TW200825919A - Method and system for updating firmware of a microcontroller - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for updating firmware of a microcontroller includes a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), an Inter Integrated Circuit (I2C or IIC) and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) for the flexibility of using these interfaces. And, a method for updating firmware of a microcontroller is also provided to utilize each interface more efficiently.

Description

200825919 IX. INSTRUCTIONS: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system and method for updating a dynamic body, and more particularly to a system and method for updating a firmware of a microcontroller. [Prior Art] 3C (Computer,Commimieatior^) that has flourished in recent years

Consumer-electronics products often require users to update the product's body to improve product compatibility and performance, or when the firmware is found to have bugs, the user needs to update the firmware of the product. Fix these errors. In addition, for the system vendor, buy an integrated circuit (1C), such as a microcontroller (Micro C () ntlOtoUnit5 MQJ), although the 1C manufacturer may provide the Wei blade program, but this kind of Most of them are IC manufacturers used for hardware testing, so the function and structure are not complete. If you can make it easy for system vendors to update or upgrade firmware, it will greatly increase the value of Ic. The firmware of the microcontroller is typically stored in an on-chip program memory in the microcontroller, such as a flash memory or an electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM). Non-volatile (n〇n_v〇latile) memory, but due to years of use or cost, the development of volatile memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), to form in-chip program memory. In this type of microcontroller, it is necessary to add a program memory to the outside of the chip, for example, an electrically erasable read-only memory. When the micro control is power on, this electrical property can be used. The wiper in the erase-only read-only memory is loaded into the on-chip program memory to overcome the above disadvantages.

4FULHUA/05004TW 200825919 The general firmware update can be used for the update by the two-pin/three-pin/four-connected reservations reserved during the development of the microcontroller. However, these contacts are all customized by the manufacturer. Therefore, the updated action needs to be made by _falling ^ which is quite inconvenient for the user. In addition, you can download the Weishou body to the host (such as the host computer, mobile phone, etc.), and then use the Universal Serial Bus (USB) to load the Wei knife body stored in the host into the micro controller. , the program memory inside the chip to update the body. The universal serial bus is an interface standard jointly developed by seven companies including Intd, ComPaq, Digitab IBM, Microsoft, nec and Northern Telecom. It has been widely used in the market and updated via the universal serial bus interface. The way of the firmware 'requires the user to command up and down the host, which is very simple. Other interfaces' such as the Inter Integrated Circuit (I2C or IIC) interface introduced by Philips and the Serial Peripherai Interface (SPQ) from Motorola can also be used as Update the firmware.

U I2C is a two-wire communication interface. These two lines are Serial Data (SDA) and Serial Cl〇ck (SCL). SDA is used for data input/output. And SCL is used to generate the clock. All devices on the I2C are connected by these two lines, and each of these devices can operate in either master or slave mode depending on the requirements. Therefore, each device on the I2C must have a unique address for identification. To explain in more detail, suppose a device is

4FULHUA/05004TW 6 200825919 Main installation, the rest is set as a slave device, then the master device will broadcast the device on the I2C first, and send the address of the slave I to be communicated, the designated slave device will be Send-response (acknowledge), and start to communicate with the main device for communication and data transmission, and other subordinate devices are decorated. After the communication is over, return to the initial state and wait for the next action. SPI is a four-wire communication interface, in which Master Out Slave In (MOSI) (Master In Slave Out, MIS〇) and Serial Clock (SCK) are used for data transmission. The selection line (Slave Select, ss} controls the selection of the device. In more detail, the master device is the clock provider, and can initiate the action of reading the slave device or writing the slave device. When there are multiple marriages on the interface In the case of device-to-initiation-transmission, the main split will lower the select line potential of the slave device and then initiate data transmission or reception through the M0SI and MISQ lines respectively. In addition, SPI can be achieved faster than I2C. Transmission speed. At Cypress Semiconductor, the controller's 'blade body update' uses the system shown in Figure 1. The firmware of the microcontroller 102 is stored in the on-chip program memory. 8 , and the two interfaces of the microcontroller 102 · the integrated circuit interface 112 or the universal serial bus two sides 114 胄 can be used for updating the blade body, but because the integrated circuit interface is very popular Use, if it is product Between the interface circuit 112 which is between the external interface of the integrated circuit device 126 occupied by full, it will not be used to update the firmware, this time to update the firmware can pass through the column bus interface fiscal m

