Software update device and system

Abstract

A software update device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit connected to communicate with a target device, and a control unit configured to generate an identifier corresponding to the target device and transmit the identifier and the software to the target device via the communication unit.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority based on Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0001973, filed on January 5, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety in the specification and drawings thereof.

[0002] The present invention relates to a software update device and system, and more particularly to a software update device and system that can improve the efficiency of a method for updating software installed in multiple electronic devices. [Background technology]

[0003] In recent years, the demand for portable electronic products such as laptops, video cameras, and mobile phones has grown rapidly, and as the commercialization of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, robots, satellites, and other products has progressed in earnest, research into high-performance secondary batteries that can be repeatedly charged and discharged has become active.

[0004] Currently, commercially available batteries include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, and lithium batteries. Of these, lithium batteries are attracting attention due to their advantages of being able to be freely charged and discharged since they have almost no memory effect compared to nickel-based batteries, a very low self-discharge rate, and a high energy density.

[0005] During the battery production process, battery components or produced batteries are transported in trays. To prevent battery quality degradation due to impacts caused by collisions between trays or with production equipment while the batteries are being transported, sensors capable of detecting impacts and positions are often installed on the trays. Since at least one sensor is installed on each tray, hundreds to hundreds of thousands of sensors are required. Because sensors are a type of electronic device, they may consist of hardware (e.g., a controller or processor) that manages their internal operations and software or firmware for controlling the hardware.

[0006] On the other hand, the software needs to be updated periodically or irregularly, and each sensor is updated with new software that differs only in the identifier that identifies the sensor.

[0007] In the past, when updating software for sensors, it was necessary to assign a unique identifier to each sensor, by changing only the identifier of the sensor on which the software was to be installed in the new software. For example, if there are hundreds of thousands of sensors, even if the software is the same version, it would be necessary to perform the work of changing only the identifier for identifying the sensor hundreds of thousands of times when installing or updating software for each sensor.

[0008] The task of assigning to software an identifier for an electronic device on which the software is to be installed is sometimes referred to as “identifier assignment.” Such identifier assignment may be performed manually, and therefore, there is a possibility of human error.

[0009] Therefore, there is a demand for technology that can minimize the possibility of errors occurring when updating software. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a software updating device and system that can update software more accurately and with improved efficiency.

[0011] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] A software update device according to one aspect of the present invention may include a communication unit connected to communicate with a target device, and a control unit configured to generate an identifier corresponding to the target device and transmit the identifier and software corresponding to the target device to the target device via the communication unit.

[0013] A plurality of the target devices may be provided.

[0014] The control unit may be configured to generate an identifier corresponding to each of a plurality of target devices, and transmit the identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of target devices and the software via the communication unit.

[0015] The control unit may be configured to generate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of target devices in a manner that does not overlap with each other.

[0016] The control unit may be configured to sequentially transmit the software and an identifier corresponding to the software to each of the plurality of target devices via the communication unit.

[0017] The control unit may be configured to transmit the software and the identifier to the previous target device via the communication unit, and then generate an identifier corresponding to the next target device, and transmit the software and the generated identifier to the next target device via the communication unit.

[0018] The controller may be configured to determine that the software update is complete if there is no next target device in the sequence.

[0019] A software update device according to another aspect of the present invention may further include a storage unit configured to store information about the generated identifier.

[0020] The control unit may be configured to transmit only the software to the target device via the communication unit if information about the identifier corresponding to the target device is already stored in the storage unit.

[0021] A software update system according to yet another aspect of the present invention may include the software update device according to the one aspect of the present invention and the target device.

[0022] The target device may be configured to update its software with the received software and assign the received identifier as its own identifier.

[0023] The software update system according to yet another aspect of the present invention may further include a software transmission device configured to transmit the software to the software update device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0024] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is advantageous to be able to assign identifiers to multiple electronic devices in a simple manner when updating software.

[0025] The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects described above, and other effects of the present invention not mentioned above will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the claims.

[0026] The drawings attached to this specification illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and serve to further understand the technical concepts of the present invention as well as the content of the invention, and therefore the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to only the matters depicted in the drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a software update device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a software update device and a plurality of target devices. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating software versions and identifiers of multiple target devices. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a software update system according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] The terms and words used in this specification and claims should not be interpreted as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, but should be interpreted as having meanings and concepts corresponding to the technical ideas of the present invention, in accordance with the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concepts of terms himself / herself in order to best explain the invention.

