Firmware download with adaptive lost packet recovery
First Claim
1. A method for downloading firmware, comprising:
- dividing an image of firmware to be downloaded into a plurality of blocks, each block containing a plurality of packets;
broadcasting, by at least one transmitting apparatus, the plurality of blocks;
appending at least one redundancy packet to the broadcast of each of the plurality of blocks; and
computing missing packets within the blocks based on the at least one redundancy packet;
wherein the last block of the plurality of blocks is adjusted in length to fit an exact number of packets to be downloaded.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are methodologies for implementing a firmware download to endpoints in a mesh network. A firmware package is divided into a number of blocks, each block containing a number of packets and sent as a broadcast to endpoints in a wireless mesh network. A number of redundancy packets are sent to permit calculation of lost packets. A maximum number of redundancy packets to be sent is determined and a forward error correction code is developed depending on the maximum number of redundancy packets and the total number of firmware packets to be sent. A first block of redundancy packets, less than the maximum number, is sent followed by additional blocks of redundancy packets depending on reports from the receiving endpoints.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for downloading firmware, comprising:
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dividing an image of firmware to be downloaded into a plurality of blocks, each block containing a plurality of packets; broadcasting, by at least one transmitting apparatus, the plurality of blocks; appending at least one redundancy packet to the broadcast of each of the plurality of blocks; and computing missing packets within the blocks based on the at least one redundancy packet; wherein the last block of the plurality of blocks is adjusted in length to fit an exact number of packets to be downloaded. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for transferring software, comprising:
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dividing the software into a plurality of blocks, each block containing a plurality of packets; establishing a predetermined maximum number of redundancy packets to be downloaded with the plurality of packets; setting a forward error correction code word to a length equal to that of the total of the plurality of software packets and the predetermined maximum number of redundancy packets; transferring, by at least one transmitting apparatus a first block of a subset of the plurality of software packets; transferring a first block of a subset of the predetermined maximum number of redundancy packets; and computing missing software packets based on the first block of the subset of redundancy packets using the forward error correction code word. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. In a wireless mesh network including a head end and at least one cell relay configured to provide communications between the head end and one or more endpoints, a method for updating endpoint firmware, comprising:
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dividing an image of firmware to be downloaded into a plurality of blocks, each block containing a plurality of packets; broadcasting, by at least one transmitting apparatus the plurality of blocks; appending at least one redundancy packet to the broadcast of each of the plurality of blocks; computing missing packets within the block based on the at least one redundancy packet; reporting computation of missing packet results to the cell relay; and broadcasting, by at least one transmitting apparatus, from the cell relay at least, one additional redundancy packet based on the reported results. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification