WO2021155551A1

WO2021155551A1 - Firmware download method for chip, and chip

Info

Publication number: WO2021155551A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/074461
Authority: WO
Inventors: 袁明武
Original assignee: 深圳市汇顶科技股份有限公司
Priority date: 2020-02-07
Filing date: 2020-02-07
Publication date: 2021-08-12
Also published as: CN111758088A; CN111758088B

Abstract

A firmware download method for a chip, and a chip. The chip (200, 500) comprises two IO interfaces (210, 220, 520), wherein the two IO interfaces (210, 220, 520) are configured to support a serial port download mode and an emulator download mode. The method comprises: determining whether a chip is connected to a communication device via an emulator, wherein the emulator is used for an emulator download mode (S110); and according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device via the emulator, determining whether to use a serial port download mode or the emulator download mode, and downloading firmware of an application program from the communication device (S120). By means of the firmware download method for a chip and the chip, the number of IO interfaces in the chip can be saved on, and waste is prevented.

Description

Method for downloading firmware from chip and chip

Technical field

This application relates to the field of chips, and in particular to methods and chips for downloading firmware from chips.

Background technique

At present, there are basically two ways of downloading firmware for Microcontroller Unit (MCU) through wired. One is downloading through serial port, such as online system programming (in-system programming, ISP) download; the other is downloading through emulator , Commonly used interfaces for emulator download include Serial Wire Debug (SWD) interface. Both of these two methods require the MCU to reserve 2 input/output (In/Out, IO) ports.

In other words, if developers want to support the above two programming methods in their products, they must sacrifice 5 IO ports, of which 2 IO ports are serial clock (Serial Wire clock, SWCLK) interfaces in SWD download mode And serial data IO (Serial Wire data IO, SWDIO) interface; there are two IO ports for ISP mode receiving (receive, RX) interface and transmission (transport, TX) interface, there is also an IO interface for different Choose between download modes. On the MCU platform where IO resources are very precious, this method is very wasteful of IO resources.

Summary of the invention

This application provides a method and a chip for downloading firmware from a chip, which can save the number of IO interfaces in the chip and avoid waste.

In the first aspect, a method for downloading firmware from a chip is provided. The chip includes two IO interfaces configured to support a serial port download mode and an emulator download mode. The method includes: determining whether the chip is Connect to the communication device through an emulator, and the emulator is used in the emulator download mode; according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulation In the device download mode, the firmware of the application program is downloaded from the communication device.

Therefore, in the method for downloading firmware of the chip in the embodiment of the application, two IO ports are set on the chip. The SWD download mode and the ISP download mode can reuse the two IO ports, or in other words, the chip design adopts the SWD download mode. The two IO ports SWCLK and SWDIO can be multiplexed into the RX and TX interfaces in the ISP download mode, so that when the chip is downloading firmware, it can automatically select the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode, that is, the chip only passes through two A single IO port can support two download modes: serial port download mode and emulator download mode.

With reference to the first aspect, in an implementation manner of the first aspect, the determining to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, Downloading the firmware of the application program from the communication device includes: if the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, determining to adopt the emulator download mode, and downloading the firmware from the communication device.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners of the first aspect, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the downloading of the firmware from the communication device in the emulator download mode includes: detecting the status of the application program Startup information; if the detected startup information is wrong, download the firmware from the communication device through the emulator.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners of the first aspect, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: if the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, connecting all the chips to the communication device The two IO interfaces are respectively set as IO interfaces corresponding to the download mode of the emulator.

Combining the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners thereof, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the determination to use the serial port download mode or the serial port download mode is performed according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator or not. The emulator download mode, downloading the firmware of the application program from the communication device, includes: if the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, determining to use the serial port download mode, and downloading from the communication device The firmware.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners of the first aspect, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode includes: if the communication device is received The sent target command uses the serial port download mode according to the target command to download the firmware from the communication device, where the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners of the first aspect, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode includes: if the communication is not received The target command sent by the device detects the startup information of the application program, where the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode; if the detected startup information is wrong, the serial port download mode is used to download from the communication The device downloads the firmware.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners thereof, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: if the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, starting a timer; Before the timer expires, it is determined whether the target command is received.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, before the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode, the method further includes: The two IO interfaces of the chip are respectively set as IO interfaces corresponding to the serial port download mode.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the method is applied after the chip is reset.

