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:
Dec. 21, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 14, 2001
Daniel Charles Fiorella, III, Blue Bell, PA (US);
Ronald L. Gebhardt, Jr., Delran, NJ (US);
Marlin F. McGregor, Jr., Berwyn, PA (US);
General Instrument Corporation, Horsham, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for upgrading firmware in an embedded system, without impacting the system. More specifically, the present invention enables an embedded system to be upgraded without any system downtime, by providing two application areas in non-volatile programmable read only memory. A processor can boot up and run from either application area. A fixed vector table is provided, which, in cooperation with a software vector table, enables the processor to maintain proper interrupt vector addresses while being able to run from either application area. Upgraded firmware can be loaded into one application area while the system is running from the other application area. Resetting the processor allows the system to run the upgraded version of firmware.