Peripheral device and method for updating firmware thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9513900-B2
Application number	US-201514719792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2015
Priority date	Apr 18, 2013
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A protective cover for an electronic device includes a memory configured to store at least an active firmware image and another firmware image, and circuitry configured to execute instructions provided in the firmware image. The circuitry receives commands and a firmware image included from the electronic device. The circuitry determines whether the firmware is targeted to a non-active block of the memory and if so, writes the firmware image to the non-active memory block.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A protective cover for an electronic device, the protective cover comprising: a shell structured to cover at least a portion of the electronic device, the shell including a cavity; and electronic circuitry disposed in the cavity, the electronic circuitry including: communications circuitry configured to convey at least data between the protective cover and the electronic device, a non-transitory memory medium having at least two memory blocks, each of the at least two memory blocks being alternatively assignable as an active memory block, and a processor connected to the memory medium and to the communication circuitry and configured to control the communications circuitry by execution of firmware instructions stored in the active memory block of the at the least two memory blocks, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether or not a target memory block, identified in a firmware update notification received from the electronic device via the communications circuitry, is the active memory block, and, upon determining that the target memory block is not the active memory block, to write to the target memory block a received firmware image, and upon determining that the identified target memory block is the active memory block, to transmit a response to the electronic device, via the communication circuitry, the response representing that the identified target memory block is not available to update.

2. The protective cover according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to, after writing the received firmware image to the target memory block, designate the target memory block as the active memory block, and to reset the electronic circuitry to permit the processor to execute instructions of the update firmware image.

3. The protective cover according to claim 1 , further comprising a case interface connector of the communications circuitry, the case interface connector disposed to mate with a device connector of the electronic device when the protective cover is disposed on the electronic device.

4. The protective cover according to claim 1 , further comprising a power source operably connected to the electronic circuitry, the power source providing power to at least the electronic circuitry.

5. The protective cover according to claim 1 , wherein the communications circuitry includes wireless communication components.

6. The protective cover according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one of: image capture circuitry, signal monitoring circuitry, signal enhancement circuitry, and audio features, wherein the communications circuitry is configured to convey, respectively, image data of the image capture circuitry, signal data of the signal monitoring circuitry, enhanced signals of the signal enhancement circuitry, and audio data of the audio features between the protective cover and the electronic device.

7. The protective cover according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor is further configured to verify the received firmware image, wherein to verify the received firmware image includes to:
calculate a portion checksum respectively for each of one or more firmware image portions constituting the received firmware image;
compare the calculated portion checksum against a provided portion checksum included with said each firmware image portion; and
notify the electronic device, via the communications circuitry, that the calculated portion checksum matches the provided portion checksum.

8. The protective cover according to claim 7 , wherein,
the processor is further configured to, if the number of the one or more firmware image portions is more than one:
for said each received firmware image portion, successively update a running total checksum using each said calculated portion checksum; and
upon receiving from the electronic device, via the communications circuitry, a pre-calculated total checksum and information that indicates all firmware image portions have been received, compare the pre-calculated total checksum against the running total checksum.

9. The protective cover according to claim 8 , wherein,
the processor is further configured to:
send to the electronic device, via the communications circuitry, acknowledgement that the received firmware image is successfully written and verified,
receive from the electronic device, via the communications circuitry, another update notification identifying the target memory block to which the firmware image was written, and
successively receive from the electronic device the firmware image portions again for portion-by-portion re-verification against the firmware image in the target memory block.

10. The protective cover according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor is further configured to assign the target memory block to be the active memory block after the received firmware image is written to the target memory block, and
the processor causes itself to reset, the reset of the processor resulting in causing the received firmware image to be executed.

11. The protective cover according to claim 1 , further comprising an electrical component that includes at least one of image capture circuitry, signal monitoring circuitry, and one or more sensors, the electrical component configured to provide information to the processor for processing, and wherein the active memory block of the memory medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, control operation of the electrical component and control the processing of the information provided from the electrical component.

12. The protective cover according to claim 1 , further comprising an electrical component that includes at least one of image reproduction circuitry, signal enhancement circuitry, and audio circuitry, the electrical component configured to receive information from the processor, and wherein the active memory block of the memory medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, control operation of the electrical component and transmission of the information to the electrical component.

13. A peripheral device for a smartphone, the peripheral device comprising:
communication circuitry configured to convey at least one of power and data between the peripheral device and the smartphone;
a firmware memory having at least two memory blocks each configured to store a respective firmware image, each of the memory blocks being alternatively assignable as an active memory block;
a processor configured to read and execute the processor-executable instructions stored in the active memory block of the firmware memory,
an electrical component configured to receive at least information from the processor and to provide the at least one of the power and data to the communication circuitry for conveyance of the at least one of power and data to a device other than the peripheral device; and
the processor further configured, based on the processor-executable instructions stored in the active memory block, to:
control operation of the communication circuitry and of the electrical component,
receive a firmware update notification from the smartphone via the communication circuitry, the firmware update notification identifying a target memory block of the at least two memory blocks for receiving an updated firmware image,
determine whether or not the identified target memory block is the active memory block,
upon determination that the identified target memory block is not the active memory block:
transmit, via the communication circuitry, a response to the smartphone acknowledging the update notification,
receive, from the smartphone via the communicatio

Assignees

• Otter Products Llc

Inventors

• Wojcik James J
• Hansen Kim J
• Stephanick James

Classifications

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F8/65

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F9/4401

  Bootstrapping (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F8/665

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F8/66 Primary

  of program code stored in read-only memory [ROM] · CPC title