WO2011110097A1

WO2011110097A1 - Method and device for software downloading

Info

Publication number: WO2011110097A1
Application number: PCT/CN2011/071682
Authority: WO
Inventors: 尚海涛; 陈春媛
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2010-03-10
Filing date: 2011-03-10
Publication date: 2011-09-15
Also published as: CN101834885A

Abstract

A method for software downloading is provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the method includes: receiving a downloading command, and downloading a description file in a corresponding software packet, wherein the description file is utilized for searching for a necessary software component and an auxiliary software component in the software packet; downloading the necessary software component in the software packet; and activating the downloaded necessary software component. The embodiment shortens the time that the device serviceability is influenced by preferentially downloading and activating the necessary software component in the software packet, thereby reducing the influence made by the software downloading. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present invention also provides a device for software downloading.

Description

A software downloading method and device The present application claims to be submitted to the Chinese Patent Office on March 10, 2010, and the application number is CN2 01 01 01 2 228 2. 4, and the invention name is "a software downloading method and device" Priority of the Chinese Patent Application, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. Technical field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of software technologies, and in particular, to a software download method and apparatus. Background technique

In a communication system, a device's software package is usually divided into several different components, each of which performs a different function. As the functions of the device continue to increase, the number of components will increase accordingly, and the components themselves will become larger. As a result, the software packages of the devices will continue to increase, reducing the efficiency of software upgrades and affecting the serviceability of the devices.

In order to solve the problem that the software upgrade efficiency is reduced due to the increasing software of the device, a common solution is to download and activate. The solution divides the upgrade process of the device into two steps: download and activation: Download the step, download the new version of the device package to the storage system of the device, activate the step, and take effect the new device package. The download operation is performed in the form of a background task, which does not affect the normal operation of the device. The effective operation affects the normal operation of the device. The solution separates the download and upgrade. Since the download does not affect the normal operation of the device, it can be executed in advance. This only requires activation when the device is officially upgraded, thus reducing the time spent on the upgrade.

However, in some device software upgrade scenarios, downloading cannot be performed in advance, that is, downloading and activation need to be performed continuously. For example, when a communication device is relocated, the new device cannot be run in advance, and the new device can be operated only after the old device is stopped. For the new device, the download operation cannot be performed in advance. In this case, the software downloading and activation steps need to be performed continuously. The upgrade takes more time, affecting the serviceability of the device for a longer period of time, and the user will be greatly affected. Summary of the invention

In one aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a software downloading method, including: receiving a download command, and downloading a description file in a corresponding software package, where the description file is used to find a necessary software component and an auxiliary software component in the software package; Prerequisite software components in the software package; activate the prerequisite software components for the download.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a software downloading device, including: a receiving module, configured to receive a download command; a first downloading module, configured to download a description file in a corresponding software package, where the description file is used to search for software The prerequisite software component and the auxiliary software component in the package; the second downloading module, which is used to download the prerequisite software component in the software package; the activation module, the prerequisite software component for activating the second downloading module downloading

The embodiment of the invention further provides a system comprising a file server and the above-mentioned software downloading device, wherein the file server is used to provide a software package to the software downloading device.

The embodiment of the present invention shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device by preferentially downloading and activating the necessary software components in the software package, thereby reducing the impact of software downloading. DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic flowchart of another software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of still another software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a software download device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another software download device according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method mainly includes the following steps.

Step 1 02: Receive the download command, and download the description file in the corresponding software package. In general, the device vendor publishes all of the device's software components in a single package. The device's software package has a unique version identifier, which contains all the software components of the device and contains a software part description file. This description file can be used to find the prerequisite software components and auxiliary software components in the software package.

In this embodiment, the description file may include the following two pieces of information:

The first part, the overall information of the software package; mainly refers to the unique version identification, size and check code of the software package.

The second part, the information of the software components; mainly refers to the functional classification of the software components, the version identification, the location, size and check code of the software components in the software package. The functional classification of the software components indicates the classification of the functions supported by the software components. The components corresponding to the functions necessary for the normal operation of the device belong to the prerequisite software components, and the components corresponding to other functions belong to the auxiliary software components. According to the description file, it is easy to determine the prerequisite software components and auxiliary software components in the software package corresponding to the device. Step 1 04, Download the prerequisite software components in the package.

