International Business Machines Corporation

Joshua W Boyer

Gerald Kreissig

Frank Haverkamp

Shaun Allan Wetzstein

Paul Edward Movall

Gary Dean Anderson

Ward Ray Nelson

Andreas Arnez

A method, apparatus and program storage device for updating a non-volatile memory in an embedded system is provided. The invention includes detaching the non-volatile memory from all expectable non-volatile memory references, creating a temporary, volatile-memory file system for allocation of volatile memory space as needed for the non-volatile memory update process, copying all procedural code required to perform the non-volatile memory update into the volatile memory, changing the system search path definitions temporarily to point to the volatile memory, and performing the non-volatile memory update.

Update in-use flash memory without external interfaces

A recovery process for embedded processors monitors other processes in the system. Each process may specify a recovery policy residing in nonvolatile electronic memory that preferably includes a recovery count, a recovery time, and a recovery action. If a process terminates unexpectedly, the recovery process determines whether the process had a corresponding recovery policy. If not, the recovery process does not recover the process. If the process has a corresponding recovery policy, the recovery process determines whether it can recover the process by examining the recovery count and recovery time specified in the recovery policy. If the process can be recovered, the recovery process performs the recovery action specified in the corresponding recovery policy. If the process cannot be recovered, the recovery process resets the system. In this manner, a single process may be recovered by the recovery process without user intervention and without affecting other processes running on the system, and without performing a reset of the entire system.

Apparatus and method for process recovery in an embedded processor system

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Joshua W Boyer