Software self-repair toolkit for electronic devices

• US 20060190773A1
• Filed: 04/11/2006
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rao, Bindu Rama, Chia, Teck, Okonnen, Harri
• Granted Patent: US 7,640,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A device and method supporting the identification and correction of firmware and/or software errors is described. Upon the occurrence of a firmware/software error or exception, an embodiment in accordance with the present invention may gather parameters for identifying the error or exception, and the execution environment in which the error occurred, and may communicate the parameters or an identifier to a server, to retrieve update information for correcting the firmware/software error or exception. The execution environment may be single or multi-threaded, and may be a java virtual machine. The device may restart/reboot during the update process, and may log an error if update information is not available to correct the error or exception. The device may communicate the error log information to the server via the communication network. The communication network may be a wireless network.

Claims

1. A mobile electronic device comprising:

at least one memory comprising one of the following;

firmware, software, and configuration information;

wherein the at least one memory comprises executable code for detecting at least one abnormal event during operation of the mobile electronic device;

wherein the at least one memory also comprises executable code for gathering at least one device characteristic of the mobile electronic device; and

wherein the mobile electronic device prompts a user to approve communication of the at least one device characteristic to a remote server, following detection of the at least one abnormal event.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one abnormal event comprises one of the following:

a power-down, an interruption of operation, a device fault, a corruption during an update process, a firmware or software error, and a firmware or software exception.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one device characteristic comprises one of the following:

a manufacture identifier, a model identifier, a firmware version number, a hardware version number, a battery level, a communication statistic, usage information, an error, an exception, event information and a serial number.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein a communication statistic comprises one of the following:

a number of communication errors detected, and a ratio of dropped packets on a communication link.

5. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one memory, executable code for saving information about the least one abnormal event occurring during invocation of an application in the mobile electronic device; and

wherein upon subsequent invocation of the application, the mobile electronic device prompts a user regarding the occurrence of the at least one abnormal event, and permits the user to retrieve update information for correcting the at least one abnormal event, or to use the invoked application.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory further comprises executable code for:

detecting a first request to invoke one of the following;

an application and a feature;

before invoking, determining whether at least one known error exists for the at least one of the following;

an application and a feature; and

before invoking, retrieving and applying update information, if at least one known error exists and update information for correcting the at least one known error is available.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein determining whether at least one known error exists comprises:

referencing a catalog of known errors.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the catalog of known errors is resident in the at least one memory.

9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the catalog of known errors is resident in the remote server.

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

determining whether update information is available for correcting the at least one known error.

11. The device according to claim 6, wherein the update information for correcting the at least one known error is retrieved from the remote server.

12. The device according to claim 6, wherein the update information for correcting the at least one known error is retrieved from the at least one memory.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile electronic device comprises one of the following:

a mobile handset, a cellular phone, a pager, and a personal computer.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device communicates wirelessly.

15. The device according to claim 9, wherein the wireless communication employs one of the following:

a cellular network, a paging network, a local area network, and a wide area network.

16. The device according to claim 1 wherein the update information comprises a set of instructions for converting at least a portion of the at least one memory from a first version to a second version.

17. An electronic device comprising memory containing at least one of the following:

firmware and software, the electronic device trapping at least one of the following;

an error and an exception, encountered during execution of the at least one of the following;

firmware and software, and automatically identifying, retrieving, and applying update information to correct an error in the at least one of the following;

firmware and software, that caused the at least one the following;

an error and an exception.

18. The electronic device according to claim 17, wherein the electronic device comprises one of the following:

a mobile handset, a cellular phone, a pager, and a personal computer.

19. The electronic device according to claim 17, wherein identifying comprises automatically gathering symptoms of the at least one of the following:

an error and an exception, and generating an identifier used to retrieve the update information.

20. The electronic device according to claim 17, wherein retrieving comprises:

transmitting at least one device characteristic to a remote server; and

receiving the update information.

21. The electronic device according to claim 17, wherein update information comprises an update package.

22. The electronic device according to claim 21, wherein the update package comprises a set of instructions executable by the electronic device to convert an existing code version to an updated code version.

23. A method of operating a server for updating code and configuration information in a remotely located electronic device, the method comprising:

automatically retrieving update information for the electronic device using an identifier computed from at least one of the following;

a type of an abnormal event and at least one device characteristic;

transmitting the update information to the electronic device via a public network; and

wherein the update information is selected for retrieval based upon a likelihood of correction of a cause of the abnormal event.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein update information comprises one or more update packages.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the one or more update packages comprise a set of instructions executable by the electronic device to produce an updated code version from an existing code version, in the electronic device.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the identifier is received from the electronic device.

27. The method according to claim 23, further comprising:

receiving, from the electronic device, the at least one of the following;

a type of abnormal event and at least one device characteristic.

28. The method according to claim 23, further comprising:

receiving the identifier from the electronic device.

29. The method according to claim 23, wherein the at least one device characteristic comprises one of the following:

a manufacture identifier, a model identifier, a firmware version number, a hardware version number, a battery level, a communication statistic, usage information, an error, an exception, event information and a serial number.

30. The method according to claim 23, wherein the type of an abnormal event comprises one of the following:

a power-down, an interruption of operation, a device fault, a corruption during an update process, a firmware or software error, and a firmware or software exception.

31. The method according to claim 23, wherein the public network comprises one of a cellular network, a paging network, a wireless local area network, a wireless wide area network, a wired network, and the Internet.

32. The method according to claim 23, wherein the electronic device comprises one of the following:

a mobile handset, a cellular phone, a pager, and a personal computer.