Maintaining mobile device electronic files

• US 20060069755A1
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: InnoPath Software, Inc. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peng, Luosheng
• Granted Patent: US 7,516,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

A mobile device is provided that includes a first processor coupled among at least one additional processor and a communication device for use in maintaining electronic files of the device. The mobile device can, for example, be a cellular telephone. The mobile device further includes an upgrade engine coupled to the first processor. The upgrade engine receives maintenance files from remote servers via the communication device, where the maintenance files include difference files. The upgrade engine uses information of the difference files to update software of the first processor. In addition to the upgrade engine, the mobile device includes an emulator that is coupled to the upgrade engine. The emulator transfers pre-specified ones of the difference files to the additional processor(s) where a rewrite engine uses the difference files to upgrade software of the additional processor(s).

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a first processor coupled among a second processor and a communication device;

an upgrade engine coupled to the first processor to receive maintenance files from at least one remote server via the communication device and update software files of the first processor using a first difference file of the maintenance file;

an emulator coupled to the upgrade engine to transfer a second difference file of the maintenance file to the second processor; and

a rewrite engine coupled to the second processor to receive the second difference file and upgrade software files of the second processor using the second difference file.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device includes at least one of a local area connection protocol and an over-the-air communication protocol.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a first memory coupled to the first processor and a second memory coupled to the second processor, wherein the first memory stores the received maintenance files, and the second memory stores the second difference file.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the maintenance files include rewrite difference files, and upgrading software files of the first and second processor includes rewriting the software files using information of the rewrite difference files.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the maintenance files include upgrade difference files, and upgrading software files of the first and second processor includes upgrading software modules of the first and second processor using information of the upgrade difference files.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device couples to a rewrite server of the remote servers using a local area connection, wherein the communication device couples to an upgrade server of the remote servers using an over-the-air connection.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the local area coupling includes at least one of a hard-wired connection, a Bluetooth connection, a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) connection, and an infrared (IrDA) connection.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the over-the-air coupling includes a coupling via at least one of a communication network, a cellular telephone network, a radio frequency (RF) network, a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), and proprietary networks.

9. A system for maintaining electronic files of mobile devices, comprising:

a mobile device including a first processor coupled among a second processor and a communication device;

an upgrade engine coupled to the first processor to receive maintenance files from at least one remote server via the communication device, the upgrade engine updating software files of the first processor using a first difference file of the maintenance file;

an emulator coupled to the upgrade engine to transfer a second difference file of the maintenance file to the second processor; and

a rewrite engine coupled to the second processor to receive the second difference file and upgrade software files of the second processor using the second difference file.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication device includes at least one of a local area connection protocol and an over-the-air communication protocol.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication device couples to a rewrite server of the remote servers using a local area connection, wherein the communication device couples to an upgrade server of the remote servers using an over-the-air connection.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one remote server comprises at least one rewrite server, wherein the maintenance files received from the rewrite server include rewrite difference files for use in updating software files of the first and second processor by rewriting the software files.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one remote server comprises at least one upgrade server, wherein the maintenance files received from the upgrade server include upgrade difference filesfor use in upgrading software modules of the first and second processor.

14. A mobile device, comprising:

means for coupling a first processor of a mobile device to at least one remote server;

means for receiving at least one maintenance file from the at least one remote server via the coupling, wherein the maintenance file includes first and second difference files;

means for storing the maintenance file in a first memory of the first processor;

means for updating software files of the first processor using the first difference file;

means for transferring the second difference file to a second memory of a second processor of the mobile device; and

means for updating software files of the second processor using the second difference file.

15. A method for maintaining electronic files of mobile devices, comprising:

coupling a first processor of a mobile device to at least one remote server;

receiving at least one maintenance file from the at least one remote server via the coupling, wherein the maintenance file includes first and second difference files;

storing the maintenance file in a first memory of the first processor;

updating software files of the first processor using the first difference file;

transferring the second difference file to a second memory of a second processor of the mobile device; and

updating software files of the second processor using the second difference file.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein updating software files of the second processor further includes the first processor emulating the at least one remote server to the second processor.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the maintenance file includes rewrite difference files for use in updating software files of the first and second processor by rewriting the software files.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the maintenance file comprises receiving the first and second rewrite difference files from at least one rewrite server via a local area connection that includes at least one of a hard-wired connection, a Bluetooth connection, a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) connection, and an infrared connection.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the maintenance file includes upgrade difference files for use in upgrading software modules of the first and second processor.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the maintenance file comprises receiving the first and second upgrade difference files from at least one upgrade server using an over-the-air connection via at least one of a communication network, a cellular telephone network, a radio frequency (RF) network, a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), and proprietary networks.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the coupling comprises a local area connection that includes at least one of a hard-wired connection, a Bluetooth connection, a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) connection, and an infrared (IrDA) connection.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the coupling comprises an over-the-air connection that includes at least one of a communication network, a cellular telephone network, a radio frequency (RF) network, a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), and proprietary networks.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the software files include dynamic link library files, shared object files, embedded software components (EBSCs), firmware files, executable files, data files including hex data files, system configuration files, and files including personal use data.

24. A computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, maintain electronic files of mobile devices by:

coupling a first processor of a mobile device to at least one remote server;

receiving at least one maintenance file from the at least one remote server via the coupling, wherein the maintenance file includes first and second difference files;

storing the maintenance file in a first memory of the first processor;

updating software files of the first processor using the first difference file;

transferring the second difference file to a second memory of a second processor of the mobile device; and

updating software files of the second processor using the second difference file.