Communication device, update method, and computer-readable storage medium

• US 9,081,641 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2012
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Nakagawa, Masaki, Asai, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): DENG, ANNA CHEN
• Application Number:
  US13/494,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20130019236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A communication device includes a first receiving unit configured to receive first metainformation indicating a target update required for a program of the communication device from an update information providing device, the first metainformation including information about a dependency version that is another version of update dependent upon the target update; a determining unit configured to determine whether the dependency version is newer than a device version which is a current version of update of the communication device; a second receiving unit configured to receive second metainformation indicating an update for the dependency version from the update information providing device if the dependency version is newer than the device version; and an update process unit configured to execute the update for the dependency version on the basis of the second metainformation and execute the target update based on the first metainformation after executing the update for the dependency version.

Claims

1. A communication device comprising:

a processor configured to

determine whether a dependency version of information is newer than a device version which is a current version of update of the communication device when a version of a target update included in first metainformation is newer than the device version, the first metainformation indicating the target update required for a program of the communication device and being from an update information providing device, the dependency version being another version of update dependent upon the target update,

transmit to the update information providing device a request for second metainformation indicating an update for the dependency version when the dependency version is newer than the device version, but not transmit to the update information providing device the request for the second metainformation when the dependency version is not newer than the device version, and

execute the update for the dependency version on the basis of the second metainformation transmitted from the update information providing device and execute the target update on the basis of the first metainformation after executing the update for the dependency version, wherein the processor is further configured to

when the dependency version is not newer than the device version, determine whether the target update is a critical update or not based on the first metainformation received from the update information providing device, and

when the target update is the critical update, force the target update to be executed.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processor further determines whether the version of the target update is newer than the device version.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the processor further updates the device version to the version of the target update after executing the target update.

4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the first metainformation and the second metainformation each include a storage location of a packaged file including the corresponding update and a script indicating a procedure of execution of the corresponding update, and

the processor receives the packaged file from the storage location specified and executes the script in the packaged file to execute the corresponding update.

5. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the target update is a normal update or the critical update when the dependency version is not newer than the device version.

6. The communication device according to claim 5, wherein the critical update corresponds to an update associated with a change of a device or a function to which a current function of the communication device cannot respond.

7. The communication device according to claim 5, wherein the processor determines whether the target update is the normal update or the critical update based on the first metainformation received from the update information providing device.

8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to, when the dependency version is not newer than the device version, determine whether the target update is a normal update or the critical update based on a flag set in the first metainformation received from the update information providing device.

9. The communication device according to claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to

when the target update is not the critical update, allow a user to select the target update to be executed or not.

10. An update method executed by a communication device, the update method comprising:

determining whether a dependency version of information is newer than a device version which is a current version of update of the communication device when a version of a target update included in first metainformation is newer than the device version, the first metainformation indicating the target update required for a program of the communication device and being from an update information providing device, the dependency version being another version of update dependent upon the target update;

transmitting to the update information providing device a request for second metainformation indicating an update for the dependency version when the dependency version is newer than the device version, but not transmitting to the update information providing device the request for the second metainformation when the dependency version is not newer than the device version;

executing the update for the dependency version on the basis of the second metainformation transmitted from the update information providing device and executing the target update on the basis of the first metainformation after executing the update for the dependency version;

when the dependency version is not newer than the device version, determining whether the target update is a critical update or not based on the first metainformation received from the update information providing device; and

when the target update is the critical update, forcing the target update to be executed.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a processor of a communication device to perform:

determining whether a dependency version of information is newer than a device version which is a current version of update of the communication device when a version of a target update included in first metainformation is newer than the device version, the first metainformation indicating the target update required for a program of the communication device and being from an update information providing device, the dependency version being another version of update dependent upon the target update;

transmitting to the update information providing device a request for second metainformation indicating an update for the dependency version when the dependency version is newer than the device version, but not transmitting to the update information providing device the request for the second metainformation when the dependency version is not newer than the device version;

executing the update for the dependency version on the basis of the second metainformation transmitted from the update information providing device and executing the target update on the basis of the first metainformation after executing the update for the dependency version;

when the dependency version is not newer than the device version, determining whether the target update is a critical update or not based on the first metainformation received from the update information providing device; and

when the target update is the critical update, forcing the target update to be executed.