TELEMATICS UPDATE SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY

• US 20160170775A1
• Filed: 12/11/2014
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: ROCKWELL, Mark Anthony, MARTIN, Douglas Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 9,639,344 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions

Abstract

A vehicle may receive a software update to be installed to a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU); perform compatibility testing for vehicle ECUs according to tokens from the vehicle ECUs indicating respective software version levels of the vehicle ECUs to determine a compatibility result; and switch the software update into active use on the vehicle when the compatibility result indicates an allowable configuration of software version levels. A vehicle ECU may receive tokens from other of the vehicle ECUs indicating respective software version levels of the other vehicle ECUs; determine whether the ECU is the most up-to-date ECU based on the tokens; and if so, determine a compatibility result indicative of compatibility of the version levels, or otherwise, receive the compatibility result from the ECU that is the most up-to-date.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) of a plurality of ECUs configured to

receive tokens from the other vehicle ECUs indicating respective software version levels of the other vehicle ECUs;

determine whether the ECU is the most up-to-date of the vehicle ECUs based on the tokens; and

if so, determine a compatibility result indicative of compatibility of the version levels, or otherwise, receive the compatibility result from the most up-to-date ECU.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU is further configured to:

maintain a compatibility matrix indicating which tokens and module identifiers form a compatible vehicle software installation, and

utilize the compatibility matrix to determine the compatibility result.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU is further configured to:

receive the tokens over a vehicle bus; and

one of (i) send, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result responsive to determining the compatibility result, and (ii) receive, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result from the ECU that is the most up-to-date.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU is further configured to at least one of:

determine the compatibility result as indicative of an allowable configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs form a compatible configuration although other vehicle ECUs are incompatible; and

determine the compatibility result as indicative of an impermissible configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs fail to form a compatible configuration.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the core subset of vehicle ECUs includes at least two of:

(i) an engine control module, (ii) a transmission control module, and (iii) a hybrid battery control module.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is further configured to set a malfunction indicator light when the compatibility result is indicative of an impermissible configuration.

7. A method comprising:

performing software update compatibility testing for a received software update using a most up-to-date vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) to determine a compatibility result, the most up-to-date vehicle ECU being determined using tokens from other vehicle ECUs indicating respective software version levels of the vehicle ECUs; and

switching the software update into active use on the vehicle when the compatibility result indicates an allowable configuration with the software update installed.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

maintaining, at each vehicle ECU, a compatibility matrix indicating module identifiers of each vehicle ECU and associated tokens that form a compatible vehicle software installation; and

utilizing the compatibility matrix of the most up-to-date vehicle ECU to determine the compatibility result based on the tokens and the module identifiers of the vehicle ECUs.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, by one of the vehicle ECUs, the tokens from other of the vehicle ECUs;

determining, by the one of the vehicle ECUs, whether the one of the vehicle ECUs is a most up-to-date ECU based on the tokens; and

if so, determine the compatibility result by the one of the vehicle ECUs, and otherwise, receive the compatibility result from the vehicle ECU that is the most up-to-date.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving the tokens over a vehicle bus; and

one of (i) sending, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result responsive to determining the compatibility result, and (ii) receiving, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result from the ECU that is the most up-to-date.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising at least one of:

determining the compatibility result as indicative of an allowable configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs form a compatible configuration although other vehicle ECUs are incompatible; and

determining the compatibility result as indicative of an impermissible configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs fail to form a compatible configuration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the core subset of vehicle ECUs includes at least two of:

(i) an engine control module, (ii) a transmission control module, and (iii) a hybrid battery control module.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising setting a malfunction indicator light when the compatibility result is indicative of an impermissible configuration.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, are configured to cause the at least one processor to:

maintain a compatibility matrix indicating module identifiers of vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) and associated tokens that form a compatible vehicle software installation;

receive, by a vehicle ECU, tokens from other vehicle ECUs indicating respective software version levels of the other vehicle ECUs;

determine whether the vehicle ECU is the most up-to-date electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle ECUs based on the tokens; and

if so, determine a compatibility result indicative of compatibility of the version levels according to the tokens and the compatibility matrix, or otherwise, receive the compatibility result from the other vehicle ECU that is the most up-to-date.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions configured to cause the at least one processor to:

receive the tokens over a vehicle bus; and

one of (i) send, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result responsive to determining the compatibility result, and (ii) receive, over the vehicle bus, the compatibility result from the ECU that is the most up-to-date.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions configured to cause the at least one processor to at least one of:

determine the compatibility result as indicative of an allowable configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs form a compatible configuration although other vehicle ECUs are incompatible; and

determine the compatibility result as indicative of an impermissible configuration when a core subset of vehicle ECUs fail to form a compatible configuration.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the core subset of vehicle ECUs includes at least two of:

(i) an engine control module, (ii) a transmission control module, and (iii) a hybrid battery control module.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions configured to cause the at least one processor to:

receive a software update to be installed to a vehicle ECU;

performing the compatibility testing responsive to receipt of the software update; and

switch the software update into active use on the vehicle when the compatibility result indicates an allowable configuration of software version levels.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the software update includes an updated version of ECU software, a token indicating a software version of the ECU software, and an updated compatibility matrix for the ECU indicating tokens and module identifiers of vehicle ECUs that form a compatible vehicle software installation.