes, but the read upgrade firmware is stored in the buffer memory, the flash write code is stored in the pyrom, the buffer memory is provided in the firmware upgrade method of the portable playback device characterized in that directly accessed in the memory map.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment>

1 is a schematic structural block diagram of a portable reproducing apparatus capable of upgrading firmware according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a durable structural block diagram of a loader unit.

Referring to FIG. 1, a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading a firmware according to the present invention includes a loader unit 100, a flash memory 102, a buffer memory 104, and a controller 106.

The loader unit 100 reads the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD / DVD disc and outputs the upgraded firmware to the controller 106.

The flash memory 102 stores the command code and data of the drive firmware program, and the buffer memory 104 stores the flash write code for writing the command code of the upgrade firmware to the flash memory 102. . In this case, the buffer memory 104 is a volatile memory and is composed of a DRAM or an SRAM.

The control unit 106 writes the upgrade firmware input from the loader unit 100 to the flash memory 102 using the flash write code stored in the buffer memory 104 as an execution code. Herein, the controller 106 may directly access the buffer memory 104 in a memory map.

In addition, the control unit 106 controls to temporarily store the upgrade firmware input from the loader unit 100 in the buffer memory 104.

The operation of the upgrade apparatus of the CD / DVD player according to the first embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration is as follows.

The loader 100 reads the upgrade firmware stored in the CD / DVD disc and outputs the upgrade firmware to the controller 106. Here, the upgrade firmware of the CD / DVD player is stored in advance in the CD / DVD disc.

As shown in FIG. 2, the loader unit 100 includes an optical pickup 202, an RF amplifier 204, a digital signal processor 206, a decoder 208, and a motor driver 210.

The optical pickup 202 of the loader unit 100 reads various types of multimedia file data stored in the CD / DVD disc 200, and the RF amplifier 204 stores the firmware read through the optical pickup 202. The signal is converted into a high frequency signal (RF signal) and output.

The digital signal processor 206 processes the high frequency converted signal into a digital signal to correct the descramble and error, and outputs it to the decoder 208. The decoder 208 outputs the digital signal processed from the reproduced signal to the CD-ROM. After the DVD / ROM decoding is performed, the error is corrected and output to the controller 106.

The motor driver 210 is controlled by the digital signal processor 206 to vary the rotational speed of the CD / DVD disc 200 and the data reading position of the optical pickup 202.

The control unit 106 temporarily stores the upgrade firmware input from the loader unit 200 in the buffer memory 104.

Generally, CD or DVD discs are referred to as slow storage because they have slower access speeds to read or write data compared to RAM or flash memory. In addition, the access time varies greatly depending on the location where data is stored in the low speed storage device or the physical state of the stored area. In severe cases, physical damage can result in unreadable data.

Therefore, in a system that reads and processes data in such a low speed memory device, a predetermined amount of data is read in advance from the low speed memory device and stored in a buffered memory 104 having a predetermined size. The buffer consists of semiconductor memory, such as RAM, which is accessed through the internal bus of the computer, providing much faster data access than secondary storage devices such as hard disks.

Therefore, it is possible to access the buffer memory 104 directly to increase the data reproduction speed without having to access the low speed storage device whenever necessary, and solve the problem of the data processing speed caused by the difference in access time being inconsistent.

The controller 106 performs the firmware upgrade by writing the upgrade firmware stored in the buffer memory 104 to the flash memory 102 by the flash write code stored in the buffer memory 104.

Here, the controller 106 must read the code for the write operation from the flash memory 102 in which the firmware is recorded in order to write the upgrade firmware in the flash memory 102.

However, since the flash memory has a structure that cannot read data when the flash memory is in the write mode, the first embodiment of the present invention provides a flash memory code for writing the upgrade firmware into the flash memory. Store in

Subsequently, the controller 106 writes the upgrade firmware to the flash memory 102 by the flash write code stored in the buffer memory 104. In this case, the control unit 106 can fetch the buffer memory 104 directly to the flash write code stored in the memory map, thereby enabling the above operation.

A method of performing a firmware upgrade of a portable reproducible device capable of upgrading firmware according to the first embodiment of the present invention configured and operated as described above will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a flowchart for performing a firmware upgrade of the portable playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

First, the controller 106 reads the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD / DVD disc through the loader unit 100 (S300), and temporarily stores the read upgrade firmware in the buffer memory 104 (S302). In this case, the controller 106 may directly access the buffer memory 104 in the memory map.

In addition, the buffer memory 104 stores in advance a flash write code in which the control unit 106 can write the upgrade firmware in the flash memory 102.

The controller 106 performs firmware upgrade by writing the upgrade firmware temporarily stored in the buffer memory 104 to the flash memory 102 by the flash write code (S304).

Second Embodiment

A portable playback apparatus and method capable of upgrading firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4 is a schematic structural block diagram of a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading a firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a portable reproducing apparatus capable of upgrading firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes a loader unit 400, a flash memory 402, a buffer memory 404, a pyrom (PROM) 406, and a controller. 408.

The loader 400 reads the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD / DVD disc and outputs the upgrade firmware to the controller 408.

The flash memory 402 stores command codes and data of the drive firmware program, and the buffer memory 404 temporarily stores the upgrade firmware read by the loader 400. In this case, the buffer memory 404 is a volatile memory and is composed of DRAM or SRAM.

The pyrom 406 prestores flash write codes for writing upgrade firmware in the flash memory 402.

