CN100378660C - Method for repairing program by detour and electronic device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A bypass patching method implemented in a program-driven electronic device having a rewritable memory for storing a program, the program comprising a replaced portion of the program stored in a first area, comprising: obtaining a correction program for replacing the replaced partial program; storing the correction program in a second area of the rewritable memory; changing a beginning instruction of the replaced partial program into an exception generating instruction, so that the replaced partial program generates a program repair exception when being executed; when the program repair exception is received, the correction program is executed.

Description

Method for bypassing patch and electronic device using the method

technical field

The present invention relates to a method for modifying a program that needs to be modified loaded into a program-driven electronic device, in particular to a method for executing the above-mentioned modified program that needs to be modified by receiving a program repair exception.

Background technique

In a program-driven electronic device that records a program in memory and is driven by this program, when the program executed in the program-driven electronic device has a wrong part or some parts of it need to be updated, it will usually be rewritten. The correct or new version of the program is loaded to replace the original program. But such an approach requires a relatively long time, and when only a small part of the original program needs to be modified, it is very inefficient for the practice of reinstalling the entire program. And the update procedure of the whole program will also inform the user to request consent, which will also cause inconvenience to the user.

In another approach, only the part that needs to be modified in the original program is covered with the updated program code for modification. This practice is not applicable in every situation. Because if the required bit for storing the updated program code is greater than the part to be modified, it is impossible to directly cover the above-mentioned replaced part of the program. Moreover, if the flash memory (flash memory) used for storing the operating system of the mobile communication device and the digital camera needs to update the program, it needs to be updated in units of blocks. Therefore, it is not possible to simply update only the parts that need to be modified in the original program.

Therefore, a more flexible patching method is needed to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of needing to update the entire program and partial updates that cannot be applied to every situation.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a more flexible method for patching programs to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of needing to update the entire program and partial updates that cannot be applied to every situation.

Based on the above purpose, the present invention provides a method for bypassing a repair program, which is executed in a program-driven electronic device. The above-mentioned program-driven electronic device has a rewritable memory for storing a program, and the above-mentioned program includes storage in a first area A replaced part of the program includes the following steps: obtaining a corrected program to replace the replaced part of the program; storing the corrected program in a second area of the rewritable memory; The instruction is changed to an exception generation instruction, so that a program repair exception is generated when the above-mentioned replaced part of the program is executed; when the above-mentioned program repair exception is received, the above-mentioned correction program is executed.

Wherein, the method with a detour patch program of the present invention can be realized by using a program, which is recorded on a storage medium such as a memory or a storage device. When this program is loaded into a program-driven electronic device, the above-mentioned detour patch method method can be executed. .

In addition, the present invention proposes a program-driven electronic device for executing a bypass repair program method, including a rewritable memory for storing a program, the above-mentioned program includes a replaced part of the program stored in the first area; a processor coupled to In the above-mentioned memory, when the above-mentioned processor obtains the correction program, store the above-mentioned correction program in the second area of the above-mentioned rewritable memory to replace the above-mentioned replaced part of the program. The processor changes a beginning instruction of the replaced part of the program into an exception generating instruction, so that a program repair exception is generated when the replaced part of the program is executed. and when the processor receives the program repair exception, execute the repair program.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the mobile communication device that executes the detour patch method of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of above-mentioned memory 4 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3A and Figure 3B show a flow chart of a detour repair program method in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of data structures of multiple correction programs;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium of a method for bypassing a repair program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference symbols

1-processor; 2-acquisition unit; 4-memory; 10-mobile communication device; 41-firmware use area; 42-firmware reserved area; 43-data area; 44-interrupt vector table; 45-exception processing module; 46-Replaced part of the program; 47-49-Modification program 471, 481, 491-Index field; 472, 482, 492-Version field; 473, 483, 493-Next revision program address field; 474, 487, 494- Correct the program code.

Detailed ways

The present invention provides a method for bypassing a patch program, which is implemented in a program-driven electronic device, to overcome the above-mentioned shortcoming that the entire program needs to be updated and the partial update method cannot be applied to every situation. In this embodiment, a mobile communication device is taken as an example, however, the detour patching method of the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be implemented in other program-driven electronic devices.

