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, and all the contents disclosed in the specification and drawings of the said application are incorporated into this application.

[0002] The present invention relates to a software update device and system, and more particularly, to a software update device and system capable of enhancing the efficiency of a method for updating software installed in a plurality of electronic devices.

Background Art

[0003] In recent years, the demand for portable electronic products such as notebook computers, video cameras, mobile phones, etc. has been growing rapidly. As the commercialization of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, robots, satellites, etc. has been in full swing, efforts have been actively made in research on high-performance secondary batteries that can be repeatedly charged and discharged.

[0004] Currently, commercially available batteries include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, lithium batteries, etc. Among them, lithium batteries are in the spotlight for their advantages of being freely chargeable and dischargeable because they hardly have a memory effect compared to nickel-based batteries, having a very low self-discharge rate, and having a high energy density.

[0005] During the battery production process, battery components or finished batteries are moved in trays. Because impacts from collisions between trays or with production equipment during transport can degrade battery quality, the trays may be equipped with sensors capable of detecting impact and position. Since at least one sensor is attached to each tray, hundreds to hundreds of thousands of sensors are required. As sensors are a type of electronic device, they may consist of hardware (e.g., a control unit or processor) that manages their internal operation and software or firmware to control such hardware.

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

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

[0008] The process of assigning identifiers to electronic devices on which software should be installed is sometimes referred to as identifier assignment. Such identifier assignment can be performed manually, and therefore, there is a possibility of human error.

[0009] Therefore, when updating software, there is a need for technology that can minimize the possibility of errors occurring. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

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

[0011] Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood from the following description and will be more clearly demonstrated by the embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by the means and combinations thereof set forth in the claims. [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 a target device so as to be able to communicate with the 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] The target device may be provided in multiple units.

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

[0015] The control unit may be configured to generate identifiers corresponding to each of the multiple 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 a corresponding identifier to each of the multiple target devices via the communication unit.

[0017] The control unit may be configured to transmit the software and 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.

[0018] The control unit may be configured to determine that the software update is complete if there are no target devices in the following order.

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

[0020] The control unit may be 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 storage unit.

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

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

[0023] A 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, when updating software, identifiers can be assigned to multiple electronic devices in a simple manner, which is an advantage.

[0025] The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects described above, and other effects of the present invention not mentioned 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 are for the purpose of further understanding the technical idea of the present invention together with the content of the invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be construed as being limited only to the matters described in the drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0027] [Figure 1] It is a diagram schematically showing a software update device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a diagram schematically showing a software update device and a plurality of target devices. [Figure 3] It is a diagram schematically showing the versions and identifiers of the software of a plurality of target devices. [Figure 4] It is a diagram schematically showing a software update system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0028] The terms and words used in this specification and the claims are not to be construed as being limited to the ordinary meaning or the dictionary meaning. The inventor interprets them in accordance with the meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention in accordance with the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concept of the terms in order to explain the invention in the best way.

[0029] Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical ideas of the present invention. There may be various equivalents and modifications that can replace them at the time of this application.

[0030] Furthermore, in explaining the present invention, if it is deemed that a specific explanation of known technologies related to the present invention may obscure the gist of the present invention, such detailed explanation will be omitted.

[0031] Ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," etc., are used to distinguish one of several components from the others, and are not used to limit the components themselves.

[0032] When a part of the specification is said to "include" a certain component, unless otherwise specified, this means that it may include other components rather than excluding them.

[0033] Furthermore, when a part of the specification is described as being "connected" to another part, this includes not only cases where the parts are "directly connected," but also cases where they are "indirectly connected" with other elements in between.

[0034] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings.

[0035] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a software update device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Referring to Figure 1, the software update device 100 may include a communication unit 110 and a control unit 120.

[0037] The communication unit 110 can be connected to the target device to enable communication.

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

[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 contain a wide variety of information, such as the sensor's sensing target, sensing conditions, sensing period, and storage method for sensing results. That is, if the software is newly installed or updated, the sensor may operate according to the contents contained in the software.

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

[0041] The communication unit 110 can be connected to the control unit 120 so as to be able to communicate with it by wire and / or wirelessly. Preferably, the communication unit 110 can receive command signals from the control unit 120 and operate in accordance with the contents contained in the command signals. For example, if the communication unit 110 receives a transmit command from the control unit 120, it can transmit the items contained in the transmit command to the target device. Another example is that if the communication unit 110 receives a sleep command from the control unit 120, it can operate in sleep mode. Yet another example is that if the communication unit 110 receives a wake-up command from the control unit 120, it can operate in wake-up mode.

[0042] The control unit 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. In other words, the identifier can be said to be the ID (identification) of the target device. The control unit 120 can sense the connected target device and generate an identifier corresponding to the target device.

[0044] The control unit 120 may be configured to transmit an identifier and 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 identifier to the communication unit 110. That is, the transmission command may include information about the software and identifier as the items to be transmitted. The communication unit 110 may analyze the transmission command received from the control unit 120 and transmit the software and identifier to the target device.

