CN100476728C - Application program updating method and mobile communication device using same - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an application program updating method and a mobile communication device using the same. First, an application program list is displayed on the mobile communication device. Receiving an addition request for adding an application indicated by the application list to the mobile communication device. And automatically judging the composition blocks of the application program. A plurality of communication devices with at least one component block of the application program are automatically determined. The component blocks of the application program are downloaded to the mobile communication device from the plurality of communication devices simultaneously through a wireless communication channel, wherein different component blocks are downloaded from different communication devices. And automatically combining the composition blocks into the application program for the mobile communication device to execute. The invention can check the hardware requirement and the required file of the application program at the local end, and simultaneously download the composition blocks of the application program from a plurality of communication devices for recombination and installation.

Description

Application program update method and mobile communication device using the method

technical field

The present invention relates to computer communication technology, and particularly relates to an application program updating method.

Background technique

In embedded systems, the application program is usually written on the chip. However, when it is necessary to add an application program to the embedded system, it needs to be re-burned, so it lacks flexibility.

In addition, some embedded systems use writable/re-writable storage media. This embedded system usually needs to be connected with a personal computer when adding new applications, so there are still many limitations.

China Taiwan Patent Publication No. 00595197 discloses a method for customizing mobile phone application programs by users. The mobile phone downloads the selected application program from the web server using the web browser installed thereon.

This method downloads the application in a client-server architecture. A single server needs to serve the needs of many users. When a large number of clients place download requests on the server at the same time, the bandwidth is divided, which slows down the download speed. Due to the heavy load, the server may crash.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the object of the present invention is to provide an application updating method and a mobile communication device.

The invention provides an application program update method, which is executed on a mobile communication device, and the mobile communication device includes a display, an application program management unit, and a communication unit. Firstly, the display shows an application list on the mobile communication device. The application management unit receives an adding request for adding an application indicated by the application list to the mobile communication device. Automatically identify the constituent blocks of the above-mentioned applications. A plurality of communication devices having at least one component block of the application program are automatically identified. The above-mentioned communication unit downloads the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program from the above-mentioned multiple communication devices to the above-mentioned mobile communication device via a wireless communication channel, wherein different component blocks are downloaded from different communication devices. The above application program management unit automatically assembles the above component blocks to form the above application program for execution by the above mobile communication device.

According to the application program updating method of the present invention, the above-mentioned application program list is pre-stored in the above-mentioned mobile communication device.

The application program updating method of the present invention further includes: storing the hardware requirement information of the above application program in the above mobile communication device; and the above application program management unit checking whether the above mobile communication device is suitable for installing the above application program according to the above hardware requirement information .

In the application program updating method described in the present invention, the above-mentioned composition block is used to form a file of the above-mentioned application program.

The application program updating method described in the present invention further includes: the above application program management unit automatically determines the file group required by the above application program and not stored in the above mobile communication device, wherein the above mobile communication device only downloads the above file group .

The application program updating method described in the present invention further includes: verifying whether the above-mentioned downloaded component blocks are genuine components of the above-mentioned application program.

The method for updating an application program of the present invention further includes: downloading an index file, wherein the index file represents the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program and the above-mentioned plurality of communication devices.

The application program updating method described in the present invention further includes: sending the downloaded component blocks through the wireless communication channel.

The application program updating method described in the present invention further includes: when the above-mentioned application program management unit has been downloaded and assembled into the above-mentioned application program, the above-mentioned application program list is correspondingly adjusted to display that the above-mentioned application program has been downloaded. .

The invention also provides a mobile communication device, which includes a display, an application program management unit, and a communication unit. The above-mentioned display shows a list of application programs. The application management unit receives an adding request for adding an application indicated by the application list to the mobile communication device. The above-mentioned application program management unit automatically distinguishes the constituent blocks of the above-mentioned application program, and automatically distinguishes a plurality of communication devices having at least one constituent block of the above-mentioned application program. The above-mentioned communication unit downloads the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program from the above-mentioned multiple communication devices to the above-mentioned mobile communication device via a wireless communication channel, wherein different component blocks are downloaded from different communication devices. The above application program management unit automatically assembles the above component blocks to form the above application program for execution by the above mobile communication device.

