Electronic device network supporting compression and decompression in electronic devices

• US 7,886,093 B1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Shao-Chun
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mamo; Elias
• Application Number:
  US10/903,394
• Time in Patent Office: 2,384 Days
• Field of Search: 710 1- 74
• US Class Current: 710/68
• 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 update agents capable of selectively decompressing compressed code and/or compressed data segments. The update agents may also be adapted to employ the decompressed code and data segments in conjunction with additional update information to update the firmware and/or software, compressed or otherwise, resident in the electronic devices. An update generator may be adapted to employ compression and decompression techniques to extract compressed code and data segments from a plurality of memory images stored in the electronic devices. The update generator may also be adapted to process the extracted information and generate update packages using the decompressed code and data segments and the additional update information. The update generator may also be adapted to selectively compress the update information in generated update packages usable for updating the electronic devices.

Claims

1. A method of updating compressed information in an electronic device, the method comprising:

decompressing one of at least one block of information to be updated;

after decompressing, updating at least a portion of decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information, using update information received by the electronic device;

after updating, compressing an amount of the updated decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information, wherein the amount to be compressed is predetermined by a generator of the update information external to the electronic device;

after compressing, storing the compressed updated decompressed contents in the one or another of the at least one block of information; and

repeating the decompressing, updating, compressing, and storing in a block by block fashion until each block in the at least one block of information has been updated.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving and updating one block at a time.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving a plurality of blocks and updating one block at a time.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing a duplicate copy of the one of the at least one block of information during an update.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein storing the duplicate copy of the one of the at least one block of information comprises storing a compressed version of the one of the at least one block of information.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein storing the backup copy of the one of the at least one block of information comprises storing the updated decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating at least a portion of decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information comprises overwriting at least a portion of the decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information with updated information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating at least a portion of decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information comprises modifying at least a portion of the decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information with updated information.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating at least a portion of decompressed contents of the one of the at least one block of information comprises using a set of executable instructions to convert the at least a portion of decompressed contents to an updated contents.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein decompressing the one of the at least one block of information to be updated comprises adjusting one of a size and length of the block of information during decompression.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein compressing the updated contents of the one of the at least one block of information comprises adjusting one of a size and length of the block of information during compression.

29. The method according to claim 1, wherein the compressed information comprises executable code installed in the electronic device and the updating comprises reprogramming the electronic device.

30. The method according to claim 5, wherein the compressed version is the one of the at least one block of information before the updating.

31. The method according to claim 5, wherein the compressed version is the one of the at least one block of information after the updating.

12. A method of fault tolerant updating of compressed information in an electronic device, the method comprising:

decompressing contents of at least one block of information to be updated;

temporarily storing in non-volatile memory a duplicate copy of the at least one block of information;

after decompressing, compressing a predetermined amount of the updated contents of the at least one block of information, after the contents have been updated using update information received by the electronic device from a remote source;

after compressing, storing the compressed updated contents in the at least one block of information;

repeating the decompressing, temporarily storing, compressing, and storing after compression until all of the at least one block of information have been updated; and

wherein the update information communicates the predetermined amount of the updated decompressed contents to be compressed for each of the at least one block to be updated, and comprises information enabling the electronic device to resume updating the compressed information at a point of abnormal interruption of the updating.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein temporarily storing the duplicate copy of the at least one block of information comprises storing the at least one block of information in compressed form before being updated.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein temporarily storing the duplicate copy of the at least one block of information comprises storing the at least one block of information after contents of the at least one block of information have been updated.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising updating at least a portion of one block of information at a time.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein updating at least a portion of one block of information comprises updating decompressed contents of the at least one block of information by overwriting at least a portion of the decompressed contents of the at least one block of information with updated information.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein updating at least a portion of one block of information comprises updating decompressed contents of the at least one block of information by modifying at least a portion of the decompressed contents of the at least one block of information with updated information.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein updating at least a portion of one block of information comprises updating decompressed contents of the at least one block of information by converting at least a portion of decompressed contents of the at least one block of information to an updated contents using a set of executable instructions.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein decompressing at least one block of information to be updated comprises adjusting one of a size and length of the block of information during decompression.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein compressing the updated contents of the at least one block of information comprises adjusting one of a size and length of the block of information during compression.

21. A system for updating compressed information, the system comprising:

at least one electronic device comprising compressed information; and

an update generator remote from the electronic device for generating updates for updating the compressed information resident in the at least one electronic device in a fault tolerant manner, the generated updates comprising information identifying an amount of updated decompressed information to be compressed to form each block of updated compressed information, and information that enables the at least one electronic device to resume updating the compressed information at a point of interruption of the updating.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises a compressed section of non-volatile memory comprising compressed code.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises one of a unitary decompression/compression engine and a separate decompression engine and a separate compression engine.

24. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises a hack-up non-volatile storage for ensuring continuity of an update procedure and preventing loss of information, wherein at least one duplicate block of information is stored in the hack-up non-volatile storage only during the update procedure.

25. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises random access memory for performing an update on decompressed blocks of information.

26. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises a non-volatile memory adapted to contain blocks of information comprising one of a uniform size and a uniform length.

27. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises a random access memory adapted to contain blocks of information comprising one of a variable size and a variable length.

28. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electronic device comprises one of a unitary ciphering/deciphering engine and a separate ciphering engine and a separate deciphering engine.