KR20040046500A - Booting time shortening method for mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for reducing a booting time of a mobile communication terminal is provided to store file assign information in a file system region, and to store a file position in a specific region of a flash memory, thereby operating an EFS(Embedded File System) without collecting data and reducing time for collecting the data. CONSTITUTION: If power is turned off or software is reset, a system gathers master file directories and sector status table information loaded on an RAM before a file system task expires, generates information files, respectively, in an EFS region, and stores the generated information files(S11,S12). The system decides whether a position information storage space is enough to store positions of the two information files and various data, and if so, the system stores the positions and the data, and if not, the system deletes sectors for storing position information(S13-S15).

Description

BOOTING TIME SHORTENING METHOD FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to a method of shortening booting time by storing file allocation information in a nonvolatile memory in a mobile communication terminal. Particularly, the booting time is changed by changing a file storage location flexibly each time without storing the file allocation information in a fixed location. The present invention relates to a method for shortening the boot time of a mobile communication terminal that can shorten the life of a flash memory.

In general, a mobile communication terminal includes an embedded file system (EFS), which is a driver for accessing a flash memory.

Among the tasks created when the mobile terminal is booted, a file system task in which the embedded file system is operated is generated, and performs a function of creating a directory when the file system task is initialized.

This function searches all data areas in flash memory and creates a master file directory and a sector status table.

The method implemented on the DMSS source released by Qualcomm is configured to scan the entire embedded file system area three times at the beginning of the file system task startup to collect the information of the master file directory and the sector state table at boot time. .

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view illustrating an embedded file system preparation operation performed when a conventional mobile communication terminal is booted. As shown in FIG. 1, a master file directory collected by scanning three times the embedded file system area 11 is illustrated. (12) and the sector state table 13 describe the memory map loaded into the memory.

The two tables 12 and 13 reside in the RAM area to hold the state of the flash memory converted according to the writing and erasing of the flash memory.

Here, the master file directory 12 has information about a file to which each inactive item belongs and a directory to which the file belongs, so that each master item directory 12 has information of a corresponding file when each inactive item is removed or added.

In addition, the sector state table 13 shows the state of the corresponding sector, and has information on whether it is valid or useless. If the sector is useless, the sector state table 13 performs an erase operation by a garbage collection (GC) process to free the sector. Make it a valid sector.

However, in the prior art as described above, in using the embedded file system to access the flash memory, the storage location information of the file is stored only in the RAM and disappears after the power is turned off. You need to scan the entire area to check the file storage.

Therefore, the time taken to build the file allocation table takes up a large portion of the total booting time, and the time for the user to wait after turning on the power to use the terminal becomes long. In particular, the larger the embedded file system area and the more data is stored, the longer the boot time becomes.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is designed to store file allocation related information as a file before powering off and at software reset, and to specify the location of the file not to be embedded in the embedded file system. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method of shortening the boot time of a mobile communication terminal, which saves booting time by reducing the scanning time for collecting file allocation information by reading and using the file allocation information file at the next boot by recording the data into two sectors. There is this.

1 is an exemplary view illustrating an embedded file system preparation operation performed when a conventional mobile communication terminal is booted.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of storing file allocation information in a method for shortening a boot time of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of loading file allocation information in a method for shortening a boot time of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention;

4 is an exemplary view illustrating an embedded file system preparation operation performed at booting of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores the master file directory and the sector state table information in the embedded file system area before terminating the file system task when the power is turned off or software reset. Storing at a specific location; Reading a master file directory and sector state table information from an embedded file system area and loading it into the memory by referring to the location information stored in a specific location of a flash memory while generating a file system task when the power is turned on; Determining whether there is an error in the location information or the file information stored in the embedded file system area, and if there is an error, scanning the entire area of the embedded file system to obtain master file directory and sector state table information and to load it into memory It is characterized by.

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

2 is an operation flowchart of a procedure for storing file allocation information in a booting time reduction method of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. Collecting the master file directory and the sector state table information and generating and storing information files in the embedded file system area (S11 and S12); It is determined whether the location of the two information files stored in the embedded file system area and the location information storage space for storing various data is sufficient, and if the location is sufficient, the location and the various data of the generated information file are stored as a structure. And deleting the stored sectors (S13 to S15).

When the user turns off the power or resets the software, the master file directory and the sector state table information are collected and stored as a file in the embedded file system area immediately after the operation of the file system task of the mobile terminal is completed (S11 and S12). .

The block position, the block link information, and the final length of the file stored in the embedded file system area are recorded in a specific sector in the flash memory. At this time, since the amount of information to be stored is small, save it using the following structure.

ID (2 bytes) Validity flag of the information file (1 byte) Location of file header block in the information file Start position of data block Number of links Total length

Here, ID indicates that the structure is positional information and is initially substituted with 0xA501 and overwritten with 0x0000 when read. The validity flag of the information file serves as a criterion for determining whether the information is normally stored by normal power-off or software reset.

In general, the length of the file allocation information depends on the size of the embedded file system, but the number of blocks used when storing the information of the master file directory and the sector state table is not large. Therefore, the time required to read file allocation information is extremely short.

