KR20050024740A - Method For Improving Boot-Loader In Eletronic Appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for correcting or improving a bootloader of an electronic product is provided to enable a user to correct an error or improve performance of the bootloader through a remotely offered boot main program without carrying the electronic product to a factory or a repair center. CONSTITUTION: The boot main program is downloaded(S10). A hardware reset process is executed when the electronic product is turned on after turning off power or hardware reset is selected by the user(S20). If a hardware reset code of the bootloader is executed, it is judged that the boot main program is present by jumping to a start address storing the boot main program(S25). If the boot main program is absent, a booting code of the bootloader is executed(S30). After executing the booting code, a main program is executed(S50). If the boot main program is present, the booting code is executed by inserting the code of the boot main program during a booting process(S40). After executing the booting code by inserting the code of the boot main program, the main program is executed.

Description

How to improve the boot loader for electronics {Method For Improving Boot-Loader In Eletronic Appliance}

The present invention relates to a method for improving a boot loader of an electronic product.

As electronics have advanced, various electronic products have emerged. While electronics of the past have limited functions, recent electronics have become increasingly intelligent and have various functions. Following this trend, electronics have microprocessors as brains and nonvolatile memory for storing software to perform various functions. In the early days, electronic products mainly used ROM as a nonvolatile memory for storing software for performing various functions. Recently, electronic products using flash memory are increasing in consideration of the possibility of upgrading software. Flash memory is a type of nonvolatile memory that does not lose its stored information even when its power is turned off. In addition, the flash memory is capable of write and erase operations as well as read operations. Modern electronics with flash memory can be easily changed or upgraded without special devices. In particular, in the case of an electronic product that can receive data from the outside, such as a digital broadcast receiving device, a software change function is frequently used.

In addition to video / audio / data services, the digital broadcast receiver includes a function of upgrading software of the receiver. In other words, the digital broadcasting receiver can improve the performance of the product by downloading upgrade software in addition to video / audio / data and storing it in a flash memory through digital broadcasting. Software of the digital broadcast reception apparatus can be roughly divided into a boot loader and a main program.

The software to be upgraded is the main program. Because the boot loader is a very important software that performs the booting process, it can have a fatal effect on the electronics by the problem of the software change process or the changed software problem. Therefore, the boot loader is usually stored in ROM, which is read-only memory, and cannot be easily changed even if it is stored in flash memory. When the power is turned on, the digital broadcast reception apparatus performs a booting process through a boot loader and executes a main program.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a boot loader software of a conventional digital broadcasting receiver.

The software of the digital broadcasting reception apparatus executes the main program 20 after a predetermined booting process in the boot loader 10 when the power is turned on. The boot loader 10 stores code for booting and data for hardware initialization.

If you look at the boot process, it will reset the hardware when power is applied. After the hardware reset process is complete, start up the hardware and initialize the hardware. When the hardware initialization is complete, video drawing is performed. After the video drawing, check the software download. If the main program software can be downloaded, download the main program. Then jumps to the start address of the main program 20 to execute the newly downloaded main program. On the other hand, if it is impossible to download the main program software, jump to the start address of the main program to execute the existing main program 20 without downloading the main program software.

According to the conventional invention of FIG. 1, the user does not need to carry the digital broadcast receiver to a repair center or a factory in order to upgrade the software of the digital broadcast receiver. The digital broadcast receiver can upgrade the software in both directions or in one direction. In other words, it is possible to upgrade the software by downloading the upgraded program according to the user's request, and to automatically download the upgraded main program received with the digital broadcasting program and upgrade the main program to improve the performance of the digital broadcasting receiver. It may be. However, even in the case of the previous invention, if there is a problem with the boot loader or if the boot loader is to be upgraded, the user still needs to go to a repair center or a factory with a digital broadcast receiver. In particular, it is mainly a problem when the performance of the digital broadcasting receiver can be improved by a simple change rather than a fatal error or problem of the boot loader. That is, since a digital broadcast receiver having a fatal error in the boot loader is not sold from the beginning, the performance of the boot loader or minor errors are mainly a problem.