Combining the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners thereof, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the chip includes a reset pin, and if the reset pin receives the receiving stream in the serial port board controlled by the communication device Control the low level output by the RTS pin, the chip is reset; and/or, if the reset pin receives the reset signal output by the reset pin of the emulator controlled by the communication device, the chip is reset .

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the serial port download mode is an online system programming ISP download mode, and the emulator download mode is a serial debugging SWD download mode.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners thereof, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the IO interface corresponding to the ISP download mode includes a receiving RX interface and a transmitting TX interface.

In combination with the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manners of the first aspect, in another implementation manner of the first aspect, the IO interface corresponding to the SWD download mode includes a serial data input and output SWDIO interface and a serial clock SWCLK interface.

In a second aspect, a chip is provided for executing the above-mentioned first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. Specifically, the chip includes a unit for executing the foregoing first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a chip is provided, including: a storage unit and a processor, the storage unit is used to store instructions, the processor is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, The execution causes the processor to execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided for storing a computer program, and the computer program includes instructions for executing the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the computer runs the instructions of the computer program product, the computer executes the chip in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. Method of downloading firmware. Specifically, the computer program product may run on the chip of the second aspect described above.

Description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is another schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is another schematic flowchart of a method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship between a chip and a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a partial flowchart of a method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is another partial flowchart of a method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication device downloading firmware for a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is another schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic flowchart of a method 100 for downloading firmware from a chip proposed in an embodiment of the present application. The method 100 may be applied to a chip, for example, the chip may be a chip 200 as shown in FIG. 2. Specifically, the chip 200 includes two IO interfaces, namely the first interface 210 and the second interface 220 as shown in FIG. The IO interface is configured to support serial port download mode and emulator download mode. For example, the chip 200 may be an MCU chip, or may be other types of chips. The chip can be used in various devices, such as earphones, mobile phones, smart door locks and other terminal devices. This embodiment does not do this. limit.

As shown in FIG. 1, the method 100 includes: S110, determining whether the chip is connected to the communication device through an emulator, and the emulator is used in the emulator download mode; S120, according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator Connect, determine to use the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode, and download the firmware of the application program from the communication device.

It should be understood that the serial port download mode in the embodiment of the present application may refer to any serial port download mode. For example, this application mainly takes the serial port download mode as the ISP download mode as an example for description, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. In addition, the ISP download mode needs to be implemented by software. For example, if the chip supports the ISP download mode, the chip can integrate the corresponding ISP download program and its supporting tool. The IO interface corresponding to this ISP download mode includes RX interface and TX interface.

The emulator download mode in the embodiment of the present application may refer to any emulator download mode. For example, this application is mainly described by taking the emulator as the Jlink emulator and the emulator download mode as the SWD download mode as an example, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. In addition, the SWD download mode uses a standard download protocol, which generally does not require software implementation. As long as the chip supports the SWD download mode, the Jlink download tool can be used to download normally. The IO interface corresponding to the SWD download mode includes the SWDIO interface and the SWCLK interface.

Therefore, in the method for downloading firmware of the chip in the embodiment of the application, two IO ports are set on the chip. The SWD download mode and the ISP download mode can reuse the two IO ports, or in other words, the chip design adopts the SWD download mode. The two IO ports of SWCLK and SWDIO can be multiplexed into two interfaces using RX and TX in ISP download mode. It can also be said that the two interfaces of RX and TX in ISP download mode in the chip can be multiplexed into SWD download mode. SWCLK and SWDIO are two IOs, so that the chip can support two download modes: serial port download mode and emulator download mode through only two IO ports.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic flowchart of a method 300 for downloading firmware by another chip according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 300 is a possible implementation of the method 100. The method 300 shown in FIG. 4 will be combined with the method 300 below. 100 for detailed description.

