KR20090076712A - Firmware upgrade system - Google Patents

Abstract

A firmware upgrade system is provided to upgrade the firmware of a digital device more safely by storing upgrade data in a home gateway. A plurality of upgrade servers(120-1~120-M) inlcude firmware upgrade data of a plurality of terminals(110-1~110-N). A sharing unit(130) stores profiles about the firmware upgrade of the terminals. The profile includes at least one among kinds of the terminals, a hardware version, a software version, the MAC address of a network device and URLs of the upgrade servers. The sharing unit receives/stores the upgrade data from the upgrade servers by using the profiles, and then transmits the stored upgrade data to the terminals based on a push or pull method.

Description

Firmware Upgrade System {Firmware Upgrade System}

The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a firmware upgrade system that can more safely upgrade firmware of a digital device by storing upgrade data in a home gateway.

Recently, the increase in the number of terminals connected to the wired and wireless Internet and the performance of the terminal have been greatly affected by hardware and software aspects, and firmware, which is an intermediate layer of hardware and software. Is being implemented. Firmware generally refers to a micro program that controls hardware stored in a read only memory (ROM). It is the same as software in terms of a program, but it is distinguished from general application software in that it is closely related to hardware. Thus, firmware has both characteristics of software and hardware.

Recently, new functions can be added to the terminal using only the firmware without changing the hardware of the terminal, and firmware upgrades are frequently made. In this situation, the user is complicated to handle the upgrade due to the operation of the firmware of various functions. Moreover, the firmware upgrade of the terminal is necessary for performance improvement or for patching firmware bugs. However, when an error occurs due to other external factors such as power out during the writing operation to the ROM area of the corresponding terminal for firmware upgrade, the terminal operates due to the inability to execute the new firmware or the existing firmware. You may be incapacitated.

Therefore, there is a need for a technology capable of reducing errors during firmware upgrade and automatically performing the upgrade.

The technical problem of the present invention is that the router becomes a main agent of firmware upgrade in a home network system in which various digital devices are connected to the router, and stores upgrade data on firmware upgrade of the digital device separately from the terminal, thereby safely performing a firmware upgrade. The present invention provides a firmware upgrade system and a method of performing the same.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a firmware upgrade system is provided. The system stores a terminal having communication means, an upgrade server including firmware upgrade data of the terminal, a profile related to firmware upgrade of the terminal, and the upgrade data from the upgrade server using the profile. And a router configured to receive the stored upgrade data and transmit the stored upgrade data to the terminal by a push method or a pull method.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of performing a firmware upgrade is provided. The method may include: storing a profile regarding a firmware upgrade of a terminal, querying an upgrade server whether a firmware upgrade of the terminal is required, receiving the upgrade data from the upgrade server using the profile, and receiving the received profile. Storing the upgrade data, requesting the firmware upgrade to the terminal, receiving a confirmation message according to the request from the terminal, and transmitting the stored upgrade data to the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of performing a firmware upgrade is provided. The method may include: storing a profile regarding a firmware upgrade of a terminal, querying an upgrade server whether a firmware upgrade of the terminal is required, receiving the upgrade data from the upgrade server using the profile, and receiving the received profile. Storing the upgrade data, receiving a message inquiring whether the upgrade data exists from the terminal, and transmitting the upgrade data to the terminal according to the request.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of performing a firmware upgrade is provided. The method includes receiving a request from a router to perform a firmware upgrade, sending a confirmation message to the router to allow the firmware upgrade to be performed on the request, receiving upgrade data stored in the router from the router, and Performing upgrade of the firmware using the received upgrade data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of performing a firmware upgrade is provided. The method includes transmitting a message to the router inquiring whether there is stored upgrade data, receiving the stored upgrade data from the router in response to the message, and performing an upgrade of the firmware using the received upgrade data. It includes a step.