Accordingly, there is a need to remotely improve the performance of a boot loader of a digital electronic product capable of receiving data from an external network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in accordance with the above-described necessity, and a technical object thereof is to provide a method for remotely improving the performance of a boot loader of a digital electronic product.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a method for improving a boot loader of an electronic product according to the present invention includes: finding a boot main program downloaded in advance in order to assist the booting process in a booting process by the boot loader; and Assisting booting by the execution of the found boot main program. The boot main program is preferably executed between booting processes by the boot loader. The boot main program is a program downloaded by a past booting process and is preferably part of a main program of an electronic product.

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

2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process of a boot loader software of a digital broadcasting reception device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the boot main program is downloaded (S10). The boot main program is stored together where the main program is stored. A boot main program is a kind of main program that refers to software that assists the boot loader in the boot process. Therefore, the boot main program is downloaded in the same way as the main program download of the electronic product. For example, the boot main program is downloaded through a satellite in the case of a satellite digital broadcast receiver, and the boot main program is downloaded through a cable in the case of a cable digital broadcast receiver. The downloaded boot main program is stored in the same place as the main program. For example, if the main program is an electronic product stored in the flash memory, the boot main program is also stored in the flash memory, and if the main program is an electronic product stored in the hard drive, the boot main program is also stored in the hard drive.

After the boot main program is down (S10), a hardware reset step is performed after the power of the electronic product is turned off or newly selected by the user (S20). When the hardware reset code of the boot loader is executed, the boot main program jumps to the stored start address to determine whether the boot main program exists (S25). The presence or absence of the boot main program may be determined to be absent when all parts of the boot main program are all 0s or 1s.

If it is determined that the boot main program does not exist, the boot code of the boot loader is executed (S30). After the boot code is executed (S30), the main program is executed (S50). When the main program is executed (S50), the user can use the functions of the electronic product. In the case of a digital broadcast reception device, a user may perform a function of playing or storing a digital broadcast program or change a channel.

If it is determined that the boot main program exists, the boot code of the boot loader is executed by inserting the code of the boot main program in the booting process (S40). After the code of the boot main program is inserted and the boot code executes the boot code (S40), the main program is executed (S50). When the main program is executed (S50), the user can use the functions of the electronic product.

3A is a flowchart illustrating a boot code execution process of FIG. 2.

Boot code execution (S30) of the boot loader first initializes the hardware (S31). The boot loader stores initial hardware values, and the hardware devices are initialized to the initial hardware hardware values.

After the initialization of the hardware (S31) and video drawing (S32). Perform a video test through the video drawing process.

After the video drawing (S32), the software download check (S33). That is, it is determined whether or not the software can be downloaded (S34). If the software is downloadable, the software (main program) is downloaded (S35). In the present invention, the boot main program code for improving the boot loader by downloading the main program can be obtained. An example of an improved boot loader is a change or diversification of the program download method. In the case of a digital satellite broadcasting receiver, for example, a program download by a satellite wave may be added as well as a download method through a telephone modem or a change to a download through a serial or parallel port. When the download of the main program is finished, the boot code of the boot loader is finished, and the process proceeds to the main program execution process of FIG. 2. On the other hand, if the download of the main program is not possible, the boot code execution of the boot loader is finished, and the process proceeds to the main program execution process of FIG.

3B is a flowchart illustrating a boot code execution process in which the boot main program code of FIG. 2 is inserted.

Boot code execution (S30) in which the boot main program code is inserted is performed by inserting the boot main program code to be inserted at every boot loader booting step of FIG. 3A. In the present invention, the booting step in which the boot main program code is inserted is called an improved booting step.

First, the improved hardware is initialized (S41). The boot loader stores initial hardware values, and the hardware devices are initialized to the initial hardware hardware values. The data is held by the boot main program when you want to change the initial hardware value, or when you initialize the hardware that had no initial hardware value.

When the initialization of the improved hardware is finished (S41), an improved video drawing is performed (S42). Improvements to the video drawing process are done through the boot main program code.

