Patent ID: 8539471

Claim:
A method for updating software of an electronic device from a current version of the software to an updated version of the software, the electronic device comprising a storage medium having stored therein the current version of the software; the method comprising the following steps performed by the electronic device: receiving incremental update instructions for causing the electronic device to transform the stored current version of the software into the updated version of the software, wherein the software comprises a first and a second set of load modules, the first set of load modules comprising program code for providing a minimal set of basic system services required for operating the electronic device in an update mode and program code for providing functionality for performing the update, the received incremental update instructions comprising a first set of update instructions for causing the electronic device to generate an updated version of the first set of load modules, the received incremental update instructions further comprising a second set of update instructions for causing the electronic device to generate an updated version of the second set of load modules; storing at least the second set of update instructions in the storage medium; executing the first set of update instructions so as to update the stored current version of the first set of load modules to the generated updated version of the first set of load modules; booting the electronic device in an update mode in which the updated version of the first set of load modules is executed; and executing the stored second set of update instructions so as perform an in-place update of the second set of load modules, the in-place update comprising replacing the stored current version of the second set of load modules with the generated updated version of the second set of load modules, wherein the electronic device is a portable radio communications device for communicating via a radio communications network, wherein the software includes communications functionality for establishing radio communications between the communications device and another communications device of the radio communications network; and wherein said communications functionality is included in the second set of load modules.