The mobile communication device described in the present invention further includes: a storage device storing the above application program list in advance.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, the storage device stores hardware requirement information of the application program, and the application management unit checks whether the mobile communication device is suitable for installing the application program according to the hardware requirement information.

In the mobile communication device according to the present invention, the above-mentioned component blocks are used to compose a file of the above-mentioned application program.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, the application program management unit automatically determines the file group required by the application program and not stored in the mobile communication device, wherein the mobile communication device only downloads the file group.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, the application program management unit verifies whether the downloaded component blocks are genuine components of the application program.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, the communication unit downloads an index file, and the index file indicates the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program and the above-mentioned multiple communication devices.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, the communication unit sends the downloaded component blocks through the wireless communication channel.

In the mobile communication device of the present invention, when the above-mentioned component blocks have been downloaded and combined into the above-mentioned application program, the above-mentioned application program management unit makes corresponding adjustments to the above-mentioned application program list to display that the above-mentioned application program has been downloaded.

The application program update method and the mobile communication device using the method described in the present invention, the mobile communication device checks the hardware requirements and required files of the application program at the local end, and downloads the constituent blocks of the application program from multiple communication devices at the same time and reassembles them and install.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows a structural block diagram of a network and a mobile communication device embodiment;

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of an application program updating method;

Fig. 3 shows the flow chart of the embodiment of decentralized file exchange service;

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of application program removal.

Detailed ways

The application updating method and the embodiment of the mobile communication device using the method are described below. It should be understood that the configurations of the following entities are just examples and can be adjusted.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the network 110 is coupled to the servers 100 and 101 , the communication devices 102 to 105 , and the mobile communication device 106 . The communication devices 102 to 105 may be personal computers, portable computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA for short), or other communication devices. The mobile communication device 106 can be an embedded system with wireless communication function, such as a mobile phone or a PDA. The server 100 , the server 101 and the communication devices 102 to 105 can be connected to the network 110 by wire or wirelessly for communication. The mobile communication device 106 communicates with the network 110 and other devices through the wireless communication channel 120 .

The mobile communication device 106 includes a communication unit 2 , an operating system 3 , an application management unit 4 , a display 5 , a storage device 6 and an input device 7 . The application management unit 4 can be realized by a circuit, or by a computer program and a processor. The mobile communication device 106 may initially contain no application programs. When the mobile communication device 106 is turned on, an application update method can be performed.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the mobile communication device 106 is started, the application management unit 4 displays the application list 9 on the display 5, as shown in step S2. The application list 9 can be pre-stored in the mobile communication device 106 . The application management unit 4 receives an add request from the input device 7 for adding an application indicated by the application list 9 to the mobile communication device 106, as shown in step S4. The mobile communication device 106 automatically executes the following steps according to the above request. For example, the item 91 in the application list 9 corresponds to the application 50, and the application 50 is stored in the server 100 in FIG. 1 . However, the mobile communication device 106 does not directly download the application program 50 from the server 100 .

The application management unit 4 requests the operating system 3 to perform steps S6 and S8.

In step S6, the operating system 3 automatically determines the file groups required by the application program 50 and not stored in the mobile communication device 106, including executable files, configuration files, and additional data files ( ancillary data file, i.e. function). Some files required by the application program 50 may already exist in the mobile communication device 106 . The mobile communication device 106 only downloads the aforementioned file group later. The storage device 6 stores hardware requirement information of all applications indicated by the application list 9 .

