METHOD FOR UPDATING CODE STORED IN A MEMORY OF A PORTABLE DEVICE

• US 20040176087A1
• Filed: 03/07/2003
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: BenQ Corporation (Qisda Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BenQ Corporation (Qisda Corporation)
• Inventors: Fam, Swee-Koon
• Application Number:
  US10/248,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20040176087A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading

Abstract

A method for updating code stored in a memory of a portable device, such as a mobile phone or PDA, includes providing a plurality of code modules each having at least a target image reference (TIR) tag that uniquely identifies operational subunits of the code module, and providing a target image of operational code in the memory of the target device. The target image includes subunits and appended TIR tags uniquely identifying the subunits. The method further includes locating the TIR tag in the target image corresponding to an updated subunit to be loaded in the image, and loading the updated subunit into the memory of the target device at the location determined. The TIR tags allow for only updated subunits to be loaded into the memory of the device, reducing time and processing required and further reducing susceptibility to errors.

Claims

1. A method for updating a memory of a target device with at least a subunit of operational code using a computer, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of code modules, each code module having at least a target image reference (TIR) tag that uniquely identifies operational subunits of the code module;

providing a target image of operational code in the memory of the target device, the target image comprising operational subunits and appended TIR tags uniquely identifying the subunits;

locating the TIR tag in the target image corresponding to an updated subunit to be loaded in the image; and

loading the updated subunit into the memory of the target device at the location determined.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising relocating a portion of the target image in the memory to accommodate the updated subunit before loading the updated subunit into the memory.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising testing the updated subunit for errors before loading the subunit into the memory of the target device, and performing a first predetermined action if an error is found.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising testing the updated subunit for errors after loading the subunit into the memory of the target device, and performing a second predetermined action if an error is found.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each TIR tag further identifies a version number of each subunit.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory of the target device is a flash memory.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing a database on the computer, the database comprising relations between the operational subunits of the code modules and the TIR tags.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising generating a plurality of TIR files, each TIR file describing the operational code in each subunit, a version number of each subunit, and a location of the subunit in the target image;

each TIR file corresponding to a TIR tag that identifies each subunit, the database further comprising relations between the TIR files and the TIR tags.

9. A computer system for performing the method of claim 1.

10. A method for storing subunits of operational code in a memory of a target device using a computer, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of code modules in the computer, each code module comprising at least a subunit of code operational on the target device;

appending a unique target image reference (TIR) tag to each subunit, each TIR tag uniquely identifying each subunit;

storing each subunit and each appended TIR tag in the memory as a target memory image, the TIR tags identifying the locations of the operational subunits within the memory; and

storing a database on the computer, the database comprising relations between the operational subunits of the code modules and the TIR tags, wherein when a subunit is required to be updated the database is referenced to determine the location of the subunit in the memory.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating a plurality of TIR files, each TIR file describing the operational code in each subunit, a version number of each subunit, and a location of the subunit in the target image;

each TIR file corresponding to a TIR tag that identifies each subunit, the database further comprising relations between the TIR files and the TIR tags.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein each TIR tag further identifies a version number of each subunit.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the memory of the target device is a flash memory.

14. A computer system for performing the method of claim 10.