The control unit 408 writes the upgrade firmware input from the loader unit 400 to the flash memory 402 by a flash write code stored in the pyrom 406. Here, the control unit 408 has a configuration that cannot access the buffer memory 404 directly in the memory map.

The operation of the portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading the firmware according to the second embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

First, the loader 400 reads the upgrade firmware stored in the CD / DVD disc and outputs the upgrade firmware to the controller 408. Here, the upgrade firmware of the CD / DVD player is stored in advance in the CD / DVD disc.

The loader 400 has the same configuration as in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the optical pickup 202, the RF amplifier 204, the digital signal processor 206, and the decoder 208 are illustrated in FIG. ) And a motor driver 210.

The optical pickup 202 of the loader 400 reads various types of multimedia file data stored in the CD / DVD disc 200, and the RF amplifier 204 reads firmware read through the optical pickup 202. The signal is converted into a high frequency signal (RF signal) and output.

The digital signal processor 206 processes the high frequency converted signal into a digital signal to correct the descramble and error, and outputs it to the decoder 208. The decoder 208 outputs the digital signal processed from the reproduced signal to the CD-ROM. After decoding the DVD / ROM, the error is corrected and outputted to the controller 408.

The motor driver 210 is controlled by the digital signal processor 206 to vary the rotational speed of the CD / DVD disc and the data reading position of the optical pickup 202.

The control unit 408 temporarily stores the upgrade firmware input from the loader unit 400 in the buffer memory 404.

The controller 408 performs the firmware upgrade by writing the upgrade firmware stored in the buffer memory 404 into the flash memory 402 by the flash write code stored in the pyrom 406.

In general, the controller 408 must read the code for the write operation from the flash memory 402 in order to write the upgrade firmware in the flash memory 402.

However, since the flash memory has a structure in which data cannot be read when it is in the write mode, the flash write code, which is an operation code for writing the upgrade firmware into the flash memory 408, must be stored in the pyrom 406 in advance. .

Subsequently, the controller 408 writes the upgrade firmware to the flash memory 402 by using the flash write code stored in the pyrom 406. In this case, the controller 408 may directly access the buffer memory 404 in the memory map, and operate the flash write code stored in the PROM 406 which is a separate memory device as an execution code.

A process of performing a firmware upgrade of a portable reproducing apparatus capable of upgrading firmware according to the second embodiment of the present invention configured and operated as described above will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5 is a flowchart for performing an upgrade of a portable playback apparatus capable of upgrading firmware according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

First, the controller 408 reads the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD / DVD disc 200 through the loader unit 400 (S500), and temporarily stores the read upgrade firmware in the buffer memory 404 (S502). ).

In this case, the controller 408 is not configured to directly access the buffer memory 404 in the memory map.

Subsequently, the controller 408 performs the firmware upgrade by writing the upgrade firmware stored in the buffer memory 404 into the flash memory 402 by the flash write code stored in the pyrom 406 (S504).

A portable reproducible device capable of upgrading firmware according to the present invention performs firmware upgrade by reading and writing upgraded firmware recorded on a CD / DVD disc, which is a low speed storage device having a large storage capacity.

In the present invention, the flash firmware can be written to the flash memory as the flash write code is stored in the buffer memory or the pyrom.

Therefore, the present invention can perform a firmware upgrade for adding a new function, etc. as the upgrade firmware is recorded in the flash memory, thereby improving the user's satisfaction with the portable playback device.

Although the above has been described with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be able to vary the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. It will be appreciated that modifications and variations can be made.

Claims (9)

In a portable playback device capable of a firmware upgrade, A loader unit for reading upgrade firmware recorded on a CD or DVD disk; A buffer memory to temporarily store the read upgrade firmware and to store a flash write code; A flash memory in which upgrade firmware temporarily stored in the buffer memory is written by the flash write code; And A controller for controlling an operation of writing the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to the flash memory Including but not limited to: And the controller is capable of directly accessing the buffer memory within a memory map. The method of claim 1, And the buffer memory comprises a nonvolatile memory. The method of claim 2, And the nonvolatile memory is at least one of DRAM or SRAM. In the firmware upgrade method of the portable playback device, Reading the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD or DVD disk; Temporarily storing the read upgrade firmware; And Writing the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to a firmware memory device by using a pre-stored flash write code. Including but not limited to: The read upgrade firmware and the flash write code are stored in a buffer memory, And the buffer memory is directly accessed in a memory map. In a portable playback device capable of a firmware upgrade, A loader unit for reading upgrade firmware recorded on a CD or DVD disk; A buffer memory to temporarily store the read upgrade firmware; A memory unit for storing a flash write code for recording the upgrade firmware in advance; A flash memory in which the temporarily stored upgrade firmware is recorded; And A controller for writing the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to the flash memory by the flash write code Portable playback device capable of upgrading the firmware, characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 5, And the buffer memory comprises a nonvolatile memory. The method of claim 6, And the nonvolatile memory is at least one of DRAM or SRAM. The method of claim 5, And the memory unit is configured as a PROM. In the firmware upgrade method of the portable playback device, Reading the upgrade firmware recorded on the CD or DVD disk; Temporarily storing the read upgrade firmware; And Writing the temporarily stored upgrade firmware to a firmware memory device by using a pre-stored flash write code. Including but not limited to: The read upgrade firmware is stored in a buffer memory, The flash write code is stored in the pyrom firmware upgrade method of the portable playback device.