OTA firmware upgrading method for air conditioner and heat pump system

Abstract

The invention discloses an OTA firmware upgrading method of an air conditioner and heat pump system, comprising a cloud server, a remote communication module and a target board, the cloud server is electrically connected with the remote communication module, and the remote communication module is electrically connected with the target board; wherein the target board is used for executing firmware written by the remote communication module, a FLASH in an MCU (Microprogrammed Control Unit) of the remote communication module is divided into n storage blocks, and the n storage blocks are respectively used for storing firmware downloaded from a cloud server for recent n times; a user can select to write the firmware stored in any storage area into the target board, and then the target board executes the firmware selected by the user. Therefore, the redundancy of the target board can be reduced, the operation efficiency of the system is improved, the idle storage space of the system is utilized, and the system has the firmware rollback capability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of remote upgrading of heat pump air conditioners, and in particular to an OTA firmware upgrading method for air conditioners and heat pump systems. Background Art

[0002] OTA (Over-the-Air Technology) can not only repair and iterate the functional defects of products that have been sold, but also use existing hardware to innovate functions and bring new experiences to users. It has been widely used in the heat pump and HVAC industries. At present, the OTA solution for the heat pump and HVAC industries is to download the new program from the cloud server and store it in the storage area of ​​the target board, and partition the storage area to store new and old programs. If there are only two partitions, the latest version and the previous version are always stored, and users cannot choose other older versions. Upgrading to the latest version may also have new risks. Multiple old versions of the program should be provided for users to choose to fall back.

[0003] Announcement No. CN117170696A discloses an OTA upgrade method and system for an air conditioner, which relates to the field of remote upgrade of air conditioners. The method includes: before installing the original program for the first time, dividing the storage area into a write partition and a backup partition, and writing the original program to the partition; dividing the backup partition into n+1 sub-partitions, the first n sub-partitions are backup storage partitions, and the n+1th sub-partition is an idle backup partition; backing up the current old version of the program to the nth backup storage partition, and retaining the old version of the program in the first n-1 backup storage partitions; erasing the current old version of the program, and flashing the new version upgrade program to the write partition; when the flashing of the new version upgrade program fails or a custom version selection program operation is performed, selecting a corresponding old version program to perform a rollback operation.

[0004] In the prior art, if multiple partitions are set on an MCU or a FLASH chip, the selection and configuration of the MCU or the FLASH chip will be increased during the design, which increases the cost. Summary of the invention

[0005] In order to solve the problem in the prior art that the storage area in the target board needs to be partitioned, which leads to target board redundancy and high unit cost, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an OTA firmware upgrade method for air conditioning and heat pump systems, which can reduce unit costs and improve unit operation stability while realizing firmware selection.

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention adopts the following technical scheme: an OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner and a heat pump system, comprising a cloud server, a remote communication module and a target board, the cloud server is electrically connected to the remote communication module, and the remote communication module is electrically connected to the target board; wherein the target board is used to execute the firmware written by the remote communication module, and the internal FLASH of the remote communication module MCU is divided into n storage blocks, and the n storage blocks are respectively used to store the firmware downloaded from the cloud server for the last n times; the user can choose to write the firmware stored in any storage area into the target board, and then the target board executes the firmware selected by the user.

[0007] Preferably, the internal FLASH of the target board is divided into the Bootloader area, the Parameter area and the APP area; when the user-side firmware is upgraded, the target board stores the upgrade flag in the Paramet area, and then jumps to the main function of the BootLoade area to execute. After the BootLoade area detects the upgrade flag of the Paramet partition, the firmware in the APP area is copied to the Backup area of ​​the remote communication module. After the firmware in the APP area is moved, the APP area receives the firmware frame by frame and writes the new firmware into the APP partition. After the new firmware is written, the upgrade flag is cleared in the Paramet area, and then the target board jumps to the APP partition, and the unit runs with the new firmware.

[0008] Preferably, the target board includes a write area and a backup area; when the user selects the firmware in the remote communication module, the remote communication module will send the firmware selected by the user to the target board, and the target board will store the firmware selected by the user in the designated write area, and copy the running old firmware to the backup area at the same time. After the running old firmware in the write area is overwritten by the firmware selected by the user, the unit will restart and run with the firmware selected by the user.

[0009] Preferably, when the number of upgrades of the unit exceeds the number of internal storage areas of the remote communication module, the remote communication module clears the firmware with the earliest storage time.

[0010] The beneficial effects of the technical solution of the present invention are as follows: the above solution reuses the idle storage resources of the remote communication module, and realizes the storage of multiple old firmware for later use after OTA without increasing the hardware cost; and can ensure that the target board has sufficient resources to operate, thereby ensuring the stability of the unit system operation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of the unit OTA firmware upgrade flow chart; Figure 2 This is the unit firmware rollback flow chart; Figure 3Schematic diagram of firmware storage in target board and remote communication module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

[0013] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0014] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more, unless otherwise clearly specified.

[0015] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0016] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, a first feature being "above" or "below" a second feature may include that the first and second features are in direct contact, or may include that the first and second features are not in direct contact but are in contact through another feature between them. Moreover, a first feature being "above", "above" and "above" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. A first feature being "below", "below" and "below" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly below and obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is lower in level than the second feature.

