JPH113213A - Information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a device from becoming inoperative by controlling the initial operation of a peripheral device and the down-loading of a firmware by a start program, automatically updating the firmware and performing redoing even when updating fails. SOLUTION: In a storage part 15 of a host device 3, a firmware 16 of a latest version is transferred from a host system 3 and written. At the time of starting the peripheral device 4, a start program 14 is operated and the version of the firmware 13 used until then and the version of the firmware stored in the storage part 15 of the host device 3 are compared. In the case that the versions are different, the firmware 16 of the latest version is down- loaded from the host device 3 and a flash memory 9 is reloaded. When reloading is ended, the operation is shifted to the firmware 13 and the original operation of the device is started.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system which operates by firmware and is configured to automatically update the firmware at a predetermined timing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a system for managing an automatic transaction device or the like that automates deposit / withdrawal transactions of a financial institution, transaction information is collected from a large number of automatic transaction devices arranged in a store.
This is managed and a predetermined operation is performed. Not only financial-related automated machines, but also automated machines that constitute various large-scale systems,
In order to respond to customer requests and various improvement requests, the operation program is appropriately upgraded. In order to upgrade the operation program of the apparatus, that is, the firmware, for example, there is a method of replacing a ROM (read only memory) in which the firmware of all the apparatuses is written. In a device in which firmware is written in a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, firmware for version upgrade is transferred and downloaded from a host device.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional system has the following problems to be solved. RO to upgrade the firmware
When replacing M, it is necessary for a maintenance worker to go to a place where the device is installed, disassemble the device, and reassemble the device. Alternatively, it is necessary to send the device to a factory, replace the ROM at the factory, and then repeat the device again. These operations are time consuming and expensive, making them impractical for treating many automated machines used in large systems.

[0004] On the other hand, the method of downloading firmware for upgrading to a flash memory or the like of the apparatus has an advantage that the processing can be automatically and easily performed. Rewriting of the firmware may fail due to occurrence or the like. In this case, the device may become inoperable. In addition, even if the firmware is stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk and sent to the maintenance person of the device to rewrite the firmware, normal rewriting cannot be performed due to a defective floppy disk, etc. It may be impossible. Further, the operation of mounting a floppy disk on many automatic machines becomes very complicated.

[0005]

The present invention employs the following structure to solve the above problems. <Configuration 1> Consisting of a host device and a peripheral device managed by the host device, the host device is provided with a storage unit for storing the latest version of operation firmware of the peripheral device. The peripheral device stores at least a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit for storing operation firmware of the peripheral device, and a startup program for executing an initial operation and a firmware update process of the peripheral device. A read-only storage unit. When the system starts up, the boot program stores the latest version of firmware stored in the storage unit of the host device and the firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit. By comparing the versions, it is confirmed that the firmware version stored in the nonvolatile storage unit is not the latest version. The information processing system when it is determined is characterized in that download the latest version of the firmware stored in the storage unit of the host apparatus in the storage unit of the rewritable non-volatile and.

<Structure 2> Consists of a host device and peripheral devices managed by the host device.
A storage unit for storing operation firmware of the peripheral device is provided. The peripheral device includes at least a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit for storing operation firmware of the peripheral device, and an initial operation of the peripheral device. And a read-only storage unit for storing a start-up program for executing a firmware update process. The start-up program stores the firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit when the peripheral device starts up. Of the firmware, determine whether the firmware needs to be updated, and when it is determined that the firmware needs to be updated, update the firmware stored in the storage unit of the host device to the rewritable nonvolatile memory. An information processing system, which is downloaded to a storage unit.

<Structure 3> Consists of a host device and peripheral devices managed by the host device.
A storage unit for storing the latest version of operation firmware of the peripheral device is provided, and the peripheral device includes at least a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit for storing operation firmware of the peripheral device. And a read-only storage unit for storing a start-up program for executing an initial operation of the peripheral device and a firmware update process, and the start-up program has its own non-volatile memory when the system starts up. In addition to diagnosing the firmware stored in the storage unit, the latest version of the firmware stored in the storage unit of the host device is compared with the version of the firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit. Determined whether an update was required and determined that a firmware update was required The information processing system is characterized in that download the latest version of the firmware stored in the storage unit of the host apparatus in the storage unit of the rewritable non-volatile.

<Structure 4> In the system described in Structures 1 to 3, the storage unit of the host device stores the latest version of the operation firmware of the peripheral device, which is distributed from the host through the communication line. An information processing system characterized by being performed.

