PROGRAMMING VEHICLE MODULES FROM REMOTE DEVICES AND RELATED METHODS AND SYSTEMS

• US 20150121071A1
• Filed: 10/28/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: SCHWARZ, JONATHAN R., MARTIN, DOUGLAS C., MAZZARA, WILLIAM E. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems are provided for programming a vehicle module. An exemplary vehicle includes a first module, a gateway module communicatively coupled to the first module, and an update module communicatively coupled to the gateway module. The update module is configured to provide authorization information and programming data to the gateway module. The gateway module is configured to verify that programming of the first module is authorized based at least in part on the authorization information and provide the programming data to the first module after verifying that the programming of the first module is authorized.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a first module;

a gateway module communicatively coupled to the first module; and

an update module communicatively coupled to the gateway module to provide authorization information and programming data to the gateway module, wherein the gateway module is configured to verify programming the first module is authorized based at least in part on the authorization information and provide the programming data to the first module after verifying the programming is authorized.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the gateway module is configured to:

decrypt the authorization information using session information to obtain a decrypted key; and

verify the programming is authorized when the decrypted key matches a stored key.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, the update module providing a programming request to the gateway module, wherein the gateway module is configured to generate the session information in response to the programming request from the update module.

4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein the gateway module is configured to dynamically generate the session information based at least in part on a time associated with the programming request.

5. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein the update module is configured to provide the session information to a remote device, the remote device generating the authorization information by encrypting a key associated with the vehicle using the session information provided by the update module after determining the programming of the first module is authorized.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a first communications network and a second communications network, wherein the gateway module is coupled between the first communications network and the second communications network.

7. The vehicle of claim 6, wherein the update module is coupled to the first communications network and the first module is coupled to the second communications network.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the first communications network is an Ethernet network and the second communications network is a controller area network (CAN).

9. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the update module is communicatively coupled to a remote device via an external communications network to receive the authorization information from the remote device, the remote device generating the authorization information after determining the programming of the first module is authorized.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first module is configured to update an application on the first module based at least in part on the programming data.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, the programming data including a set of instructions, wherein the first module updates the application by executing the set of instructions.

12. A method of programming a vehicle module, the method comprising:

generating, by a gateway module, session information for a programming update for the vehicle module communicatively coupled to the gateway module;

decrypting authorization information using the session information to obtain a decrypted key;

authenticating the programming update based at least in part on the decrypted key; and

providing, via the gateway module, programming data for the programming update to the vehicle module after authenticating the programming update.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising updating the vehicle module based at least in part on the programming data after providing the programming data for the programming update to the vehicle module.

14. The method of claim 13, the programming data including a set of instructions, wherein updating the vehicle module comprises the vehicle module executing the set of instructions to update an application on the vehicle module.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein authenticating the programming update comprises:

comparing, by the gateway module, the decrypted key to a stored key associated with a vehicle including the vehicle module; and

authenticating the programming update when the decrypted key matches the stored key.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein generating the session information comprises dynamically generating a public key based at least in part on the stored key.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing the session information to a remote device, wherein the remote device generates the authorization information by encrypting the stored key using the session information in response to determining the programming update is authorized based at least in part on the session information; and

obtaining the authorization information from the remote device.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing the session information to a remote device, wherein the remote device generates the authorization information based at least in part on the session information in response to determining that the programming update is authorized based at least in part on the session information; and

obtaining the authorization information from the remote device.

19. A vehicle system comprising:

a first communications network;

a second communications network;

a vehicle module coupled to the second communications network;

an update module coupled to the first communications network; and

a gateway module coupled to the first communications network and the second communications network, wherein;

the update module is configured to obtain programming data for the vehicle module, obtain authorization information from a remote device, and provide the authorization information and the programming data to the gateway module via the first communications network;

the gateway module is configured to provide the programming data to the vehicle module after authenticating the authorization information; and

the vehicle module is configured to update an application on the vehicle module based at least in part on the programming data after receiving the programming data from the gateway module.

20. The vehicle system of claim 19, wherein:

the update module is coupled to an external communications network to transmit session information to the remote device via the external communications network and receive the authorization information from the remote device via the external communications network, the remote device generating the authorization information based at least in part on the session information in response to determining that programming the vehicle module is authorized based at least in part on the session information; and

the gateway module is configured to generate the session information for the programming data, decrypt the authorization information using the session information to obtain a decrypted key, and provide the programming data to the vehicle module after determining the decrypted key matches a stored key.