MODULE UPDATING DEVICE

• US 20150007155A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Movimento Group (Aptiv PLC)
• Original Assignee: Movimento Group (Aptiv PLC)
• Inventors: Hoffman, Benjamin J., Umbach, Dan, Dorfstatter, Walter A., Withun, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 9,128,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

An automobile, vehicle, vessel or other device may include a plurality of modules, software applications, computer program products, controllers or other logically executing entities to facilitate controlling, implementing or otherwise enabling various operations according to computer-readable instructions, code or other information stored within a memory, such as within a file or other memory construct. A controller having capabilities sufficient to facilitate updating, modifying, creating or otherwise manipulating such stored files and/or corresponding instructions is contemplated.

Claims

1. A method for updating an old file stored within a memory of a module included within an automobile, the module being operable to facilitate an automobile related operation based at least in part on a first plurality of computer-readable instructions included within the old file, the method comprising:

determining a new file to be stored within the memory of the module in order to facilitate the automobile related operation, the new file including a second plurality of computer-readable instructions different in at least content and/or form than the first plurality of computer-readable instructions, the second plurality of computer-readable instructions being partitioned into a plurality of blocks;

transmitting a first set of instructions for commanding the module to begin a replacement operation for replacing at least part of the old file stored within the memory with the new file such that the module thereafter facilitates the automobile related operation at least based in part on the second plurality of computer-readable instructions; and

logging progress of the replacement operation, including identifying a first block of the plurality of blocks being successfully written to the memory in place of a corresponding first portion of the old file and a second block of the plurality of portions being unsuccessfully written to the memory in place of a corresponding second portion of the old file.

2. The method claim 1 further comprising transmitting a second set of instructions for commanding the module to begin a re-replacement operation, the re-replacement operation beginning with replacing the second portion of the old file with the second block of the new file.

3. The method claim 2 further comprising generating and transmitting the second set of instructions after transmitting the first set of instructions to the module.

4. The method claim 3 further comprising transmitting the second set of instructions after determining an interruption while the module attempts to replace the old file with the new file according to the first set of instructions.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising determining the interruption in response to a controller on the automobile failing to provide a successful update message within a predefined period of time after the first block is successfully written to the memory.

6. The method claim 2 further comprising generating the second set of instructions to command the module to complete the re-replacement operation without replacing or re-writing the first block to the memory.

7. The method claim 2 further comprising generating the second set of instructions according to progress indicated in an agenda so as to avoid replacing the first block and any additional blocks of the plurality of blocks successfully replaced as part of the replacement operation.

8. The method claim 7 further comprising assigning an erased status and a programmed status in the agenda for each of the plurality of blocks, the erased status indicating whether a corresponding portion of the old file has been erased from the memory and the programmed status indicating whether the corresponding portion has been successfully written to the memory.

9. The method claim 8 further comprising determining the erased and programmed statuses as a function of status messages received from a controller in the automobile.

10. The method claim 9 further comprising transmitting the first and second set of instructions to the controller, the controller then interacting with the module to facilitate the replacement operation and the re-replacement operation.

11. The method claim 9 further comprising instructing the controller to transmit one of the status messages each time one of the portions is erased from the memory and each time one of the parts is written to the memory.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of instructions operable with a controller included on a vehicle to facilitate updating an old file stored within a memory of a vehicle module, the vehicle module being operable to facilitate a vehicle related operation based at least in part on a first plurality of computer-readable instructions included within the old file, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions sufficient for:

determining a new file to be added to the memory in place of or in addition to at least part of the old file, the new file including a second plurality of computer-readable instructions to facilitate the vehicle related operation, the second plurality of computer-readable instructions being distributed across a plurality of blocks;

determining a plurality of operations to be performed in order to add each of the plurality of blocks to the memory; and

logging performance of the plurality of operations while the new file is being added to the memory.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising instructions sufficient for wirelessly receiving an agenda from a server, the agenda defining at least some of the plurality of operations to be performed in order to add each of the plurality blocks to the memory.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising instructions sufficient for marking a status within the agenda one or more of the plurality of operations, the status indicating whether the corresponding operation was successfully or unsuccessfully performed.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions for sufficient for determining an interruption after successfully performing a first plurality of the plurality operations needed in order to add the plurality of blocks to the memory.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions sufficient for performing a second plurality of the plurality of operations needed to add the plurality blocks to the memory following the interruption, the second plurality of operations corresponding with less operations than the first plurality of operations.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions sufficient for generating the second plurality of operations to include each of the plurality of operations other than the first plurality.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising instructions sufficient for transmitting status messages to a server following completion of each of the plurality of operations, including instructions sufficient for generating the status messages to indicating whether an operation of the one of the plurality of operations identified in each of the status messages was successfully or unsuccessfully completed.

19. A system for over-the-air (OTA) update of software included within a vehicle module comprising:

a controller configured to update the software of the vehicle module by facilitating erasing of a first plurality of memory blocks from a module memory of the vehicle module and thereafter programming of a second plurality of memory blocks to the module memory; and

a server configured to keep an agenda as the vehicle module attempts to erase the first plurality of memory blocks and to program the second plurality of memory blocks, the agenda indicating an erased status for each of the first plurality of memory blocks and a programmed status for each of the second plurality of memory blocks.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the server is configured to determine an interruption while the controller attempts to erase one of the first plurality of memory blocks after successfully erasing another one or more of the first plurality of memory blocks, and in response thereto, to instruct the controller to begin erasing the first part of memory blocks other than those successfully erased prior to the interruption as a function of updates made to the agenda after each one or more the first plurality of memory blocks were successfully erased.