In step S8 , the operating system 3 checks whether the mobile communication device 106 has sufficient hardware resources suitable for installing the application program 50 according to the above hardware requirement information. If not, the operating system 3 displays corresponding information on the display 5 to indicate that the resources of the mobile communication device 106 are insufficient and suggest adding hardware devices, as shown in step S10 .

If so, the communication unit 2 downloads the application program 50 from a plurality of communication devices (such as the communication devices 102 to 105 ) through the wireless communication channel 120 by using the distributed file exchange service, as shown in step S12 . Tools for decentralized file exchange services such as BitTorrent.

When the application program 50 has been downloaded, the application program management unit 4 installs the application program 50, and sets up an icon of a graphical user interface (Graphical user interface, GUI for short) of the application program 50, as shown in step S14. The application program management unit 4 makes corresponding adjustments to the application program list 9 to display that the application program 50 has been downloaded, as shown in step S16.

Refer to FIG. 3 to describe step S12 in detail.

The communication unit 2 downloads the index file 20 from the server 101 through the wireless communication channel 120, as shown in step S122. The index file 20 may indicate the constituent blocks of the application program 50 and multiple communication devices having the above constituent blocks, and include other information. For example, the index file 20 includes each file name and file size of the above-mentioned file group of the application program 50, a check function (such as a hash function) for verifying the above-mentioned group blocks, and locations of multiple communication devices (such as the Internet Protocol (Internet protocol, referred to as IP address). The aforementioned constituent blocks are a plurality of fragments of a file of the application program 50 . The index file 20 and the application program 50 can be stored in the same server.

The application program management unit 4 automatically determines the constituent blocks of the application program 50 as blocks 51 to 54 according to the index file 20 , as shown in step S124 . The above composition blocks are used to compose one or more files of the application program 50 .

The application program management unit 4 automatically identifies a plurality of communication devices having at least one component block of the application program 50 according to the index file 20 , such as the communication devices 102 to 105 , as shown in step S126 . The plurality of communication devices mentioned above may be the communication devices that are downloading or have downloaded the application program 50 .

The communication unit 2 simultaneously downloads the above-mentioned constituent blocks of the above-mentioned application program 50 from the above-mentioned multiple communication devices to the above-mentioned mobile communication device 106 via the wireless communication channel 120, as shown in step S128. Different constituent blocks are downloaded from different communication devices. For example, block 51 is downloaded from the communication device 102 ; block 52 is downloaded from the communication device 103 ; block 53 is downloaded from the communication device 104 ; block 54 is downloaded from the communication device 105 .

The application program management unit 4 verifies whether the above-mentioned downloaded component blocks are the correct component blocks of the application program 50, as shown in step S130, and automatically combines the downloaded component blocks 51 to 54 to become the application program 50 for the above-mentioned mobile communication The device 106 executes, as shown in step S132. When required to upload the component blocks of the application program 50, the application program management unit 4 sends the downloaded component blocks through the wireless communication channel 120, as shown in step S134.

The removal procedure for the application is explained below.

Referring to FIG. 4, the application management unit 4 is started, as shown in step S40. When the application management unit 4 receives a request to remove (or called uninstall) the application 50, as shown in step S42, the mobile communication device 106 automatically executes the following steps.

The operating system 3 determines the dependencies between the file groups required by the application program 50 and other application programs, as shown in step S44, and removes files that are no longer used by other application programs, as shown in step S46. Next, the application management unit 4 removes the icon of the application 50, as shown in step S48. The application program management unit 4 makes corresponding adjustments to the application program list 9 to show that the application program 50 has been removed, as shown in step S50.

Therefore, the mobile communication device checks the hardware requirements and required files of the application program at the local end, and downloads the constituent blocks of the application program from multiple communication devices at the same time to reassemble and install them.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but it is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any person familiar with this technology can make further improvements on this basis without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Improvements and changes, so the protection scope of the present invention should be defined by the claims of the present application.