[0029] Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent the entire technical idea of ​​the present invention, and that there may be various equivalents and modifications that can be substituted therefor at the time of this application.

[0030] Furthermore, in describing the present invention, if it is recognized that a detailed description of known techniques related to the present invention may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted.

[0031] Phrases including ordinal numbers such as first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one of various components from the remaining components, and are not used to limit the components by these phrases.

[0032] Throughout this specification, when a part is said to "comprise" a certain element, this does not mean that it may further include other elements, unless otherwise specified.

[0033] Furthermore, throughout this specification, when a part is said to be "connected (coupled)" to another part, this includes not only the case where it is "directly connected (coupled)" but also the case where it is "indirectly connected (coupled)" with another element in between.

[0034] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0035] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a software updating device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Referring to FIG. 1, a software updating apparatus 100 may include a communication unit 110 and a control unit 120.

[0037] The communication unit 110 may be communicatively connected to a target device.

[0038] Specifically, the communication unit 110 may be connected to the target device so as to be able to communicate with it via wired and / or wireless communication. For example, the communication unit 110 may transmit data to the target device, and the target device may receive the data from the communication unit 110. Here, the data may be any data that can be transmitted, without any restrictions.

[0039] Here, the target device may be a device on which software can be installed. For example, the target device may be a sensor on which software received from the communication unit 110 can be installed. In this case, the software may include a variety of information such as the sensor's sensing target, sensing conditions, sensing period, and a storage method for sensing results. In other words, when software is newly installed or updated, the sensor may operate according to the content included in the software.

[0040] In the following description, "software update" refers to both the new installation of software and the updating of the version of installed software. Here, "updating the version of installed software" includes both upgrading and downgrading the version of software set in the target device.

[0041] The communication unit 110 may be connected to the control unit 120 so as to be able to communicate with it via wire and / or wirelessly. Preferably, the communication unit 110 may receive a command signal from the control unit 120 and operate in accordance with the content of the command signal. For example, if the communication unit 110 receives a transmission command from the control unit 120, it may transmit the items included in the transmission command to the target device. As another example, if the communication unit 110 receives a sleep command from the control unit 120, it may operate in a sleep mode. As yet another example, if the communication unit 110 receives a wake-up command from the control unit 120, it may operate in a wake-up mode.

[0042] The controller 120 may be configured to generate an identifier corresponding to the target device.

[0043] Here, the identifier is a unique value assigned to the target device. That is, the identifier can be said to be the ID (identification) of the target device. The controller 120 may detect the connected target device and generate an identifier corresponding to the target device.

[0044] The control unit 120 may be configured to transmit the identifier and the software corresponding to the target device to the target device via the communication unit 110 .

[0045] The control unit 120 may transmit the software to be updated and the generated identifier to the target device via the communication unit 110. Specifically, the control unit 120 may transmit a transmission command for the software and the identifier to the communication unit 110. That is, the transmission command may include information about the software and the identifier as the transmission target. The communication unit 110 may analyze the transmission command received from the control unit 120 and transmit the software and the identifier to the target device.

[0046] The target device can then be configured to update its own software with the received software. The target device can also be configured to assign the received identifier as its own identifier. In other words, software update device 100 allows software update and identifier assignment for the target device to be performed systematically at the same time.

[0047] The software update device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an advantage in that it can routinely update software and assign identifiers to target devices. That is, since human error is eliminated in the process of assigning identifiers to target devices, identifiers can be assigned more quickly and accurately to target devices.

[0048] Meanwhile, the control unit 120 provided in the software update device 100 may optionally include a processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit, register, communication modem, data processing device, etc., known in the art, for executing various control logics performed in the present invention. Furthermore, when the control logic is implemented by software, the control unit 120 may be implemented by a collection of program modules. In this case, the program modules may be stored in memory and executed by the control unit 120. The memory may be internal or external to the control unit 120 and may be connected to the control unit 120 by various means known or known in the art.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 1, the software updating device 100 may further include a storage unit 130 .

[0050] Here, the storage unit 130 may store data and programs necessary for each component of the software update device 100 to operate and function, or data generated during the operation and function. The storage unit 130 may be any known information storage means known to be capable of recording, erasing, updating, and reading data. For example, the information storage means may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a register, etc. The storage unit 130 may also store program code defining processes executable by the control unit 120.

[0051] The storage unit 130 may be configured to store information about the generated identifier. The storage unit 130 may also store information about the software. When the communication unit 110 receives a transmission command for the software and the identifier from the control unit 120, the communication unit 110 may transmit the information about the software and the identifier stored in the storage unit 130 to the target device.

[0052] If information about an identifier corresponding to the target device is already stored in the storage unit 130, the control unit 120 may be configured to transmit only the software to the target device via the communication unit 110.

[0053] If an identifier has already been assigned to the target device, there is no need to assign an identifier again, and so the control unit 120 may send a transmission command for the software to the communication unit 110. The communication unit 110 may receive the transmission command and transmit only information related to the software to the target device.

[0054] Specifically, the control unit 120 may first determine whether an identifier for the target device has been assigned before transmitting a transmission command to the communication unit 110. If an identifier has already been assigned to the target device, the control unit 120 may transmit a transmission command for the software to the communication unit 110. Conversely, if an identifier has not been assigned to the target device, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier corresponding to the target device and transmit a transmission command for the software and the identifier to the communication unit 110.

[0055] FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a software updating device 100 and a plurality of target devices 200. As shown in FIG.

[0056] A plurality of target devices may be provided.

[0057] Specifically, the same software can be installed on multiple target devices 200. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the multiple target devices 200 may include a first target device 201, a second target device 202, and a third target device 203.

[0058] The control unit 120 may be configured to generate an identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of target devices 200 .

[0059] Specifically, the control unit 120 can be configured to generate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of target devices 200 so that the identifiers do not overlap with each other.

[0060] 2, the control unit 120 may generate identifiers corresponding to the first target device 201, the second target device 202, and the third target device 203 such that the identifiers are different from one another. Since the identifiers are unique values ​​assigned to each of the multiple target devices 200, the control unit 120 can generate identifiers corresponding to the multiple target devices 200 so that the identifiers do not overlap.

[0061] Fig. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the software versions and identifiers of multiple target devices 200. Specifically, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the software versions of multiple target devices 200 and identifiers expressed in hexadecimal numbers.

[0062] 3, the identifier of the first target device 201 is 0x00000001, the identifier of the second target device 202 is 0x00000002, and the identifier of the third target device 203 is 0x00000003. For example, if 100,000 target devices are installed, the identifier of the 100,000th target device is 0x000186A0.

[0063] The control unit 120 may be configured to transmit the identifiers and software corresponding to each of the plurality of target devices 200 via the communication unit 110 .

[0064] The control unit 120 can transmit the software and identifiers corresponding to each of the multiple target devices 200 by transmitting a transmission command for the software and identifiers to the communication unit 110 .

[0065] The control unit 120 may be configured to sequentially transmit the software and the corresponding identifier to each of the plurality of target devices 200 via the communication unit 110 .

[0066] Specifically, the control unit 120 may be configured to generate an identifier corresponding to the next target device after transmitting the software and the identifier to the previous target device via the communication unit 110. Then, the control unit 120 may be configured to transmit the software and the generated identifier to the next target device via the communication unit 110.

[0067] Here, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier corresponding to the first target device and send a transmission command for the software and the generated identifier to the communication unit 110. Thereafter, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier corresponding to the next target device.

[0068] For example, in the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 3, assume that software and identifiers are transmitted to the first target device 201, the second target device 202, and the third target device 203 in that order. First, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier 0x00000001 corresponding to the first target device 201. Then, the control unit 120 may transmit a transmission command for the software and identifier 0x00000001 to the communication unit 110. Next, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier 0x00000002 corresponding to the second target device 202. Then, the control unit 120 may transmit a transmission command for the software and identifier 0x00000002 to the communication unit 110. Finally, the control unit 120 may generate an identifier 0x00000003 corresponding to the third target device 203. Then, the control unit 120 may transmit a transmission command for the software and identifier 0x00000003 to the communication unit 110.

[0069] The control unit 120 may be configured to determine that the software update is complete if there is no next target device in the sequence.

