Patent ID: 8549510

Claim:
A firmware update method for updating firmware in an integrated apparatus in which the firmware is integrated, wherein, the integrated apparatus comprises an operation processing section which executes firmware update processing for each file of the firmware in accordance with an update program, a volatile memory which temporarily stores data, and a nonvolatile memory which continuously stores data; wherein: the nonvolatile memory includes normal firmware which operates at normal times, emergency firmware which operates in the case of emergency, including the time of failure in rewriting of the normal firmware, an update data area for storing an update file, and a temporary-saving area for temporarily storing a file before update; and the emergency firmware is of a smaller size than the normal firmware and is provided with only a function of mounting onto the volatile memory and calling the update program, update data or the normal firmware; the method comprising: a step of, in the case of performing update processing of the normal firmware, the operation processing section setting the next-time boot destination to the emergency firmware before the update processing and executing the update processing, and, after the update processing, setting the next-time boot destination to the normal firmware; and wherein the operation processing section performs steps of storing the file before update into the temporary-saving area, deleting the file before update stored in the temporary-saving area from the temporary-saving area after executing the update processing, and storing the file before update into the update data area by replacing the corresponding update file with the file.