4FULHUA/05004TW 7 200825919 The body has become inelastic in use. law. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a system for lightly combining the above interfaces. [Summary of the Invention] There is a shortcoming of the update of the blade of the above-mentioned Baishi Semiconductor. If it can be added to the Motorola (10) string side interface, then #积When the inter-circuit interface is occupied by other shocks, the ship-side interface can be more hoofed; on the other hand, when the serial interface is filled by the other (4), the integrated circuit can be used to update the interface and use the upper change. Very flexible. An aspect of the present invention provides a system for updating a firmware of a microcontroller, comprising: a DRAM (n_chip) program memory for storing an early blade, at least one external device, for storing one A new body, a firmware loader (Firmware Loader), has a plurality of interfaces, the plurality of interfaces including a series of peripheral interfaces, an integrated circuit interface and a universal serial bus interface, wherein the toughness The body loader loads the new firmware into the in-chip program memory through a plurality of interfaces to update the firmware. For firmware updates, the flexibility of the interface can be increased. Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for updating a chapter of a microcontroller to include: providing an in-chip program memory in the microcontroller for storing a firmware; and testing whether there is an off-chip (off_chip) Program

4FULHUA/05004TW 8 200825919=Body; ί When there is no off-chip program memory, it detects a series of peripheral "surface activation devices and an integrated circuit interface device startup device, when at least one interface activation device is caused Can't detect the fan: to >, - interface to start the corresponding - no - storage component, · when the external device is - storage component, ^ 贞 ^ This storage 7G is a storage - new reduction; # When this storage component stores a new service, this new _ manned the program in this chip to update the Weiji II. [Embodiment] The present invention discloses a system and method for firmware update of a microcontroller. In order to make the description of the present invention more detailed and complete, reference is made to the following description in conjunction with Figures 2, 3 and Tables 1 to 3. 7 Referring to Figure 2, the ® 2 is a system of a more practical embodiment of the present invention. The firmware-removing system 200 includes an in-chip program memory 208 and a firmware loader 2〇4 located in a microcontroller 2〇2, and an external device 201. The in-chip program memory 2〇8 is used to store a firmware, and the early blade loader 204 has a plurality of interfaces, including a serial peripheral interface 21〇, an integrated circuit interface 212, and a universal serial bus. Interface 214. The three interfaces are respectively connected to the serial peripheral interface activation device 216, the integrated inter-system interface activation device 218, and the universal serial bus interface activation device 220, and once the interface is connected to one or more external devices 2〇1, For example, a serial peripheral interface 210 is connected to a flash memory or an electrically erasable read only memory (EEPROM) 224, and the integrated circuit interface 212 is connected.

4FULHUA/05004TW 9 200825919 Eight-faced 214 L erasable read-only memory 226, or a busbar connected to a computer host 228, the corresponding interface activation device will be enabled. In other words, the enabled interface is activated = there is an external device -, 226 or (10) on the interface that does not correspond to the meter. The device includes a serial peripheral interface external device on the serial peripheral interface, an external circuit device between the integrated circuits on the integrated circuit interface, and a universal bus external device 228 on the bus interface. need

The external device 2〇1 includes various types of support peripheral serial interfaces, and the likes of the product =: = wide body, such as memory, ancient devices, or other electronic product components. However, there are storage elements on the surface, and these storage elements are not necessarily storage's and may simply be the data of some objects. Therefore, this inclusion includes a judgment 222, which is used for deception. The storage is 70 pieces, and the object is a storage object. This is the design of the second table in determining whether the storage element stores the teaching body. Table 1 is an example for storing two: sub-body, and Table 2 is - for fine storage elements == please access address _ 3CH and slave access address! Two f Η ’ lakes are stored on this storage element, as shown in Table 2. On the other hand, the access address is read and stored only from the access health device, such as the table _: ^^ & number of " storage elements on the surface, 226 or 228 are stored in the blade

4FULHUA/05004TW 200825919 The determining device 222 can be used to select one interface from a plurality of interfaces, and load the firmware stored in the storage element 224, 226 or 228 on the selected interface into the in-chip program memory 2〇8, and complete Update the firmware's actions. In determining whether the external device 201 is a storage element, since the size of the storage elements is different, in addition to determining whether it is a storage element, in order to access the storage elements, access addresses of different lengths need to be sent. In some embodiments, for example, for the integrated inter-circuit interface 212, the judgment 222 may transmit a request to a component corresponding to a slave address, and if a response is received, determine that the storage exists. Pieces. Refer to the definition of Table 3 to further explain the definition of the subordinate address, where Table 3 uses the 7-bit addressing mechanism as an example, and the first 4 high-order parts of the 7-bit subordinate address are fixed, and According to the nature of the device itself, for example, 1010B represents EEPR0M, and the last 3 low-order devices are set by the address pin (a(^reSSpin) on the device. For example, if pins A2, A1 and A0 are respectively injected into the device, , 〇, 〇 or, the lower bit part of the slave address is determined to be 〇〇〇B or mB. In addition, the lower bit part of the slave address can also be designed as other binary values according to the pin, so in the same There may be eight devices of the same form on the integrated circuit interface 212. Generally, one, two or two bit length access addresses are required according to the size of the EEPR0M, and the integrated circuit interface is integrated. The slave address of 212 can be programmed according to the pin, so the lower bit part of the different slave address can be used to indicate the length of different access address. For example, designing the lower bit part of some slave address represents the size is not More than 256 digits