Since the information in the master file directory and the sector state table are collected and stored in a single file, the amount of information to be stored in a specific location in the flash memory is several tens of bytes.

Usually, this information is read at boot time for ease of control, then this sector is erased for the next use and the information is stored at the same location the next time it is stored. If you use the method, the problem is that only those sectors will reach the end of their life.

Therefore, as described above, the location information of the file is stored in the sector, and then stored until the sector is full, and then erased only when it is almost full, thereby shortening the life of the flash memory (S13 to S15). ).

To do this, read the location information and overwrite ID = 0xA501 with ID = 0x0000.

The next time you boot, find and read the ID 0xA501, and save it to the next free space.

In this way, the existing location information is deleted only after one sector allocated to store the location information is full, thus eliminating the problem of shortening the lifespan.

The master file directory and sector state table information loaded into RAM according to the error, power off or software reset are collected and stored in the embedded file system area as MFD file and SST file respectively, and the storage location of these two files is stored in a specific location of flash memory. In the following description, a procedure of booting a mobile communication terminal using these information is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of loading file allocation information in a method for shortening a boot time of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. Retrieving and reading location information from a specific area in the memory (S21, S22); Determining whether the location information is valid and reading the master file directory and sector state table information from the embedded file system area indicated by the location information and loading it into a memory (S23 to S25); If the location information is invalid or there is an error in the file information read from the embedded file system area, the entire area of the embedded file system is scanned three times to obtain master file directory and sector state table information and load it into memory. Step S26; After the loading of the two file information is completed, the step of performing the remaining boot process (S27).

When the power is turned on, a boot initialization operation is performed to generate a file system task to search for a location information header in a specific area in the flash memory to find and read a location information structure having ID = 0xA501 (S21 and S22).

The file system task obtains the value of the validity flag of the information file in the read position information structure to determine whether the information is normally stored by normal power-off or software reset (S23).

If it is determined that the information is normally stored, the file system task reads the MFD file and the SST file from the embedded file system area by referring to the location of the file header block, the start position of the data block, the number of links, and the total length of the information file. Each table on the memory is loaded (S24, S25).

At this time, the CRC data included in the MFD file and the SST file is analyzed and validated to ensure the reliability of the two files. If it is determined that the two files are abnormal in the reliability check process, data is newly collected by a conventional scanning method.

The ID of the location information structure is overwritten with 0x0000 to distinguish the structure from the already used structure. Therefore, when you save a new structure, you save it immediately afterwards in an empty space.

4 is an exemplary view illustrating an embedded file system preparation operation performed when a mobile communication terminal is booted according to the present invention. As shown therein, an MFD file and an SST file in an embedded file system area are read by location information. The master file directory and sector state table are loaded into memory.

On the contrary, if it is determined that there is an error in the location information or there is no location information structure, the file system task has a high probability that the information stored in the MFD file and the SST file is wrong or that the file itself is not generated. Scanning is performed three times to obtain master file directory and sector state table information (S26).

Thereafter, the mobile communication terminal performs the remaining booting process (S27).

As described in detail above, the present invention stores the file allocation information in the embedded file system area and stores the file location in a specific area of the flash memory so that the embedded file system can be operated without data collection at boot time and data collection is possible. This decreases the time required for booting, which shortens the booting time.

In addition, it is possible to reduce the life of the flash memory by storing the file position stored in a specific area of the flash memory so as not to overlap with the previously stored position without repeatedly erasing / recording at a fixed position.

Claims (4)

Storing a master file directory and sector state table information in an embedded file system area and saving the stored location in a specific location in flash memory before the file system task is terminated when the power is turned off or software reset; Reading a master file directory and sector state table information from an embedded file system area and loading it into the memory by referring to the location information stored in a specific location of a flash memory while generating a file system task when the power is turned on; Determining whether there is an error in the location information or the file information stored in the embedded file system area, and if there is an error, scanning the entire area of the embedded file system to obtain master file directory and sector state table information and to load it into memory Method for reducing the boot time of a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing file allocation information in the flash memory comprises collecting master file directory and sector state table information loaded into RAM before the file system task is terminated when the power is turned off or software reset. Generating and storing information files, respectively; It is determined whether the location of the two information files stored in the embedded file system area and the location information storage space for storing various data is sufficient, and if enough, the location of the generated information file and the various data are stored in the next location And subsequently storing and erasing and storing the sector storing the location information. The method of claim 1, wherein the loading of the file allocation information from the flash memory comprises: performing a boot initialization operation when a power is turned on to generate a file system task to retrieve and read location information from a specific area in the flash memory; Determining whether the location information is valid and reading the master file directory and sector state table information from an embedded file system area indicated by the location information and loading it into memory; Scanning the entire area of the embedded file system to obtain master file directory and sector state table information and loading it into memory if the location information is invalid or there is an error in the file information read from the embedded file system area. Method for reducing the boot time of a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that. 4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the location information includes: an ID indicating that the structure is location information; A validity flag of the information file serving as a reference for determining whether the information is normally stored by a normal power-off or software reset; A position of a file header block and a start position of the data block of the information file stored in the embedded file system area; A method for shortening the boot time of a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the link number and the total length of the block link information.