[0017] like Figure 1 As shown in Figure 3, an OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner or heat pump system includes a cloud server, a remote communication module, and a target board, wherein the cloud server is electrically connected to the remote communication module, and the remote communication module is electrically connected to the target board; wherein the target board is used to execute the firmware written by the remote communication module, and the internal FLASH of the MCU of the remote communication module is divided into n storage blocks, and the n storage blocks are respectively used to store the firmware downloaded from the cloud server for the latest n times; The user can choose to write the firmware stored in any storage area into the target board, and then the target board executes the firmware selected by the user.

[0018] With such a configuration, the above solution utilizes the idle storage resources of the remote communication module MCU, and realizes that the machine can save multiple old firmware after a remote upgrade without increasing the hardware cost, and allows users to select the appropriate firmware based on actual conditions.

[0019] In this embodiment, the internal FLASH of the target board is divided into the Bootloader area, the Parameter area and the APP area; when the machine has new firmware that needs to be pushed to the user end for upgrading, the cloud server background is opened, the manufacturer uploads the new firmware to the cloud server background and starts the push instruction, the new firmware in the cloud server can be downloaded by the remote communication module on the user side, after the download is completed and the new firmware is verified, the remote communication module will send the new firmware to the target board.

[0020] Furthermore, when the user-side firmware is upgraded, the target board stores the upgrade flag in the Paramet area, and then jumps to the main function of the BootLoade area to execute; after the BootLoade area detects the upgrade flag of the Paramet partition, the firmware in the APP area is copied to the Backup area of ​​the remote communication module. After the firmware in the APP area is moved, the APP area receives the firmware frame by frame and writes the new firmware into the APP partition. After the new firmware is written, the Paramet area clears the upgrade flag, and then the target board jumps to the APP partition, and the unit runs with the new firmware.

[0021] In this embodiment, the target board includes a write area and a backup area; when the user selects the firmware in the remote communication module, the remote communication module will send the firmware selected by the user to the target board, and the target board will store the firmware selected by the user in the designated write area, and copy the running old firmware to the backup area at the same time. After the running old firmware in the write area is completely overwritten by the firmware selected by the user, the unit restarts and runs with the firmware selected by the user.

[0022] In this embodiment, when the number of upgrades of the unit exceeds the number of storage areas inside the remote communication module, the remote communication module clears the firmware with the earliest storage time. The internal FLASH of the remote communication module MCU is divided into 10 storage blocks, which store the firmware downloaded from the cloud server for the last 10 times. If the upgrade exceeds 10 times, the earliest firmware will be cleared, and so on.

[0023] The OTA firmware upgrade process is as follows: the cloud server issues the OTA command, and then the remote communication module downloads the new firmware, and then the unit verifies the new firmware. When the verification passes, the new firmware is launched to the target board, and the new firmware is stored in the designated storage partition of the remote communication module; then the target board verifies the new firmware again. After the verification passes, the APP area of ​​the target board copies the running firmware to the remote communication module, and then the remote communication module stores the fasteners in the APP area, and then the unit restarts with the new firmware. Among them, when the above verification fails, the unit will report an error prompt.

[0024] The user-side version rollback process is as follows: the user-side performs a version rollback operation, and then the remote communication module sends down the firmware in the designated storage partition, and then verifies the sent firmware. After the verification passes, the sent firmware is stored in the write area of ​​FLASH to overwrite the running firmware. After the overwriting is completed, the unit restarts and runs with the sent firmware; among them, when the above verification fails, an error is reported, and then the operation returns to the designated partition of the remote communication module.

[0025] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "examples", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representation of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner.

[0026] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is to be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and are not to be construed as limitations on the present invention. A person skilled in the art may change, modify, replace and modify the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention without departing from the principles and intent of the present invention.

Claims

1. An OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner or heat pump system, characterized in that: It includes a cloud server, a remote communication module and a target board, wherein the cloud server is electrically connected to the remote communication module, and the remote communication module is electrically connected to the target board; wherein the target board is used to execute the firmware written by the remote communication module, and the internal FLASH of the MCU of the remote communication module is divided into n storage blocks, and the n storage blocks are respectively used to store the firmware downloaded from the cloud server for the latest n times; The user can choose to write the firmware stored in any storage area into the target board, and then the target board executes the firmware selected by the user.

2. The OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner or heat pump system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The internal FLASH of the target board is divided into Bootloader area, Parameter area and APP area; When the user-side firmware is upgraded, the target board stores the upgrade flag in the Paramet area, and then jumps to the main function in the BootLoade area to execute. After the BootLoade area detects the upgrade flag of the Paramet partition, it copies the firmware in the APP area to the Backup area of ​​the remote communication module. After the firmware in the APP area is moved, the APP area receives the firmware frame by frame and writes the new firmware into the APP partition. After the new firmware is written, the upgrade flag is cleared in the Paramet area, and then the target board jumps to the APP partition, and the unit runs with the new firmware.

3. The OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner or heat pump system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The target board includes a writing area and a backup area; when the user selects the firmware in the remote communication module, the remote communication module will send the firmware selected by the user to the target board, and the target board will store the firmware selected by the user in the designated writing area, and copy the running old firmware to the backup area at the same time. After the running old firmware in the writing area is completely overwritten by the firmware selected by the user, the unit will restart and run with the firmware selected by the user.

4. The OTA firmware upgrade method for an air conditioner or heat pump system according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the number of upgrades of the unit exceeds the number of internal storage areas of the remote communication module, the remote communication module clears the firmware with the earliest storage time.

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