4FULHUA/05004TW 11 200825919 The EEPROM type of the tuple is defined as a type, in which one byte can completely represent the access address of A35EEPR0M; and the lower bit part of some other dependent address is designed to exceed the size. 256 bytes 'but no more than 64K bytes of EEPR〇M type, and defined as type B' where two bytes are used to fully represent the access address of b-type eepr〇m. As defined in Table 3, the determining means 222 may first send a first request having a dependent address of 1010000B to the external device 226 of the integrated circuit, and if a first response is received, it is regarded as a type A EEpR 〇 M, if To read the contents of the Type A EEPROM 226, a byte address must be sent. If there is no _---, the secret address is 1010111B - the second request is sent to the external circuit device 226 of the integrated circuit, and if a second response is received, it is regarded as type B EEpR 〇 M, if it is to be read For the contents stored in the B-type EEPROM 226, two byte access buttons are required. If the _ second response is made, it is determined that EEpR 〇 M does not exist in these integrated inter-circuit external devices 226. It should be noted that the above is an example of the high-order portion 1010B of the slave address corresponding to the EEPROM and the EEPROM, and only the a-type and B-type EEPROMs are defined. 'It is known to those skilled in the art that the judgment device 222 can determine according to the above method. Whether other types of EEPROM or other types of storage elements are present in the external device stage between the integrated circuits. In terms of determining whether the external device 201 is a storage component, in other embodiments, for example, for the (four) peripheral interface 21G, since the serial & side interface has more slave select lines (ss) than the integrated circuit interface, Judge

4FULHUA/05004TW 12 200825919 if Γί can = the above way to determine whether the storage element stores the leot. Storing storage elements of different sizes requires addresses of different lengths to the external device of the serial interface to access the address. If the information and the matter returned are ' ’, it is determined that the external device of the serial interface is similar to

Read back the second data::: Back to the information of this access address. If , «Set 224 does not exist storage components. Need to pay attention to = :Technical 蓺 :: Take two or three byte size storage elements as an example, 孰 , , 也 魏 魏 魏 从 从 从 从 从 从 从In advance, the yuan _ _ social frequency implementation of the money, does not meet the action. Take Table 2. ^Save the condition or (4), the non-depletion definition of the Bosch body update will not be performed: ^ The device 222 is read by the specific address. ^, the CH is C3H, even if it is actually stored as 1 body It will also be judged that the 222 is considered a non-sharp body. It is the crystal memory of Figure 2 in Figure 2. Off-chip program memory 206 is used to expand the inside of the wafer, such as the 8051 single chip, except for the built-in wafer internal process.

4FULHUA/05004TW 13 200825919 The memory 208 has 4K bytes, which can expand the program memory to 64Κ byte size, and can add 60 bytes of off-chip program memory. When the g-day off-chip program memory 206 exists, it is disabled in the native firmware loader 202.翏考图 , ▼ sentence 5 update one of the first embodiment of the specific embodiment. Following the beginning 302 of the method 300 is whether there is an out-of-chip program memory It 304, and if not, it is detected as a time 306. If so, then _-the serial peripheral __ or the inter-circuit interface activation device is enabled 3〇8. If so, then whether the side peripheral interface activation device is enabled on the side. If so, it is determined whether the external device of the serial peripheral interface corresponding to the serial interface of the series is a storage component 3丨2. If so, the Guan Ma storage element is a miscellaneous 314. If it is 'download this body to the microcontroller's wafer internal process

J body 316. Returning now to step 304, if there is an off-chip program, the end of the program goes to end 326. Now go back to the step 鄕, when the micro control is crying on, then go to the test and check if the host asks to download the scallop 324 via the universal serial converged interface. Now go back to steps 31〇, 312 and: 2, the second open is not enabled, the serial interface is 4, the non-storage 7G and the storage component are not enabled. If so, the circuit interface _ _ Wei circuit between the Department of hoarding f22 components / a2G _ face memory Yuan Qi memory =. Right 疋' download this knives to one of the microcontroller's in-chip program memory

4FULHUA/05004TW 14 200825919 fZ 318'32G and 322, if the integrated circuit interface = f energy, the frequency interface external device non-bribery components and J two do not store her, then go to the side - the computer host requests to borrow "歹丨汇 / Download the firmware 324 from the viewing interface. Now to step 324, the field picks up the electric & host request tree, and checks the on-chip program clock. 3. After some specific implementations, #complete^ 316, return to step 324 to wait for the host computer. The next request. At any time, as long as a computer host requests to update the mobile body, the object stored in the computer host is loaded into the internal memory of the program by means of the universal serial bus interface ©, as shown in FIG. example. In other specific embodiments, after step 316, the design may be returned to step 326, step 308, or other steps as needed. In the specific embodiment of FIG. 3, the serial peripheral interface activation device is activated 310, and the integrated inter-device interface activation device is enabled 318. However, in other embodiments, the present invention may The first detection of the inter-connector interface activation device is enabled, and then the detection of the serial peripheral interface activation device is enabled. The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention; all other equivalent changes or modifications which are not departing from the spirit of the present invention should be included in the following. Within the scope of the patent application.