By using a router to store firmware upgrade data, firmware upgrades of digital devices in the home can be pushed and / or pulled to minimize errors that may occur when upgrading existing firmware, but the terminal may operate even if an error occurs. You can prevent them from falling into a disabled state. In addition, the firmware upgrade of the present invention can be easily implemented for an existing device, thereby increasing the utilization of resources, and does not waste the performance of the device for performing the upgrade procedure, thereby improving the performance of the device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. However, the present embodiment is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but will be implemented in various forms, and only this embodiment is intended to complete the disclosure of the present invention, and to those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of the invention. It is provided to inform you. Shapes of the elements in the drawings may be exaggerated parts to emphasize a more clear description, elements denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawings means the same element.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for firmware upgrade according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system for upgrading firmware includes a terminal 110-1,... 110 -N, and an upgrade server 120-upgrading firmware of the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N. 1, ..., 120-M, and a router in charge of the connection between the terminals (110-1, ... 110-N) and the upgrade server (120-1, ..., 120-M) ( 130).

The terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N may include firmware and may be automatically connected to the router 130 by wire or wirelessly to upgrade firmware. The terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N may be referred to as clients, home network devices, or the like. The terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N may be any digital device having a communication means such as a portable terminal, a digital camera, a PDA, and various home appliances.

The upgrade server (120-1, ..., 120-M) includes the upgrade data for the firmware of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N), and the upgrade data to the terminal (110-) 1, ... 110-N) or directly to the router 130. When the upgrade server (120-1, ..., 120-M) transmits the upgrade data to the router 130, the router 130 is the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N) Perform a firmware upgrade of).

The router 130 may be a variety of digital devices having a wired or wireless communication means, and may be connected to at least one of the upgrade servers 120-1,..., 120 -M by wire or wirelessly. The router 130 is connected to the router 130 by using firmware upgrade data received from the upgrade server 120-1,..., 120-M. .110-N) firmware can be upgraded. The wired or wireless communication means may be any communication means such as a universal serial bus (USB), RS485, Bluetooth.

The router 130 stores a profile of the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N in the storage device 140. The profile is the type of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N), the manufacturer name, hardware version, software version, network card MAC address and URL of the upgrade server (120-1, ..., 120-M) Etc. means all the information required for the terminal. The router 130 may be called in other terms such as a home server, a home gateway, a host, and the like in the home network. Since the home server or the home gateway is connected to the terminals through various physical networks as well as the IP network, firmware upgrades of other terminals that do not support IP may be performed.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a firmware upgrade method of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N are connected to the router 130 (S200). The connection may be made by wire or wireless communication means. The connection may be made between the bootloader and the network at the time of booting of the terminal. The router 130 requests a profile of the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N when connected to the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N (S201). After receiving the profile from the terminal 110-1,... 110 -N (S202), the profile of the terminal 110-1,... 110 -N is stored in the storage device. In operation S203, it is stored in 140. As described above, the profile includes URLs of the upgrade servers 120-1,..., 120 -M, and includes all information of the terminal required for upgrading the firmware.

The router 130 checks whether the firmware of the terminals 110-1, ... 110-N is upgraded by querying the URLs of the upgrade servers 120-1, ... 120-M stored in the profile of the terminal. (S204). The upgrade check may be performed by the router 130 periodically or aperiodically as necessary. In order to check whether the firmware is upgraded, recognition of the profile information of the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N is required. Whether to upgrade the firmware may be determined by whether the firmware version of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N) is the latest version.

If the firmware upgrade is required as a result of the firmware upgrade check, the router 130 provides upgrade data (or image) necessary for the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N to the upgrade server 120-1. ... 120 -M) and receives the upgrade image from the upgrade server 120-1, ... 120 -M (S206).

The router 130 stores the upgrade image in the storage device (S207). If the upgrade data is loaded only in the memory of the terminals 110-1,. As described above, when the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N are in use or when the upgrade cannot be performed, the router 130 is connected to the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N. If the upgrade data is stored in a separate storage device, an error occurs in the firmware upgrade and there is no risk of losing the upgrade data even if the terminals 110-1, ... 110-N are in an inoperable state.

The router 130 transmits the upgrade data to the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N (S208), and the terminal 110-1,... 110 -N upgrades the firmware. Upgrade based on the data (S209). The router 130 attempts to write the upgrade data to the memory of the terminals 110-1,. At this time, even if a problem occurs in the power supply of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N) and reboot, the boot loader of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N) by performing the same process again Retry the upgrade.

