Electronic device supporting multiple update agents

• US 7,657,884 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2004
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Okonnen, Harri, Rao, Bindu Rama
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US10/807,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20040243993A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,141 Days
• Field of Search: 717/173, 717/171, 717/175, 717/168, 717/178, 709/223, 707/10, 714/55
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an electronic device network. The network may include a plurality of servers and a plurality of an electronic devices communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of servers. The electronic device may be adapted to employ at least one of a plurality of update agents resident in the electronic devices to update one of software and firmware in the electronic devices. The electronic devices may also be adapted to provisioning the plurality of update agents with parameters and data used to facilitate update operations in the electronic device. The electronic device may support multiple update agents that are provisioned using OTASP or OTAPA or related techniques. During the provisioning of an electronic device, one or more update agents resident in the electronic device may also be provisioned.

Claims

1. An electronic device network, the network comprising:

a plurality of servers;

a plurality of electronic devices communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of servers, each of the electronic devices being adapted to employ at least one of a plurality of update agents resident in the electronic device, wherein the update agent employed is selected to correspond to a type of update information received by the electronic device from the at least one of the plurality of servers, wherein the selected update agent processes the received update information to modify a first version of one of software and firmware in the electronic device to a second version, and wherein the electronic device is also adapted to provision the plurality of update agents with parameters and data used to facilitate update operations in the electronic device, wherein the electronic device comprises random access memory and non-volatile memory, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises a plurality of components, the plurality of components comprising at least one of the following;

an update application loader, the plurality of update agents, firmware, an operating system (OS), and provisioned data; and

wherein the provisioned data comprises update agent provisioning information and a number assignment module;

wherein the electronic device comprises a provisioned data unit adapted to store information related to an end-user'"'"'s electronic device subscription, and wherein the provisioned data unit may be programmed during number assignment module programming activity;

wherein the number assignment module programming activity comprises at least one of over-the-air service provisioning (OTASP) activity and over-the-air parameter administration (OTAPA) activity; and

a database in each of the plurality of electronic devices for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents in a corresponding electronic device.

2. The network according to claim 1, wherein the network comprises at least one of an update server, and a plurality of generators, wherein the generators are adapted to generate updates able to be processed by at least one provisioned update agent in the electronic device, and wherein the update server is adapted to store updates accessible by the plurality of servers.

3. The network according to claim 1, wherein the provisioned data unit is adapted to store at least one of update agent related provisioning information, a universal resource locator of a server used to retrieve updates, and a security key used to authenticate server messages.

4. The network according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of update agents has a corresponding entry in the provisioned data unit.

5. The network according to claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of update agents is designated a primary update agent and another of the plurality of update agents is designated as a secondary update agent, and wherein the primary update agent is used to perform updates during one of power up and reboot of the electronic device and the secondary update agent is used to perform updates not requiring electronic device rebooting.

6. The network according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is adapted to display a list of available update agents to an end-user and solicit selection of an update agent to be used to update at least one of software and firmware.

7. The network according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is adapted to invoke an update agent based upon an update currently being processed provided that the update agent is provisioned in the electronic device.

8. The network according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device may execute an update application loader on reboot, and wherein the update application loader is adapted to invoke a boot initialization code before determining to update the electronic device.

9. The network according to claim 1, comprising update agent provisioning information stored in the electronic device, the update agent provisioning information comprising at least one of the following:

a device server URL, an index to the database for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents, a security key, and electronic device related information, wherein the device server URL provides references to servers hosting updates to be downloaded, and wherein the updates are compatible with update agents currently available and provisioned in the electronic device.

10. The network according to claim 9, wherein the index to the database for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents provides an index value used to compute an address location of a provisioned update agent, and wherein the index to the database for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents provides an index to a table containing an address for an update agent in non-volatile memory the electronic device.

11. The network according to claim 9, wherein the security key is used to authenticate updates during download of updates and during update activity, wherein a separate security key is employed to authenticate updates by a download agent and by the update agent, and wherein the security key is employed for at least one of the following:

secure communication, encryption, and decryption of data and messages during communication with external systems.

12. The network according to claim 1, wherein the database for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents in the electronic device comprises an update agent table resident in non-volatile memory, the update agent table containing references to a plurality of update agents currently available and provisioned in the electronic device, the update agent table associating update agent names, update agent address locations, types of updates that the update agents are adapted to process, and provisioning status of the update agents for all available update agents in the electronic device.

13. The network according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one of a plurality of mobile electronic devices, and wherein the plurality of mobile electronic devices comprise at least one of the following:

a mobile cellular phone handset, a personal digital assistant, a pager, an MP3 player, and a digital camera.

