WO2023124328A1

WO2023124328A1 - Wireless communication module and function recovery method thereof, electronic device, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2023124328A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/122421
Authority: WO
Inventors: 陶庆欢
Original assignee: 锐凌无线有限责任公司; 锐凌无线通讯科技(深圳)有限公司
Priority date: 2021-12-30
Filing date: 2022-09-29
Publication date: 2023-07-06
Also published as: CN114448779A

Abstract

Disclosed are a wireless communication module and a function recovery method therefor, an electronic device, and a storage medium. The method comprises: when it is determined that a wireless communication module has entered a recovery mode, determining a target transmission interface for communication with a host from a preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module, the preset transmission interface cluster comprising at least two transmission interfaces; on the basis of the target transmission interface, obtaining a firmware mirror image file sent by the host; and loading the firmware mirror image file into the wireless communication module, so as to cause the wireless communication module to recover normal function.

Description

Wireless communication module and its function recovery method, electronic device and storage medium

References to related applications

This disclosure requires the application number 202111657244.3 submitted to the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on December 30, 2021, and the invention title is "wireless communication module and its function recovery method, electronic equipment and storage medium". interests, and the entire contents of which are incorporated into this disclosure by reference.

field

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of computer technology, and more specifically relates to a wireless communication module and its function restoration method, electronic equipment and storage media.

background

With the development of the concept of smart cars and the development of cellular wireless communication technology, cellular wireless communication modules have become an essential part of new smart cars or electric cars, which enables cars to access cellular wireless networks, thereby providing car owners with rich Function.

As an important part of the automotive electrical system, the cellular wireless communication module is very important in its reliability design. In general, reliability designs should include strong recovery patterns. That is, when the internal firmware fails to start and run normally, the product should enter the recovery mode, so as to re-download, upgrade, and repair the internal firmware, and finally restore the normal function of the product. The traditional recovery mode is generally implemented in the boot program of the product.

overview

In a first aspect, the present disclosure relates to a function recovery method of a wireless communication module, which includes:

When it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module, determine the target transmission interface for communicating with the host, and the preset transmission interface cluster includes at least two transmission interfaces;

Obtaining the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface; and

The firmware image file is loaded to the wireless communication module to restore the normal function of the wireless communication module.

In some embodiments, the determining that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode includes:

When the bootstrap program fails to start the high-level operating system in the wireless communication module, it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode.

In some embodiments, the determination of the target transmission interface communicating with the host in the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module includes:

Detecting whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster receives the request sent by the host; and

Determining that the transmission interface that receives the request sent by the host is the target transmission interface.

In some implementations, the detecting whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster receives the request sent by the host includes:

According to the detection period of each transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster, in each detection period, it is detected whether the transmission interface receives the request sent by the host.

In some embodiments, the bootloader of the wireless communication module is integrated with the drivers of the transmission interfaces in the preset transmission interface cluster.

In some implementations, after the firmware image file is loaded into the wireless communication module, it further includes:

The wireless communication module is restarted based on the firmware image file, so that the wireless communication module can recover normal functions.

In some embodiments, the interface type of the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster is at least one of a universal serial bus interface, a serial peripheral interface, a universal asynchronous transceiver interface and an Ethernet interface kind.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure relates to a wireless communication module, which includes: a processor, a transmission interface, a memory, and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the transmission interface, and the memory complete mutual communication through the communication bus communication;

the memory configured to store a computer program;

The processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory to implement the function recovery method of the wireless communication module described in the present disclosure.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure relates to electronic equipment, which includes the wireless communication module described in the present disclosure, and a host connected to the wireless communication module.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure relates to a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for restoring the function of the wireless communication module described in the present disclosure is implemented.

In the method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, when it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, the target transmission interface for communicating with the host is determined from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module. The interface cluster includes at least two transmission interfaces; obtain the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface; load the firmware image file to the wireless communication module, so that the wireless communication module recovers normal function. In this way, by setting a preset transmission interface cluster on the wireless communication module, at least two transmission interfaces are used to connect with the host, and when the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, it can be selected from the preset transmission interface cluster to communicate with the host. The target transmission interface, and then obtain the firmware image file from the target transmission interface, so as to load the firmware image file to the wireless communication module, so that the wireless communication module can restore its function, avoiding the limitation of communication connection only through a single interface, and can When one of the interfaces fails, other interfaces are used for communication, which improves the service life of the wireless communication module and reduces the cost of the manufacturer.

Brief description of the drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, for those of ordinary skill in the art, In other words, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without paying creative labor.

FIG. 1 is an application scene diagram of a function recovery method of a wireless communication module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a function recovery method of a wireless communication module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a function restoration method of a wireless communication module provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a wireless communication module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a function recovery device for a wireless communication module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

detail

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments It is a part of embodiments of the present disclosure, but not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Before the embodiments of the present disclosure are further described in detail, the nouns and terms involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described, and the nouns and terms involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to the following explanations.

Bootloader (BootLoader): runs before the operating system kernel runs. The hardware device can be initialized, and the memory space map can be established, so as to bring the system's software and hardware environment to a suitable state, so as to prepare the correct environment for the final call of the operating system kernel.

Firmware: refers to the device "driver" stored inside the device. Through firmware, the operating system can realize the operation of a specific machine according to the standard device driver. For example, CD-ROM drives and recorders have internal firmware.

An application scenario of the function recovery method of a wireless communication module provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the above method for restoring the function of the wireless communication module can be applied to the hardware environment composed of the wireless communication module 101 and the host 102 as shown in FIG. 1 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the host 102 is connected to the wireless communication module 101 , and firmware is stored in the host, which can send a firmware image file to the wireless communication module, so that the wireless communication module performs function recovery according to the firmware image file.

The method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to an electronic device. The electronic device can be a module capable of realizing a communication function or a terminal device including the module. The terminal device can be a mobile terminal or a smart terminal. The mobile terminal can be at least one of mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, etc.; the smart terminal can be a terminal containing a wireless communication module such as a smart car, a smart watch, a shared bicycle, and a smart cabinet; the module can specifically be a wireless communication module. Group, such as any one of 2G communication module, 3G communication module, 4G communication module, 5G communication module, NB-IOT communication module, etc.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a function recovery method of a wireless communication module, which can be applied to any form of electronic equipment, such as a wireless communication module. As shown in Figure 2, the function recovery method of the functional module includes:

Step 201, when it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, determine the target transmission interface for communicating with the host from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module, and the preset transmission interface cluster includes at least two transmission interface;

Step 202, obtain the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface; and

Step 203, loading the firmware image file to the wireless communication module, so that the wireless communication module resumes normal functions.

In some embodiments, the wireless communication module is provided with a preset transmission interface cluster, and the preset transmission interface cluster includes at least two transmission interfaces. When the wireless communication module is in use, any transmission interface of the wireless communication module can be correspondingly connected to the transmission interface of the host computer used by the wireless communication module, so as to perform data transmission through the connected transmission interface. It can be understood that a plurality of transmission interfaces may also be set on the host computer where the wireless communication module is applied, so as to connect the wireless communication module to the same interface on the host computer correspondingly.

In some embodiments, after the wireless communication module is connected to the host and powered on, if the Bootloader determines that the wireless communication module has entered the recovery mode, it first determines the target for communication with the host from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module. transport interface.

Wherein, the wireless communication module may be a product with a Bootloader capable of realizing certain functions. For example, the wireless communication module may be but not limited to a wireless communication module.

Wherein, the interface types of the transmission interfaces included in the preset transmission interface cluster may be but not limited to Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) interface, Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) interface and Ethernet (ETH) interface.

In some embodiments, the interface type of the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster can be at least one of the above interface types, that is, at least two transmission interfaces can be of the same interface type or different interface types , and its specific implementation can be selected according to the actual situation.

In some embodiments, in addition to setting the transmission interface on the wireless communication module, the driver program of each transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster will also be integrated in the boot program of the wireless communication module, so that when using When the target transmission interface performs data transmission, the driver program of the target transmission interface can be called, and the function of the target transmission interface is realized based on the driver program.

Wherein, there are many ways to determine that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode. In an optional embodiment, determining that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode includes:

In some embodiments, after the wireless communication module is turned on, the Bootloader in the wireless communication module starts first, and after starting, loads the advanced operating system in the wireless communication module. If the advanced operating system starts successfully, the wireless The communication module enters the normal functional state to realize normal functions; if the advanced operating system fails to start, it is determined that the wireless communication module is in recovery mode, and the firmware image file needs to be obtained again for upgrading and repairing.

In some embodiments, determining the target transmission interface for communicating with the host in the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module includes:

Detecting whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster has received the request sent by the host; determining that the transmission interface that has received the request sent by the host is the target transmission interface.

In some embodiments, after the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, the Bootloader will detect whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster has received the request sent by the host, and if the transmission interface has received the request sent by the host, It means that the transmission interface has established a communication connection with the host, so that the transmission interface that has received the request is used as the target transmission interface.

Among them, there are many ways for the Bootloader to detect whether the transmission interface has received the request sent by the host, and the following two real-time ways are used as examples for illustration. It can be understood that the actual implementation process is not limited to the following two manners.

In some implementations, a detection cycle can be set for each transmission interface, and the detection of the transmission interface can detect once per detection cycle whether the transmission interface receives a request sent by the host.

It can be understood that the detection period for each transmission interface may be the same or different. If the detection period of each transmission interface is different, the detection may be performed according to its respective detection period; if the detection period of each transmission interface is the same, each transmission interface may be detected in sequence within the same detection period.

In some implementations, taking two transmission interfaces as an example, the detection period of the first transmission interface can be set to 0.02 microseconds for detection once, and the detection period of the first transmission interface is 0.03 microseconds for detection once.

At intervals of preset time intervals, it is sequentially detected whether the transmission interfaces in the preset transmission interface cluster receive the request sent by the host.

In some implementations, the detection order of transmission interfaces can be set according to actual needs, or when the detection order is not preset, at the first detection, one of the transmission interfaces in the preset transmission interface cluster can be randomly selected One is detected until each transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster is detected once. If no target transmission interface is detected, the preset transmission interface cluster will Subsequent detection is performed on the transmission interface in .

Wherein, the preset duration can be set according to the actual situation, which is not limited here, for example, the preset duration can be 0.01 to 0.03 microseconds.

In some embodiments, after determining the target transmission interface, the host will send the firmware image file to the wireless communication module through the target transmission interface, so that the wireless communication module can obtain the firmware image file sent by the host through the target transmission interface. .

Wherein, corresponding firmware is stored in the host, and when the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, the host can copy the firmware to obtain a firmware image file, thereby sending it to the wireless communication module.

Wherein, the firmware in the host may be obtained from the cloud, or may be configured by developers after the host is developed.

In some embodiments, after obtaining the firmware image file, the Bootloader can store the firmware image file to the corresponding area of the wireless communication module, thereby starting the firmware image file by the Bootloader to realize the restart of the wireless communication module. And then make the wireless communication module resume the normal function.

Wherein, the above-mentioned function of returning to normal means that the wireless communication module can operate according to its internally configured program.

In some implementations, after the firmware image file is loaded into the wireless communication module, it also includes:

In some embodiments, the executive program of the above-mentioned advanced operating system is stored in the firmware image file, therefore, after the firmware image file is loaded into the wireless communication module, the Bootloader restarts and starts the advanced operating system in the firmware image file , if the high-level operating system is started successfully, the wireless communication module can resume its normal function.

In some embodiments, referring to FIG. 3 , the method for restoring the function of the wireless communication module in the present disclosure can be applied to a product that supports the integration of multiple hardware transmission interfaces. Among them, the integrated transmission interface in this product includes USB hardware interface, SPI hardware interface, UART hardware interface and ETH hardware interface. A new function is added in the Bootloader of this product, and multiple hardware transmission interface driver codes that need to be supported are integrated into the Bootloader, thereby realizing the function of "download adapter" in the Bootloader. Specifically, the method includes:

First, regularly detect the USB hardware interface, if the host can receive a request to download the firmware image, then select this hardware interface to implement the download process;

Second, regularly detect the SPI hardware interface, if the host can receive the firmware image download request, select this hardware interface to implement the download process;

Third, regularly detect the UART hardware interface. If the host can receive the firmware image download request, select this hardware interface to implement the download process;

Fourth, regularly detect the ETH hardware interface. If the host can receive the firmware image download request, select this hardware interface to implement the download process;

Fifth, regularly detect other hardware interfaces that need to be supported, and if the request for downloading the firmware image from the host can be received, this hardware interface is selected to implement the download process.

Sixth, after the Bootloader enters the recovery mode, use the hardware interface detected by the "download adapter" to complete the process of "re-downloading, upgrading, and repairing" the firmware.

The function restoration method disclosed in the present disclosure can make the product no longer limited by a single hardware transmission interface in the recovery mode, allowing the Bootloader to flexibly adapt to various hardware transmission interfaces in the recovery mode, which can greatly enhance the reliability of the product. Flexibility enables the same product to meet the hardware integration design requirements of various manufacturers. Thereby streamlining the firmware version, reducing product management costs, and reducing after-sales maintenance costs.

