KR20040053654A - Method for upgrade in mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for upgrading a mobile terminal is provided to upgrade automatically and massively without the interference of a user by upgrading a ROM and a bootloader of a PDA(Personal Digital Assistant) through other memory interface such as a compact flash and a PC card. CONSTITUTION: As a system is reset, it is judged that a predetermined button combination entering an upgrade mode is pushed. If the predetermined button combination is pushed, an image file is recorded to the memory card by judging that the memory card is installed to the PDA. If the image file of the predetermined format is recorded in the memory card, it is judged that the image file is recordable by comparing with the current information of the PDA. In case of the recordable image file, the ROM and a bootloader area are upgraded by reading the actual image data from the recordable memory card.

Description

How to upgrade your mobile device {METHOD FOR UPGRADE IN MOBILE TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to personal digital assistants (PDAs), and more particularly, to a method of upgrading ROMs and boot loaders by transferring ROM and boot loader images of PDAs to a PDA through a compact flash, PC card, or other memory interface.

PDAs, which were mainly used for business purposes in companies, are now widely used by general users. In addition to personal schedule management, various functions such as e-books, digital music players, and game consoles are being utilized.

With the widespread use, there are more problems to be solved in using PDA.

Unlike general PCs, PDAs come with preloaded operating systems and basic applications. In the past, masked ROMs were used, which could not be modified once recorded, but now flash ROMs are used to allow future upgrades.

1 is an exemplary view showing a ROM region structure of a general PDA. When the PDA powers up, the boot loader runs.

The boot loader is responsible for initializing the PDA hardware and transferring control to the operating system. The operating system will boot and run in the normal order once control is over.

In addition, information specific to the hardware or PDA is separately recorded on the ROM.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ROM region structure of the PDA in which a boot loader can be upgraded is shown. A difference from the PDA of FIG. 1 is that there is a pre-boot loader capable of upgrading the boot loader.

When the PDA powers up, the potential bootloader runs. The potential boot loader is responsible for initializing the PDA hardware, executing it when there are tasks such as upgrading the boot loader, or otherwise transferring control to the boot loader.

The boot loader runs it when there are tasks such as upgrading the ROM, and passes control to the operating system otherwise.

The operating system will boot and run in the normal order once control passes.

In addition, information specific to the hardware or PDA is separately recorded on the ROM.

In order to fix bugs and improve the performance of PDA software, there is a need for an easy way to upgrade ROM and bootloaders of PDAs that are already on the market or used by consumers. The main method currently used is to upgrade images by receiving images from the PC through a connection with the PC.

However, this method is inconvenient in that a PC must be present and user intervention is required.

This inconvenience is particularly problematic when attempting to upgrade a mobile terminal (PDA) in large quantities.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, by allowing the ROM and bootloader of the PDA to be upgraded through other memory interfaces, such as compact flash, PC card, etc., so that the automatic and mass The purpose of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal upgrade method.

1 is an exemplary view showing a ROM region structure of a general PDA.

2 is an exemplary view showing a ROM structure of a PDA capable of upgrading a general boot loader.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for upgrading a mobile terminal of the present invention.

The present invention for achieving the above object comprises a first step of determining whether the initial system is reset, the particular combination button to enter the upgrade mode is pressed; Determining whether the memory card is installed in the PDA when the specific combination button is pressed, and recording an image file on the mounted memory card; A third step of determining whether the image file is a recordable image file when the image file of the predetermined format is recorded in the memory card; If the image file can be recorded in the current mobile terminal, a fourth step of upgrading the ROM and the boot loader region by reading the actual image data from the currently recordable memory card may be performed.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for upgrading a mobile terminal of the present invention, the first step of resetting the initial system as shown therein to determine whether a specific combination button for entering an upgrade mode is pressed; Determining whether the memory card is installed in the PDA when the specific combination button is pressed, and recording an image file on the mounted memory card; A third step of determining whether the image file is a recordable image file when the image file of the predetermined format is recorded in the memory card; If the image file can be recorded in the current mobile terminal, the fourth step of upgrading the ROM and the boot loader area by reading the actual image data from the currently recordable memory card will be described. Is as follows.