Since the necessary software components are the software components necessary for the normal operation of the device, in this embodiment, the necessary software components are preferentially downloaded to ensure that the device can operate normally. The prerequisite software in the download package may specifically include: determining a prerequisite software component in the software package according to the description file; and downloading the mandatory software component from the file server.

Step 1 06, Activate the downloaded prerequisite software components.

After the download of the prerequisite software components is completed, the downloaded prerequisite software components are activated and the device is ready for operation.

The method provided by this embodiment can be applied to a technical field in which a software package can be divided into multiple software components in a communication system or other software download application. For example, the communication system may be a base station, a base station controller, or the like, and the file server may be a network management system. It is not difficult to understand that in the application scenario such as software upgrade or running a new device, the prerequisite software component refers to the new version of the prerequisite software component. Further, the download command in step 101 may be sent by the file server to the device that executes the software download, and after receiving the download command, the device starts a specific download operation. Or the download command can be sent by the user to the device. Optionally, before the activated prerequisite software component is activated in step 106, the method may further include: receiving an activation command sent by the file server; or performing, after detecting that all the necessary software components are downloaded, performing the activation of the prerequisite software component. operating. After identifying the necessary software components in the software package, the embodiment preferentially downloads and activates the necessary software components in the software package, thereby shortening the time that affects the serviceability of the device, thereby reducing the impact of software downloading. .

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of another software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method mainly includes the following steps.

Step 202: Receive a download command, and download a description file in the corresponding software package.

Step 204, download the prerequisite software components in the software package.

Step 206, activate the downloaded prerequisite software component.

The steps 202-206 are substantially the same as the steps 102-106 in the above embodiment. For the specific implementation, reference may be made to the above embodiment.

Step 208, download the auxiliary software components in the software package.

Since the function corresponding to the auxiliary software component is not necessary, in this embodiment, the method of delaying downloading the auxiliary software component is adopted, that is, the auxiliary software component in the software package is downloaded after the device is in normal operation. Specifically, downloading the auxiliary software component in the software package may include: determining an auxiliary software component in the software package according to the description file; downloading the auxiliary software component from the file server.

Step 210: Activate the downloaded auxiliary software component.

After the auxiliary software components in the software package have been downloaded, the auxiliary software components are activated and the device supports the functions corresponding to the auxiliary software components. Further, before downloading the auxiliary software component in the software package, the method may further include: downloading the description file in the corresponding software package again; comparing the successively downloaded description files, and confirming that the corresponding software package has not changed. The device downloads the auxiliary software component after confirming that the corresponding software package has not changed. Further, if the software package changes, the device can report an alert to prompt the user.

Optionally, before the downloading the auxiliary software component in step 210, the method may further include: receiving an activation command sent by the file server; or performing an operation of activating the auxiliary software component after detecting that all the auxiliary software components are downloaded; or The auxiliary software component is activated each time the device downloads an auxiliary software component until the auxiliary software component is fully downloaded and activated. This embodiment preferentially downloads and activates the necessary software components in the software package, shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device, thereby reducing the impact of the software download, and downloading the auxiliary software components in the software package after the device is in normal operation. The integrity of the device's functionality is guaranteed. Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of still another software downloading method according to an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is described by taking a communication system as an example. The download device may be a base station or a base station controller, and the file server may be a network management system or the like. The method mainly includes the following steps.

Step 301: The file server sends a download command to the downloading device, and requests the downloading device to download the corresponding software package, such as the upgraded software package, from the file server.

Step 302: The download device downloads the description file in the corresponding software package from the file server. In general, the device vendor publishes all software components of the device in a single package. The device's software package has a unique version identifier, which contains all the software components of the device and contains a software part description file. This description file can be used to find the required software components and auxiliary software components in the software package.

