Communication system for communication between in-vehicle terminals and center, and in-vehicle terminal employed in communication system

• US 20020103578A1
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Published: 08/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sugimoto, Hironobu, Hayashi, Shinichi, Egawa, Toshiaki, Nanba, Akimasa, Tada, Akihito
• Granted Patent: US 7,286,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/04 using association of physical positions and logical data in a dedicated environment, e.g. buildings or vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

In a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, a center can check whether downloading has been completed normally or a program is operating normally in an in-vehicle terminal. According to the timing of activating a downloaded program, an in-vehicle terminal checks whether the program is activated to operate normally. The information is transmitted to the center. Based on the information, the center becomes aware of the fact that downloading has been completed without any problem and that the program is operating normally in the in-vehicle terminal.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating unit is stored; and

a reporting unit, when downloading the program from said center is completed, reporting a notification to a user by voice.

2. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating unit is stored; and

a reporting unit, when communication is cleared in course of downloading a program from said center, reporting a notification to a user by voice.

3. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating unit is stored; and

a suspending unit, when communication is cleared in course of downloading a program from said center, automatically suspending the downloading.

4. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating means is stored;

a storing unit, when communication is cleared in the course of downloading a program from said center, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

a sending unit, when the communication is restarted, sending the stored information indicating the state of downloading to said center.

5. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating means is stored;

a selecting unit selecting suspension of downloading or automatic restart thereof;

a suspending unit, when said selecting unit has selected suspension, if communication is cleared in the course of downloading a program from said center, automatically suspending the downloading;

a storing unit, when said selecting unit has selected automatic restart, if communication is cleared in the course of downloading a program from said center, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

a transmitting unit, when the communication is restarted, transmitting the stored information indicating the state of downloading to said center.

6. A communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, wherein:

said in-vehicle terminal has a selecting unit selecting whether or not a program is automatically updated, and a transmitting unit, when said selecting unit selects automatic updating, transmitting information, which indicates that automatic updating has been reserved, to said center; and

said center has a distributing unit, when information indicating that automatic updating has been reserved is received from said in-vehicle terminal, every time a program is updated at said center, automatically distributing an updated program to said in-vehicle terminals.

7. A computer readable storage medium storing a program, wherein a facility for storing a downloaded program in a storage unit, and a facility for transmitting information, which indicates whether downloading has been completed normally, according to the timing of activating the stored program are implemented in a computer using said program.