Apparatus and method to drive devices in order to enable rapid booting

• US 9,026,775 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2013
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jang, Dong-Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Suryawanshi, Suresh
• Application Number:
  US13/744,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/2
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]

Abstract

A device driving apparatus includes a storage unit to store a plurality of device driving programs, a plurality of devices to receive the plurality of device driving programs, and a switching unit to transfer the plurality of device driving programs.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of devices;

a storage unit to store a plurality of device driving programs corresponding to the plurality of devices that are bootable;

a control unit configured to upload the plurality of device driving programs from the storage unit to the plurality of devices, each of the plurality of devices configured to generate a program request signal which is used by the control unit to upload a corresponding one of the device driving programs,

wherein, while one of the plurality of device driving programs is being transferred to one of the plurality of devices, the control unit transfers another device driving program to another one of the plurality of devices.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of devices is configured to launch one of the plurality of device driving programs received from the storage unit.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of device driving programs comprise:

a plurality of programs required to boot the plurality of devices and a plurality of programs required to operate the plurality of devices.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of devices receives one of the plurality of device driving programs directly from the storage unit.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage unit comprises a nonvolatile memory.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices comprises:

a broadcasting receiving unit; and

a graphical user interface generating unit.

7. A digital broadcasting apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of processors to launch one of a plurality of device driving programs received from a storage unit;

the storage unit to store the plurality of device driving programs corresponding to a plurality of devices that are bootable;

a control unit to upload the plurality of device driving programs from the storage unit to the plurality of devices, each of the plurality of devices to generate a program request signal which is used by the control unit to upload a corresponding one of the device driving programs,

wherein each of the plurality of device driving programs comprise at least one program to boot the plurality of devices and a plurality of programs to operate the plurality of devices.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, while one of the plurality of device driving programs is being transferred to one of the plurality of devices, the control unit transfers another device driving program to another one of the plurality of devices.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of devices is configured to launch one of the plurality of device driving programs received from the storage unit.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the plurality of device driving programs comprise:

a plurality of programs to boot the plurality of devices and a plurality of programs to operate the plurality of devices.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of devices receives one of the plurality of device driving programs directly from the storage unit.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the storage unit comprises a nonvolatile memory.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the plurality of devices comprises:

a broadcasting receiving unit; and

a graphical user interface generating unit.

14. A broadcasting receiving apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of components to process an input signal from an external source;

a single memory to store data relating to driving of the plurality of components, respectively; and

a control unit to successively drive at least one of the plurality of components based on the data,

wherein, while at least one of the data is being transferred to one of the plurality of components, the control unit transfers another data to another one of the plurality of components.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, the data comprises a plurality of boot programs corresponding to each of the components,

wherein, while one of the boot programs is being transferred to one of the plurality of

components, the control unit transfers another boot program to another one of the plurality of components.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, the data comprises a plurality of operation programs corresponding to each of the components,

wherein, while one of the operation programs is being transferred to one of the plurality of components, the control unit transfers another operation program to another one of the plurality of components.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the memory comprises a nonvolatile memory.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the plurality of boot programs comprise at least one of a booting program to boot a broadcast receiving unit, a booting program to boot a broadcast processing unit, a booting program to boot a control unit, and a booting program to boot a graphical user interface (GUI) generating unit.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the plurality of operation programs comprises at least one of an operation program to perform operation of at least one of a broadcast receiving unit, a broadcast processing unit, a control unit, and a graphical user interface (GUI) generating unit.