METHOD FOR UPDATING VEHICLE ECUs USING DIFFERENTIAL UPDATE PACKAGES
First Claim
1. A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle, each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in a vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
- creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises;
comparing a new image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory; and
producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image, said changes comprising a set of instructions;
said set of instructions comprises an instruction to copy a block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory, an instruction perform one or more of applying a set of modifications to said block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said block of bytes to generate a block of said new image, and an instruction to copy said block of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory;
downloading said DUP to one or more vehicles comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) via a wireless network;
utilizing said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to said predetermined ECU to update said predetermined ECU flash memory.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle comprises: creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises: comparing a new image of the digital contents of a predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of the predetermined ECU flash memory; and producing a set of changes to modify the present image to the new image, said changes comprising a set of instructions. The DUP comprises a set of instructions that are utilized to update the ECU flash memory a block at a time.
53 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle, each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in a vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises; comparing a new image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory; and producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image, said changes comprising a set of instructions; said set of instructions comprises an instruction to copy a block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory, an instruction perform one or more of applying a set of modifications to said block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said block of bytes to generate a block of said new image, and an instruction to copy said block of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory; downloading said DUP to one or more vehicles comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) via a wireless network; utilizing said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to said predetermined ECU to update said predetermined ECU flash memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for real-time monitoring of widely distributed software updates of vehicle electronic control units (ECUs), each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a digital upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU in each vehicle of said plurality of vehicles, said creating comprises; comparing a new image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory; producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image, said changes comprising a set of instructions; said set of instructions comprises an instruction to copy a block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory, an instruction perform one or more of applying a set of modifications to said block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said block of bytes to generate a block of said new image, and an instruction to copy said block of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory; downloading said DUP to said plurality of vehicles via a wireless distributed network; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to update a corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically generate an update status report for said DUP update of said corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; and operating each said telematics control unit to automatically upload said status report to said wireless distributed network. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for real-time monitoring of widely distributed software updates of vehicle electronic control units (ECUs), each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a digital upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU in each vehicle of said plurality of vehicles; downloading said DUP to said plurality of vehicles via a wireless distributed network; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to update a corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically generate an update status report for each said DUP update of said corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; and operating each said telematics control unit to automatically upload said status report to said wireless distributed network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification