UPDATE PACKAGE GENERATION BASED ON ANALYSIS OF BANK DEPENDENCY

• US 20080148251A1
• Filed: 02/13/2008
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yang, Xuguang
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention may be seen in an electronic device network that employs a generator to generate update packages and a corresponding update agent in the electronic device to update its firmware/software. The generator may employ bank order dependency analysis techniques to determine optimum bank orders. The generator may make use of an optimum bank order to generate update packages that are efficient and compact.

Claims

1-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A communication device comprising:

a communication interface for receiving a package of update information from a remote system;

at least one processor communicatively coupled to memory within or external to the at least one processor, wherein the memory is updated from a first version of code to a second version of the code as a plurality of banks, each bank comprising a plurality of contiguous memory locations; and

wherein the update package comprises difference information used to generate an updated bank of the second version using the first version of code, and bank order information that specifies a bank order for generating each of the updated banks in a bank by bank fashion.

38. The communication device of claim 37 wherein the communication interface receives the package of update information using a wireless network.

39. The communication device of claim 37 wherein the memory is semiconductor memory.

40. The communication device of claim 39 wherein the semiconductor memory is FLASH type non-volatile memory.

41. The communication device of claim 37 wherein the difference information is encoded as a sequence of instructions for execution by code in the memory, and wherein the sequence of instructions comprises instructions of a first type that generate part of the updated second version of code using part of the first version of code, and an instructions of a second type that generates part of the updated second version of code from code in the package of update information.

42. The communication device of claim 41 wherein the remote system optimizes the bank order of updating the plurality of banks, using a directed graph analysis technique.

43. The communication device of claim 37 wherein the bank order information is determined by the remote system based on an amount of available memory in the communication device.

44. A method of updating memory in a communication device from a first code version to a second code version, the memory arranged as a plurality of banks, each bank comprising a plurality of contiguous memory locations, the method comprising:

receiving a package of update information from a remote system, wherein the package of update information comprises difference information, and bank order information that specifies a bank order for generating each of the updated banks; and

generating each updated bank of the second version of code from the first version of code in a bank by bank fashion, using the difference information, according to the bank order information.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the communication device receives the package of update information, using a wireless network.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the memory is semiconductor memory.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein the semiconductor memory is FLASH type non-volatile memory.

48. The method of claim 44 wherein the difference information is encoded as a sequence of instructions for execution by code in the memory, and wherein the sequence of instructions comprises instructions of a first type that generate part of the updated second version of code using part of the first version of code, and an instructions of a second type that generates part of the updated second version of code from code in the package of update information.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein the remote system optimizes the bank order of updating the plurality of banks, using a directed graph analysis technique.

50. The method of claim 44 wherein the bank order information is determined by the remote system based on an amount of available memory in the communication device.

51. A system that operates to update memory in a communication device from a first code version to a second code version, the memory arranged as a plurality of banks, each bank comprising a plurality of contiguous memory locations, the system comprising:

one or more processors operably coupled to the memory and to interface circuitry for communicating over a network, the one or more processors operating to, at least;

receive a package of update information from a remote system via the network, wherein the package of update information comprises difference information, and bank order information that specifies a bank order for generating each updated bank;

identify a not yet updated bank, in agreement with the bank order information;

generate an updated second code version of the identified bank, using the first code version and the difference information;

in a bank by bank fashion, repeat identifying and generating, until all banks in the bank order have been updated to the second code version.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the communication device receives the package of update information, using a wireless network.

53. The system of claim 51 wherein the memory is semiconductor memory.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein the semiconductor memory is FLASH type non-volatile memory.

55. The system of claim 51 wherein the difference information is encoded as a sequence of instructions for execution by code in the memory, and wherein the sequence of instructions comprises instructions of a first type that generate part of the updated second version of code using part of the first version of code, and an instructions of a second type that generates part of the updated second version of code from code in the package of update information.

56. The system of claim 55 wherein the remote system optimizes the bank order of updating the plurality of banks, using a directed graph analysis technique.