[0046] Furthermore, the target device may be configured to update its own software with the received software. The target device may also be configured to assign the received identifier as its own identifier. In other words, the software update device 100 makes it possible to systemically perform software updates and identifier assignments for the target device simultaneously.

[0047] A software update device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of being able to routinely perform software updates and identifier assignment for target devices. In other words, since human error is eliminated in the process of assigning identifiers for target devices, it becomes possible to assign identifiers for target devices more quickly and accurately.

[0048] On the other hand, the control unit 120 provided in the software update device 100 may selectively include processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), other chipsets, logic circuits, registers, communication modems, data processing devices, etc., known in the industry, in order to activate the 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 are stored in memory and can be activated by the control unit 120. The memory may be located inside or outside the control unit 120 and may be connected to the control unit 120 by various well-known or publicly available means.

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

[0050] Here, the storage unit 130 can store data and programs necessary for each component of the software update device 100 to operate and function, or data generated during the process of operation and functioning. The storage unit 130 is not particularly limited in type, as long as it is a known information storage means that is capable of recording, erasing, updating, and reading data. For example, information storage means may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), registers, etc. The storage unit 130 can also store program code that defines the processes that can be executed 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 identifier from the control unit 120, it may transmit the information about the software and identifier stored in the storage unit 130 to the target device.

[0052] If information regarding 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 reassign the identifier, and the control unit 120 can send a transmission command to the communication unit 110 for the software. The communication unit 110 receives the transmission command and can send only information related to the software to the target device.

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

[0055] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing a software update device 100 and multiple target devices 200.

[0056] The target device can be configured with multiple units.

[0057] Specifically, the multiple target devices 200 are devices on which the same software can be installed. For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 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 identifiers corresponding to each of the multiple target devices 200.

[0059] Specifically, the control unit 120 may be configured to generate identifiers corresponding to each of the multiple target devices 200 in a manner that does not overlap with each other.

[0060] For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the control unit 120 can generate identifiers corresponding to the first target device 201, the second target device 202, and the third target device 203, making them different from each other. 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 without overlap.

[0061] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the software versions and identifiers of multiple target devices 200. Specifically, Figure 3 shows the software versions and identifiers represented in hexadecimal for multiple target devices 200.

[0062] For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 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 provided, the identifier of the 100,000th target device is 0x000186A0.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[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 above 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 identifier 0x00000003 corresponding to the third target device 203.

[0071] According to the software update device 100 of one embodiment of the present invention, since the process of assigning identifiers to target devices by humans is not required, it is possible to prevent human errors in the identifier assignment process. Furthermore, since the identifiers of target devices are assigned and transmitted systemically, the assignment of identifiers to target devices can be carried out even more quickly.

[0072] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing 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 own software with the received software. The target device may also be configured to assign the received identifier as its own identifier.

[0075] For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the first target device 201 may receive software (version 1.0.1) and identifier 0x00000001 from the software update device 100. The first target device 201 may then newly install its own software in version 1.0.1 or update it to version 1.0.1. The first target device 201 may also set its own identifier to 0x00000001.

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

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

[0078] Referring to Figure 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] In other words, the software update device 100 can transmit the software received from the software transmission device 300 to the target device along with the generated identifier.

[0081] According to a software update system 1 of one embodiment of the present invention, software updates and identifier assignments can be routinized in a stepwise manner.

[0082] The embodiments of the present invention described above are not limited to devices and systems, but may also be realized through a program that implements the functions corresponding to the configuration of the embodiments of the present invention, or through a recording medium on which such a program is recorded. Such implementation can be easily achieved by experts in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, based on the above-described embodiments.

[0083] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to limited embodiments and drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited thereto, and that various modifications and variations can be made by persons with ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, within the equivalent scope of the technical concept of the present invention and the appended claims.

[0084] Furthermore, the present invention described above can be modified and altered in various ways by a person with ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs, without departing from the technical spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is not limited by the embodiments described above and the accompanying drawings, but rather can be constructed by selectively combining all or part of each embodiment for various modifications. [Explanation of symbols]

[0085] 1. Software update system 100 Software update devices 110 Communications Department 120 Control Unit 130 Storage section 200 Target Devices 300 Software Transmitter

Claims

1. A communication unit connected to enable communication 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, including The target device and, Includes, The target device is A software update system configured to update its own software to receive software and assign the received identifier as its own identifier.

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

3. The control unit, The software update system according to claim 2, configured to generate identifiers corresponding to each of the multiple target devices in such a way that they do not overlap with each other.

4. The control unit, The software update system according to claim 2, configured to sequentially transmit the software and an identifier corresponding to it to each of the multiple target devices via the communication unit.

5. The control unit, The software update system according to claim 4, configured to transmit 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 system according to claim 5, which is configured to determine that the software update is complete if there are no target devices in the order described above.

7. The software update system according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit configured to store information relating to a generated identifier.

8. The control unit, The software update system according to claim 7, wherein if information relating to the identifier corresponding to the target device is already stored in the storage unit, the system is configured to transmit only the software to the target device via the communication unit.

9. The software update system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a software transmission device configured to transmit the software to the software update device.

Images