System for installing control program in electronic control unit mounted on automotive vehicle

• US 20030078701A1
• Filed: 08/22/2002
• Published: 04/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kashiwagi, Tomoyuki, Sunami, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 6,795,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/64 Retargetable

Abstract

A control program for an electronic control unit (ECU) is installed at an end of a manufacturing line after the ECU is mounted on an automotive vehicle. The ECU common to all types of vehicles is mounted on each vehicle, and the vehicle type is identified based on data sent from the ECU to a program-installing device. The control program suitable to the identified vehicle type is formulated in the program-installing device by selecting program modules from an object library storing various types of modules and by linking those selected modules into the control program. The control program thus formulated is installed in the ECU at the end of the manufacturing line. In this manner, memory capacities both in the ECU and in the program-installing device are considerably saved.

Claims

1. A system for installing a control program in an electronic control unit mounted on an automotive vehicle at an end of a manufacturing line, in which the electronic control unit common to various types of vehicles manufactured in the manufacturing line is mounted on each vehicle and then the control program specific to each vehicle type is installed, the system comprising:

means for identifying the types of vehicles;

an object library storing objects each constituting a program module, controls performed by the electronic control unit being divided into a plurality of control functions, a plurality of objects each specific to each vehicle type being provided for each control function;

means for formulating the control program specific to the vehicle type identified by the identifying means, by selecting an object specific to that vehicle type from the objects stored in the object library for each control function and by linking those selected objects into the control program; and

means for installing the formulated control program in the electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle, type of which is identified.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein:

the identifying means receives data for identifying the vehicle type from the electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle, the identifying data being formulated based on a signal specific to the vehicle type sent from the vehicle to the electronic control unit.

3. The system as in claim 2, wherein:

the signal specific to the vehicle type is an electric signal having a frequency identifying the vehicle type.

4. The system as in claim 2, wherein:

the signal specific to the vehicle type is a voltage signal having a voltage level identifying the vehicle type.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein:

the system further includes means for inspecting whether the control program installed in the electronic control unit coincides with the control program formulated by the formulating means.

6. The system as in claim 5, wherein:

the inspecting means comprises calculating means included in the electronic control unit and comparing means included in the installing means;

the calculating means calculates a Check-Sum of the control program installed therein and sends the Check-Sum to the installing means; and

the comparing means compares the Check-Sum sent from the calculating means with a Check-Sum of the control program formulated by the formulating means.

7. The system as in claim 5, wherein:

the inspecting means comprises calculating means included in the electronic control unit and comparing means included in the installing means;

the calculating means calculates a Cyclic-Redundancy-Check value of the control program installed therein and sends the Cyclic-Redundancy-Check value to the installing means; and

the comparing means compares the Cyclic-Reduncancy-Check value sent from the calculating means with a Cyclic-Redundancy-Check value of the control program formulated by the formulating means.

8. The system as in claim 2, wherein:

the system further includes means for confirming the vehicle type identified by the identifying means; and

the confirming means receives data for identifying the vehicle type from other electronic control units mounted on the same vehicle on which the former electronic control unit is mounted, compares the identifying data sent from the former electronic control unit with the identifying data received from the other electronic control units, and confirms that the vehicle type is correctly identified if all the identifying data are identical.

9. A method of installing a control program in an electronic control unit, the method comprising steps of:

mounting an electronic control unit, which is common to various types of vehicles manufactured in a manufacturing line, on each vehicle;

identifying a type of a vehicle on which the electronic control unit is mounted based on identifying data sent from the electronic control unit to a program-installing device, the identifying data being formed in the electronic control unit according to a signal identifying the vehicle type fed from the vehicle to the electronic control unit;

formulating the control program specific to the identified vehicle type in the program-installing device by selecting a program module for each control function from among program modules stored in a library and by linking the program modules selected for each control function into the control program; and

installing the formulated control program in the electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle, type of which is identified.

10. The method of installing a control program as in claim 9, the method further including a step of:

inspecting whether the control program formulated in the program-installing device is correctly installed in the electronic unit by comparing a check code representing the installed control program with a check code representing the formulated control program.

11. The method of installing a control program as in claim 10, the method further including a step of:

confirming whether the vehicle type identified based on the identifying data sent from the electronic control unit is correct by comparing the identifying data with other identifying data sent from other electronic control units mounted on the same vehicle on which the former electronic control unit is mounted.