Firmware Switching via Function Tables for Live Communication Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Firmware updates in communication devices, such as optical line terminals, often require reactivation, leading to temporary service interruptions and potential memory errors, and existing methods to avoid interruptions, like using redundant apparatuses, incur additional costs.
Innovation Solution
A communication apparatus that updates firmware by writing new firmware to a free region of volatile memory while maintaining the old firmware, using indirect processing to change function references without overwriting the existing firmware, and incorporating update timing criteria to ensure stability and minimize service disruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If firmware is rewritten directly in volatile memory while being executed, then firmware update can be performed without reactivation, but the firmware may be rewritten incompletely causing segmentation errors or memory errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides volatile memory into multiple regions: a first region for storing currently executed firmware and a second region for storing updated firmware. This segmentation allows the system to maintain the old firmware in the first region while writing new firmware to the second region, preventing corruption of running code and enabling safe firmware updates without reactivation.
2Reliability
If the firmware deployed on volatile memory is stopped to rewrite it, then firmware can be updated safely, but communication functions cannot be utilized during reactivation causing service interruption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary writing of updated firmware to a second region of volatile memory before the current firmware in the first region is fully executed or completed. This preliminary action allows the system to prepare the updated firmware in advance while the communication functions continue to operate using the old firmware, enabling seamless switching without service interruption.
3Productivity
If redundant apparatus is used to update firmware without interruption, then service continuity is maintained, but additional costs are incurred
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the volatile memory serve multiple functions: it acts as both the running memory for currently executed firmware and as the target memory for updated firmware simultaneously. By dividing volatile memory into multiple regions, the system eliminates the need for separate redundant firmware storage or additional hardware, achieving cost-effective firmware updates without service interruption.
Data Source
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AI summary
A communication apparatus includes: a memory that stores, first data on firmware before update, second data on firmware after the update, and a table in which the first data or the second data is associated with an address where the first data or the second data is positioned; and a processor that executes processing based on the first data or the second data positioned at the address defined in the table.