4FULHUA/05004TW 15 200825919 [Simple diagram of the diagram] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system for updating a microcontroller body, and Figure 2 is a block diagram of a specific embodiment of a system for updating a micro-control body. Flowchart of a specific embodiment of a method of a microcontroller

Table 1 is an example for the specified storage element to touch. Table 2 is an example for specifying the storage element.

Table 3 shows the definition of the dependent address for the integrated power; and 226. Unloading 212 for EEPROM

4FULHUA/05004TW 16 200825919 [Description of main components] 102, 202 microcontroller 108, 208 in-chip program memory 112, 212 integrated inter-circuit interface 114, 214 universal serial bus interface 126, 226 integrated inter-circuit interface external device 128,228 universal serial bus interface external device 201 external device 204 firmware loader 206 off-chip program memory 210 serial peripheral interface 216 serial peripheral interface activation device 218 integrated circuit interface startup device 220 universal serial bus Interface activation device 222 judgment device 224 serial peripheral interface external device 4FULHUA/05004TW 17

Claims (1)

200825919 X. Patent Application Park: 1. A system for updating a firmware of a microcontroller, comprising: an on-chip program memory for storing the firmware; The firmware (FirmwareLoader) has a plurality of interfaces, including: a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), an Inter Integrated Circuit (I2C or IIC) interface, and a universal serial bus (Universal). a serial bus (USB) interface; at least one external device for storing a new firmware; wherein the firmware loader loads the new firmware into the in-chip program memory through the plurality of interfaces to update the Wei knife body. 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the external device is associated with the serial peripheral device. 3. ^^: The button, wherein the external device is connected to the integrated circuit. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the external seismic system is located in a middle and is connected to the universal serial bus Interface communication. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the lexer loader further comprises: facet=several interface activations (b00 miscellaneous' respectively and the corresponding plurality of mediation device and the plurality of interfaces The boot device is connected to detect whether the new device is stored in the 4FULHUA/05004TW 18 200825919 device, and an interface boot device is selected from the plurality of interface boot devices, and the new firmware is loaded into the in-chip program memory. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of interface activation devices comprise: a serial peripheral interface activation device; an integrated inter-device interface activation device; and a universal serial bus interface interface activation device. The system of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller further comprises an off-chip memory, the off-chip memory will cause the firmware loader to be disabled. A method for updating a servo blade of a microcontroller, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an in-chip program memory in the microcontroller for storing the firmware; (b) testing whether there is a Wafer Program memory; (C) detecting whether at least one interface activation device is enabled in a serial peripheral interface activation device and an integrated circuit interface activation device when the external program memory is not present; ^ (9) When the at least-interface activation device is enabled, whether an external device corresponding to the interface activation device is a storage element (e), when the external device is a storage component, then the storage device is stored. f) When the storage component is stored—newly off, load the crane_ into the on-chip program memory to update the firmware. 4FULHUA/05004TW 19 200825919 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the serial interface activation devices is enabled, and the integrated inter-device interface activation device is disabled. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least interface-initiating device is enabled to be enabled, and the peripheral device is not enabled . The method described in Item 8 is limited to the financial interface. The interface is activated. 3. The serial peripheral interface startup device is enabled. Launching the inter-peach interface 12. As described in claim 11, step (e) is further included. First detect the serial interface of the serial port to store a new firmware. The 5 褽 external device is 13. The method described in claim u, the step first detects whether the interface between the integrated circuits is to store a new firmware. + The external device 14 should be the method described in claim 8, the step (.) is more when the serial interface of the serial interface is started, and the interface between the devices is activated for a long time. 4FULHUA/05004TW 20 200825919 When enabled, _ whether to receive one from a host computer: string: bus interface to update the firmware - request; " Tian "• Hai Ming seeks to exist, through the universal serial bus interface to the new The firmware is loaded into the on-chip program memory to update the body. 15. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of enabling the at least one interface activation device in the wiper-(four) peripheral interface activation device and an integrated inter-device interface activation device is only enabled when the microcontroller is activated get on. 4FULHUA/05004TW 21