Based on the same idea, the present disclosure also relates to a wireless communication module 400. As shown in FIG. 403 Complete mutual communication. Wherein, the memory 402 stores a program executable by the processor 401, and the processor 401 executes the program stored in the memory 402 to implement the following steps:

Obtaining the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface;

The communication bus 403 mentioned in the above electronic device may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI for short) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA for short) bus or the like. The communication bus 403 can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 4 , but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The memory 402 may include a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM for short), and may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. In some embodiments, the memory may also be at least one storage device located far away from the aforementioned processor 401 .

The above-mentioned processor 401 can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, referred to as CPU), a network processor (Network Processor, referred to as NP), etc., and can also be a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processing, referred to as DSP). ), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC for short), Field Programmable Gate Array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA for short) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, and discrete hardware components.

Based on the same idea, the present disclosure relates to a function restoration device 500 of a wireless communication module. For the implementation of the device 500, please refer to the description of the method embodiment, and the repetition will not be repeated. As shown in FIG. 5, the device 500 mainly includes:

The determination module 501 is configured to, when it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, determine the target transmission interface for communicating with the host from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module, and the preset transmission interface cluster includes At least two transmission interfaces;

The obtaining module 502 is configured to obtain the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface; and

The loading module 503 is configured to load the firmware image file to the wireless communication module, so that the wireless communication module can restore normal functions.

Based on the same idea, an electronic device is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the specific implementation of the electronic device, please refer to the description of the method embodiment, and the repetition will not be repeated. As shown in Figure 1, the electronic device mainly includes: The wireless communication module described in the above embodiments, and the host connected to the wireless communication module.

It can be understood that the above-mentioned host can be any device capable of communicating with a wireless communication module.

In some embodiments, the electronic device can be a POS machine, a PC computer, a smart phone, a vehicle host, etc.

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided. A computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is made to perform the operations described in the above-mentioned embodiments. A function recovery method of a wireless communication module.

In some embodiments, it may be realized in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present disclosure will be generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. Coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, microwave, etc.) to another website site, computer, host or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer, or a data storage device including a host computer, a data center, and the like integrated with one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, etc.), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk), and the like.

It should be noted that in this article, relative terms such as "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply these No such actual relationship or order exists between entities or operations. Furthermore, the term "comprises", "comprises" or any other variation thereof is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method, article, or apparatus comprising a set of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes elements not expressly listed. other elements of or also include elements inherent in such a process, method, article, or device. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or apparatus comprising said element.

The above descriptions are only specific implementation manners of the present disclosure, so that those skilled in the art can understand or implement the present disclosure. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

A function restoration method of a wireless communication module, which includes:

When it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode, from the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module, determine the target transmission interface for communicating with the host, and the preset transmission interface cluster includes at least two transmission interfaces;

Obtaining the firmware image file sent by the host based on the target transmission interface; and

The firmware image file is loaded to the wireless communication module to restore the normal function of the wireless communication module.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to claim 1, wherein said determining that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode comprises:

When the bootstrap program fails to start the high-level operating system in the wireless communication module, it is determined that the wireless communication module enters the recovery mode.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said determining the target transmission interface communicating with the host in the preset transmission interface cluster of the wireless communication module comprises:

Detecting whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster receives the request sent by the host; and

Determining that the transmission interface that receives the request sent by the host is the target transmission interface.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to claim 3, wherein the detecting whether the transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster receives the request sent by the host includes:

According to the detection period of each transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster, in each detection period, it is detected whether the transmission interface receives the request sent by the host.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, the startup boot program of the wireless communication module is integrated with each transmission interface in the preset transmission interface cluster driver.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, after loading the firmware image file to the wireless communication module, further comprising:

The wireless communication module is restarted based on the firmware image file, so that the wireless communication module can recover normal functions.
The function recovery method of the wireless communication module according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the interface types of the transmission interfaces in the preset transmission interface cluster are Universal Serial Bus interface, serial At least one of a peripheral interface, a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter interface and an Ethernet interface.
A wireless communication module, which includes: a processor, a transmission interface, a memory, and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the transmission interface, and the memory complete mutual communication through the communication bus;

the memory configured to store a computer program; and

The processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory, so as to implement the function restoration method of the wireless communication module according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
An electronic device comprising the wireless communication module according to claim 8, and a host connected to the wireless communication module.
A computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, wherein, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for restoring the function of the wireless communication module according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.