<Structure 5> In the system described in Structures 1 to 3, the start-up program adjusts the data transfer speed from the higher-level device to the peripheral device while downloading the firmwaregram from the higher-level device. An information processing system characterized by changing to a speed higher than a transfer speed.

<Structure 6> Consisting of a host device and a peripheral device managed by the host device, while transferring specific data from the peripheral device to the host device, data transfer from the peripheral device to the host device An information processing system, wherein the speed is changed to a speed higher than a transfer speed for normal operation.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below using specific examples. <Specific Example> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an information processing system according to the present invention. 1 is managed by a host system 1 and communicates with the host system 1 and a communication line 2.
The host device 3 connected via the PC is connected to various peripheral devices 4 such as an automatic transaction device of a financial institution and a card handling device.
Is controlled. The present invention provides a method for automatically and securely performing such processing for updating the firmware of the peripheral device 4 for version upgrade and the like.

The peripheral device 4 is provided with a CPU bus 5. This is connected to the host device 3 via the communication controller 6. The peripheral device 4 is controlled by the processor 7. In addition to the above, the CPU bus 5 has a ROM (read only memory), a flash memory 9, a RAM (random access memory) 11, and various input / output devices (I / O).
O) 12 is connected.

The communication controller 6 is an interface for controlling communication between the host device 3 and the peripheral device 4.
The processor 7 includes a microprocessor, an internal memory (not shown), and the like. The ROM 8 is a storage device that is started first when the peripheral device 4 is started up, and in which a start-up program 14 for executing an initial operation and a firmware update process described later is written. This is called a read-only storage unit in the present invention. If the start-up program 14 is rewritten carelessly, a reliable start-up process as described later cannot be performed. Therefore, a read-only storage unit is used to store this program. Therefore, as long as protection measures are taken to prevent rewriting, it is not necessary to use a ROM.

The flash memory 9 has firmware 1
3 is stored. The processor 7 executes an original operation of the peripheral device according to the firmware 13. RAM1
Various data and parameters are stored in 1 and assist the original operation of the apparatus. The input / output device 12 is a variety of devices to be controlled attached to the peripheral device. For example, in the case of an automatic transaction device, there are various devices such as a cashier, a card reader, and a passbook printer.

The host device 3 is provided with a storage unit 15 such as a hard disk. Here, the latest version of the firmware 16 is transferred from the host system 1 via the communication line 2 at an appropriate timing. That is, the host system 1 includes a number of peripheral devices 4 managed by the host device 3.
A program for updating the firmware is transferred via the communication line 2 at an appropriate timing. The host device 3 stores the latest version of the firmware 16 received in the storage unit 15. Then, for example, each of the peripheral devices 4 receives a notification such as the version of the firmware stored in the storage unit 15 from the host device 3 when the power is turned on.

FIG. 2 shows an operation flowchart of the information processing system for executing such a firmware update process. First, in step S1, the host device 3
Receives firmware from the host system 1 through the communication line 2. Next, in step S2, the host device 3 stores the firmware in the storage unit 15. In step S3, the host device 3 starts up the system. Here, the power of each peripheral device 4 is turned on.
In step S4, the host device 3 notifies the peripheral device 4 of the version number of the firmware in the storage unit 15.

When the power of the peripheral device 4 is turned on, the start-up program 14 first operates to start up the device until communication with the host device 3 is possible. When the notification about the firmware version is received from the host device 3 in this way, the firmware compares the version with the version of the firmware 13 stored in the flash memory 9 of the own device. Also,
At the same time, the firmware 13 stored in its own flash memory 9 is diagnosed.

As a result, when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the firmware, that is, when a hash error has occurred, the process proceeds from step S6 to step S8, and the process shifts to a process of receiving a download of new firmware from a higher-level device. That is, in this part, the download is automatically performed not only when the firmware versions are different, but also when there is some kind of trouble in the firmware to be started from now on.

In step S7, it is determined whether or not the firmware versions are different. If the firmware versions are different, the process proceeds to step S8, where a download process is performed. In step S8, the peripheral device 4 requests the host device 3 to download the firmware. Then, step S9
, The host device transmits the firmware in the storage unit 15 to the peripheral device 4.

Next, in step S10, the peripheral device 4 writes the firmware into the flash memory 9.
Thereafter, in step S11, the peripheral device 4 transfers the control from the startup program 14 in the ROM 8 to the firmware 13 in the flash memory 9.