A brief description of the symbols in the drawings is as follows:

2: Communication unit

3: Operating system

4: Application snap-in

5: Display

6: storage device

7: Input device

9: Application manifest

91: Project

20: Index file

50: Apps

51 to 54: Blocks

100: server

101: server

102 to 105: Communication devices

106: Mobile communication device

110: Network

120: wireless communication channel

Claims (18)

1. A method for updating an application, executed on a mobile communication device, the mobile communication device comprising a display, an application management unit, and a communication unit, characterized in that the method for updating an application includes: The above-mentioned display shows an application program list on the above-mentioned mobile communication device; The above-mentioned application management unit receives a request for adding an application program indicated by the above-mentioned application program list to the above-mentioned mobile communication device; automatically distinguishes the component blocks of the above-mentioned application program; automatically determines that there is at least one component of the above-mentioned application program Block multiple communication devices; The above-mentioned communication unit downloads the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program from the above-mentioned multiple communication devices to the above-mentioned mobile communication device via a wireless communication channel, wherein different component blocks are downloaded from different communication devices; and The above application program management unit automatically assembles the above component blocks to form the above application program for execution by the above mobile communication device. 2. The application updating method according to claim 1, wherein the application list is pre-stored in the mobile communication device. 3. The application updating method according to claim 2, further comprising: storing the hardware requirement information of the above-mentioned application program in the above-mentioned mobile communication device; and The above-mentioned application program management unit checks whether the above-mentioned mobile communication device is suitable for installing the above-mentioned application program according to the above-mentioned hardware requirement information. 4. The method for updating an application program according to claim 1, wherein the composition block is used to form a file of the application program. 5. The application updating method according to claim 1, further comprising: The application program management unit automatically determines the file group required by the application program and not stored in the mobile communication device, wherein the mobile communication device only downloads the file group. 6. The application updating method according to claim 1, further comprising: Verify that the above downloaded component blocks are genuine components of the above application. 7. The application updating method according to claim 1, further comprising: An index file is downloaded, and the index file represents the above-mentioned constituent blocks of the above-mentioned application program and the above-mentioned multiple communication devices. 8. The application updating method according to claim 1, further comprising: Sending the downloaded component blocks through the wireless communication channel. 9. The application updating method according to claim 1, further comprising: When the above-mentioned application program management unit has been downloaded and combined into the above-mentioned application program, the above-mentioned application program list is correspondingly adjusted to display that the above-mentioned application program has been downloaded. 10. A mobile communication device, characterized in that the mobile communication device comprises: a display for displaying a list of application programs; An application program management unit, receiving a request for adding an application program indicated by the above application program list to the above mobile communication device, automatically distinguishing the constituent blocks of the above application program, and automatically identifying at least one of the above application programs a plurality of communication devices forming a block; and A communication unit, downloading the above-mentioned component blocks of the above-mentioned application program from the above-mentioned multiple communication devices to the above-mentioned mobile communication device via a wireless communication channel, wherein different component blocks are downloaded from different communication devices, wherein the above-mentioned application program The management unit automatically assembles the above-mentioned constituent blocks into the above-mentioned application program for execution by the above-mentioned mobile communication device. 11. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, further comprising: A storage device pre-stores the above application list. 12. The mobile communication device according to claim 11, wherein the storage device stores hardware requirement information of the application program, and the application management unit checks whether the mobile communication device is suitable for installing the above-mentioned application program according to the hardware requirement information. application. 13. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the composition block is used to form a file of the application program. 14. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the application program management unit automatically determines the file group required by the application program and not stored in the mobile communication device, wherein the mobile communication device only downloads The above file group. 15. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the application program management unit verifies whether the downloaded component blocks are genuine components of the application program. 16. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the communication unit downloads an index file, and the index file indicates the constituent blocks of the application program and the plurality of communication devices. 17. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the communication unit transmits the downloaded component blocks through the wireless communication channel. 18. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the application management unit makes corresponding adjustments to the application list to display the application when the component blocks are downloaded and combined into the application The program has been downloaded.

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