FIG. 1 shows a mobile communication device 10 implementing the detour patching method of the present invention. The mobile communication device 10 includes a processor 1 , an acquisition unit 2 , and a memory 4 . The processor 1 is coupled to the acquisition unit 2 and the memory 4 . The obtaining unit 2 is used to obtain the correction program. In this embodiment, although the mobile communication device 10 is taken as an example, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and the program-driven electronic device of the present invention may be other electronic devices.

In this embodiment, the acquisition unit 2 downloads the correction program from a personal computer or connects to the Internet via wireless communication. For example, the obtaining unit 2 may obtain the correction program through a Short Messaging Services (SMS) message containing the correction program.

Usually, the hardware manufacturer will logically divide the internal memory of the product into: (a) a data area for storing data, and (b) a program area for storing firmware programs. Because the hardware manufacturer does not know how much storage space the actual firmware program needs when logically partitioning, it will reserve a large space far exceeding the size of the firmware program. Therefore, when the firmware program is actually loaded into the memory, there is often a part of the firmware reserved area at the end of the program area. Fig. 2 has shown the schematic diagram of above-mentioned memory 4 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and above-mentioned data area is data area 43, and above-mentioned program area comprises firmware reserved area (empty area) 42 and firmware use area (code area) 41.

The firmware usage area 41 stores programs for driving the above-mentioned mobile communication device 10 . When a part of the program code needs to be modified in the above program, it can be corrected by using the detour patch method of the present invention. In the firmware usage area 41 there is a replaced part program 46 , an exception handling module 45 , and an interrupt vector table 44 .

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the addresses of the exception handling program codes corresponding to various exceptions recorded in the interrupt vector table 44 all point to the address of the exception handling module 45 . Therefore, when any exception occurs, the processor 1 handles the exception according to the exception handling program recorded by the exception handling module 45 .

Different from the traditional exception handling program, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the exception handling program recorded by the exception handling module 45 first determines whether the exception received by the processor 1 is a program repair exception.

FIG. 3A shows a flow chart of the electronic device repair program process of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. First, the processor 1 acquires a revised program 47 via the acquiring unit 2, and the revised program 47 will be used to replace the replaced part of the program 46 later (step S2). For example, the manufacturer of the mobile communication device 10 sends a short message containing the correction program 47 to the mobile communication device 10 . The obtaining unit 2 obtains the above-mentioned short message and retrieves the above-mentioned correction program 47 .

Next, the processor 1 stores the correction program 47 in an area adjacent to the data area 43 in the reserved firmware area 42 of the memory 4 (step S4), and the processor 1 records the address of the correction program 47.

After the revised program 47 is indeed stored in the internal memory 4, the processor 1 then revises the replaced part of the program 46 (step S6), so that the processor 1 will generate a program repair exception when it intends to execute the replaced part of the program 46 later; The device 1 will not be able to execute the replaced part of the program 46 later, but will jump to the address where the modified program 47 is located to execute the modified program 47 .

In this embodiment, we modify the beginning instruction of the replaced part of the program 46 to "exception-causing code", that is, when the processor 1 executes the instruction, it will cause the processor 1 to generate an exception (exception) situation. instruction. The above-mentioned exception-generating instructions include instructions with undefined op codes, or instructions that access illegal memory addresses.

The above start instruction is the first instruction of the replaced partial program 46 . The scope of the above-mentioned replaced part of the program can be determined by the revised program designer. For example, if the third to sixth instructions of the firmware program in the firmware use area 41 are wrong or need to be updated, the above-mentioned replaced part program 46 can be defined as the third to sixth instructions or the second to sixth instructions. The sixth directive, or any range encompassing the third through sixth directives above. The above-mentioned beginning instruction is the first instruction of the replaced part program 46, so the beginning instruction can be the above-mentioned third instruction or any instruction before the above-mentioned third instruction. Similarly, if the i-th instruction of the above-mentioned firmware program is wrong or needs to be updated, the above-mentioned beginning instruction can be any instruction before the i-th instruction of the firmware program.

Due to the characteristics of the flash memory, if the data stored in the flash memory needs to be modified, as long as one bit needs to be changed from "0" to "1", it needs to be modified in units of a memory block. That is to say, all data in the memory block where the above-mentioned bit is located needs to be updated before a bit "1" can be rewritten. Therefore, in the step "modifying the replaced part of the program 46" in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, we modify some bits of the above-mentioned beginning instruction from "1" to "0". In this way, the beginning instruction is modified into an exception generating instruction, and at the same time, it is not necessary to erase and update the data of the entire memory block where the replaced part of the program 46 is located.

The processor 1 modifies the above-mentioned beginning instruction into an exception generating instruction in the above-mentioned manner and according to an instruction modification information. The above-mentioned instruction modification information provides the information needed to modify the above-mentioned replaced partial program 46 and the beginning instruction, such as defining the starting and ending addresses of the replaced partial program 46 and which bits of the beginning instruction are modified to logic 0. This command modification information can be recorded in the above-mentioned short message or in the header of the correction program.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the correction program 47 has a header, which records an index, a next correction program address and a correction program version. The above-mentioned index is the address corresponding to the beginning instruction to be replaced by the modification program 47 , that is, the beginning address of the actual instruction code of the replaced part program 46 . If there is a second correction program, the second correction program header also records the address of the second replaced partial program start instruction. Similarly, if there is a third correction program, the header of the third correction program also records the address of the beginning instruction of the third replaced part of the program.

For example, FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the data structure of the modification program 47 , the modification program 48 and the modification program 49 . Fields 471-474 make up the revision program 47. Fields 481-484 make up the revision program 48. Fields 491-494 make up the revision procedure 49. The header address of the correction program 47 is "4096" in bytes. The header address of the revised program 48 is "4002". The header address of the revised program 49 is "3924". The next revision program address field 473 in the header of the revision program 47 records an address "4002". The address "3924" is recorded in the next revision program address field 483 in the header of the revision program 48 . The next fixer address field 493 in the header of the fixer 49 has no address record. The dotted line in the figure indicates that the actual address of the next revision program can be found according to the next revision program address field.

In this embodiment, the beginning instruction address of the replaced part program 46 is the "2002" byte, so the index field 471 record "2002" in the header of the revised program 47 represents the beginning instruction of the part to be replaced by the revised program 47 address. The index field 481 record "108" in the header of the modified program 48 represents the beginning instruction address of the part to be replaced by the modified program 48 . The index field 491 record "254" in the header of the modified program 49 represents the beginning instruction address of the part to be replaced by the modified program 47 . The version fields in the headers of fixes 47-49 record version information for later comparison of the old and new versions when the fixes are updated.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart of executing the program after the electronic device program is patched. First, the processor 1 will continue to detect whether there is an exception (step S8). When the processor 1 detects that an exception occurs, the processor 1 may obtain the program code read address of the exception processing module 45 by referring to the interrupt vector table 44 (step S10 ). Then the processor 1 can obtain the address of the program code that generated the exception at that time through the exception handling module 45 . At the same time, the processor 1 also receives the index values in the headers of the revised programs 47-49, that is, the addresses of the beginning instructions of the first-third replaced partial programs. In this embodiment, the processor 1 sequentially receives the index values in the headers of the correction programs 47-49 according to the "address of next correction program" field in each header. Next, the processor 1 compares whether the above-mentioned index and the exception generating address are the same (step S12).

If the index of the modified program 47 is the same as the exception generation address, it means that the exception received by the processor 1 is a program repair exception, that is, the exception is a program repair exception generated by the processor 1 executing the beginning instruction of the replaced part of the program 46 . For example: if the address generated by the exception received by the processor 1 is "2002" and is the same as the index value "2002" of the revised program 47, then the processor 1 will determine that the received exception is the beginning of the "replaced part of the program 46" A program patch exception is generated when the instruction is executed. Meanwhile, the correction program 47 to which the index currently received by the processor 1 belongs is a correction program for replacing the replaced part of the program 46 that generated the exception. Therefore, the processor 1 will not execute the replaced part of the program 46, but will execute the revised program 47 (step S14).

The above-mentioned revised program records relevant information required to return to the address of the instruction located after the above-mentioned replaced part of the program. In this way, if the processor 1 needs to return to the address of the program that should be executed next after the replaced part of the program is originally executed, the processor 1 can realize this operation according to the relevant information after executing the current correction program.

If the index of the correction program 47 is not the same as the exception generation address, it means that the exception received by the processor 1 is not a program repair exception of the current correction program. The processor 1 determines whether the address of the next revision program is recorded in the header of the current revision program (step S16). If the address of the next correction program is recorded in the header of the current correction program, the processor 1 acquires the next correction program as the current correction program according to the recorded address of the next correction program (step S18). Then repeat the operation of step S12. For example: if the address generated by the exception received by the processor 1 is "254", the processor 1 will sequentially compare whether the index value in the header of the correction program 48-49 is "254", and then execute the correction program 49.