Finally, in step S12, the startup of the system is completed. If it is determined in step S6 that the firmware is normal and if it is determined in step S7 that the version number has not changed, the process proceeds to step S11.
Then, the control is transferred to the firmware, and the start-up of the system is completed. A large number of peripheral devices (not shown) are connected to the host device 3, and if these peripheral devices automatically execute the above-described processing at the same time, the work of the staff is greatly reduced.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a modification of the present invention. Here, a case is considered in which various peripheral devices such as an automatic transaction device normally execute the original operation of the device. At this time, such a device notifies, for example, a result of the transaction to the host system, receives various information from the host system, and executes a transaction process or the like. During normal operation, the peripheral device is set to communicate with the host system at a predetermined communication speed. Also in the case of executing the firmware rewriting process or the like as described above, the firmware is downloaded or the like at the communication speed set in advance for the original operation of the device.

However, when the data amount of the firmware is large, there is a problem that the downloading requires a very long time. On the other hand, if the communication speed used in the original transaction of the device is too high, the load for communication control of the processor increases. On the other hand, if an attempt is made to maintain a high communication speed even when the load increases, a processor capable of high-speed processing is required, and the hardware cost increases. Therefore, in this specific example, a method of temporarily changing the communication speed to a high speed only when downloading the firmware is adopted.

In FIG. 3, a host device 3 has a RAM 2
2, ROM 23, CPU 24, communication controller 25,
26, various I / Os 27 are provided. (* 1) These are mutually connected by the CPU bus 21. It is assumed that the host device 3 operates by storing, for example, the latest version of the firmware described above in the RAM 22 or the like. Further, a peripheral device 30 such as a bill processing device is connected to the communication controller 25. Peripheral device 30
Are the communication controller 32, the CPU 33, the RAM 34,
The flash memory 35 and the I / O 36 are connected to the CPU bus 31
It is configured to be connected to Further, a peripheral device 40 such as a card processing device is connected to the communication controller 26 of the host device 3. The peripheral device 40 includes a communication controller 42, a CPU 43, a RAM 44, a ROM 45
And an I / O 46, which are mutually connected to the CPU bus 41.
Connected by

I of peripheral device 30 constituting banknote handling machine
/ O is, for example, a depositing / dispensing machine. The I / O of the peripheral device 40 constituting the card processing device is an emboss reader for reading an image of an emboss card.

First, consider a case where the peripheral device 30 upgrades the firmware 37 stored in the flash memory 35. The version upgrade operation itself is as described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of changing the communication speed at the time of updating the firmware.
First, in step S1, the system is started up, and in step S2, it is determined whether or not the firmware has been updated. When it is determined that the firmware is to be updated, the process proceeds to step S3, and the communication speed is set to, for example, 153600.
Set to bps. Then, in step S4, a firmware update process is performed. Then, in step S5, the communication speed is reset to 9600 bps.
This communication speed is the communication speed when the original operation of the device is executed.

As described above, the communication speed is switched only when the firmware is updated, thereby shortening the firmware download time and the like. In step S6,
After the communication speed is returned to normal, continue booting the system. When the apparatus is started up, there is almost no processing other than communication such as downloading of firmware, so that no harm occurs even if a temporary load is applied to the processor.

The above-described concept is not limited to only the firmware update process.
It can be employed when executing special processing such as image transfer. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a communication speed changing operation at the time of such a specific process. First, in step S1, it is assumed that, for example, the peripheral device 40 constituting the card processing device shown in FIG. 3 operates the I / O 46, which is an emboss reader. Step S1 is a processing step for determining whether or not the I / O 46 has operated. Here, when the emboss read is performed, in step S2, the communication speed is sufficiently higher than the normal speed, for example, 307200.
Set to bps. Then, in step S3, the image data is transmitted to the host device 3. After the transmission of the image data is completed, in step S4, the speed is reset to the normal speed of 9600 bps. Since the time is extremely short, exceptions are allowed to improve the efficiency of the entire system.

FIG. 6 shows the effect when the communication speed is temporarily increased at the time of downloading the above-mentioned firmware or at the time of specific processing. FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of communication time for updating firmware. Also,
(B) is an explanatory diagram of communication time when embossed image data is transmitted.

As shown in the figure, for example, the data amount of the firmware is set to about 2 Mbytes. In this case, the communication speed
If it is set to 9600 bps, it takes about 2403 seconds, that is, about 40 minutes to download. On the other hand, if the communication speed is set to 153600 bps as shown in the specific example, 151
The download is completed in seconds, that is, 2 minutes and 30 seconds. As described above, the start-up process of the apparatus is speeded up by sufficiently shortening the download time.

