The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 12, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 14, 1999
Masayuki Kitagawa, Irvine, CA (US);
Koji Tsuboi, Irvine, CA (US);
Masanori Matsunaga, Irvine, CA (US);
Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A peripheral device and method are provided for reliably updating and checking firmware or other coded information stored within a nonvolatile memory of the device. The device comprises a microcontroller and a memory with a fixed part and an updateable part. Both the fixed part and the updateable part store firmware. When firmware in the updateable part is updated (such as by using a USB connection with a host PC), a first error detection code is generated and stored in the updateable part. As part of an initialization procedure, the firmware stored in the fixed part generates a second error detection code based on the updated firmware stored in the updateable part and compares the second error detection code to the first error detection code stored in the updateable part. If the error detection codes indicate that the firmware stored in the updateable part is valid, the microcontroller uses the firmware stored in the updateable part to operate the device; otherwise, the microcontroller uses firmware stored in the fixed part to operate the device.