14. A method employing a plurality of update agents in an electronic device in an electronic device network, the method comprising:

communicatively coupling a plurality of electronic devices to at least one of a plurality of servers;

selecting at least one of a plurality of update agents resident in the electronic device to modify a first version of one of software and firmware in the electronic device to produce an updated version, wherein each of the plurality of update agents is arranged to process a corresponding type of update information received from the at least one of a plurality of servers;

provisioning the plurality of update agents with parameters and data used to facilitate update operations in the electronic device, wherein a database is used for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents;

storing information related to a provisioned data unit for an end-user'"'"'s electronic device subscription;

programming the provisioned data unit during number assignment module programming activity, wherein the number assignment module programming activity comprises at least one of the following;

over-the-air service provisioning (OTASP) activity and over-the-air parameter administration (OTAPA) activity.

15. The method according to claim 14, comprising generating updates able to be processed by at least one provisioned update agent in the electronic device and storing updates in an update server.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the programming comprises storing update agent related provisioning information, a universal resource locator of a server used to retrieve updates, and a security key used to authenticate server messages.

17. The method according to claim 14, comprising providing each update agent an entry in a provisioned data unit.

18. The method according to claim 14, comprising:

designating a primary update agent and a secondary update agent;

using the primary update agent to perform updates during one of the following;

power up and reboot of the electronic device; and

using the secondary update agent to perform updates not requiring electronic device rebooting.

19. The method according to claim 14, comprising:

displaying a list of available update agents to an end-user; and

soliciting selection of an update agent to be used to update at least one of software and firmware.

20. The method according to claim 14, comprising invoking an update agent based upon an update currently being processed provided that the update agent is provisioned in the electronic device.

21. The method according to claim 14, comprising executing an update application loader on reboot of the electronic device and invoking a boot initialization code before determining to update the electronic device.

22. The method according to claim 14, comprising:

storing update agent provisioning information in the electronic device; and

hosting updates to be downloaded with update agents provisioned in the electronic device.

23. The method according to claim 14, comprising determining an address location of a provisioned update agent via the database for accessing the plurality of provisioned update agents, wherein determining comprises one of computing and accessing an entry in a table.

24. The method according to claim 14, comprising:

authenticating updates during download of the updates and during update activity, using a security key;

employing a separate security key to authenticate updates by a download agent and by the at least one of a plurality of update agents; and

employing the security key for at least one of the following;

secure communication, encryption, and decryption of data and messages, during communication with external systems.

25. The method according to claim 14, comprising mapping at least one of the following:

update agent names, update agent address locations, types of updates that the update agents are adapted to process, and provisioning status of the update agents, for all available update agents in the electronic device.

26. The method according to claim 14, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one of the following:

a plurality of mobile electronic devices, and wherein the plurality of mobile electronic devices comprise at least one of a mobile cellular phone handset, a personal digital assistant, a pager, an MP3 player, and a digital camera.

27. An electronic device operable in an electronic device network, the electronic device comprising:

non-volatile memory comprising a first version of code;

communication circuitry for receiving, from at least one server in the electronic device network, update information having an associated type;

code resident in and executable by the electronic device, the code comprising a plurality of provisioned update agents selectable to cause processing of a corresponding type of received update information, to update a related code portion of the first version of code to an updated version, wherein a database in the electronic device enables accessing of the plurality of provisioned update agents;

wherein the processing modifies the related code portion of the first version of code to produce the updated version;

wherein the electronic device comprises random access memory and non-volatile memory, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises a plurality of components, the plurality of components comprising at least one of the following;

an update application loader, the plurality of update agents, firmware, an operating system (OS), and provisioned data, and wherein the provisioned data comprises update agent provisioning information and a number assignment module;

wherein the electronic device comprises a provisioned data unit adapted to store information related to an end-user'"'"'s electronic device subscription, and wherein the provisioned data unit may be programmed during number assignment module programming activity;

wherein the number assignment module programming activity comprises at least one of over-the-air service provisioning(OTASP) activity and over-the-air parameter administration (OTAPA) activity; and

wherein a provisioned update agent is selected to perform an update based upon the type of the received update information.

28. The electronic device according to claim 27 wherein the communication circuitry comprises a cellular network interface.

29. The electronic device according to claim 27 wherein the update information comprises an update package.

30. The electronic device according to claim 27 wherein a portion of the non-volatile memory comprises provisioned data received from at least one of the plurality of servers.

31. The electronic device according to claim 30 wherein the provisioned data comprises at least one entry corresponding to one of the plurality of provisioned update agents.

32. The electronic device according to claim 30 wherein provisioned data comprises a universal resource locator of a server on which a corresponding type of update information is stored.

33. The electronic device according to claim 30 wherein provisioned data comprises security information enabling update of the related code portion.