Update system capable of updating software

• US 20050268296A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Marolia, Sunil, Penkethman, Jason David
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

An electronic device with a handoff agent is capable of coordinating the update by one or more update agents in the electronic device. The handoff agent is capable of selectively updating an application software or firmware that is stored in non-volatile memory that may employ multiple FLASH chips, the handoff agent employing appropriate update agents, that each employs appropriate subsets of an update package that has been retrieved from an external system.

Claims

1. An electronic device capable of being updated, the electronic device comprising:

a firmware and a software;

a non-volatile memory wherein the firmware and the software is resident;

a RAM wherein the firmware and the software is optionally executed;

at least one update agent resident in the non-volatile memory of the electronic device;

a handoff agent resident in the non-volatile memory unit; and

coordinating the update of the non-volatile memory in the electronic device by the handoff agent.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the handoff agent specifying to the at least one update agent the location of an update package to be used to update the firmware and software.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 wherein the handoff agent specifying to the at least one update agent the information needed to access and verify the update package.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 further comprising:

the handoff agent selectively coordinating the update of the at least one update agent.

5. The electronic device of claim 3 further comprising:

the handoff agent selecting one of the at least one update agent for updating the firmware and the software of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 further comprising:

the handoff agent providing information to the at least one of the plurality of update agents on the location where results, result codes and status information may be stored after they have each updated at least a portion of the firmware, an operating system, or the software in the electronic device.

7. The electronic device of claim 5 further comprising:

a plurality of update agents;

the handoff agent selecting one of the plurality of update agents to update the firmware, another one of the plurality of update agents to update the software and yet another one of the plurality of update agents to update the operating system.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 further comprising:

an update package that has been retrieved from an external system that can be used to update the firmware, the operating system and the software; and

the handoff agent employing the plurality of update agents such that each of the plurality of update agents employs at least one appropriate subset of the update package.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 further comprising:

the update package comprising a first subset and a second subset; and

the handoff agent employing one of the plurality of update agents to update the firmware using the first subset of the update package and another of the plurality of update agents to update the software and the operating system using the second subset of the update package.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a first flash unit in the non-volatile memory;

a second flash unit in the non-volatile memory;

a first update agent associated with the first flash unit and capable of updating a first code resident in the first flash unit;

a second update agent associated with the second flash unit and capable of updating a second code resident in the second flash unit;

an update package comprising a first subset associated with the first flash unit and a second subset associated with the second flash unit;

the handoff agent employing the first update agent and the first subset to update the first code resident in the first flash unit and the second update agent and the second subset to update the second code resident in the second flash unit.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 wherein the first code and the second code collectively comprise the firmware and the software.

12. A mobile phone capable of updating a firmware, an operating system and a software resident in the mobile phone, the mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of update agents;

a handoff agent;

the handoff agent coordinating the update of the firmware, the operating system and the software of the mobile phone by the plurality of update agents in the mobile phone.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 further comprising:

a non-volatile memory wherein the firmware, the operating system and the software are resident, the non-volatile memory comprising a plurality of FLASH chips;

an update package; and

the handoff agent employing the appropriate ones of the plurality of update agents, that each employ an appropriate subset of the update package to update at least one of the plurality of FLASH chips.

14. The mobile phone of claim 13 further comprising:

each of the plurality of FLASH chips requiring the use of an appropriate one of a plurality of io libraries for reading and writing purposes;

each of the plurality of update agents employing an associated appropriate one of the plurality of io libraries for reading and writing purposes in the associated one of the plurality of FLASH chips.

15. The mobile phone of claim 14 wherein the handoff agent makes it possible to specify to the plurality of update agents where the update package is located, and how it can be accessed and verified.

16. The mobile phone of claim 15 wherein the handoff agent coordinates gathering of at least one of a results, a result codes, and a status information from at least one of the plurality of update agents after they have each updated at least a portion of the firmware, the operating system or the software.

17. The mobile phone of claim 16 wherein the handoff agent verifies that an update package is appropriate for the mobile phone, employing at least one of a CRC checksum, an MD5 checksum, a digital signature, and a hash value.

18. The mobile phone of claim 17 wherein the handoff agent determines if the update package is applicable to one or more of the plurality of FLASH chips and coordinates the setup, invocation, optional reset and gathering of result codes and status information from the those of the plurality of update agents that it determines to be associated with the applicable ones of the plurality of FLASH chips.

19. A method of updating a mobile phone that comprises a plurality of FLASH chips, a plurality of update agents, and a handoff agent, the method comprising:

processing an update package to determine a target chip list comprising those of the plurality of FLASH chips that need to be updated using the update package;

invoking those of the plurality of update agents associated with the target chip list; and

gathering a results, a result codes, and a status information from those of the plurality of update agents associated with the target chip list.

20. The method of updating a mobile phone according to claim 19 wherein invoking comprises:

specifying appropriate subsets of the update package for each of the those of the plurality of update agents associated with the target chip list;

specifying a location of the update package, a location of the results, a location for the result codes, a location for the status information, and a location for s security information, for each of the those of the plurality of update agents associated with the target chip list; and

triggering an update for each of the those of the plurality of update agents associated with the target chip list.