The router 130 continuously maintains the profile of the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N and continuously checks whether the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N are upgraded, and If the upgrade data is received from the upgrade server (120-1, ... 120-M) and stored in the storage device, and can perform the firmware upgrade of the terminal (110-1, ... 110-N) have.

Hereinafter, a method of performing an upgrade of firmware according to the present invention will be described.

As an example, the upgrade of the firmware may be performed by a push method. In the push method, the router 130 performs a firmware upgrade request to the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N periodically or aperiodically, so that the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N After determining whether the firmware can be upgraded based on the state of the firmware, the terminal 110-1,... 110 -N upgrades the upgrade data by transmitting upgrade data to the terminals 110-1,. How to do it. That is, the router 130 determines whether to upgrade according to the states of the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N.

For example, when the router 130 inquires about the upgrade of the firmware to the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N, the terminals 110-1,. When the terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N are not currently being used by the user (stand-by state), the terminal 110-1,..., 110 -N may transmit a confirmation message to allow the upgrade to be performed to the router 130. Alternatively, the terminal 110-1,..., 110 -N may be configured to the router 130 in consideration of a pattern (specific time zone) in which the user uses the terminal 110-1,..., 110 -N. Send a confirmation message. When the router 130 receives a confirmation message from the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N, the router 130 transmits upgrade data to the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N, and performs an upgrade. do. The push method requires a separate protocol between the router 130 and the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N for determining whether to upgrade, and belongs to a relatively safe method.

As another example, the upgrade of the firmware may be performed by a pull method. The pull method is performed immediately after the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N are loaded, or periodically after the terminals 110-1,... 110 -N are loaded. 110-1,... 110-N checks whether the upgrade data is directly present in the router 130, and if there is upgrade data stored in the router 130, firmware upgrade is performed. In the pull method, the terminal 110-1,... 110 -N transmits a message to the router 130 asking whether there is upgrade data stored in the router 130.

If there is upgrade data stored in the router 130, the router 130 transmits the upgrade data to the terminals 110-1, ... 110-N. The terminals 110-1,..., 110 -N receive the upgrade data and write the data to the ROM. In general, the terminals 110-1,.

As another example, the upgrade of firmware may be performed by a mixed method. In the mixed method, when an error occurs during reception of upgrade or upgrade data by a push method or an error occurs during the upgrade, the terminals 110-1,... 130) whether to upgrade or not.

All of the above functions may be performed by a processor such as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like according to software or program code coded to perform the function. The design, development and implementation of the code will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the description of the present invention.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be modified and changed in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. I can understand. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the present invention will include all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for firmware upgrade according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a firmware upgrade method of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (7)

A terminal having a communication means; An upgrade server including firmware upgrade data of the terminal; A profile related to firmware upgrade of the terminal is stored, the upgrade data is received from the upgrade server using the profile, the received upgrade data is stored, and the stored upgrade data is pushed. Or a router transmitting to the terminal by a pull method. The method of claim 1, And said router is a home gateway in a home network. The method of claim 1, And the profile includes at least one of a type of the terminal, a hardware version, a software version, a MAC address of a network device, and a URL of the upgrade server. Storing a profile relating to a firmware upgrade of the terminal; Querying an upgrade server whether a firmware upgrade of the terminal is required; Receiving the upgrade data from the upgrade server using the profile; Storing the received upgrade data; Requesting the terminal to perform the firmware upgrade; Receiving a confirmation message according to the request from the terminal; And And transmitting the stored upgrade data to the terminal. Storing a profile relating to a firmware upgrade of the terminal; Querying an upgrade server whether a firmware upgrade of the terminal is required; Receiving the upgrade data from the upgrade server using the profile; Storing the received upgrade data; Receiving a message asking whether the upgrade data exists from the terminal; And And transmitting the upgrade data to the terminal according to the request. Receiving a request for a firmware upgrade from a router; Sending a confirmation message to the router to allow the firmware upgrade to be performed on the request; Receiving upgrade data stored in the router from the router; And Performing upgrade of the firmware by using the received upgrade data. Sending a message to the router inquiring whether there is stored upgrade data; Receiving the stored upgrade data from the router in response to the message; Performing upgrade of the firmware by using the received upgrade data.

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