Charge control device, storage medium, and charge control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12598080-B2
Application number	US-202418600827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2024
Priority date	Dec 18, 2023
Publication date	Apr 7, 2026
Grant date	Apr 7, 2026

Abstract

A charge control device for a vehicle includes: a controller configured to communicate with a charging facility for a charge authentication, the controller storing a first private key corresponding to a first certificate in a first area of a memory, wherein the controller is configured to: generate a second private key and a public key in response to a request from a certificate issuer; store the second private key in a second area of the memory different from the first area; transmit the public key to the certificate issuer to receive a second certificate issued by the certificate issuer; maintain use of the first private key until an installation completion of the second certificate; and use the second private key upon the installation completion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A charge control device for a vehicle, the device comprising:
a controller capable of communicating with a charging facility for charging an electric power to the vehicle, wherein the controller is configured to: store a current private key and a current certificate; create a signature based on the current private key and the current certificate; transmit the signature to the charging facility for an authentication to initiate charging the electric power; generate and store a new private key and a new public key in response to a request from a certificate issuer; transmit the new public key to the certificate issuer; receive and store a new certificate issued by the certificate issuer; check whether the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; maintain use of the current private key for creating the signature and withhold use of the new private key if the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; and replace the current private key and the current certificate with the new private key and the new certificate if the vehicle is not connected to the charging facility.

2 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured not to overwrite the current private key with the new private key.

3 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the charging facility for the authentication based on the current or new private key that is valid and a certificate corresponding to the current or new private key that is valid.

4 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to erase the current private key upon installation completion of the new certificate.

5 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to reject the request upon receiving the request from the certificate issuer during connection to the charging facility.

6 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the charging facility for the authentication based on the current private key that is valid and the current certificate corresponding to the current private key.

7 . The charge control device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to use the new private key after connection to the charging facility is complete.

8 . The charge control device according to claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to erase the current private key and communicate with the charging facility for the authentication based on the new private key that is valid and the new certificate, after the connection to the charging facility is complete.

9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a controller to perform a process, the controller being capable of communicating with a charging facility for charging an electric power to a vehicle, the process comprising:
storing a current private key and a current certificate; creating a signature based on the current private key and the current certificate; transmitting the signature to the charging facility for an authentication to initiate charging the electric power; generating and storing a new private key and a new public key in response to a request from a certificate issuer; transmitting the new public key to the certificate issuer; receiving and storing a new certificate issued by the certificate issuer; checking whether the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; maintaining use of the current private key for creating the signature and withholding use of the new private key if the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; and replacing the current private key and the current certificate with the new private key and the new certificate if the vehicle is not connected to the charging facility.

10 . A charge control method for a controller capable of communicating with a charging facility for charging an electric power to a vehicle, the charge control method comprising:
storing a current private key and a current certificate; creating a signature based on the current private key and the current certificate; transmitting the signature to the charging facility for an authentication to initiate charging the electric power; generating and storing a new private key and a new public key in response to a request from a certificate issuer; transmitting the new public key to the certificate issuer; receiving and storing a new certificate issued by the certificate issuer; checking whether the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; maintaining use of the current private key for creating the signature and withholding use of the new private key if the vehicle is connected to the charging facility; and replacing the current private key and the current certificate with the new private key and the new certificate if the vehicle is not connected to the charging facility.

Assignees

• Denso Ten Ltd

Inventors

• Nagaoka Yoshinori

Classifications

• H04L2209/84

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H04L9/321 Primary

  involving a third party or a trusted authority · CPC title

• H04L9/0861

  Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords · CPC title

• H04L9/0825

  using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates · CPC title

• Y02T90/12

  Electric charging stations · CPC title