Reconfiguration manager for controlling upgrades of electronic devices

• US 6,467,088 B1
• Filed: 06/30/1999
• Issued: 10/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Schaffer, J. David, alSafadi, Yasser
• Primary Examiner(s): Morse, Gregory
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chavis, John Q.
• Application Number:
  US09/343,607
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 717/173, 717/178, 717/177, 710/10, 713/100
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A reconfiguration manager implemented on a computer or other data processing device controls the reconfiguration of software or other components of an electronic device such as a computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), set-top box, television, etc. The reconfiguration manager receives a reconfiguration request, e.g., a software upgrade request from the electronic device, and determines one or more device components that are required to implement the reconfiguration request. The reconfiguration manager also determines, e.g., from information in the request, identifiers of one or more additional components currently implemented in the electronic device. The reconfiguration manager then compares the needed and currently implemented components with previously-stored lists of known acceptable and unacceptable configurations for the electronic device. If the needed and currently implemented components correspond to a configuration on the list of acceptable configurations, the request is approved and the needed components are downloaded to the electronic device. If the needed and currently implemented components correspond to a configuration on the list of unacceptable configurations, the request is denied. Otherwise, the reconfiguration manager may indicate that the requested reconfiguration is unknown, or may take another action such as responding to the electronic device with a list of other components that would be required to implement the request.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for controlling the reconfiguration of an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving information representative of a reconfiguration request relating to the electronic device;

determining at least one device component required to implement the reconfiguration request;

comparing the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with at least one of a list of known acceptable configurations for the electronic device and a list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

generating information indicative of an approval or a denial of the reconfiguration request based at least in part on the result of the comparing step.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of generating information indicative of an approval of the reconfiguration request if the determined-component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known acceptable configurations.

3. The method of claim 1 further including the step of downloading the determined component to the electronic device if the determined component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known acceptable configurations.

4. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:

comparing the determined, component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with the list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

generating information indicative of a denial of the reconfiguration request if the determined component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known unacceptable configurations.

5. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:

comparing the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with the list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

generating information indicating that the requested reconfiguration is unknown if the determined component and the additional component are not consistent with a given one of the known acceptable or unacceptable configurations.

6. The method of claim 1 further including the step of transmitting in response to the reconfiguration request a list of additional components required in the electronic device in order to implement the reconfiguration.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device includes identifiers of each of the components in a set of components currently implemented in the electronic device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the identifiers of each of the components in the set of components are included in the reconfiguration request.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the reconfiguration request comprises a request for an upgrade of at least one of a software component and a hardware component of the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the reconfiguration request is received from the electronic device over a network connection established with a reconfiguration manager implementing the receiving, determining, comparing and generating steps.

11. An apparatus for controlling the reconfiguration of an electronic device, the apparatus comprising:

a memory for storing at least one of a list of known acceptable configurations for the electronic device and a list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

a processor coupled to the memory and operative (i) to receive information representative of a reconfiguration request relating to the electronic device;

(ii) to determine at least one device component required to implement the reconfiguration request;

(iii) to compare the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with at least one of the list of known acceptable configurations for the electronic device and the list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

(iv) to generate information indicative of an approval or a denial of the reconfiguration request based at least in part on the comparison operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further operative to generate information indicative of an approval of the reconfiguration request if the determined component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known acceptable configurations.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further operative to download the determined component to the electronic device if the determined component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known acceptable configurations.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further operative to compare the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with the list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device;

and to generate information indicative of a denial of the reconfiguration request if the determined component and the additional component are consistent with a given one of the known unacceptable configurations.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further operative to compare the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with a list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device;

and to generate information indicating that the requested reconfiguration is unknown if the determined component and the additional component are not consistent with a given one of the known acceptable or unacceptable configurations.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further operative to transmit in response to the reconfiguration request a list of additional components required in the electronic device in order to implement the reconfiguration request.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device includes identifiers of each of the components in a set of components currently implemented in the electronic device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the identifiers of each of the components in the set of components are included in the reconfiguration request transmitted by the electronic device.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the reconfiguration request comprises a request for an upgrade of at least one of a software component and a hardware component of the electronic device.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the reconfiguration request is received from the electronic device over a network connection established, with a reconfiguration manager which includes the memory and processor.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-readable medium containing one or more software programs which when executed implement the steps of:

receiving information representative of a reconfiguration request relating to an electronic device;

determining at least one device component required to implement the reconfiguration request;

comparing the determined component and information specifying at least one additional component currently implemented in the electronic device with at least one of a list of known acceptable configurations for the electronic device and a list of known unacceptable configurations for the electronic device; and

generating information indicative of an approval or a denial of the reconfiguration request based at least in part on the result of the comparing step.