ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND FIRMWARE UPGRADING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20140223160A1
• Filed: 12/11/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Byoung-chul
• Granted Patent: US 9,454,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/83 the solution involving signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4353 involving decryption of additional data arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4432 Powering on the client, e.g. bootstrap loading using setup parameters being stored locally or received from the server resetting in general G06F1/14; program loading or initiating in general G06F9/445; bootstrapping in general G06F9/4401; secure boots of computer platforms G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/818 OS software
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10

Abstract

A firmware upgrading method for an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a storage section which stores a firmware image and a controller which executes a boot loader of the electronic device to determine whether the firmware image is damaged, performs a restoration function for the firmware image if the firmware image is damaged, and executes an operating system (OS) to perform normal operations if the firmware image is not damaged.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a storage section configured to store a firmware image; and

a controller configured to execute a boot loader of the electronic device to determine whether the firmware image is damaged, perform a restoration function for the firmware image if it is determined that the firmware image is damaged, and execute an operating system (OS) to perform normal operations if the firmware image is not damaged.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of components configured to perform functions of the electronic device, wherein

the storage section is configured to store the firmware images which respectively correspond to the plurality of components, and

the controller is configured to perform the restoration function for the damaged firmware image during a booting stage if at least one of the firmware images corresponding to the plurality of components is damaged.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the controller executes a query to check version information of the firmware image, and determines that the firmware image is damaged if a response to the query is not received.

4. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to store the version information of the firmware image in the storage section when the version information of the firmware image is checked, compare the version information of the firmware image stored in the storage section with version information of the firmware image received from an external source, and upgrade the firmware image stored in the storage section with the firmware image received from the external source when the version information of the firmware image stored in the storage section is lower than the version information of the firmware image received from the external source.

5. The electronic device according to claim 4, further comprising a communication section configured to communicate with an external server which provides the firmware image.

6. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the firmware image stored in the storage section is upgraded while the OS is running.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the firmware image stored in the storage section comprises a hash value which is obtained from the firmware image stored in the storage section through a hash function, and a digital signature of the hash value.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to decrypt the digital signature of the hash value to determine whether the digital signature of the hash value is legal, and upgrade the firmware image stored in the storage section with the firmware image provided from the external server if the digital signature is illegal.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a display section configured to display an image based on a video signal, wherein

the controller is configured to control the display section to display a user interface (UI) for informing that the restoration function for the firmware image is performed.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a video signal;

a transmitter configured to process and transmit the received video signal to a display device; and

an alerting section configured to provide an alerting function when at least one of the restoration function for the firmware image is performed or when the firmware image is upgraded.

11. A firmware upgrading method of an electronic device, the method comprising:

executing a boot loader;

determining whether a firmware image in the electronic device is damaged;

performing a restoration function for the firmware image when the firmware image is damaged; and

executing an operating system (OS) to perform normal operations if the firmware image is not damaged.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the electronic device comprises a plurality of components provided for performing functions of the electronic device, and the electronic device stores firmware images respectively corresponding to the plurality of components, and

the performing the restoration function for the firmware image in the electronic device comprises performing the restoration function for the damaged firmware image if at least one of the firmware images corresponding to the plurality of components is damaged.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the determining whether the firmware image is damaged comprises

executing a query to check a version information of the firmware image in the electronic device;

and

determining that the firmware image in the electronic device is damaged if a response to the query is not received.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

storing the version information of the firmware image in the electronic device when the version information of the firmware image in the electronic device is checked.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

comparing the version information of the firmware image stored in the electronic device with the version information of the firmware image received from an external source, and upgrading the firmware image stored in the electronic device with the firmware image received from the external source when the version information of the firmware image stored in the electronic device is lower than the version information of the firmware image received from the external source.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the upgrading the firmware image stored in the electronic device is performed while the OS of the electronic device is running.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the firmware image comprises:

a hash value obtained from the firmware image stored in the electronic device through a hash function; and

a digital signature of the hash value.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the upgrading the firmware image stored in the electronic device is performed by determining whether the digital signature for the hash value is legal after decrypting the digital signature, and upgrading the firmware image stored in the electronic device with the firmware image provided from the server if the digital signature is illegal.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising displaying information that the restoration function for the firmware image is performed or that the firmware image is upgraded.

20. A method for upgrading a firmware image stored in an electronic device, the method comprising:

querying version information of the firmware image stored in the electronic device;

determining that the firmware image stored in the electronic device is damaged if a response to the query is not received;

entering an emergency restoration mode to restore the damaged firmware when it is determined that the firmware stored in the electronic device is damaged;

loading an operating system (OD) after the restoring of the damaged firmware is completed, and

upgrading the firmware stored in the electronic device if the version information of the firmware stored in the electronic device is lower than a firmware version received from an external server.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein a message is displayed on the electronic device during the emergency restoration indicating that the firmware image is being restored.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the firmware image stored in the electronic device includes a hash value which is obtained based on a hash function, and a digital signature of the hash function.