Abstract:
A system with a firmware updating method is applied between a primary electronic device and at least one secondary electronic device. When the primary electronic device detects that one firmware of the at least one secondary electronic device runs error and needs to be updated, the primary electronic device acquires a corresponding firmware according to an alert from the at least one secondary electronic device and transforms the corresponding firmware to the at least one secondary electronic device; or the at least one secondary electronic device detects running situation itself and acquires the corresponding firmware from the primary electronic device, thereby updating the firmware of the at least one secondary electronic device.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The disclosure relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to a system and an electronic device with firmware updating function and a firmware updating method adapted for the system. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    When an electronic device needs a firmware update, a specific interface, such as a joint test action group interface, is often needed for updating the firmware. However, most of electronic devices do not have a specific interface for such purpose, therefore, when a user wants to update the firmware, the user have to remove a chip burned with the old firmware and burn an updated firmware to the chip, which is inconvenient and time-consuming. 
         [0005]    Therefore, what is needed is an electronic device to overcome the described shortcoming. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system with firmware updating function in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a primary electronic device of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of updating firmware method adapted for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system with firmware updating function in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. The system with firmware updated function (hereinafter “system”)  1  is applied between a primary electronic device  10  and at least one secondary electronic device  20 . The primary electronic device  10  communicates with the at least one secondary electronic device  20  by wire or wireless. Each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  may be a computer and stores firmware for supporting the running of an operating system of the computer. 
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a primary electronic device of the system of  FIG. 1 . The primary electronic device  10  includes a storage unit  30 , a control unit  40 , and a communication unit  50 . The storage unit  30  stores at least one firmware  31 . In the embodiment, the storage unit  30  is a nonvolatile random access memory. For example, the firmware  31  of a screen includes on-screen display for controlling the screen. The communication unit  50  communicates with the at least one secondary electronic device  20  through a USB port or a Bluetooth module. 
         [0011]    The control unit  40 , e.g., a processor, includes a detecting module  41 , an alert acquiring module  42 , a determination module  43 , a firmware acquiring module  44 , and an updating module  45 . The primary electronic device  10  establishes a communication link with each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  via the communication unit  50 . 
         [0012]    The detecting module  41  monitors each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  running in real time. The determination module  43  determines whether the detecting module  41  detects an abnormal operation condition of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . In other words, the determination module  41  determines whether to receive an alert from one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  for an abnormality via the communication unit  50 . When the detecting module  41  detects an abnormal operation condition of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 , the alert acquiring module  42  acquires the alert generated from the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  via the communication unit  50 . 
         [0013]    The determination module  43  determines whether the alert contains reference to a firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . In the embodiment, the reference to each firmware includes at least one keyword which reflects the firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . For example, the reference to the screen firmware includes keywords “brightness,” “temperature,” etc. If the alert does not contain reference to any firmware, the running of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  has a problem from other hardware. If the alert contains reference to one firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 , that means that the firmware  31  of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  has a problem and needs to be updated. The firmware acquiring module  44  acquires a firmware  31  from the at least one firmware of the storage unit  30  based on the reference. The updating module  45  generates an updating command to update the firmware  31  of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  with the acquired firmware  31 , so as to normalize the running of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . 
         [0014]    In another embodiment, each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  includes the control unit  40  which includes the detecting module  41 , the alert acquiring module  42 , the determination module  43 , the firmware acquiring module  44 , and the updating module  45 . The detecting module  41  monitors the running of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  in real time. The determination module  43  determines whether the detecting module  43  detects an abnormal operation condition of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . When the detecting module  43  detects an abnormal operation condition of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 , the alert acquiring module  42  acquires an alert. 
         [0015]    The determination module  43  determines whether the alert contains reference to of a firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . If the alert does not contain reference to any firmware, the determination module  43  determines that the running of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  has a problem from other hardware. If the alert contains reference to one firmware, the firmware acquiring module  44  acquires a firmware  31  from the at least one firmware  31  of the storage unit  30  based on the reference via the communication unit  50 . The updating module  45  generates an updating command to update the firmware  31  of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  with the acquired firmware  31 . 
         [0016]    In other embodiments, the primary electronic device  10  includes some of the detecting module  41 , the alert acquiring module  42 , the determination module  43 , the firmware acquiring module  44 , and the updating module  45 , and each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  includes the other modules. 
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of updating firmware method adapted for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0018]    In step S 310 , the primary electronic device  10  establishes a communication link with each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  via the communication unit  50 . In step S 320 , the detecting module  41  monitors each of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  running in real time. In step S 330 , the determination module  43  determines whether the detecting module  41  detects an abnormal operation condition of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . 
         [0019]    In step S 340 , if the detecting module  41  detects an abnormal operation condition of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 , the alert acquiring module  42  acquires the alert generated from the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  via the communication unit  50 . If the detecting module  41  does not detect an abnormal operation condition of one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 , the procedure ends. 
         [0020]    In step S 350 , the determination module  43  determines whether the alert contains reference to a firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20 . If the alert does not contain reference to any firmware, the procedure ends. In step S 360 , if the alert contains reference to one firmware, the firmware acquiring module  44  acquires a firmware from the at least one firmware of the storage unit  30  based on the reference. In step S 360 , the updating module  45  generates an updating command to update the firmware of the one of the at least one secondary electronic device  20  based on the acquired firmware. 
         [0021]    Although the present disclosure has been specifically described on the basis of the exemplary embodiment thereof, the disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.