It should be understood that the method 100 of the embodiment of the present application can be applied when downloading firmware for a chip. For example, if there is no firmware corresponding to a certain application in the chip, or the chip fails to start a certain application, the chip may need to download the firmware. Then, the method 100 of the embodiment of the present application can be executed. In addition, the method 100 of the embodiment of the present application may occur after the chip is reset, that is, after the chip is reset, enter a boot program to start downloading firmware, that is, start to execute the method 100. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 may include: S301, the startup procedure starts, that is, the chip enters the startup procedure for downloading firmware. For example, you can enter the startup program after the chip is reset.

Specifically, when the chip needs to download the firmware of one or more application programs from the communication device, or in other words, when the communication device needs to download the firmware of one or more application programs to the chip, the chip resets, for example, through The communication device control chip is reset. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the chip 200 shown in FIG. 2 may further include a reset pin 230 as shown in FIG. 3, and the reset pin 230 is used to reset the chip 200.

It should be understood that the communication device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a personal computer or a personal computer (PC), or may also refer to other devices capable of downloading firmware for a chip. Among them, there are many types of personal computers, such as traditional desktop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, all-in-one computers, ultrabooks, handheld computers, and embedded computers.

Optionally, the communication device can control the chip to reset in a variety of ways. For example, assuming that the ISP download mode is used to download the firmware between the communication device and the chip, the communication device can output a low level by controlling the Request To Send (RTS) pin in the serial board (serial board) to make the chip The reset pin in triggers the chip reset. Specifically, FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the connection between the MCU and the PC in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. The boards are connected. The PC may also include an ISP tool, which is used in the ISP download mode of the MCU, and the PC can be connected to the serial port board through a USB interface. The serial board may include an RTS interface, and the reset pin of the MCU is connected to the RTS interface of the serial board. When the PC controls the RTS interface of the serial board to output low level through the USB interface, the reset pin of the MCU detects the RTS interface output of the serial board Low level, so that the MCU resets and enters the boot program to start downloading the firmware, that is, the method 100 is executed.

For another example, assuming that the SWD download mode is used to download firmware between the communication device and the chip, the communication device can reset the chip by controlling the reset signal output by the reset pin of the emulator. Specifically, it is also assumed that the chip in the embodiment of the present application is an MCU, the communication device is a PC, and the PC and the MCU are connected through an emulator. The emulator includes a reset pin, and the reset pin of the emulator is connected to the reset pin of the MCU. When the PC controls the reset pin of the emulator to output a reset signal, the reset pin of the MCU can receive the reset signal, so that the MCU is reset, so that it enters the boot program to start downloading the firmware, that is, the method 100 is executed. .

Optionally, the boot program entered by the chip in the embodiment of the present application may be a cold boot program. Specifically, since the firmware download is usually performed in the cold boot program, and the firmware download is not performed in the warm boot program, the method 100 can also be applied to the cold boot program. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 may further include: S302, whether it is a cold boot, that is, determining whether the program started by the chip is cold boot, if not, continue to execute S303, if yes, continue to execute S304. Among them, as shown in Figure 4, S303, perform a hot boot, that is, when the boot program started by the chip is not cold boot, for example, warm boot is started, then the warm boot program is executed, and no firmware download will be performed. However, the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. For example, steps S302 and S303 may not be executed, and S301 may directly perform S304. At this time, whether it is a cold boot program or a warm boot program, firmware download can be performed. However, the way of executing firmware download in the cold boot program saves power consumption.

Optionally, the method 100 of the embodiment of the present application may not be applied after the chip is reset, that is, the chip may also start to execute the method 100 under other circumstances to start downloading firmware. For example, if the ISP download mode is used to download the firmware between the communication device and the chip, method 100 is usually executed after the chip is reset to start downloading the firmware; if the SWD download mode is used to download the firmware between the communication device and the chip, in addition to the chip reset Afterwards, the method 100 is executed, and the method 100 may be executed in any case when the chip is not reset to download the firmware.