Step 303: The downloading device searches or determines a prerequisite software component in the software package according to the description file. Step 304: The downloading device downloads the prerequisite software component in the corresponding software package from the file server. Step 305: After downloading all the necessary software components, the downloading device sends a message to the file server to notify the file server that the necessary software component download has been completed. Step 306: After receiving the message indicating that the necessary software component download has been completed, the file server sends an activation command to the downloading device. In practical applications, since one file server often corresponds to multiple download devices, the download device can be activated by sending an activation command to multiple download devices through the file server.

Step 307: After downloading the activation command, the downloading device activates the downloaded prerequisite software component. The download device works as soon as the prerequisite software component is activated. Step 308, the downloading device searches or determines the auxiliary software component in the software package according to the description file. Step 309: The download device sends a request to the file server to request to download the auxiliary software component. Step 310: The download device downloads the auxiliary software component in the corresponding software package from the file server. After the file server receives the request to download the auxiliary software component, if the upgrade server is not busy, send a supplementary command to the download device, and the download device can download the auxiliary software component after receiving the supplementary command; if the server is busy, send a wait command to the download device, After the downloading device is notified to wait for a period of time and then try to download the auxiliary software component operation, the downloading device waits for a period of time, and then sends the downloading auxiliary software component request to the file server again.

Step 311: After the downloading of the auxiliary software component is completed, the downloading device sends a message to the file server to notify the file server that the auxiliary software component download has been completed.

Step 312: After receiving the message indicating that the auxiliary software component download has been completed, the file server sends an activation command to the downloading device. Step 313: After downloading the activation command, the downloading device activates the downloaded auxiliary software component. It should be noted that, in step 305, the file server may directly send an activation command to the downloading device after detecting that the downloading device has downloaded all the necessary software components. Or steps 305 and 306 can be omitted, and the downloading device directly performs the operation of activating the necessary software component after detecting that all the necessary software components have been downloaded.

Step 311 can be omitted. After detecting that the downloading device has downloaded all the auxiliary software components, the file server can directly send an activation command to the downloading device. Or steps 311 and 312 Can be omitted, the download device directly performs the operation of activating the auxiliary software component after detecting that all the auxiliary software components have been downloaded. Alternatively, the downloading device activates the auxiliary software component after each download of the auxiliary software component until the auxiliary software component is completely downloaded and activated.

This embodiment preferentially downloads and activates the necessary software components in the software package, shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device, thereby reducing the impact of the software download, and downloading the auxiliary software components in the software package after the device is in normal operation. The integrity of the device's functionality is guaranteed. FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a software download device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device mainly includes: a receiving module 402, a first downloading module 404, a second downloading module 406, and an activation module 408.

The receiving module 402 is configured to receive a download command. For example, the receiving module 402 can receive a download command sent by the file server or a download command issued by the user.

The first download module 404 is configured to download a description file in the corresponding software package, wherein the description file is used to find the prerequisite software components and the auxiliary software components in the software package. Typically, the device vendor publishes all software components of the device in a single package. The device's software package has a unique version identifier, which contains all the software components of the device and contains a software part description file.

The second download module 406 is for downloading the prerequisite software components in the software package. Specifically, the second downloading module 406 is configured to download the prerequisite software components in the software package according to the description file downloaded by the first downloading module 404.

The activation module 408 is used to activate the prerequisite software components downloaded by the second download module 406. After the download of the necessary software components is completed, the activation module can realize the normal operation of the software download device by activating the downloaded necessary software components. When actually applied to a communication system, the software download device can be a base station or a base station controller.

Further, the embodiment may further include a determining module, configured to determine, according to the description file downloaded by the first download module 404, the prerequisite software component in the software package. The second download module 406 can Download the prerequisite software components in the software package based on the results of the determination of the determination module. Thus the second download module 406 can omit the operation of analyzing the description file.

In this embodiment, the priority of downloading and activating the necessary software components in the software package shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device, thereby reducing the impact of software downloading.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another software download device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device mainly includes: a receiving module 502, a first downloading module 504, a second downloading module 506, an activation module 508, and a third downloading module 510.