When the improved video drawing is finished (S42), the software download check is performed (S43). That is, it is determined whether or not the software can be downloaded (S44). If the software is downloadable, the software (main program) is downloaded (S45). When the download of the main program is finished, the boot code of the boot loader is finished, and the process proceeds to the main program execution process of FIG. 2. On the other hand, if the download of the main program is not possible, the boot code execution of the boot loader is finished, and the process proceeds to the main program execution process of FIG.

4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a boot loader software and a main program of a digital broadcast reception device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The boot loader 100 is stored in a ROM, which cannot be written or erased, or in a flash memory that extremely restricts write or erase. The boot loader 100 may check hardware reset code for resetting the hardware, hardware initialization code necessary for initializing the hardware, video drawing code used for the video drawing process, and whether the upgraded main program can be downloaded. And a software download check code, a main program download code involved in the main program download process, a jump code to the main program, and the like.

The main program 200 includes a boot main program code 210 and a substantial main program code 220 to assist the booting process of the boot loader 100. Substantially main program code 220 is a program code corresponding to the main program code of the conventional invention as shown in FIG. 1 and is a code necessary to perform a function of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus.

The main program 200 is a nonvolatile storage medium and is stored in a storage medium capable of a read, write, or erase operation, and is preferably stored in a flash memory. The boot main program code 210 preferably starts from the first address of the storage medium in which the main program 200 is stored.

The booting process of the digital broadcasting reception device according to the present invention is performed by the boot code of the boot loader 100 and after the boot process is improved by the boot main program code 210, the actual main program code 220 is executed. Although it is possible to execute the process, it is preferable to obtain the insertion code from the boot main program to boot the boot process when there is a part to be improved for each boot process to improve the booting. The booting process through this is as follows.

The power is turned on with the power off first, or the hardware reset process is executed by user's reset command. The hardware reset process is performed by the hardware reset code, and the last part of the hardware reset code is composed of the first address of the main program, that is, a jump statement to the start of the boot main program. If there is an insertion code in the boot main program, it executes the insertion code and jumps to the address where the hardware initialization code is located. Otherwise, it jumps directly to the address where the hardware initialization code is located. The start address of the hardware initialization code is easy to find because it is after the last address of the hardware reset code. Similarly, it executes hardware initialization code, embed code, video drawing code, embed code, and software download check code.

If you are downloading software, that is, if you are upgrading the main program, you will go through the main program download code and then jump to the actual main program code. On the other hand, if you do not download the software jumps directly to the actual main program. The boot main program used to improve the boot loader in the present invention may be obtained by a download process of the main program.

Meanwhile, the main program download code may not be executed by the boot loader but may be executed by the main program (actual main program). In this case, the upgraded software may be used only after the reboot process.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. Although the boot main program is described as being part of the main program in the detailed description, the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the boot main program may be a boot loader auxiliary program stored in a separate space from the main program. It is included in the thought. Accordingly, the embodiments described above are to be understood in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the scope of the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and the equivalent concept are included in the scope of the present invention. Should be interpreted.

According to the present invention, a user can correct an error part of a boot loader or improve a boot loader's performance through a boot main program provided remotely without bringing electronic products to a factory or a repair center. If you are a manufacturer of electronics, you can remotely improve the performance of your boot loader, so you can reduce the cost of recalls due to bootloader failures, and if you improve your boot loader, you can use an electronic product with an improved boot loader. To be.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a boot loader of a conventional digital broadcasting receiver.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a booting operation of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a flowchart illustrating a boot code execution process of FIG. 2.

3B is a flowchart illustrating a boot code execution process in which the boot main program code of FIG. 2 is inserted.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a boot loader and a main program of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (6)

Finding a boot main program downloaded in advance to assist the booting process in the booting process by the boot loader; And Assisting booting by the boot loader by executing the found boot main program; To improve the boot loader for electronics The method of claim 1, wherein the boot main program is executed between booting processes of the boot loader. The method of claim 2, wherein the boot main program is a program downloaded by a past booting process. The method of claim 1, wherein the boot main program is a part of a main program downloaded from the outside to improve performance of the electronic product. The method of claim 4, wherein the main program is a program downloaded by a past booting process. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-downloaded boot main program is stored in a flash memory.