Corresponding to S110 in the method 100, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 may include: S304, whether an emulator is connected, for example, the emulator may be Jlink, that is, it is determined whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the Jlink emulator , So as to determine whether to use the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode to download the firmware of the application program from the communication device according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the Jlink emulator.

Optionally, if the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, you can continue to determine whether to use the emulator download mode for firmware download, for example, you can continue to execute S305 to download the firmware from the communication device; if the chip does not By connecting the emulator to the communication device, it can continue to determine whether to use another download mode to download the estimate, for example, continue to execute S308.

Specifically, if the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, the startup information of the application can be detected first. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S305, detecting boot info. If the detected startup information is correct, continue to execute S306; if it is wrong, continue to execute S307.

Optionally, if the detected startup information is correct, the corresponding application is started. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S306, starting the application. That is, the firmware of the application program has been downloaded in the chip, so the chip can start the corresponding application program without downloading the firmware again, and repeated downloading of the firmware can also be avoided.

On the contrary, if the detected startup information is wrong, the emulator download mode can be used to download the firmware from the communication device. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S307, adopting the SWD download mode. It is connected with the communication device through an emulator, so the emulator download mode can be used for firmware download.

Optionally, after step S304, if the chip has been connected to the communication device through the emulator, there may be other processing methods besides performing the above steps S305-S307. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, for step S304, when it is determined that the chip has been connected to the communication device through the emulator, the application program can be directly started. If the application can be started successfully, it means that the firmware of the application has been downloaded in the chip, so the chip can start the corresponding application without downloading the firmware. However, if the application cannot be started successfully, or the startup fails, then the firmware download can be performed, and since the chip and the communication device are connected through an emulator, the emulator download mode can be used to download the firmware. For another example, after S304 is executed, if the chip has been connected to the communication device through the emulator, the emulator download mode is directly used to download the firmware.

It should be understood that, in either case, if the chip determines to use the emulator download mode for firmware download, the two IO interfaces of the chip can be set to the IO interfaces corresponding to the emulator download mode, for example, as shown in the figure The first interface 210 and the second interface 220 of the chip 200 shown in 2 are set to the SWDIO interface and the SWCLK interface corresponding to the SWD download mode. Specifically, setting the two IO interfaces of the chip to the SWDIO interface and the SWCLK interface corresponding to the SWD download mode includes: setting relevant parameters of the interface and so on. For example, if the current two IO interfaces of the chip have been set to the IO interface corresponding to the emulator download mode, then the emulator download mode can be executed directly through these two IO interfaces; but if the current two IO interfaces of the chip are For the IO interface corresponding to the serial download mode, you need to switch these two interfaces to the IO interface corresponding to the emulator download mode, and then execute the emulator download mode through these two IO interfaces.

Optionally, if the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, that is, the emulator download mode may not be used between the chip and the communication device, then other download modes can be used for estimated downloading, for example, the serial port mode can also be used for downloading. Firmware download. Specifically, when the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, it can be directly determined to use the serial port download mode for firmware download; or, it can also be determined whether to use the serial port according to whether a special command sent by the communication device is received. The firmware download is performed in the download mode, where the special command is referred to as a target command in the embodiment of the present application, and the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode. For example, the target command may be used to indicate the ISP download mode.

Specifically, if the target command sent by the communication device is received, the serial port download mode is adopted to download the firmware from the communication device according to the target command; on the contrary, if the target command sent by the communication device is not received, the test can be passed The startup information of the application determines whether to use the serial port download mode to download the firmware from the communication device.

Optionally, it may be determined whether the target command is received according to the preset time period set. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S308, start the timer, that is, start the timer when the chip and the communication device are not connected through the emulator; S309, whether the target command is received, that is, determine whether the Before the timer expires, the target command is received. If it is received, the execution of S310 is continued, and if it is not received, the execution of S311 is continued.

