System and Method for Updating Device Drivers

Abstract

A host connects to a peripheral device having upgraded firmware. The host also includes a device driver to communicate with the peripheral device. If the device drivers currently installed on the host are not compatible with the upgraded firmware, upgraded device drivers are automatically downloaded to the host from the peripheral device. Once installed on the host, the peripheral device is reset and the upgraded device drivers are used to communicate with the peripheral device.

1 . A peripheral device comprising:
 an interface configured to connect the peripheral device to a host device;   peripheral device firmware configured to control operation of the peripheral device;   memory accessible to the host device and configured to store device driver information for the peripheral device including a predetermined file identifying a minimum driver version for the peripheral device firmware; and   a file system manager communicatively connected to the memory and to the peripheral device firmware, and configured to access the device driver information for the host device responsive to receiving one or more predetermined commands from the host device.   
     
     
         2 . The peripheral device of  claim 1  wherein the file system manager is further configured to determine the minimum driver version for the host device responsive to receiving a request for the minimum driver version from the host device. 
     
     
         3 . The peripheral device of  claim 1  wherein the file system manager is further configured to retrieve a selected device driver from the memory for the host device responsive to receiving a request for the selected device driver from the host device. 
     
     
         4 . The peripheral device of  claim 1  wherein the predetermined commands received from the host device are formatted to control one or more peripheral device functions. 
     
     
         5 . The peripheral device of  claim 1  further comprising a controller configured to switch an operating configuration of the peripheral device between a first configuration and a second configuration based on a signal received from the host device and on the device driver information retrieved by the file system manager. 
     
     
         6 . The peripheral device of  claim 5  wherein the peripheral device comprises a modem, and wherein the one or more predetermined commands comprise AT modem commands. 
     
     
         7 . A peripheral device comprising:
 an interface configured to connect the peripheral device to a host device;   memory configured to store one or more device driver files for the peripheral device;   peripheral device firmware configured to control operation of the peripheral device, and including code configured to report a minimum device driver version for the peripheral device firmware; and   a file system manager communicatively connected to the memory and to the peripheral device firmware, and configured to query the peripheral device firmware to determine the minimum device driver version responsive to receiving a predetermined command from the host device.   
     
     
         8 . The peripheral device of  claim 7  wherein the file system manager is further configured to retrieve a selected device driver from the memory for the host device responsive to receiving a request for the selected device driver from the host device. 
     
     
         9 . The peripheral device of  claim 7  wherein the predetermined commands received from the host device are formatted to control one or more peripheral device functions. 
     
     
         10 . The peripheral device of  claim 1  further comprising a controller configured to switch an operating configuration of the peripheral device between a first configuration and a second configuration based on a signal received from the host device and on the device driver information retrieved by the file system manager. 
     
     
         11 . The peripheral device of  claim 10  wherein the peripheral device comprises a modem, and wherein the one or more predetermined commands comprise AT modem commands.