USING A MANIFEST TO RECORD PRESENCE OF VALID SOFTWARE AND CALIBRATION

• US 20130111271A1
• Filed: 07/24/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Baltes, Kevin M., Kurnik, James T., Gaynier, Ronald J., Forest, Thomas M., Alrabady, Ansaf I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38.1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24034 Model checker, to verify and debug control software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/26 Functional testing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/261 by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities

Abstract

A system and method for verifying that operating software and calibration files are present and valid after a bootloader flashes the files into the memory on a vehicle ECU before allowing the operating software to execute. The ECU memory defines a memory segment for the operating software and the calibration files. A software manifest is provided in a memory slot before the operating software segment in the memory. Likewise, a calibration manifest is provided in a memory slot before the calibration segment in the ECU memory. After the software has been flashed into the ECU memory, a software flag is set in the software manifest memory slot and each time a calibration file is flashed, a calibration flag for the particular calibration file is set in the calibration manifest.

Claims

1. A method for verifying that operating software and calibration files have been properly flashed into a controller before allowing the operating software to be executed in the controller, said method comprising:

defining a memory segment in a controller memory for storing the operating software and one or more calibration files;

reserving a software memory section for the operating software and one or more calibration file memory sections for the one or more calibration files in the memory segment;

flashing the operating software into the software memory section;

setting a software flag in a software manifest memory slot in the software memory section that indicates that the operating software has been properly flashed and verified;

flashing the one or more calibration files into the one or more calibration file memory sections;

setting a calibration flag for each separate calibration file in at least one calibration file manifest memory slot in the one or more calibration file memory sections that indicates that the particular calibration file has been properly flashed and verified; and

verifying that all of the operating software and calibration file flags have been properly set before allowing the operating software to be executed by the controller.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the software manifest precedes the operating software in the software memory section.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one calibration file manifest precedes the one or more calibration files in the calibration file memory section.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein reserving one or more calibration file memory sections for the one or more calibration files includes reserving a plurality of calibration file memory sections for a plurality of calibration files where a single calibration file is provided in each calibration file memory section, and wherein flashing the one or more calibration files into the one or more calibration file memory sections includes flashing a separate calibration file into each of the plurality of calibration file memory sections.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein the plurality of calibration file memory sections are contiguous with each other.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein setting a calibration flag for each separate calibration file includes setting a calibration flag in a single calibration file manifest memory slot that stores all of the calibration flags for all of the calibration files.

7. The method according to claim 4 wherein setting the calibration flag for each separate calibration file includes providing a separate calibration file memory slot for each calibration file that includes a single calibration flag.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the plurality of calibration file memory sections are not contiguous with each other.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the controller is an electronic control unit (ECU) on a vehicle.

10. A method for verifying that one or more software files has been properly flashed into a memory of an electronic control unit (ECU) on a vehicle before allowing the one or more software files to be executed in the ECU, said method comprising:

defining at least one memory segment in the memory of the ECU for storing at least one software file;

reserving a memory section for the at least one software file in the memory segment;

flashing the at least one software file into the memory section;

setting at least one software flag in a software manifest memory slot in the software memory section that indicates that the at least one software file has been properly flashed; and

verifying that the software flag has been properly set before allowing the software file to be executed by the controller.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein defining at least one memory segment includes defining a memory segment for storing operating software, and wherein reserving a memory section for the at least one software file includes reserving a memory section for the operating software, and wherein flashing the at least one software file into the memory section includes flashing the operating software into the memory section, and wherein setting at least one software flag in a software manifest memory slot includes setting an operating software flag in an operating software manifest slot immediately preceding the memory segment.

12. The method according to claim 10 wherein defining at least one memory segment includes defining memory segments for storing a plurality of calibration files, and wherein reserving a memory section for the at least one software file includes reserving a separate memory section from a plurality of memory sections for each of the calibration files, and wherein flashing the at least one software file into the memory section includes flashing the plurality of calibration files into the memory sections, and wherein setting at least one software flag in a software manifest memory slot includes setting a separate calibration flag for each calibration file in one or more calibration flag manifest slots.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the plurality of calibration file memory sections are contiguous with each other.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein setting a calibration flag for each separate calibration file includes setting a calibration flag in a single calibration file manifest memory slot that stores all of the calibration flags for all of the calibration files.

15. The method according to claim 12 wherein setting the calibration flag for each separate calibration file includes providing a separate calibration file memory slot for each calibration file that includes a single calibration flag.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the plurality of calibration file memory sections are not contiguous with each other.

17. The method according to claim 10 wherein the memory segment stores multiple software files where each software file includes a separate software file ID and wherein flashing the software files includes flashing the software files into the memory segment in a predetermined sequence based on the IDs.

18. A system for verifying that one or more software files has been properly flashed into a memory of the controller before allowing the one or more software files to be executed in the controller, said system comprising:

means for defining at least one memory segment in the memory of the controller for storing at least one software file;

means for reserving a memory section for the at least one software file in the memory segment;

means for flashing the at least one software file into the memory section;

means for setting at least one software flag in a software manifest slot in the software memory section that indicates that the at least one software file has been properly flashed; and

means for verifying that the software flag has been properly set before allowing the software file to be executed by the controller.

19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the means for defining at least one memory segment defines a memory segment for storing operating software, and wherein the means for reserving a memory section for the at least one software file reserves a memory section for the operating software, and wherein the means for flashing the at least one software file into the memory section flashes the operating software into the memory section, and wherein the means for setting at least one software flag in a software manifest memory slot sets an operating software flag in an operating software manifest slot immediately preceding the memory segment.

20. The system according to claim 18 wherein the means for defining at least one memory segment defines memory segments for storing a plurality of calibration files, and wherein the means for reserving a memory section for the at least one software file reserves a separate memory section from a plurality of memory sections for each of the calibration files, and wherein the means for flashing the at least one software file into the memory section flashes the plurality of calibration files into the memory sections, and wherein the means for setting at least one software flag in a software manifest memory slot sets a separate calibration flag for each calibration file in one or more calibration flag manifest slots.