It should be understood that the duration of the timer can be set according to actual applications, and can be set to any value. Specifically, if the communication device and the chip need to download the firmware through the ISP download mode, as shown in Figure 5, when the communication device outputs a low level through the RTS interface of the serial board, it will also send the target command to the MUC chip For example, the communication device can continuously send the target command in a certain period to instruct the MCU to use the ISP download mode to download the firmware, then the duration of the timer should be greater than or equal to the period value. For example, the communication device can set the sending cycle of the target command to 10ms, and correspondingly, the duration of the timer is greater than the 10ms, for example, it can be set to 200ms, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S310, using the ISP download mode, that is, if the target command is received before the timer expires, the chip determines that the serial port download mode can be used to download the firmware from the communication device.

On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S311, detecting boot information (boot info). If the detected startup information is correct, continue to execute S312; if it is wrong, continue to execute S313.

Optionally, if the detected startup information is correct, the corresponding application is started. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 300 includes: S312, starting the application, that is, the firmware of the application has been downloaded in the chip, so the The chip can start the corresponding application without downloading the firmware again, which can avoid repeated downloads of the firmware.

On the contrary, if the detected boot information is wrong, then the serial download mode can be used to download the firmware from the communication device. For example, as shown in Figure 4, the method 300 includes: S313, using the ISP download mode, even if it is not received The target command can still use the ISP download mode to download the firmware.

Optionally, after S311, in the case of detecting an error in the startup information, in addition to performing the firmware download in the ISP download mode as described in S313, there may also be other processing methods. For example, considering that the target command is not received at this time, it may be the case that the ISP download mode cannot be used to download the firmware, then the firmware download may not be performed when the startup information is detected incorrectly. At this time, the firmware download can be considered as a failure. To end the firmware download process.

Optionally, after step S309, if the chip does not receive the target command before the timer expires, in addition to performing the above steps S311-S313, there may be other processing methods. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, for step S309, before the timer expires, the application can be directly started if the target command is not received. If the application can be started successfully, it means that the firmware of the application has been downloaded in the chip, so the chip can start the corresponding application without downloading the firmware. However, if you cannot start the application successfully, or fail to start, you can use the ISP download mode to perform the firmware download. At this time, the timer does not receive the target command, but you can still use the ISP download mode to download the firmware.

It should be understood that, in either of the above cases, if the chip determines to use the serial download mode for firmware download, the two IO interfaces of the chip can be set to the IO interfaces corresponding to the serial download mode, for example, as shown in Figure 2. The first interface 210 and the second interface 220 of the chip 200 shown are set to the TX interface and the RX interface corresponding to the ISP download mode. Specifically, setting the two IO interfaces of the chip to the TX interface and the RX interface corresponding to the ISP download mode may include: if the current first interface 210 and the second interface 220 are the SWDIO interface and the SWCLK interface corresponding to the SWD download mode, then it is required Switch the SWDIO interface and SWCLK interface corresponding to the SWD download mode to the TX interface and RX interface corresponding to the ISP download mode. This switch can include: switch to the TX interface and RX interface related parameters in the ISP download mode, etc. ; On the contrary, if the current first interface 210 and second interface 220 are the TX interface and RX interface corresponding to the ISP download mode, then there is no need to switch, and the TX interface and RX interface corresponding to the ISP download mode are directly used to execute the ISP download mode Firmware download.

Optionally, the method 100 may further include: in the case where it is determined not to use the ISP download mode, or after the firmware is downloaded in the ISP download mode, switching the two IO interfaces of the chip to the corresponding SWD download mode SWDIO interface and SWCLK interface.

The method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7 from the perspective of a chip. The method for downloading firmware from a chip according to an embodiment of the present application will be described below in conjunction with FIG. 8 from the perspective of a communication device. method.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flowchart of a method 400 for a communication device to download firmware for a chip according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the communication device uses the ISP download mode as the chip to download firmware as an example for description, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

It should be understood that the communication device in the method 400 may include an ISP tool. For example, the communication device may be a PC as shown in FIG. 5, and the included ISP tool may be used to download firmware with the chip through an ISP.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S401, determining to use ISP to download the firmware, that is, the ISP tool in the communication device determines that the firmware download is to be performed, downloads the firmware of a certain application program for the chip, and continues to execute S402.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S402, RTS outputs a low level, that is, a communication device controls the RTS interface of a serial board connected to it to output a low level. For example, the communication device is a PC, and the PC can communicate with The serial port board is connected and controls the RTS interface of the serial port board to output low level. In this way, when the reset pin connected to the RTS interface of the serial board in the chip detects a low level, it will trigger the chip to reset, that is, the chip will start the boot program. For example, the chip can be used to execute the above method 100 or the above method 300 .

