Maintaining mobile device electronic files including using difference files when upgrading

• US 7,516,451 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Issued: 04/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: InnoPath Software, Inc. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peng, Luosheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rampuria; Satish
• Application Number:
  US10/931,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20060069755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 717168-178, 455418-220
• US Class Current: 717/173
• 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 a maintenance file from at least one remote server via the communication device, wherein the maintenance file includes a first difference file associated with the first processor, a second difference file associated with the second processor, and wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file, and update software files of the first processor using the first difference file of the maintenance file;

an emulator coupled to the upgrade engine to emulate the remote server and to transfer, within the mobile device, the second difference file of the maintenance file to the second processor of the mobile device; and

a rewrite engine coupled to the second processor to receive the second difference file from the emulator 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 file, and the second memory stores the second difference file.

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

5. The device of claim 1, wherein upgrading software files of the first and second processor includes upgrading software modules of the first and second processor using information of one or more 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, wherein the mobile device further includes an emulator to emulate a remote server and to transfer a second difference file of a maintenance file to the second processor of the mobile device, wherein the first difference file is associated with the first processor and the second difference file is associated with the second processor, wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file;

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

a rewrite engine of the mobile device being 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 maintenance files received from the upgrade server include upgrade difference files for 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, the first difference file associated with the first processor, the second difference file associated with the second processor, and wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file;

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

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

emulating means for emulating the at least one remote server and 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 of the mobile device 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 and a second processor of the mobile device;

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, the first difference file associated with the first processor, a second difference file associated with the second processor, and wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file;

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

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

using an emulator of the mobile device to internally emulate the remote server to transfer the second difference file to a second memory of the second processor of the mobile device; and

updating software files of the second processor of the mobile device 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 and a second processor of the mobile device;

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, the first difference file associated with the first processor, a second difference file associated with the second processor, and wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file;

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

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

using an emulator of the mobile device to internally emulate the remote server to transfer the second difference file to a second memory of the second processor of the mobile device; and

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

25. A mobile communication device, comprising:

a first processor coupled to a second processor of the mobile communication device, wherein a first memory is associated with the first processor and a second memory is associated with the second processor of the mobile communication device;

an upgrade engine coupled to the first processor to receive a maintenance file from at least one remote server, wherein the maintenance file includes a first difference file associated with the first processor and a second difference file associated with the second processor, wherein the first difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file and the second difference file includes one or more of a rewrite difference file and an upgrade difference file, and the upgrade engine can operate to update a software file of the first processor using the first difference file;

an emulator coupled to and controlled by the first processor of the mobile communication device and being further coupled to the upgrade engine to emulate the remote server to transfer, within the mobile communication device, the second difference file from the first memory of the first processor to the second memory of the second processor of the mobile communication device; and

a rewrite engine coupled to and controlled by the second processor of the mobile communication device to use the second difference file to upgrade a software file of the second processor of the mobile communication device.