Method for reconfiguring software parameters in a microcontroller as well as a microcontroller and control unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9760367-B2
Application number	US-201113814355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2011
Priority date	Aug 6, 2010
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

In a method for reconfiguring software parameters in a microcontroller having at least one computing unit, a first non-volatile read-only memory and a volatile memory, which software parameters are stored in the first non-volatile read-only memory, reconfiguration information concerning software parameters to be modified and at least one correction value are transferred from a second non-volatile read-only memory assigned to the microcontroller into the volatile memory. At least one software parameter is transferred from the first non-volatile read-only memory into the volatile memory for processing by the computing unit. If the software parameter transferred into the volatile memory matches one of the software parameters to be modified, the value of the software parameter transferred into the volatile memory is replaced by a correction value before processing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for reconfiguring software parameters in a microcontroller having at least one computing unit, a first non-volatile read-only memory, and a volatile memory, and the software parameters being stored in the first non-volatile read-only memory, comprising:
transferring, using one or more signals, at least one software parameter from the first non-volatile read-only memory into the volatile memory for processing by the computing unit, wherein each of the at least one software parameter includes an initial value when transferred into the volatile memory and is associated with a respective one of the one or more signals;
transferring one or more reconfiguration information sets from a second non-volatile read-only memory assigned to the microcontroller into the volatile memory, wherein each reconfiguration information set of the one or more reconfiguration information sets includes:
a signal identifier corresponding to one of the one or more signals;
a parameter identifier corresponding to one of the at least one software parameter; and
a correction value;

for each signal of the one or more signals, checking the each of the one or more reconfiguration information sets in the volatile memory to determine whether one or more of the at least one software parameter associated with a respective signal of the each signal matches a respective one of the parameter identifiers associated with a respective one of the reconfiguration information sets, and replacing the initial value of the at least one software parameter in the volatile memory with the respective correction value of any matching software parameter, which is to be modified; and
cyclically processing the signals, wherein a checking of the reconfiguration information in the volatile memory to determine whether the at least one software parameter matches any of the software parameters to be modified is repeated for every cycle.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the association of the one or more signals with the software parameters is for processing of the one or more signals in accordance with respective ones of the plurality of software parameters with which the one or more signals are respectively associated;
the one or more reconfiguration information sets identify one or more of the plurality of software parameters and include a respective correction value for each of the identified one or more software parameters;
the method includes, responsive to a software run time requiring whichever one or more of the plurality of software parameters that are associated with a particular one of the one or more signals to be transferred to the volatile memory in order for the computing unit to process the particular one of the one or more signals:
transferring, during the software run time, from the first non-volatile read-only memory, and into the volatile memory, the one or more of the software parameters associated with the particular signal for processing by the computing unit of the one or more software parameters and the particular signal; and
performing the checking and replacing steps;

the checking step includes checking the reconfiguration information that had been transferred to the volatile memory to determine whether any of the one or more software parameters that had been transferred into the volatile memory during the software run time matches any of the software parameters identified by the reconfiguration information that had been transferred to the volatile memory;
the replacing step includes replacing the initial value of any of the one or more software parameters in the volatile memory that had been determined to match any of the software parameters identified by the reconfiguration information that had been transferred to the volatile memory with the respective correction value of the matching software parameter identified by the reconfiguration information; and
the cyclical processing of the signals includes, after the replacing, executing, by the computing element, software code to perform the processing of the particular signal and of the one or more software parameter in the volatile memory.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the one or more software parameters includes a plurality of software parameters assigned to a same selected signal to be further processed or checked by the microcontroller, wherein the plurality of software parameters assigned to the same selected signal are transferred together from the first non-volatile read-only memory into the volatile memory, and wherein each signal includes a message from one of a sensor, an actuator and a control unit.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the software parameters are stored in tabular form in the first non-volatile read-only memory, and wherein software parameters assigned to the same selected particular signal are grouped together in a table in the first non-volatile read-only memory.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the reconfiguration information for the software parameters assigned to the selected particular signal are checked to determine whether a software parameter to be modified is present for the selected particular signal.

6. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the software parameters transferred into the volatile memory and assigned to the selected particular signal are processed in tabular form by the computing unit.

7. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the reconfiguration information and the at least one correction value are transferred from the second non-volatile read-only memory into the volatile memory each time the microcontroller is started.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the reconfiguration information and the at least one correction value are stored in the second non-volatile read-only memory via a CAN sequence.

9. A microcontroller comprising:
a computing unit;
a first non-volatile read-only memory storing a plurality of software parameters;
a volatile memory; and
means for:
transferring, using one or more signals, at least one of the software parameters from the first non-volatile read-only memory into the volatile memory for processing by the computing unit, wherein each of the at least one software parameter includes an initial value when transferred into the volatile memory and is associated with a respective one of the one or more signals;
transferring one or more reconfiguration information sets from a second non-volatile read-only memory assigned to the microcontroller into the volatile memory, wherein each reconfiguration information set of the one or more reconfiguration information sets includes:
a signal identifier corresponding to one of the one or more signals;
a parameter identifier corresponding to one of the at least one software parameter; and
a correction value; and

for each signal of the one or more signals, checking the each of the one or more reconfiguration information sets in the volatile memory to determine whether one or more of the at least one software parameter associated with a respective signal of the each signal matches a respective one of the parameter identifiers associated with a respective one of the reconfiguration information sets, and replacing the initial value of the at least one software parameter in the volatile memory with the respective correction value of any matching software parameter, which is to be modified;

wherein the computing unit is configured to cyclically process the signals, with the checking being repeated for every cycle.

10. The microcontroller as recited in claim 9 , wherein the volatile memory is a RAM, and the second, non-volatile read-only memory is an EEPROM.

Assignees

• Peters Matthias
• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Peters Matthias

Classifications

• G06F8/65

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

• G06F8/60

  Software deployment · CPC title

• G06F8/66 Primary

  of program code stored in read-only memory [ROM] · CPC title

• G06F9/328

  for runtime instruction patching · CPC title

• G06F8/68

  Physics · mapped topic