KR20140058130A - Firmware upgrade method of portable device using ota - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using OTA, and more particularly, to an invention for upgrading a firmware file uploaded to a server to a portable device using OTA. If it is determined that there is new firmware not installed according to the analysis of the file information, it is determined whether or not the new firmware is downloaded from the server according to the priority of the new firmware And a firmware upgrade process is performed on the portable device after completing the downloading of the new firmware file. A method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using OTA is disclosed.

Description

A method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using OTA {Firmware upgrade method of portable device using OTA}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using OTA, and more particularly, to an invention for upgrading a firmware file uploaded to a server to a portable device using OTA.

Conventionally, in order to upgrade the firmware of the portable device, the user has to visit the service center operated by the manufacturer to receive the A / S. However, recently, with the development of mobile communication, a standard for OTA (over the air) has been established so that a method of upgrading the firmware of a portable device through a wireless network without visiting a service center is provided.

However, in the conventional method, when the target file is large, it is inconvenient to download the file again from the beginning due to the transmission failure. In addition, when distributing the firmware file of the higher version, There was an issue to increase.

According to Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2004-0036771 (entitled "Binary Data Upgrade Method Using OTA"), which is a prior art document, when a user using a mobile communication terminal wants to upgrade binary data, It is possible to upgrade the wireless air data through the OTA even if the user does not visit the customer service center by transmitting the binary data from the base station in real time during the waiting time other than the time, The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. This prior art document is a technical field related to a standby time connection between a base station and a mobile communication terminal, and the present invention is different from a technology field using a portable electronic product and a wireless network. In the present invention, There is a difference.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for updating a firmware file by dividing and prioritizing a firmware target file, It is an object to provide the invention.

However, the objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing a firmware file, the method comprising: downloading file information on a firmware file through an OTA connection from a server and analyzing the file information; Determining whether to download the firmware from the server, and performing a firmware upgrade process on the portable device after the download of the new firmware file is completed, by providing a method for upgrading the firmware of the portable device using the OTA.

If the firmware file is relatively large compared to the predetermined file size, the file is divided and uploaded to the server. If at least one of the firmware files is a higher version, only the modified version is included.

If the download of the divided firmware file fails, the downloaded file is downloaded again.

The file information is an xml file in which information of at least one of a firmware version, a size, a checksum, a publication date, and a priority of a firmware file is recorded.

If the priority of the new firmware file to be downloaded is the highest priority, the upgrade is performed irrespective of the intention of the user of the portable device. If the priority is the next highest priority, .

Also, the OTA connection of the portable device is connected through the server and the wireless network.

In addition, the step of determining whether to download the firmware from the server may include downloading a new firmware file registered in the server regardless of the intention of the user of the portable device when the priority of at least one of the new firmware is the highest priority, If the priority of at least one of them is not the highest priority, the portable device user is informed that the new firmware is to be upgraded, and the download proceeds according to the selection of the user after the pop-up.

In addition, the pop-up informs the portable device user that the new firmware is the upgrade target after a predetermined time has elapsed according to the priority of the new firmware.

According to the present invention as described above, retransmission time can be reduced when downloading fails due to the division of the firmware file.

Also, when the firmware of the higher version is distributed, the size of the file to be distributed can be reduced by not including the firmware version of the lower version.

In addition, since the firmware can be upgraded according to the priority by setting the priority in the firmware file, unnecessary firmware can not be upgraded.

In addition, the portable device downloads and analyzes an XML file including information of the firmware file uploaded to the server, so that the presence or absence of the upgrade object file can be easily confirmed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, It should not be construed as limited.
1 is a block diagram illustrating a connection configuration between a portable device and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the embodiment described below does not unduly limit the content of the present invention described in the claims, and the entire structure described in this embodiment is not necessarily essential as the solution means of the present invention.

< OTA Upgrading Firmware on Portable Devices Using>

A method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using an OTA according to the present invention is an invention related to a method of easily upgrading firmware by automatically or based on a user's selection based on priority when a file is installed in a portable device. Hereinafter, a method for upgrading a firmware of a portable device using an OTA according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention can roughly comprise a portable device 100 as a firmware upgrade target, a Wi-Fi network 200 capable of transmitting and receiving data wirelessly, and a server 300 to which a firmware file is uploaded .

The portable device 100 may be various portable electronic products. For example, an electronic product such as an MP3 player, an ebook reader, or a tablet may be the target of a portable device. The server 300 may be directly operated by the manufacturer of the portable device, or may be operated by rental of the server.

In order to upgrade the software to the portable device 100, the user may directly visit the service center to upgrade the firmware. However, recently, the user downloads the firmware file through various wireless networks and upgrades the firmware file. At this time, the firmware file can be distributed by the manufacturer of the portable device, and the manufacturer uploads the new firmware file of the portable device to the server. As shown in Table 1, the server can sequentially list the files from the lower version to the upper version according to the distribution date.

File version Deployment Date xxx.XML June 1, 2012 xxx_V1.4 May 1, 2012 xxx_V1.3 April 1, 2012 xxx_V1.2 March 1, 2012 xxx_V1.1 February 1, 2012 xxx_V1.0 January 1, 2012

Here, if the firmware file uploaded to the server is equal to or larger than a certain size, it is divided into a plurality of files and uploaded. For example, if the size of the firmware file is 10 Mbytes, 10 files (1 Mbyte per file) can be divided and uploaded as needed. When dividing and uploading a file for one version, there may be various advantages when the capacity of the firmware file is increased as recently.

For example, if downloading of a 10Mbyte file is interrupted due to insufficient connection between the portable device and the server, the 10Mbyte file must be retransmitted from the beginning. However, when the file is divided and uploaded as in the present invention, the transmitted file is valid before the download is stopped and the failed file is transferred again, so that the file downloading time can be shortened.