If the address of the next correction program is not recorded in the current correction program header, the processor 1 determines that the above reception exception is not a program repair exception. Then, like a general exception handling program, the processor 1 obtains the corresponding exception handling program of the exception and handles the above-mentioned received exception accordingly. For example: if the address generated by the exception received by the processor 1 is "235", the processor 1 will sequentially compare whether the index column in the header of the correction program 47-49 contains "235". When the processor 1 (a) has finished indexing the correction program 49 sequentially, but still does not find the index column with the storage value "235", and (b) the head of the correction program 49 does not record the next correction program address, this When the processor 1 determines that the currently received exception is not a program repair exception, it returns to a normal exception handling procedure.

(deformation and advanced embodiment)

The firmware reserved area 42 is an unused part of the program area for recording programs, and its size can usually be as high as hundreds of kilobytes (KB for short). Therefore, using the firmware reserved area 42 to store the revision program is a more efficient way to utilize the memory. In addition, the address adjacent to the data area 43 is relatively easy to obtain, so the correction program is stored in an area adjacent to the data area 43 . However, storing the correction program in the data area 43 or other areas of the internal memory can also achieve the purpose of the present invention.

In the method of modifying the beginning instruction of the replaced partial program 46 into an exception generating instruction, it can be realized by modifying some bits of the beginning instruction by recording from logic 1 to logic 0. This method can modify only the beginning instruction without updating the data of the entire flash memory block even in the case that the above-mentioned beginning instruction is recorded in the flash memory.

In an example where the mobile communication device 10 is a mobile phone, the modification program 47 can be obtained by receiving a short message containing the modification program 47 . However, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and the program-driven electronic device of the present invention can obtain the correction program through other methods.

Wherein, the detour patching method of the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be realized by using a program, which is recorded on the storage medium of the memory 4, and when this program is loaded into the above-mentioned mobile communication device 10, the above-mentioned detour patching method can be executed .

Therefore, the present invention proposes a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, and the computer program is used to implement a bypass repair method, and the method will execute the above-mentioned steps.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium of a method for bypassing a repair program according to an embodiment of the present invention. The storage medium 60 is used for storing a computer program 620 for realizing the bypass patch method. Its computer program includes five logics, which are correction program acquisition logic 621 , initial instruction modification logic 622 and exception judgment processing logic 623 .

The modification program obtaining logic 621 obtains and stores the modification program in the appropriate memory address. The beginning instruction modification logic 622 modifies the beginning instruction of the replaced part of the program to become an exception generating instruction. The exception judgment processing logic 623 judges whether the received exception is a program repair exception and executes the corresponding correction program.

To sum up, the detour patching method of the present invention can be applied in program-driven electronic devices to overcome the disadvantages that the entire program needs to be updated when modifying the programs driving the above-mentioned program-driven electronic devices, and the partial update method cannot be applied to every situation.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore The protection scope of the present invention shall be determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (29)

1. a Hotfix method is executed in the driven by program electronic installation, and the said procedure drive electronics has one can rewrite internal memory, and in order to storing a program, said procedure comprises and is stored in one of a first area and is substituted subprogram, comprises the following steps:

Obtain a revision program, in order to replace the above-mentioned subprogram that is substituted;

Store above-mentioned revision program in an above-mentioned second area that rewrites internal memory;

Make the above-mentioned beginning instruction that is substituted subprogram into an exception and produce instruction, make above-mentioned when being substituted subprogram and being performed generating routine repair exception; And

When receiving said procedure repairing exception, carry out above-mentioned revision program.

2. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, above-mentioned second area is the firmware trough in the above-mentioned program area that rewrites internal memory.

3. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, above-mentioned second area is the part that the firmware trough is in close proximity to file system in the above-mentioned program area that rewrites internal memory.

4. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, before carrying out above-mentioned revision program step, also comprises the following step:

Reception produces the exception that instruction produces by an exception.

5. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 4 wherein, also comprises the following step:

Via obtain an exception processing module with reference to an interrupt vector table, above-mentioned exception processing module is in order to determine whether above-mentioned receipt exception is that said procedure is repaired exception according to the exception that receives.

6. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 4 wherein after above-mentioned receiving step, also comprises the following step:

Whether the index in the address that more above-mentioned exception produces instruction and the present revision program identical determining whether above-mentioned exception is that said procedure is repaired exception, above-mentioned index by in the above-mentioned present revision program record will replace beginning instruction address partly.

7. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 6, wherein, above-mentioned present revision program is above-mentioned revision program.

8. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 7 wherein, when the address of above-mentioned exception generation instruction is identical with above-mentioned index, also comprises routine step down:

Judge that above-mentioned exception is that said procedure is repaired exception.

9. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 6, wherein, above-mentioned second area writes down a plurality of revision programs, also comprises the following step before the above-mentioned comparison step:

Order obtains a revision program in above-mentioned a plurality of revision program as above-mentioned present revision program.

10. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 6, wherein, said sequence is obtained in the step of a revision program in above-mentioned a plurality of revision program, is to come order to obtain according to next revision program address of writing down in the above-mentioned present revision program.

11. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, modify steps also comprises the following step:

Making logical zero via some position in the position that will represent the instruction of above-mentioned beginning into by logical one revises above-mentioned beginning instruction and produces instruction for above-mentioned exception.

12. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, above-mentioned revision program record is got back to and is positioned at the above-mentioned required relevant information of instruction address that is substituted after the subprogram.

13. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the said procedure drive electronics is one can download the device for mobile communication of revision program.

14. Hotfix method as claimed in claim 13, wherein, above-mentioned device for mobile communication is obtained above-mentioned revision program via the note that download includes revision program.

15. a driven by program electronic installation in order to carry out the Hotfix method, comprises:

One can rewrite internal memory, and in order to storing a program, said procedure comprises and is stored in one of a first area and is substituted subprogram; And

One processor is coupled to the above-mentioned internal memory that rewrites, and wherein when above-mentioned processor is obtained a revision program, stores above-mentioned revision program in an above-mentioned second area that rewrites internal memory, in order to replace the above-mentioned subprogram that is substituted; Above-mentioned processor makes the above-mentioned beginning instruction that is substituted subprogram into an exception and produces instruction, make above-mentioned when being substituted subprogram and being performed generating routine repair exception; And when above-mentioned processor receives said procedure repairing exception, carry out above-mentioned revision program.

16. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, above-mentioned second area is the firmware trough in the above-mentioned program area that rewrites internal memory.

17. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, above-mentioned second area is the part that the firmware trough is in close proximity to the data field in the above-mentioned program area that rewrites internal memory.

18. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, above-mentioned processor also received by an exception and produces the exception that instruction produces before carrying out above-mentioned revision program.

19. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 18, wherein, above-mentioned processor is also obtained an exception processing module according to the exception that receives via reference one interrupt vector table, and above-mentioned exception processing module is in order to determine whether above-mentioned receipt exception is that said procedure is repaired exception.

20. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 18, wherein above-mentioned processor is after the above-mentioned exception of above-mentioned reception, also whether the index in the address of more above-mentioned instruction and the present revision program is identical to determine whether above-mentioned exception is that said procedure is repaired exception, and above-mentioned index will replace beginning instruction address partly by institute's record in the above-mentioned present revision program.

21. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 18, wherein, above-mentioned present revision program is above-mentioned revision program.

22. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 18, wherein, above-mentioned second area writes down a plurality of revision programs, and above-mentioned processor more order is obtained a revision program in above-mentioned a plurality of revision program as above-mentioned present revision program.

23. as claim 21 or 22 described driven by program electronic installations, wherein, when the address of above-mentioned instruction was identical with above-mentioned index, above-mentioned processor judged that also above-mentioned exception is that said procedure is repaired exception.

24. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 22, wherein, above-mentioned processor comes order to obtain another revision program according to next revision program address of writing down in the above-mentioned present revision program.

25. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, above-mentioned processor makes logical zero via some position in the position that will represent the instruction of above-mentioned beginning into by logical one to be revised above-mentioned beginning instruction and produces instruction for above-mentioned exception.

26. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, above-mentioned revision program record is got back to and is positioned at the above-mentioned required relevant information of the later instruction address of subprogram that is substituted.

27. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 15, wherein, the said procedure drive electronics is for downloading an electronic installation of revision program.

28. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 27, wherein, the above-mentioned electronic installation that can download revision program is a device for mobile communication.

29. driven by program electronic installation as claimed in claim 27, wherein, above-mentioned processor is obtained above-mentioned revision program via receiving a note.

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