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S403, sending a target command indicating the ISP download mode, that is, after the control chip resets, the communication device can send the target command to the chip, and the target command is used to indicate the ISP download mode for After the chip receives the target command, it selects the ISP download mode to download the firmware.

Optionally, the communication device may send the target command multiple times. For example, the communication device may send the target command cyclically in a certain period, where the period may be set according to the actual application, for example, it may be set to 10ms, but this application The embodiment is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S404, whether a response to the target command is received, and the communication device waits for the chip to send a response to the target command after sending the target command one or more times, for example, waiting for the chip to send a response to the target command. Command to determine whether the response is received. If the communication device receives the response, it continues to execute S406, and if it does not receive the response, it corresponds to S405.

Optionally, a timer can be set to determine whether a response to the target command is received before the timer expires. For example, the timer can be started when the target command is sent, or the timer can be started after sending the target command one or more times, or the timer can be started at a suitable time according to actual applications. If the response has not been received before the timer expires, it is determined that the response has not been received, and continues to execute S405; if the response is received before the timer expires, the timer can be stopped and continue to execute S406. The duration of the timer can be set to any value according to actual applications, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S405, the download fails. If the communication device does not receive a response to the target command sent by the chip, it is determined that the firmware download fails this time.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S406, sending firmware. If the communication device receives a response to the target command, the ISP download mode needs to be used to download the firmware between the chip and the communication device, and the communication device needs to send the firmware to the chip. Complete the firmware download, which corresponds to S407.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method 400 includes: S407, the download is successful, that is, the communication device successfully downloads the firmware for the chip, and the current firmware download is completed.

It should be understood that the method 400 uses the communication device to select the ISP download mode as the chip to download the firmware. Similarly, if the communication device selects the SWD download mode as the chip to download the firmware, a similar method can also be used. . For example, if firmware is downloaded between the communication device and the chip through SWD, the communication device and the chip are connected through an emulator, and the communication device can control the chip reset through the reset pin of the emulator. The chip resets and enters the boot program. When the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, according to the above method 100 and method 300, it can be known that the chip will automatically select the SWD download mode to download the firmware.

It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not correspond to the embodiments of the present application. The implementation process constitutes any limitation.

The method for downloading firmware of the chip according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to Figs. 1 to 8, and the chip according to the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to Fig. 9.

As shown in FIG. 9, the chip 500 according to the embodiment of the present application includes: a processing unit 510 and two IO interfaces 520, wherein the two IO interfaces 520 are configured to support a serial port download mode and an emulator download mode; the processing The unit 510 is used to determine whether the chip 500 is connected to the communication device through an emulator, and the emulator is used in the simulator download mode; according to whether the chip 500 is connected to the communication device through the emulator , Determining to use the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode to download the firmware of the application program from the communication device.

Optionally, the processing unit 510 may also be referred to as a processor.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: if the chip 500 is connected to the communication device through the emulator, determine to adopt the emulator download mode, and download all data from the communication device. The firmware.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: detect startup information of the application program; if the detected startup information is wrong, download the firmware from the communication device through the emulator .

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: if the chip 500 is connected to the communication device through the emulator, configure the two IO interfaces 520 of the chip 500 to be The IO interface corresponding to the download mode of the emulator is described.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: if the chip 500 is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, determine to use the serial port download mode, and download all data from the communication device. The firmware.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: if a target command sent by the communication device is received, use the serial port download mode according to the target command to download the communication device from the communication device. Firmware, wherein the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is configured to: if the target command sent by the communication device is not received, detect the startup information of the application program, where the target command is used to instruct the Serial port download mode; if the detected startup information is wrong, the serial port download mode is used to download the firmware from the communication device.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is further configured to: if the chip 500 is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, start a timer; before the timer expires, determine whether The target command is received.