First, the initial system is reset to see if a particular combination button on the PDA entering the upgrade mode has been pressed.

In this case, if the button combination is correct, the upgrade is executed. If the button combination is not correct, the upgrade is not executed. The PDA is equipped with several buttons such as an application execution button and a recording button. It is determined whether to execute.

When the button combination is correct, the memory card interface checks whether the memory card is mounted in the PDA, and whether the image of the specified format is stored in the memory card.

Verify that the image is upgradable and run the upgrade.

Here, the format of the image stored in the memory card is as follows.

First, the header information includes upgraded image identification information, ROM / bootloader image classification information, image size, PDA model number, image version and language information, and image generation date information.

Upgrade image identification information means an identification code that distinguishes an image file to distinguish it from garbage information, and image size means size information of an image to be recorded, and PDA model number indicates device information on which an image can be recorded. The image version, language information, and image creation date are also used to determine whether or not to upgrade the image.

The image used for the upgrade must first be recorded on the memory card. One recorded memory card is used to upgrade hundreds or thousands of PDAs.

Image files can be transferred using any available PC interface, such as Ethernet, USB, or serial.

The memory card recording procedure of the image file in the above process will be described in detail as follows.

When the system is reset, it confirms whether a specific button combination on the PDA entering the image file memory card recording mode is pressed. If the button combination is correct, the image file is transferred to the PDA through a PC interface such as Ethernet, USB, or serial. The image recording is completed by recording the image data into the RAM once and writing the same to the memory card.

However, as a result of confirming that a specific button combination on the PDA is pressed, memory card recording is not executed if the button combination is incorrect.

After the image file in the memory card mounted in the PDA is recognized, the actual upgrade process is as follows.

When the upgraded image identification information of the memory card is accessed through the memory card interface and the predetermined identification information appears, it is determined that the upgrade image exists in the corresponding memory card.

It reads ROM, bootloader image classification information and image size information to determine whether it can be recorded on PDA.

At this time, the judging standard reads the PDA model number information and confirms whether it matches the current PDA, reads language information and checks whether it matches the language of the current PDA, and reads the image version information and the image creation date. Make sure you are newer than the version you have.

If all of the above verification procedures are satisfied, the ROM and boot loader area is upgraded by reading the actual image data.

Here, the detailed description of the present invention is based on the PDA of the boot loader upgrade possible, but can also be applied to a general PDA and the mobile terminal upgrade method of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment of the PDA and the technical concept of the present invention is acceptable. In other words, various modifications can be made in the mobile terminal.

As described in detail above, the present invention allows the ROM and bootloader of the PDA to be upgraded through other memory interfaces such as a compact flash or a PC card. It is effective to provide.

Claims (4)

A first step of resetting the initial system to determine whether a specific combination button for entering the upgrade mode has been pressed; Determining whether the memory card is installed in the PDA when the specific combination button is pressed, and recording an image file on the mounted memory card; A third step of determining whether the image file is a recordable image file when the image file of the predetermined format is recorded in the memory card; And a fourth step of upgrading the ROM and boot loader area by reading the actual image data from the currently recordable memory card if the image file is recordable in the current mobile terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein the second step comprises: transmitting an image file to a mobile terminal through an interface such as Ethernet, USB, or serial; And recording the transmitted image file of the mobile terminal in a RAM and recording the recorded image file of the RAM in a memory card. The image file of claim 1, wherein the image file includes upgrade image identification information, ROM, boat loader image classification information, image size, mobile terminal model number, image version, language information, header information of image generation date, and actual upgrade image data format. Mobile terminal upgrade method characterized in that consisting of. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the recordable image file is installed in the mobile terminal by reading ROM, boot loader image classification information, image size information, mobile terminal model number, image version, language, and image generation date information of the mobile terminal. Mobile terminal upgrade method characterized in that the newer version than the version.