The receiving module 502 is configured to receive a download command. The first download module 504 is for downloading a description file in the corresponding software package, wherein the description file is used to find the prerequisite software components and the auxiliary software components in the software package. The second download module 506 is for downloading the prerequisite software components in the software package. Specifically, the second downloading module 506 is configured to download the necessary software components in the software package according to the description file downloaded by the first downloading module 504. The activation module 508 is for activating the prerequisite software components downloaded by the second download module 506.

The third download module 510 is for downloading auxiliary software components in the software package. Specifically, the third download module 510 is configured to download the auxiliary software component in the software package according to the description file downloaded by the first download module 504.

Furthermore, the activation module 508 is further for activating the auxiliary software components downloaded by the third download module 510.

Further, the embodiment may further include a determining module, configured to determine, according to the description file downloaded by the first downloading module 504, the prerequisite software component and/or the auxiliary software component in the software package. In this way, the second downloading module 506 and the third downloading module 510 can respectively download the necessary software components and the auxiliary software components in the software package according to the determination result of the determining module, so that the second downloading module

The 506 and third download module 510 can omit the operation of analyzing the description file.

Optionally, in the embodiment, the first downloading module 504 may further download the description file in the corresponding software package after the activation module 508 activates the necessary software components downloaded by the second downloading module 506. Correspondingly, the apparatus further includes: a confirmation module, configured to compare the description files sequentially downloaded by the first download module 508, and confirm that the corresponding software package has not changed. Specifically, the third download Module 5 1 0 is used to download the auxiliary software components in the software package when the confirmation module confirms that the corresponding software package has not changed.

This embodiment preferentially downloads and activates the necessary software components in the software package, shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device, thereby reducing the impact of the software download, and downloading the auxiliary software components in the software package after the device is in normal operation. The integrity of the device's functionality is guaranteed. In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network system, including a file server and the foregoing software downloading apparatus, wherein the file server is configured to provide a software package to the software downloading device. In this embodiment, the necessary software components in the software package are preferentially downloaded and activated, which shortens the time that affects the serviceability of the device, and at least reduces the impact of software download. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps of implementing all of the above-described embodiments can be accomplished by a program that instructs related hardware, which can be stored in a computer readable storage medium.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are only for explaining the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments are modified, or some of the technical features are equivalently replaced. The modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

Rights request

A software download method, comprising:

Receiving a download command, downloading a description file in the corresponding software package, where the description file is used to find the necessary software components and auxiliary software components in the software package;

Download the prerequisite software components in the package;

Activate the downloaded prerequisite software component.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

Download the auxiliary software components in the package;

Activate the downloaded auxiliary software component.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein downloading the prerequisite software components in the software package comprises:

Determine the prerequisite software components in the package based on the description file

Download the prerequisite software component from the file server.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein downloading the auxiliary software components in the software package comprises:

Determining the auxiliary software components in the software package according to the description file;

Download the auxiliary software component from a file server.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein before downloading the auxiliary software component in the software package, the method further comprises:

Download the description file in the corresponding package again;

Compare the downloaded description files to confirm that the corresponding package has not changed.

6. A software download device, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a download command;

a first downloading module, configured to download a description file in a corresponding software package, where the description file is used to find a prerequisite software component and an auxiliary software component in the software package;

a second download module, configured to download necessary software components in the software package; The activation module is used to activate the prerequisite software components downloaded by the second download module.

7. The device according to claim 6, further comprising:

A determining module, configured to determine a prerequisite software component and/or an auxiliary software component in the software package according to the description file downloaded by the first downloading module.

8. The device according to claim 6, further comprising:

a third downloading module, configured to download an auxiliary software component in the software package;

The activation module is further for activating the downloaded auxiliary software component.

The device according to claim 6, wherein the first downloading module is further configured to download the description file in the corresponding software package again after the prerequisite software component is activated;

The device also includes:

The confirmation module is configured to compare the description files successively downloaded by the first download module, and confirm that the corresponding software package has not changed.

A network system, comprising: a file server, and the software downloading device according to any one of claims 6-9, wherein the file server is for providing a software package to the software downloading device.