Optionally, as an embodiment, before the processing unit 510 uses the serial port download mode to download the firmware from the communication device, the processing unit 510 is configured to: Each IO interface 520 is configured as an IO interface corresponding to the serial download mode.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processing unit 510 downloads the firmware after the chip 500 is reset.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the chip 500 further includes a reset pin 530, if the reset pin 530 receives a low level output by the receiving flow control RTS pin in the communication device control serial port board , The chip 500 is reset; and/or, if the reset pin 530 receives a reset signal output by the reset pin of the emulator controlled by the communication device, the chip 500 is reset.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the serial port download mode is an online system programming ISP download mode, and the emulator download mode is a serial debugging SWD download mode.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the IO interface corresponding to the ISP download mode includes a receiving RX interface and a transmitting TX interface.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the IO interface corresponding to the SWD download mode includes a serial data input and output SWDIO interface and a serial clock SWCLK interface.

It should be understood that the chip 500 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the method 100 and the method 300 in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the chip 500 may be the chip 200 as shown in FIG. The foregoing and other operations and/or functions are used to implement the corresponding processes of the chips in the respective methods in FIG. 1 to FIG. 8. For brevity, they will not be repeated here.

Therefore, the chip of the embodiment of the application is provided with two IO ports. The SWD download mode and the ISP download mode can multiplex the two IO ports, or in other words, two IOs of SWCLK and SWDIO in the SWD download mode are implemented in the chip design. The port can be multiplexed into the RX and TX interfaces in the ISP download mode, so that when the chip is downloading firmware, it can automatically select the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode, that is, the chip can support only through two IO ports There are two download modes: serial port download mode and emulator download mode.

Optionally, the chip in the embodiment of the present application may also include a memory. Wherein, the processing unit can call and run a computer program from the memory to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application. Among them, the memory can be a separate device independent of the processing unit, or can be integrated in the processing unit.

It should be understood that the processing unit or processor in the embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the steps of the foregoing method embodiments can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor or instructions in the form of software. The above-mentioned processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a ready-made programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other Programming logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. The methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as being executed and completed by a hardware decoding processor, or executed and completed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a mature storage medium in the field, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

It can be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), programmable read-only memory (Programmable ROM, PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (Erasable PROM, EPROM), and electrically available Erase programmable read-only memory (Electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of exemplary but not restrictive description, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (Dynamic RAM, DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (Double Data Rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (Enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory (Synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM) ) And Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memories of the systems and methods described herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

It should be understood that the foregoing memory is exemplary but not restrictive. For example, the memory in the embodiment of the present application may also be static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), Synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous connection Dynamic random access memory (synch link DRAM, SLDRAM) and direct memory bus random access memory (Direct Rambus RAM, DR RAM) and so on. That is to say, the memory in the embodiments of the present application is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer programs.

Optionally, the computer-readable storage medium can be applied to the chip in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program causes the computer to execute the corresponding process implemented by the chip in each method of the embodiment of the present application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be omitted here. Go into details.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, including computer program instructions.

Optionally, the computer program product can be applied to the chip in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding process implemented by the chip in each method of the embodiment of the present application. For brevity, details are not repeated here. .

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program.

Optionally, the computer program can be applied to the chip in the embodiment of the present application. When the computer program runs on the computer, the computer can execute the corresponding process implemented by the chip in each method of the embodiment of the present application. For the sake of brevity, This will not be repeated here.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this document can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraint conditions of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and conciseness of the description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device, and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or It can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not implemented. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application essentially or the part that contributes to the existing technology or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code .

