Electronic device network supporting compression and decompression in electronic devices and update generator

• US 7,669,195 B1
• Filed: 08/02/2004
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Qumei, Iyad
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Phillip H
• Application Number:
  US10/909,519
• Time in Patent Office: 2,031 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-172, 709/247
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an electronic device network including a plurality of electronic devices. The electronic devices may each have software adapted to update firmware/software resident in the electronic device in compressed form. The software adapted to update firmware/software may also be adapted to employ the decompressed firmware/software components in conjunction with additional update information in performing an update on the electronic devices. An update generator in the electronic device network may be adapted to employ compression and decompression techniques upon generated updates for use in updating the electronic devices. The update generator may also be adapted to generate update packages using the decompressed update information. The update generator may also be adapted to selectively compress the generated update packages usable for updating the electronic devices prior to the update package being transmitted to eth electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of updating a mobile electronic device associated with a communications network, the method comprising:

generating an update comprising at least one update block of update information for updating at least one of firmware and software residing in blocks of memory in the mobile electronic device, wherein at least a portion of the at least one of firmware and software to be updated is stored in a compressed form in the mobile electronic device before and after updating, and wherein generating the at least one update block comprises determining information identifying different split boundaries for splitting the at least one of firmware and software, after updating, into variable-sized blocks that, when compressed, fit into corresponding blocks of uniform size for storage in the memory;

compressing the generated update; and

transmitting the compressed update to the mobile electronic device, wherein the update information comprises a set of executable instructions for converting the at least one of firmware and software from a first version to a second version in the mobile electronic device, and wherein the determined different split boundaries information is employed to split blocks of the at least one of firmware and software updated in the mobile electronic device into variable-sized blocks to be compressed into blocks of uniform size for storage in the memory.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the at least one of firmware and software to be updated is decompressed in the mobile electronic device before updating the at least a portion at least one of firmware and software.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising receiving and storing the update in the mobile electronic device in a compressed form.

4. The method according to claim 1, comprising decompressing the update in the mobile electronic device before updating the at least one of firmware and software.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising updating at least one decompressed block of the at least one of firmware and software with a decompressed update block in the mobile electronic device.

6. The method according to claim 1, comprising enciphering the compressed update prior to transmitting the update to the electronic device.

7. The method according to claim 1, comprising decompressing the update one block at a time in the mobile electronic device.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising decompressing the at least a portion of the at least one of firmware and software to be updated one block at a time in the mobile electronic device.

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing a block of the at least one of firmware and software after the block is updated.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the updated block of the at least a portion of the at least one of firmware and software into a location where the block of the at least one of firmware and software originated before being updated.

11. A method of updating compressed firmware/software in a mobile electronic device, the method comprising:

transmitting a compressed update block generated by a generator to the mobile electronic device;

decompressing a compressed block of firmware/software to be updated;

decompressing a compressed update block to be used to update the decompressed block of firmware/software;

updating the decompressed block of firmware/software to be updated using the decompressed update block to produce an undated decompressed block of firmware/software, wherein the decompressed update block comprises a set of executable instructions for converting one version of firmware/software to another version of firmware/software in the mobile electronic device;

compressing an amount of the updated decompressed block of firmware/software, according to split boundaries information determined by the generator of the compressed update block to split the updated decompressed block of firmware/software in the mobile electronic device into variable-sized blocks to be compressed to produce a compressed block of updated firmware/software of uniform size; and

storing the compressed block of updated firmware/software in one of a plurality of memory blocks of uniform size in the mobile electronic device.

12. The method according to claim 11, comprising decompressing a plurality of blocks of firmware/software and a plurality of update blocks.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein updating the decompressed block of firmware/software comprises performing a calculation employing information in the decompressed update block and the block of firmware/software to be updated and converting contents of the block of firmware/software based upon the calculation results.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein performing a calculation comprises calculating binary differencing information between contents of the block of firmware/software to be updated and the update block.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein decompressing one of the block of firmware/software to be updated and the update block comprises adjusting one of a size or length of the block of information during decompression.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein compressing the updated block of firmware/software comprises adjusting one of a size or length of the block of information during compression.

17. An electronic device network for updating firmware/software in a plurality of electronic devices using at least one electronic device update, the network comprising:

at least one server comprising interface circuitry to communicatively couple to the plurality of electronic devices and that, during operation;

generates electronic device updates each comprising a set of executable instructions for converting one version of firmware/software to another version of firmware/software in blocks of memory in the plurality of mobile electronic devices, the at least one server comprising a compression/decompression engine to compress the electronic devices updates;

stores a plurality of electronic device updates;

dispenses the plurality of electronic device updates to the plurality of electronic devices;

wherein at least a portion of the firmware/software to be updated in the plurality of electronic devices is decompressed in order to be updated and compressed after being updated; and

wherein generating each of the electronic device updates comprises determining information identifying different split boundaries for splitting updated decompressed blocks of firmware/software into variable-sized blocks that, when compressed, fit into corresponding blocks of uniform size for storage in the memory, and wherein the determined different split boundaries information is employed to split blocks of updated firmware/software in the electronic device into variable-sized blocks to be compressed into blocks of uniform size for storage in the memory.

18. The network according to claim 17, wherein the at least one server comprises secure sockets layer support providing authentication and data enciphering/deciphering.

19. The network according to claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of electronic devices are adapted to retrieve compressed updates from the at least one server to update the firmware/software resident in the plurality of electronic devices, and wherein at least a portion of the firmware/software resident in the plurality of electronic devices is compressed.

20. The network according to claim 17, wherein update generation comprises compression and decompression.

21. The network according to claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of electronic devices comprises a compressed section that, during operation, stores a compressed update generated by the at least one server.

22. The network according to claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of electronic devices comprises at least one of a random access memory, a provisioned data section, an operating system, an update agent, and an update application loader.

23. The network according to claim 22, wherein the provisioned data section comprises at least one of an update agent provisioning information section and a number assignment module.

24. The network according to claim 23, wherein the update agent employs compression/decompression components to update at least one of firmware and software resident in the plurality of electronic devices, and wherein at least a portion of the at least one of firmware and software is compressed.

25. The network according to claim 17, wherein the plurality of electronic devices comprises at least one of a mobile cellular phone handset, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a multimedia player, and a camera.

26. The network according to claim 17, wherein the at least one server processes an old memory image and a new memory image, and wherein at least a portion of the at least one of the old memory image and the new memory image is compressed.

27. The network according to claim 17, wherein update generation decompresses one of compressed data segments and compressed code in both an old memory image and a new memory image to generate a compressed update for updating the firmware/software in the plurality of electronic devices, and wherein at least a portion of the firmware/software is compressed.

28. The network according to claim 17, wherein the at least one server employs compression/decompression algorithms to compress a generated update.

29. The network according to claim 17, wherein update generation employs one of a unitary decompression/compression engine and a separate decompression engine and a separate compression engine.