Method for updating firmware in the control chip

Abstract

A control chip for updating firmware in an optical disk drive by hardware. The control chip includes a microprocessor for controlling actions of the optical disk drive, a decoder controlled by the microprocessor and connected to an external buffer memory and a host interface, a controller controlled by the microprocessor and connected to the decoder to receive control signals and data of the optical disk drive, an extra memory connected to the microprocessor for storing an update program routine, a DMA unit controlled by the microprocessor to read data from the external buffer memory, and a macro unit controlled by the microprocessor to receive data output from the DMA unit and to write the data into the non-volatile memory. Because the firmware is updated into the flash memory in the hardware architecture, the speed is fast and the microprocessor can execute other works while updating.

1 . A method for updating firmware of an optical disk drive, which is writing to-be-updated firmware from a buffer memory to a non-volatile memory through a macro unit and a DMA unit, the method comprising the steps of: 
 loading an update program routine into an extra memory so as to enable a microprocessor to execute the update program routine in the extra memory when an update action is performed;    loading program codes, in which the to-be-updated firmware is loaded into the buffer memory;    setting the DMA unit and the macro unit, in which the microprocessor computes a start position of the firmware stored in the buffer memory and a length of the firmware, the start position and the length are output to the DMA unit, and a start address of the non-volatile memory is set in the macro unit;    writing the program codes, in which the microprocessor generates and outputs an initialization signal to the macro unit and the DMA unit so as to enable the DMA unit to read data from the buffer memory and transfer the data to the macro unit, which writes the data into the non-volatile memory; and    stopping the update action, in which when the data have been written completely, the microprocessor generates a stop signal to the macro unit and the DMA unit, so as to stop actions of the macro unit and the DMA unit and switch to a normal operation mode.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising a step of monitoring an interior state of the macro unit by the microprocessor.