Mobile handset with update agent implemented in hardware

• US 7,861,211 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2004
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rao, Bindu Rama, Jacobi, Sidney A., Yang, Xuguang, Okonnen, Harri
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, RONGFA PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US10/902,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20050055684A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,343 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-176, 717/100
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention may be seen in a system and method for speeding up the processing of update packages by an update agent, by implementing at least a portion of the update agent in hardware. In an embodiment of the present invention, the update agent in hardware may process executable instructions in parallel.

Claims

1. A mobile handset, comprising:

a chipset that includes a plurality of instances of a cell in hardware, wherein the chipset configured to receive multiple streams of instructions over a carrier network and the plurality of instances of the cell perform parallel processing of the multiple streams of instructions that update software or firmware in the mobile handset, wherein the multiple streams of instructions include information on which op-codes can be executed in parallel by the plurality of instances of the cell and which op-codes depend on completion of previous op-codes.

2. The mobile handset of claim 1, wherein each cell comprises an update agent instructions functional block that implements instructions for SET and COPY, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) instructions functional block that implements CRC computations, and a fault tolerant instructions functional block that implements fault tolerant for interruptions to updates to the software or firmware.

3. The mobile handset of claim 1, wherein each cell is included in an update agent hardware engine that performs cyclic redundancy check (CRC) computations.

4. The mobile handset of claim 1, further comprising an update agent in the hardware, wherein the multiple streams of instructions include an op-code stream and a data stream, and the update agent executes in parallel the op-code stream and the data stream.

5. A method, comprising:

generating updates for software or firmware of mobile electronic devices;

transmitting the updates as multiple instruction streams through a carrier network to the mobile electronic devices; and

processing the multiple instruction streams in parallel by a chipset that includes a plurality of instances of a cell in hardware at the mobile electronic devices to speed up processing of the updates by an agent in the mobile electronic devices, wherein the multiple instruction streams include information on which op-codes can be executed in parallel by the plurality of instances of the cell and which op-codes depend on completion of previous op-codes.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining information on which instructions in the updates can be executed in parallel and which instructions in the updates are dependent on completion of previous instructions;

sending the information to the mobile electronic devices.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising, updating the firmware or the software by the agent located in hardware.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising, delivering the updates to the mobile electronic devices based on a firmware version in the mobile electronic devices.

9. A system, comprising:

a generator that generates an update package; and

a mobile electronic device that includes a hardware implementation of multiple update agents that process multiple instruction streams in parallel of the update package to update software or firmware in the mobile electronic device, wherein the multiple update agents are implemented as plural instances of cells on a chipset, and the multiple instruction streams include information on which op-codes can be executed in parallel by the plural instances of cells and which the op-codes depend on completion of previous op-codes.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the generator determines information regarding which instructions can be executed in parallel and communicates the information in the update package to the mobile electronic device.

11. The system of claim 9 further including an update driver in the mobile electronic device, wherein the multiple update agents are implemented entirely in hardware and the update driver provides the multiple update agents with information regarding blocks of memory to be updated in the mobile electronic device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the multiple agents process the multiple instruction streams in parallel to speed up execution of the update package to the software or firmware in the mobile electronic device.