Compatibility Module to Support an Automotive System Upgrade

• US 20170242688A1
• Filed: 02/18/2016
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Yu, Huafeng, Zheng, Bowen, Lin, Chung-Wei
• Granted Patent: US 10,001,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system and method for removing an incompatibility between an adaptive sensor system and an adaptive engine control unit system. The method may include detecting an update to one or more of an adaptive sensor system and an adaptive engine control unit system. The method may include identifying an incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit system created by the update. The method may include determining one or more modifications for one or more of the first compatibility module and the second compatibility module. The modifications may be configured to remove the incompatibility. The method may include modifying one or more of the first compatibility module and the second compatibility module so that the incompatibility is removed

Claims

1. A system to remove an incompatibility between an adaptive sensor system and an adaptive engine control unit system, the system comprising:

an automobile including an adaptive sensor system that is communicatively coupled to an adaptive engine control unit system;

wherein the adaptive sensor system includes a first compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to a sensor and a sensor module, wherein the sensor includes hardware configured to measure an attribute of a physical environment and the sensor module includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by a processor of the automobile, cause the sensor to record sensor data describing a measurement of the physical environment measured by the sensor and provide the sensor data to the adaptive engine control unit system;

wherein the adaptive engine control system includes a second compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to an engine control unit and an engine control unit module, wherein the engine control unit includes hardware configured to manage a performance of the automobile and the engine control unit module includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by the processor, cause the engine control unit to determine whether to modify performance of the automobile responsive to the sensor data;

wherein the first compatibility module includes a first data structure that stores a first set of sensor performance parameters that control a first operation of the sensor and the sensor module so that modifying a sensor performance parameter included in the first set modifies the first operation of one or more of the sensor and the sensor module;

wherein the second compatibility module includes a second data structure that stores a second set of engine control unit performance parameters that control a second operation of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module so that modifying an engine control unit parameter included in the second set modifies the second operation of one or more of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module; and

wherein one or more of the first compatibility module and the second compatibility module further include a supervisor module that includes instructions that, when executed by the processor;

cause the processor to perform steps including;

detecting an update to one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module;

identifying an incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit system created by the update;

determining one or more modifications for one or more of the first set included in the first compatibility module and the second set included in the second compatibility module, wherein the modifications are configured to remove the incompatibility; and

modifying one or more of the first set included in the first compatibility module and the second set included in the second compatibility module, wherein the modification removes the incompatibility.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the incompatibility is a scheduling incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting a scheduling parameter for one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module to remove the incompatibility.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the incompatibility is a period incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting a period parameter for one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module to remove the incompatibility.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the incompatibility is a specification incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting using a prior specification for one or more of the sensor and the engine control unit to remove the incompatibility.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the update includes uninstalling the sensor and replacing the sensor with a new sensor.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the update includes uninstalling the sensor module and replacing the sensor module with a new sensor module.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the update includes uninstalling the engine control unit and replacing the engine control unit with a new engine control unit.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the update includes uninstalling the engine control unit module and replacing the engine control unit module with a new engine control unit module.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is an element of the engine control unit.

10. A method to remove an incompatibility between an adaptive sensor system and an adaptive engine control unit system included in an automobile, wherein the adaptive sensor system includes a first compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to a sensor and a sensor module and the adaptive engine control system includes a second compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to an engine control unit and an engine control unit module, the method comprising:

detecting an update to one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module;

identifying an incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit system created by the update;

determining, by a processor, one or more modifications for one or more of a first set stored in a first data structure of the first compatibility module and a second set stored in a second data structure of the second compatibility module, wherein the modifications are configured to remove the incompatibility and the first set includes one or more sensor performance parameters that control a first operation of the sensor and the sensor module so that modifying a sensor performance parameter included in the first set modifies the first operation of one or more of the sensor and the sensor module and the second set includes one or more engine control unit performance parameters that control a second operation of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module so that modifying an engine control unit parameter included in the second set modifies the second operation of one or more of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module; and

modifying one or more of the first set included in the first compatibility module and the second set included in the second compatibility module, wherein the modification removes the incompatibility.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the incompatibility is a scheduling incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting a scheduling parameter for one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module to remove the incompatibility.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the incompatibility is a period incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting a period parameter for one or more of the sensor, the sensor module, the engine control unit and the engine control unit module to remove the incompatibility.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the incompatibility is a specification incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit and the determined modifications include adjusting using a prior specification for one or more of the sensor and the engine control unit to remove the incompatibility.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the update includes uninstalling the sensor and replacing the sensor with a new sensor.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the update includes uninstalling the sensor module and replacing the sensor module with a new sensor module.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the update includes uninstalling the engine control unit and replacing the engine control unit with a new engine control unit.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the update includes uninstalling the engine control unit module and replacing the engine control unit module with a new engine control unit module.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the processor is an element of the engine control unit.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the automobile is an autonomous vehicle.

20. A non-transitory memory comprising computer code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising:

detecting an update to one or more of an adaptive sensor system and an adaptive engine control unit system, wherein the adaptive sensor system includes a first compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to a sensor and a sensor module and the adaptive engine control system includes a second compatibility module that is communicatively coupled to an engine control unit and an engine control unit module;

identifying an incompatibility between the adaptive sensor system and the adaptive engine control unit system created by the update;

determining one or more modifications for one or more of a first set stored in a first data structure of the first compatibility module and a second set stored in a second data structure of the second compatibility module, wherein the modifications are configured to remove the incompatibility and the first set includes one or more sensor performance parameters that control a first operation of the sensor and the sensor module so that modifying a sensor performance parameter included in the first set modifies the first operation of one or more of the sensor and the sensor module and the second set includes one or more engine control unit performance parameters that control a second operation of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module so that modifying an engine control unit parameter included in the second set modifies the second operation of one or more of the engine control unit and the engine control unit module; and

modifying one or more of the first set included in the first compatibility module and the second set included in the second compatibility module, wherein the modification removes the incompatibility.