Patent ID: 8612965

Claim:
A firmware updating method comprising: providing a firmware update setting display which designates first, second, and third settings, the first setting designating a new firmware version to be applied to an apparatus, the second setting selecting one of an automatic update which downloads the new firmware version from a firmware distribution server and automatically applies the new firmware version to the apparatus without receiving an update starting instruction and a manual update which downloads the new firmware version from the firmware distribution server and applies the new firmware version to the apparatus based on the update starting instruction, the third setting selecting one of a first option which updates the current firmware version to another firmware version which is operationally guaranteed and then updates the another firmware version to the new firmware version and a second option which directly updates the current firmware version to the new firmware version, wherein, when the manual update is selected for the second setting, selection of the third setting is enabled, and when the automatic update is selected for the second setting, selection of the third setting is disabled; determining whether or not a direct update from a current firmware version to the new firmware version is enabled when the automatic update is selected for the second setting of the firmware update setting display or when the first option is selected for the third setting of the firmware update setting display; determining whether or not the update to the new firmware version is enabled through an intervention of another version update, if it is determined that the direct update to the new firmware version is disabled; and executing the update to the new firmware version through the intervention of another version update, if it is determined that the update from the current firmware version to the new firmware version is enabled through the intervention of another version update.