For example, in consideration of transmission of embossed image data, if the data amount is about 13 Kbytes, about 17 seconds are required for transfer at a communication speed of 9600 bps. On the other hand, at a transfer speed of 307200 bps, it takes about 0.53 seconds. As described above, since the process of transferring the image of the card emboss is performed in a very short time, other processes are not hindered, and the original operation of the device can be smoothly performed.

[0033]

As described above, if the latest version of the firmware is stored in the host device and the firmware is automatically downloaded, the time and cost for updating the firmware can be saved sufficiently. In addition, when a startup program is provided in the peripheral device to thereby automatically update the firmware, erroneous operations are eliminated as compared with the case where the firmware update process is performed artificially, and this type of process can be performed reliably and securely.

Further, for example, even if a power failure occurs during the update of the firmware and the update of the firmware fails, if the power is turned on again, the start-up program operates and the firmware can be updated normally. Furthermore, even when a failure occurs in the firmware stored in the flash memory, the normal firmware is automatically downloaded by starting up the device, so that the device can be automatically restored.

Further, only when downloading the firmware, the data transfer speed of the apparatus is temporarily increased, so that the download time can be reduced and the processing efficiency can be improved. Even in the case of normal operation, when a specific process is executed, if a function for temporarily increasing the communication speed is provided, various processes can be smoothly and rapidly executed without affecting other processes. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an information processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the information processing system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a modified example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a communication speed changing operation at the time of updating a firmware.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a communication speed changing operation at the time of a specific process.

FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of communication time when updating firmware, and FIG. 6B is an explanatory diagram of communication time when transmitting emboss image data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host system 2 Communication line 3 Host device 4 Peripheral device 8 ROM 9 Flash memory 13 Firmware 14 Startup program 15 Storage unit 16 Latest version of firmware

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A high-level device and a peripheral device managed by the high-level device, wherein the high-level device is provided with a storage unit for storing the latest version of operation firmware of the peripheral device. The peripheral device stores at least a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit that stores firmware for operation of the peripheral device, and a startup program that executes an initial operation and a firmware update process of the peripheral device. And a read-only storage unit that performs the following operations. When the system is started, the latest version of firmware stored in the storage unit of the host device and the firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit The firmware version stored in its own non-volatile storage unit is the latest. Not equal when determining an information processing system, characterized in that download the latest version of the firmware stored in the storage unit of the host system in the storage unit of the rewritable non-volatile. 2. A high-level device and a peripheral device managed by the high-level device, wherein the high-level device is provided with a storage unit for storing firmware for operating the peripheral device. At least a rewritable non-volatile storage unit for storing operation firmware of the peripheral device, and a read-only storage unit for storing a start-up program for executing an initial operation and a firmware update process of the peripheral device. This startup program performs a diagnosis of the firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit at the time of startup of the peripheral device, determines whether or not the firmware needs to be updated. When it is determined that it is necessary, the firmware stored in the storage unit of the higher-level device is replaced with the rewritable nonvolatile memory. Information processing system, characterized in that the download to 憶部. 3. A high-level device and a peripheral device managed by the high-level device, wherein the high-level device is provided with a storage unit that stores the latest version of operation firmware of the peripheral device. The peripheral device includes at least a rewritable non-volatile storage unit that stores firmware for operating the peripheral device, and a startup program that executes an initial operation of the peripheral device and a firmware update process. A read-only storage unit for storing, the startup program diagnoses firmware stored in its own non-volatile storage unit when the system is started up, and stores the firmware in the storage unit of the host device. By comparing the latest firmware version and the firmware version stored in its own non-volatile storage unit, It is determined whether or not the firmware needs to be updated. If it is determined that the firmware needs to be updated, the latest version of the firmware stored in the storage unit of the higher-level device is updated to the rewritable nonvolatile storage unit. An information processing system characterized by downloading to a computer. 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit of the higher-level device stores the latest version of operation firmware of the peripheral device, which is distributed from the host via a communication line. An information processing system comprising: 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the start-up program controls the data transfer speed from the higher-level device to the peripheral device during the download of the firmwaregram from the higher-level device for normal operation. An information processing system wherein the speed is changed to a speed higher than the speed. 6. A higher-level device and a peripheral device managed by the higher-level device, wherein while transferring specific data from the peripheral device to the higher-level device, a data transfer rate from the peripheral device to the higher-level device is controlled. ,
An information processing system wherein the transfer speed is changed to a speed higher than a transfer speed for normal operation.