Electronic Device and Method for Firmware Updating Thereof

• US 20160147527A1
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Original Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Inventors: Lo, Chun-Yi
• Granted Patent: US 9,766,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories

Abstract

A firmware update method applied to a host device and a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral device includes a memory device and a controller. The firmware update method includes: transmitting a first firmware data sector to a peripheral device from the host device, wherein the first firmware data sector has a first mode parameter; and retransmitting the first firmware data sector having a second mode parameter to the peripheral device from the host device after an interruption event has occurred on the memory device during the transmission.

Claims

1. A firmware update method, applied to a host device and a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral device comprises a memory device and a controller, the firmware update method comprising:

transmitting a first firmware data sector to a peripheral device from the host device, wherein the first firmware data sector has a first mode parameter; and

retransmitting the first firmware data sector having a second mode parameter to the peripheral device from the host device after an interruption event has occurred on the memory device during the transmission.

2. The firmware update method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

reading at least one parameter sector of the received first firmware data sector by the controller, wherein the parameter sector of the first firmware data sector comprises one of the first mode parameter and the second mode parameter;

storing to the memory device a program code sector of the first firmware data sector having the first mode parameter; and

ignoring the program code sector of the first firmware data sector having the second mode parameter.

3. The firmware update method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first firmware data sector is one of a plurality of firmware data sectors, each of the firmware data sectors has a program code sector and a parameter sector, and the program code sector of the firmware data sectors is arranged to constitute firmware.

4. The firmware update method as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the parameter sectors of the first and second firmware data sector comprises a firmware version parameter, a mode parameter, an index, a controller version parameter, a data amount parameter, and a check parameter.

5. A firmware update method, applied to a host device and a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral device comprises a memory device and a controller, the firmware update method comprising:

sequentially transmitting a plurality of firmware data sectors to the peripheral device from the host device, wherein N firmware data sectors constitute firmware, and each of the firmware data sectors comprises a first mode parameter; and

retransmitting the firmware data sectors from 1 to N to the peripheral device after the transmission of the firmware data sectors of the firmware is interrupted at the Xth firmware data sector, wherein N is greater than X, each of the first to (X−

1)th firmware data sectors transmitted in the retransmission comprises a second mode parameter, and each of the Xth to Nth firmware data sectors transmitted in the retransmission comprises the first mode parameter.

6. The firmware update method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

reading at least one parameter sector of the firmware data sector by the controller, wherein each of the parameter sectors of the firmware data sectors comprises one of the first mode parameter and the second mode parameter;

storing to the memory device a program code sector of the firmware data sector when the firmware data sector has the first mode parameter; and

ignoring the program code sector of the firmware data when the firmware data sector has the second mode parameter.

7. The firmware update method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

replacing, by the host device, each of the first mode parameters of the first to (X−

1)th of the firmware data sectors with the second mode parameter after the transmission of the firmware data sectors of the firmware is interrupted at the Xth firmware data sector.

8. An electronic device capable of updating firmware, comprising:

a memory device; and

a controller, configured to receive a plurality of firmware data sectors from a host device in a sequence, read at least one parameter sector of the received firmware data sector, store a program code sector of the received firmware data sector into the memory device when the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector comprises a first mode parameter, and ignore the program code sector of the received firmware data sector when the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector comprises a second mode parameter, wherein the firmware data sectors constitute firmware.

9. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the firmware is constituted by the program code sectors of the firmware data sectors.

10. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the controller reads the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector to determine what number in the sequence the received firmware data sector is according to an index of the read parameter sector, and stores the program code sector of the received firmware data sector into a corresponding address of the memory device according to the numbers of the firmware data sectors in the sequence.

11. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the controller reads the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector to determine a data length of the firmware according to a data amount parameter of the read parameter sector and determine whether all of the firmware data sectors have been received according to the data amount parameter and the index.

12. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the controller reads the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector to determine whether the program code sector of the received firmware data sector needs to be stored into the memory device according to a third mode parameter of the read parameter sector of the received firmware data sector.

13. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the controller reads the parameter sector of the received firmware data sector to check whether the version of the controller is correct according to a controller version parameter of the read parameter sector, verifies the program code sector of the received firmware data sector according to a verification parameter of the read parameter sector, and checks whether the version of the firmware is correct according to a firmware version parameter of the read parameter sector.

14. The electronic device capable of updating firmware as claimed in claim 8, wherein the program code sectors of N firmware data sectors constitute the firmware, and the host device replaces each of the first mode parameters of the first to (X−

1)th of the firmware data sectors with the second mode parameter after the transmission of the firmware data sectors of the firmware is interrupted at the Xth firmware data sector, wherein N is greater than X.