[0070] In the previous embodiment, since there is no fourth target device, the control unit 120 can determine that the software update is complete after sending a transmission command to the communication unit 110 for the software and the identifier 0x00000003 corresponding to the third target device 203.

[0071] According to the software update device 100 of an embodiment of the present invention, since a process of manually assigning an identifier to a target device is not required, it is possible to prevent human error in the process of assigning an identifier. Furthermore, since the identifier of the target device is systematically assigned and transmitted, the assignment of the identifier of the target device can be more quickly performed.

[0072] FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a software update system 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0073] A software update system 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention may include a software update device 100 and a target device.

[0074] The target device may be configured to update its software with the received software, and the target device may be configured to assign the received identifier as its own identifier.

[0075] 3, the first target device 201 may receive software (version 1.0.1) and an identifier 0x00000001 from the software update device 100. The first target device 201 may then newly install the 1.0.1 version of its software or update it to the 1.0.1 version. The first target device 201 may set its own identifier to 0x00000001.

[0076] Similarly, the second target device 202 may receive software (version 1.0.1) and the identifier 0x00000002 from the software update device 100. The second target device 202 may then newly install the 1.0.1 version of its own software or update it to the 1.0.1 version. The second target device 202 may set its own identifier to 0x00000002.

[0077] Finally, the third target device 203 may receive the software (version 1.0.1) and the identifier 0x00000003 from the software update device 100. The third target device 203 may then newly install the 1.0.1 version of its own software or update it to the 1.0.1 version. The third target device 203 may set its own identifier to 0x00000003.

[0078] Referring to FIG. 4, the software update system 1 may further include a software transmission device 300.

[0079] The software transmission device 300 may be configured to transmit software to the software update device 100 .

[0080] That is, the software updating device 100 can transmit the software received from the software transmission device 300 to the target device together with the generated identifier.

[0081] According to the software update system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, software updates and identifier assignments can be routinely performed in stages.

[0082] The embodiments of the present invention described above may be realized not only by devices and systems, but also by a program that realizes functions corresponding to the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium on which that program is recorded. Such realization can be easily achieved by anyone skilled in the technical field to which the present invention pertains based on the description of the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0083] Although the present invention has been described above using limited embodiments and drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these, and that various modifications and variations can be made by a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains within the technical spirit of the present invention and the equivalent scope of the appended claims.

[0084] Furthermore, the present invention described above is susceptible to various substitutions, modifications, and alterations by a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains, within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, but may be configured by selectively combining all or part of each embodiment for various modifications. [Explanation of symbols]

[0085] 1 Software Update System 100 Software update device 110 Communications Department 120 control section 130 Storage section 200 Target Device 300 Software transmission device

Claims

1. a communication unit connected to be able to communicate with the target device; a control unit configured to generate an identifier corresponding to the target device and transmit the identifier and software corresponding to the target device to the target device via the communication unit; A software update device comprising:

2. The target device is provided in a plurality of units, The control unit 2. The software update device according to claim 1, configured to generate an identifier corresponding to each of a plurality of target devices, and transmit the identifier and the software corresponding to each of the plurality of target devices via the communication unit.

3. The control unit The software update device according to claim 2 , wherein the device is configured to generate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of target devices so as not to overlap with each other.

4. The control unit 3. The software update device according to claim 2, configured to sequentially transmit the software and the corresponding identifier to each of the plurality of target devices via the communication unit.

5. The control unit 5. The software update device of claim 4, configured to, after transmitting the software and the identifier to the previous target device via the communication unit, generate an identifier corresponding to the next target device, and transmit the software and the generated identifier to the next target device via the communication unit.

6. The control unit The software update device according to claim 5 , configured to determine that the software update is completed when there is no next target device in the sequence.

7. The software update apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a storage unit configured to store information regarding the generated identifier.

8. The control unit The software update device of claim 7, configured to transmit only the software to the target device via the communication unit if information regarding the identifier corresponding to the target device is already stored in the memory unit.

9. The software update device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and the target device, The target device A software updating system configured to update its software with the received software and assign the received identifier as its own identifier.

10. The software update system of claim 9 , further comprising a software transmission device configured to transmit the software to the software update device.

Images