In addition to the newly uploaded firmware file, the server also uploads an XML file that records information of the firmware file uploaded to the server. The XML file records the firmware version, file partition information, file size, checksum, issue date, or priorities of each firmware file.

The portable device 100 periodically or aperiodically connects with the server 300 to download an XML file. When periodically connecting, the XML file is downloaded and analyzed again after the last download time of 24 hours from the server, and in the aperiodic connection, the XML file can be downloaded every time the Wi-Fi connection is established. The handheld device analyzes the downloaded XML file and compares it with the installed version on the handheld device to determine that a firmware file to be newly installed has been uploaded to the server.

( First Embodiment )

A first embodiment according to the present invention will now be described for downloading and installing a new firmware file registered in the server after analyzing the XML file. When there is a firmware file to be newly installed, the portable device collectively downloads all the latest firmware versions from the lowest firmware version to the highest firmware version.

The priority recorded in the XML file may have a rating of 0 to 7, for example, in the case of "0 &quot;, the firmware is installed at the highest priority and is important or urgent. do. If the priority is other than "0 &quot;, the user may not be installed or installed according to the user's selection after pop-up notification that the file is the upgrade target file.

For example, if the priority is "0", the file is upgraded unconditionally ignoring the user's intention when the file is downloaded from the server. If the priority is "3", the user can cancel the upgrade upon completion of the download, It may be installed according to the user's choice after pop-up notification whether or not to upgrade again after 3 days of cancellation. At this time, if the priority is "7", it is the same as the priority "3", but a popup notice asking whether or not to reinstall will appear after 7 days. Therefore, the priority indicates the period during which the reinstallation is performed.

File version Priority Remarks xxx_V1.4 One xxx_V1.3 0 xxx_V1.2 3 xxx_V1.1 One xxx_V1.0 One Pre-installed on handheld devices

At this time, if priority is recorded as shown in Table 2 and xxx_V1.0 is already installed in a portable device, it downloads from xxx_V1.1 to xxx_V1.4. From xxx_V1.1 to xxx_V1.3, the firmware is automatically upgraded regardless of the user's intention. This is because the firmware file of the present invention does not include the lower version of the file but only the modified version of the lower version is provided, so that even if the priority is lower, all the lower files existing under the highest priority are downloaded Should be installed.

However, if necessary, you can download xxx_V1.3 only without downloading xxx_V1.1 or xxx_V.1.2. In this case, the xxx_V1.3 file is based on the xxx_V.1.0 version instead of the xxx_V.1.2 version.

Since the xxx_V1.4 file has the priority of "1", according to the embodiment described above, the xxx_V1.4 file is popped up to the user once every day, and may be installed in the portable device according to the user's selection.

When all upgrade target firmware files have been downloaded, the firmware of the portable device is automatically upgraded based on the priority.

( Second Embodiment )

A second embodiment according to the present invention will now be described for downloading and installing a new firmware file registered in the server after analysis of the XML file. In the second embodiment, an example as shown in Table 2 will be described.

First, since the priority information of each firmware file is recorded in the XML file, the priority of the newly registered firmware is determined first. When the firmware to be newly installed in the server is registered as shown in Table 2, the highest priority is xxx_V1.3. Therefore, since there is at least one highest priority ("0") among the firmware to be newly installed, all firmware files from xxx_V1.1 to xxx_V1.4 are downloaded and installed regardless of the user's intention.

On the other hand, if there is no highest priority among the priorities of xxx_V1.1 to xxx_V1.4 different from Table 2, pop-up notification informing the user of the firmware upgrade target is given according to each priority, And installation proceeds.

For example, in the case of [Table 3] below, xxx_V1.1 and xxx_V1.2 will be downloaded and installed according to the user's intention of upgrading after notifying the user that the upgrade target is one day, and xxx_V1.3 In case of xxx_V1.4, pop-up is notified every three days.

File version Priority Remarks xxx_V1.4 3 xxx_V1.3 4 xxx_V1.2 One xxx_V1.1 One xxx_V1.0 One Pre-installed on handheld devices

The above-described firmware file may be a patch file patching a lower version or a new version file not related to a lower version.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment thereof, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and applications are possible. In other words, those skilled in the art can easily understand that many variations are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention.

100: Portable devices
200: WiFi network
300: server

Claims (6)

Downloading file information on the firmware file through an OTA connection from a server and analyzing the file information,
Determining whether the new firmware is not installed according to the analysis of the file information, from the server according to the priority of the new firmware; and
And performing a firmware upgrade in the portable device after completion of downloading the new firmware file.
The method according to claim 1,
If the firmware file is relatively large compared to the predetermined file size, the file is divided and uploaded to the server,
And if the at least one file of the firmware file is a higher version, the content of the firmware is modified relative to the lower version.
3. The method of claim 2,
And if the download of the divided firmware file fails, the download of the interrupted file is re-downloaded, and the firmware upgrade method of the portable device using the OTA.
The method according to claim 1,
The file information includes:
Wherein the information about the xml file includes at least one of a firmware version, a size, a checksum, a publication date, and a priority of the firmware file.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of determining whether to download from the server comprises:
If the priority of at least one of the new firmware is the highest priority, the new firmware file registered in the server is downloaded regardless of the intention of the user of the portable device,
Wherein when the priority of at least one of the new firmware is not the highest priority, the portable device user is informed that the new firmware is an upgrade target, How to Upgrade the Firmware of.
6. The method of claim 5,
The pop-
And informing the portable device user that the new firmware is an upgrade target after a predetermined time has elapsed according to the priority of the new firmware.

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