Vehicle information communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11579865-B2
Application number	US-202117485576-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2021
Priority date	Aug 10, 2018
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle information communication system includes a center apparatus and a vehicle apparatus that includes a group of electronic control units (ECUs) and that sends vehicle configuration information including configuration information on the group of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the center apparatus via wireless communications. The center apparatus performs a first determination of whether the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle apparatus matches approved-configuration information registered in an approved-configuration database, and performs a second determination of whether software update data for at least one ECU of the group of ECUs mounted in the vehicle exists in an update database. When both the first and second determinations are true, the center apparatus sends the software update data for at least one ECU of the group of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle information communication system comprising:
a vehicle apparatus mounted in a vehicle, and including a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) and a vehicle computer; and
a center apparatus including:
an approved-configuration database (DB) that includes approved: configuration information which contains approved ECUs configurations for the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle,
an update DB that contains ECU software update data, and
a center computer configured to communicate with the vehicle apparatus via wireless communications,

wherein:
the vehicle computer is configured to send vehicle configuration information which includes configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the center apparatus via the wireless communications,
the center computer is further configured to:
perform a first determination of whether the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle apparatus matches the approved-configuration information registered in the approved-configuration DB;
perform a second determination of whether software update data for at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle exists in the update DB; and
when both the first and second determinations are true, send the software update data for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications; and

the vehicle computer is further configured to:
based on the software update data for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle received from the center apparatus, perform a software update for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle.

2. A center apparatus for providing software update data via wireless communications to a vehicle apparatus mounted in a vehicle that includes a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) and a vehicle computer configured to send vehicle configuration information which includes configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the center apparatus via the wireless communications, the center apparatus comprising:
an approved-configuration database (DB) that includes approved-configuration information which contains approved ECUs configurations for the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle;
an update DB that contains ECU software update data; and
a center computer configured to:
perform a first determination of whether the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle apparatus matches the approved: configuration information registered in the approved-configuration DB;
perform a second determination of whether software update data for at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle exists in the update DB; and
when both the first and second determinations are true, send the software update data for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications, which causes the vehicle computer to, based on the software update data for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle received from the center apparatus, perform a software update for the at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle.

3. The center apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:
a respective ECU in the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle has installed software and is associated with an ECU configuration identifier (CFG-ID) which is changed together at least with a change in the installed software;
the approved ECUs configurations for the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle registered in the approved-configuration DB include approved ECU CFG-ID combinations for the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle;
the configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle in the vehicle configuration information sent from the vehicle apparatus to the center apparatus includes the ECU CFG-IDs of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle; and
the center computer performs the first determination through determining whether the ECU CFG-IDs of the plurality of ECUs in the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle apparatus match any of the approved ECU CFG-ID combinations for the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle registered in the approved: configuration DB.

4. The center apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein:
a respective ECU CFG-ID, which is changed together at least with the change in the installed software, differs according to ECU hardware configuration.

5. The center apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:
the center computer is further configured to, when both the first and second determinations are true and prior to sending the software update data for at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications,
notify at least one of the vehicle apparatus or a user portable terminal device about ECU software update available, and
after receiving an approval from at least one of the vehicle apparatus or the user portable terminal device, send the software update data for at least one ECU of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications.

6. The center apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:
the center computer is further configured to, when the first determination is true and the second determination is false, notify the vehicle apparatus about ECU software update unavailable.

7. The center apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:
the center apparatus further includes:
an individual vehicle information DB that contains a plurality of vehicle information entries each associated with a unique vehicle identifier of the vehicle, wherein each vehicle information entry of the plurality of vehicle information entries includes the configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle, and wherein the individual vehicle information DB is updated when the center apparatus receives from the vehicle apparatus the vehicle configuration information including the configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle.

8. The center apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein:
a respective ECU in the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle has installed software and is associated with an ECU configuration identifier (CFG-ID) which is changed together at least with a change in the installed software;
two or more of ECUs in the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle are configured to constitute a system associated with a System ID (Sys ID) which is changed together at least with a change in the installed software of any one or more of the two or more ECUs in the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle constituting the system associated with the Sys ID; and
the configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle includes the CFG-IDs of the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle and the Sys ID of the two or more ECUs in the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle.

9. The center apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein:
the vehicle computer is further configured to generate a digest value based at least on the configuration information on the plurality of ECUs mounted in the vehicle and send the generated digest value to the center apparatus via the wireless communications; and
the center computer is further configured to:
upon receiving the generated digest value from the vehicle apparatus, determine whether the received digest value matches a verification digest value, wherein the verification digest value is generated based at leas

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Sakurai Nao
• Takahashi Shuhei
• Hayakawa Kazuaki
• Hasegawa Takuya
• Harata Yuzo
• Uehara Kazuhiro
• Kawasaki Takuya

Classifications

• H04L9/3239

  involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• H04L2209/80

  Wireless · CPC title

• H04W12/10

  Integrity · CPC title

• H04L2012/40215

  Controller Area Network CAN · CPC title