Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Control technique
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-03
2001-03-20
Yoo, Do Hyun (Department: 2187)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Control technique
C713S001000, C717S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205526
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an internal information backing up device and method as well as a storage medium having an internal information backup control program stored thereon, and more particularly to a backup of information for operating a firmware in a device into which a firmware is incorporated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a device, into which a firmware is incorporated, the backing up of the information for operation of the firmware has been performed using a binary data form (information set in device) equivalent to the information form in the device.
The information for operation of a firmware is backed up by expanding it into a RAM (random access memory) upon starting of the apparatus. The information is stored in the RAM in such a way that information having the same data structures is stored in each of the data structures.
In the conventional information backing up method as described above, since information is backed up in the form of binary data which is the same as the form of internal information of the device, when the information form is changed or the memory allocation is changed by a change in version of the firmware of the device side, the backed up data may not be usable any more.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an internal information backing up device and method as well as a storage medium having an internal information backup control program stored thereon, in which the problem described above can be eliminated and, even if the form of information is changed or the memory allocation is changed by a change in version of a firmware, the data structures of the information can be corrected automatically.
The above object of the invention can be attained by an internal information backing up device for backing up a plurality of information necessary for a firmware, which is incorporated in an electronic apparatus to control the operation of the electronic apparatus, which comprises a non-volatile storage medium including holding means for separately backing up the plurality of groups of information having the same data structures and data structure storage means for storing information representative of the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information of the holding means and version information at least representative of order of production of the setting informations, a volatile storage medium for holding the plurality of groups of information having the same data structures, a data structure table disposed in the firmware for storing the information representative of the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information and the version information representative at least of the order of production of the informations of the volatile storage medium, expansion means for expanding the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information into the volatile storage medium based on the stored contents of the data structure table when the electronic apparatus is started, comparison means for comparing the version information stored in the data structure storage means of the non-volatile storage medium and the version information stored in the data structure table with each other for each of the plurality of information, and writing means for writing, after the expansion of the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information into the volatile storage medium by the expansion means is completed, those of the setting information, in which coincidence is detected by the comparison means, into the volatile storage medium.
The above object of the invention can be attained also by an internal information backing up method for backing up a plurality of groups of information necessary for a firmware, which is incorporated in an electronic device and controls operation of the electronic device, comprising a step of expanding, upon starting of the electronic device, based on information representative of data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information stored in the firmware and version information at least representative of orders of production of the information, the data structures of each of the plurality of setting informations into a volatile storage medium for holding each of the plurality of groups of information each having the same data structures, a step of comparing version information stored in a non-volatile storage medium including a holding means for backing up the plurality of groups of information having the same data structures and a data structure storage means for storing information representative of the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information of the holding means and version information at least representative of order of production of the information, the data structure storage means and the version information stored in the firmware for each of the plurality of groups of information, and a step of writing, after the expansion of the data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information into the volatile storage medium, those of the setting information in which coincidence is detected by the comparison into the volatile storage medium.
The above object of the invention can be attained also by providing a recording medium having stored thereon an internal information backing up control program for backing up a plurality of information necessary for a firmware, which is incorporated in an electronic device and controls operation of the electronic device, and the internal information backing up control program causes a control means, which controls the backing up of the information, to expand, upon starting of the electronic apparatus, based on the information representative of data structures of each of the plurality of groups of information stored in the firmware and version information at least representative of order of production of the information, the data structures of each of the plurality of information into a volatile storage medium for holding each of the plurality of groups of information each having the same data structures, to compare version information stored in a non-volatile storage medium including holding means for backing up the plurality of information having the same data structures and data structure storage means for storing information representative of the data structures of each of the plurality of setting information of the holding means and version information at least representative of orders of production of the setting information, the data structure storage means and the version information stored in the firmware for each of the plurality of groups of information, and to write, after expanding the data structures of each of the plurality of setting information into the volatile storage medium, those of the setting information, in which coincidence is detected by the comparison, into the volatile storage medium.
In the internal information backing up method of the present invention, information representative of data structures of internal information in the form of binary data delimited in a fixed unit and version information for the individual data structures are stored into tables provided in a firmware and a non-volatile RAM (non-volatile storage medium) in advance, and upon starting of the device, the data structures stored in the table of the replaced firmware are expanded into a RAM (volatile storage medium) so that the data structures prior to the replacement are changed into the new data structures of the replaced firmware.
Thereafter, only those of the internal information in which version information stored in the table of the non-volatile RAM and version information stored in the table of the firmware coincide with each other are written into the RAM. For those of the internal informations in which the version information does not coincide with each other, default values (provisional values) which are written when the data structures are expanded into
NEC Corporation
Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen, LLP
Portka Gary J.
Yoo Do Hyun
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