Program upgrade system and method for over the air-capable mobile terminal

• US 8,719,810 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2007
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Oh, Sung-Jo
• Primary Examiner(s): COYER, RYAN D
• Application Number:
  US11/777,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20080216066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,489 Days
• Field of Search: 717/173, 717/178
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

An apparatus and method for updating a program of a mobile terminal using an Over-The-Air (OTA) programming mechanism is provided. The program upgrade apparatus includes a first memory for storing a reference version of the program and at least one upgrade package; a second memory for loading an upgrade version of the program; a communication unit for enabling the mobile terminal to communicate with an external system; and a control unit for controlling the communication unit to download the upgrade package in response to an upgrade notification message from the external system, installing the upgrade package within the first memory, generating an upgrade version of the program by merging the upgrade package and the reference version in response to an install command, and operating the mobile terminal with the upgraded version of the program.

Claims

1. A program upgrade apparatus for a mobile terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a first memory for storing a reference version of a program comprising reference data and for storing at least one upgrade package comprising upgrade data, where the at least one upgrade package respectively corresponds to at least one upgraded version of the program;

a second memory for loading an upgraded version of the program;

a communication unit for communicating with an external system; and

a control unit for controlling the communication unit to download the upgrade package in response to an upgrade notification message received from the external system, installing the upgrade package corresponding to a specific upgrade version in the first memory, generating the specific upgrade version of the program by merging the upgrade package and the reference version in the second memory based on map data included in the upgrade package, and operating the mobile terminal with the specific upgrade version of the program,

wherein the upgrade data is generated on the basis of a difference between the reference version and the upgrade version of the program,

wherein the control unit checks whether the upgrade package includes the map data for mapping the upgrade data to the reference data, and generates, when the upgrade package does not include the map data, the map data by comparing the reference data and the upgrade data, and

wherein the map data comprises indexes each corresponding to a result of the comparison of the reference data and the upgrade data in units of a block, and each of the indexes comprising a block index c, a block index m, or a block index d, indicating commands “

copy”

, “

modify”

, and “

shift”

, respectively.

2. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upgrade package further comprises the upgrade data and an install data providing information for merging the upgrade package with the reference version of the program.

3. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 2, wherein the install data comprises:

a history data including version identifiers of the upgrade version represented by the upgrade package and the reference version of the program.

4. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 3, wherein the reference version of the program comprises at least two data blocks and the map data.

5. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 3, wherein the control unit installs the history data, the map data, and the upgrade data within the first memory.

6. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference version of the program is a system firmware or software installed in a manufacturing phase.

17. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises:

an installer for installing the upgrade package in the second region of the first memory; and

a translator for loading the upgrade package and the reference version of the program from the first memory, generating the upgraded version of the program by merging the upgrade package with the reference version of the program in the second memory.

18. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first memory is a nonvolatile memory and the second memory is a volatile memory.

19. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first memory comprises:

a first region for storing the reference version; and

a second region for storing the at least one upgrade package,

wherein the control unit installs the upgrade package in the second region and merges the upgrade data and the reference version in the second memory.

20. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 19, wherein the control unit installs a history data extracted from the upgrade package in the second region of the first memory, installs the map data in the second region of the first memory, and installs the upgrade data in the second region of the first memory.

21. The program upgrade apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit selects the upgrade package from among a plurality of upgrade packages, which are stored in the first memory, for updating the reference version of the program, and

wherein if operation the mobile terminal with the upgrade version of the program is unsuccessful, the controller generates another upgrade version of the program by merging another upgrade package selected from among the plurality of upgrade packages with the reference version, loads the another upgrade version of the program into the second memory, and operates the mobile terminal with the another upgraded version of the program.

7. A program upgrade method for a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

downloading at least one upgrade package of a program comprising upgrade data, the at least one upgrade package respectively corresponding to at least one upgraded version of the program;

installing the upgrade package corresponding to a specific upgrade version in a first memory;

generating the upgrade version of the program by merging a reference version of the program and the upgrade package in a second memory based on map data included in the upgrade package;

and

operating the mobile terminal with the specific upgrade version of the program,

wherein the upgrade data is generated on the basis of a difference between the reference version and the upgrade version of the program;

wherein installing the upgrade package comprises;

determining whether the map data for mapping the upgrade data to the reference data is included in the upgrade package; and

generating, when the upgrade package does not include the map data, the map data by comparing the reference data and the upgrade data, and

wherein the map data comprises indexes each corresponding to a result of the comparison of the reference data and the upgrade data in units of a block, and each of the indexes comprising a block index c, a block index m, or a block index d, indicating commands “

copy”

, “

modify”

, and “

shift”

, respectively.

8. The program upgrade method of claim 7, wherein the upgrade package further comprises a history data including version identifiers of the upgrade version represented by the upgrade package and the reference version of the program.

9. The program upgrade method of claim 8, wherein installing the upgrade package comprises:

extracting the history data, the map data, and the upgrade data from the upgrade package; and

installing the history data, the map data, and the upgrade data.

10. The program upgrade method of claim 8, wherein installing the upgrade package comprises:

generating the history data, the map data, and the upgrade data from the upgrade package; and

installing the history data, the map data, and the upgrade data.

11. The program upgrade method of claim 8, wherein the first memory comprises:

a first region for storing the reference version; and

a second region for storing the at least one upgrade package,

wherein installing the upgrade package further comprises;

installing the upgrade data in the second region; and

installing the map data in the second region.

12. The program upgrade method of claim 7, wherein the upgrade package is a package of a latest version of the program.

13. The program upgrade method of claim 7, wherein the first memory is a nonvolatile memory and the second memory is a volatile memory.

14. The program upgrade method of claim 7, wherein installing the upgrade package comprises:

receiving an upgrade request including a selection of the specific upgrade version; and

installing, in response to the upgrade request, the upgrade package corresponding to a selected upgrade version.

15. The program upgrade method of claim 14, wherein the upgrade request is generated by one of a user input after the upgrade package is completely installed and a system initialization event.

16. The program upgrade method of claim 8, wherein generating the upgrade version of the program comprises:

determining the reference version of the program to be upgraded on the basis of the history data; and

creating, when the reference version is to be upgraded, the upgrade version of the program by mapping the upgrade data to the reference version of the program based on the map data.

22. The program upgrade method of claim 7, wherein the upgrade package is selected from among a plurality of upgrade packages, which are stored in the first memory, for updating the reference version of the program of the second memory, and

further comprising, if operating the mobile terminal with the upgrade version of the program is unsuccessful, generating another upgrade version of the program by merging another upgrade package selected from among the plurality of upgrade packages with the reference version, loading the another upgrade version of the program into the second memory, and operating the mobile terminal with the another upgraded version of the program.