The above are only specific implementations of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application. Should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method for downloading firmware from a chip, characterized in that the chip includes two IO interfaces, the two IO interfaces are configured to support a serial port download mode and an emulator download mode, and the method includes:

Determining whether the chip is connected to the communication device through an emulator, the emulator being used in the emulator download mode;

According to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode to download the firmware of the application program from the communication device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, from the The communication device downloads the firmware of the application, including:

If the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the emulator download mode to download the firmware from the communication device.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the emulator download mode comprises:

Detecting the startup information of the application program;

If the detected startup information is wrong, download the firmware from the communication device through the emulator.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

If the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, the two IO interfaces of the chip are respectively set to the IO interfaces corresponding to the download mode of the emulator.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode according to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, from the The communication device downloads the firmware of the application, including:

If the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the serial port download mode to download the firmware from the communication device.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode comprises:

If a target command sent by the communication device is received, according to the target command, the serial port download mode is adopted to download the firmware from the communication device, wherein the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode comprises:

If the target command sent by the communication device is not received, detecting the startup information of the application program, where the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode;

If the detected startup information is wrong, the serial port download mode is adopted to download the firmware from the communication device.
The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the method further comprises:

If the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, start a timer;

Before the timer expires, it is determined whether the target command is received.
The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that, before the downloading the firmware from the communication device in the serial port download mode, the method further comprises:

The two IO interfaces of the chip are respectively set as the IO interfaces corresponding to the serial port download mode.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the method is applied after the chip is reset.
The method according to claim 10, wherein the chip includes a reset pin,

If the reset pin receives the low level output by the receiving flow control RTS pin in the communication device control serial port board, the chip is reset; and/or

If the reset pin receives the reset signal output by the reset pin of the emulator controlled by the communication device, the chip is reset.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the serial port download mode is an online system programming ISP download mode, and the emulator download mode is a serial debugging SWD download mode.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the IO interface corresponding to the ISP download mode includes a receiving RX interface and a transmitting TX interface.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the IO interface corresponding to the SWD download mode comprises a serial data input and output SWDIO interface and a serial clock SWCLK interface.
A chip, characterized in that the chip includes two IO interfaces and a processing unit,

The two IO interfaces are configured to support a serial port download mode and an emulator download mode;

The processing unit is used for:

Determining whether the chip is connected to the communication device through an emulator, the emulator being used in the emulator download mode;

According to whether the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the serial port download mode or the emulator download mode to download the firmware of the application program from the communication device.
The chip according to claim 15, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

If the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the emulator download mode to download the firmware from the communication device.
The chip according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

Detecting the startup information of the application program;

If the detected startup information is wrong, download the firmware from the communication device through the emulator.
The chip according to claim 17, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

If the chip is connected to the communication device through the emulator, the two IO interfaces of the chip are configured as IO interfaces corresponding to the download mode of the emulator.
The chip according to claim 15, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

If the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, it is determined to adopt the serial port download mode to download the firmware from the communication device.
The chip according to claim 19, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

If a target command sent by the communication device is received, according to the target command, the serial port download mode is adopted to download the firmware from the communication device, wherein the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode.
The chip according to claim 19, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

If the target command sent by the communication device is not received, detecting the startup information of the application program, where the target command is used to indicate the serial port download mode;

If the detected startup information is wrong, the serial port download mode is adopted to download the firmware from the communication device.
The chip according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

If the chip is not connected to the communication device through the emulator, start a timer;

Before the timer expires, it is determined whether the target command is received.
The chip according to any one of claims 19 to 22, wherein before the processing unit adopts the serial port download mode to download the firmware from the communication device, the processing unit is configured to:

The two IO interfaces of the chip are configured as IO interfaces corresponding to the serial port download mode.
The chip according to any one of claims 15 to 23, wherein the processing unit downloads the firmware after the chip is reset.
The chip according to claim 24, wherein the chip further comprises a reset pin,

If the reset pin receives the low level output by the receiving flow control RTS pin in the communication device control serial port board, the chip is reset; and/or

If the reset pin receives the reset signal output by the reset pin of the emulator controlled by the communication device, the chip is reset.
The chip according to any one of claims 15 to 25, wherein the serial port download mode is an online system programming ISP download mode, and the emulator download mode is a serial debugging SWD download mode.
The chip according to claim 26, wherein the IO interface corresponding to the ISP download mode includes a receiving RX interface and a transmitting TX interface.
The chip according to claim 26 or 27, wherein the IO interface corresponding to the SWD download mode comprises a serial data input and output SWDIO interface and a serial clock SWCLK interface.