US 7,757,296 B2 · Method of managing software components that are integrated into an embedded system

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of managing an embedded system comprising at least one original code which is associated with a computer device, at least one embedded code which is associated with the embedded system, and at least one processor which is associated with said embedded system. The invention is characterized in that it comprises a first step involving the creation of at least one autonomous software component, consisting in: analyzing the original code in order to identify the target functions that are called by the original code but not implemented in said code; determining a corresponding function identifier for each of said non-implemented functions; and replacing said non-implemented function calls with at least one switching function PLUG call which is implemented by the embedded code. The invention is further characterized in that it comprises a second step involving the execution of the component on the embedded system, the aforementioned switching function PLUG controlling the rerouting of the processor towards the address of the non-implemented target function corresponding to the function identifier.

Claims79

Dependent claims

A method of managing an embedded system including first code associated with an item of computer equipment, second code associated with the embedded system, and a processor associated with the embedded system, the method comprising:

creating a self-contained software component, comprising:
analysing the first code in order to identify target functions that are called by the first code and not implemented in the first code,
determining, for each of the identified target functions, a corresponding function identifier, and
replacing function calls of the identified target functions with a function call of a PLUG switching function implemented by the second code, and
executing the self-contained software component on the processor of the embedded system, the PLUG switching function controlling redirection of the processor to an address of one of the identified target functions, wherein the one of the identified target functions is selected based on a function identifier.

2 more elements

A method of creating and executing a self-contained software component using a processor, the method comprising:

identifying function calls in embedded software code;
determining selected ones of the function calls that are not implemented in the embedded software code;
for each call of the selected ones of the function calls, determining a corresponding function identifier based on a target of the call;
replacing each call of the selected ones of the function calls with a replacement call to a PLUG switching function,
wherein the replacement call to the PLUG switching function includes an address of the PLUG switching function and function information based on the function identifier corresponding to the call, and
wherein the function information includes a software component identifier uniquely identifying a software component and a software subcomponent identifier uniquely identifying a software subcomponent of the software component, wherein the software subcomponent provides functionality requested by the call;
creating executable code based on the embedded software code;
associating service information with the executable code, wherein the service information specifies software components corresponding to the selected ones of the function calls;
and
using the processor, selectively executing the executable code when software components matching the service information are available,
wherein the executing comprises:
transferring control to the PLUG switching function when one of the replacement calls is encountered;
prior to transferring control, storing in temporary memory the function information corresponding to the one of the replacement calls;
in the PLUG switching function, identifying a software component based on the software component identifier of the function information;
in the PLUG switching function, identifying a software subcomponent of the identified software component based on the software subcomponent identifier of the function information;
and
in the PLUG switching function, transferring control to the identified software subcomponent.

14 more elements

An embedded system for creating and executing a self-contained software component, comprising:

a PLUG switching engine;
a creation engine that:
identifies function calls in embedded software code;
determines selected ones of the function calls that are not implemented in the embedded software code;
for each call of the selected ones of the function calls, determines a corresponding function identifier based on a target of the call;
replaces each call of the selected ones of the function calls with a replacement call to a PLUG switching engine,
wherein the replacement call to the PLUG switching engine includes an address of the PLUG switching engine and function information based on the function identifier corresponding to the call, and
wherein the function information includes a software component identifier uniquely identifying a software component and a software subcomponent identifier uniquely identifying a software subcomponent of the software component, wherein the software subcomponent provides functionality requested by the call;
creates executable code based on the embedded software code;
and
associates service information with the executable code, wherein the service information specifies software components corresponding to the selected ones of the function calls;
and
an execution engine that:
selectively executes the executable code when software components matching the service information are available;
transfers control to the PLUG switching engine when one of the replacement calls is encountered;
and
stores the function information corresponding to the one of the replacement calls in temporary memory prior to transferring control;
wherein the PLUG switching engine:
identifies a software component based on the software component identifier of the function information;
identifies a software subcomponent of the identified software component based on the software subcomponent identifier of the function information;
and
transfers control to the identified software subcomponent.

19 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method of managing software components that are integrated into an embedded system

Life of this patent

Method of managing software components that are integrated into an embedded system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims79