Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Shared memory area
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-11
2001-10-02
Kim, Matthew (Department: 2186)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Shared memory area
C711S152000, C711S164000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298421
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data storage device for downloading, into a rewritable non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, control data such as a variety of programs and information for controlling operations of an electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices, such as printers, are exported to various countries around the world. Often, specifications of the electronic devices differ depending on the target country, to which the electronic devices are to be shipped out. Even though the target country, to which the electronic devices are to be shipped out, are the same, specifications of the electronic devices will still differ depending on a model type of the electronic devices.
It is noted that when a different control board is produced and mounted to an electronic device for each different model and for each target county, then the number of parts mounted in the electronic devices will increase.
In view of this problem, recently a general use control board is mounted in each electronic device. The control board is produced to mount thereon a flash memory as a program memory device. Only a main program downloaded to the flash memory is changed according to the model type and to the target country. In more detail, a common boot loader program is prestored in the flash memory. The boot loader is the same for all the countries and for all the model types. The boot loader is used to download a main program especially for each country and for each model type into the flash memory. The electronic device thus mounted with the control board stored with the main program is treated as a corresponding model and shipped out to a corresponding country.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
After the electronic device stored with the main program is shipped out and purchased by a user, the user will sometimes need to update the main program.
It is noted, however, that the user will possibly download an update program with different specifications into his/her electronic device. When the user thus erroneously downloads the main program with different specifications, differences in between countries and models can interfere with operations of the electronic device.
Because Internet is recently used in common, it is conceivable to simply distribute update main programs over the Internet even to the overseas clients. In the future, a manufacturer of the electronic device can produce a homepage with a plurality of links to a plurality of update main programs corresponding to different countries and to different model types. The user may download, into his or her personal computer, one of the update main programs that corresponds to his or her electronic device. The user then downloads the update main program into his or her electronic device. It should be noted that the processes for updating the main program is one of download processes because the updating process includes the process for downloading an update program into the flash memory.
Although the above-described conceivable method for distributing programs is convenient, using the Internet can let the user accidentally select an erroneous link of the homepage and download programs with different specifications. When this happens, because the electronic device is mounted with the general boot loader, the main program of the electronic device will be erroneously exchanged with a program for a different specification.
Especially when the electronic device is a printer, the printer is generally used as being connected to a personal computer. When performing printing operations, the printer will output a busy signal to the personal computer to instruct the computer not to send new print data to the printer because the printer is presently being busy in performing printing operations for the already-received print data. When the printer runs out of paper, the printer will output a paper empty signal to the personal computer to inform that the printer can not perform printing operations any more.
When the printer outputs the control signal, such as the busy signal and the paper empty signal, to the personal computer, the personal computer can not transmit not only print data but also a variety of control signals to the printer. The personal computer can not transmit, to the printer, even the update main program data that has, been downloaded to the personal computer. This is extremely inconvenient because the user can not update the main program when he or she needs to.
It is convenient that not only the main program but also the boot loader program can be updated through downloading an update boot loader program into the electronic device. It is conceivable to download the update boot loader program into the electronic device through Internet in the same manner as described above for the main program.
It is conceivable that the electronic device updates or exchanges the main program or the boot loader program with newly-received program data while referring only to address data appended to the program data. Accordingly, when the electronic device receives program data with errors in the address data, the electronic device will erroneously rewrite the boot loader program. The boot loader program serves as an extremely important role for controlling loading operations of a main program. Accordingly, such an erroneously-rewritten boot loader program may prevent the electronic device from even starting up.
It is conceivable to solve this problem using hardware. For example, it is conceivable to perform a predetermined setting to one or more data input/output pin (IO pin) provided to the flash memory, thereby prohibiting the boot loader program from erroneously being rewritten. This method is, however, troublesome.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to solve the above-described problems, and to provide an improved data storage device that can properly download control data, such as the program for controlling the electronic device, into the flash memory through selectively allowing the download operation.
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention provides a data storage device, comprising: a rewritable nonvolatile memory capable of storing control data; means for selectively setting a predetermined download operation mode; and means for performing downloading operation to receive inputted control data and to write the received control data to the nonvolatile memory according to the selectively-set download operation mode.
The mode setting means may include means for selectively setting one of a rewritable mode to allow the downloading means to write the inputted control data over the control data already stored in the nonvolatile memory and an initially-writing mode to allow the downloading means to write the inputted control data initially into the nonvolatile memory.
The data storage device may further comprise means for executing operations based on the control data stored in the nonvolatile memory.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a data storage device comprising: a rewritable nonvolatile memory including: a control data storing region for storing control data such as a program and a variety of information for controlling operations of an electronic processing device; and a specification indication data storage region storing specification indication data for indicating specifications of the electronic processing device to be controlled by the control data; reception means for receiving transmitted control data and specification indication data; collating means for, when the reception means receives the transmitted specification indication data, collating the transmitted specification indication data with the specification indication data stored in the specification indication data storage region; updating means for, when the transmitted specification indication data and the specification indicated data collated by the collation means match, rewriting the control data storage region using the tra
Kuwabara Kazuhiro
Minamizawa Fumihiro
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Chace Christian P.
Kim Matthew
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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