Communication system for communication between in-vehicle terminals and center, and in-vehicle terminal employed in communication system

• US 6,647,322 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1999
• Issued: 11/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sugimoto, Hironobu, Hayashi, Shinichi, Egawa, Toshiaki, Nanba, Akimasa, Kaneiwa, Toshiyuki, Tada, Akihito
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US09/461,423
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/29, 701/33, 701/35, 707/10, 707/104, 707/202, 707/203, 707/204, 707/205, 705/14, 705/20, 705/21, 455/507, 455/418, 455/419, 340/990, 340/995, 340/992, 340/993, 713/2, 713/323, 709/217, 709/219, 709/232
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/04 using association of physical positions and logical data in a dedicated environment, e.g. buildings or vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

In a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, a center can check whether downloading has been completed normally or a program is operating normally in an in-vehicle terminal. According to the timing of activating a downloaded program, an in-vehicle terminal checks whether the program is activated to operate normally. The information is transmitted to the center. Based on the information, the center becomes aware of the fact that downloading has been completed without any problem and that the program is operating normally in the in-vehicle terminal.

Claims

1. A communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, the communication system comprising:

a storage unit in said in-vehicle terminal storing a downloaded program;

a transmitting unit transmitting, after the stored program is activated and when a certian time has elasped, information which indicates that the program has been activated, to said center; and

a receiving unit in said center receiving the information.

2. A communication system according to claim 1, further comprising:

program information comprising information concerning the program itself stored with the program;

an information management unit managing the information; and

an information transmission unit transmitting the information from said in-vehicle terminal to said center.

3. A communication system according to claim 1, wherein at a time of storing the program received from said center in said storage unit, said in-vehicle terminal stores information concerning the program together with the program.

4. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, the terminal comprising:

a communication unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit storing a program downloaded from said center via said communication unit; and

a transmission unit, after the stored program is activated, when a certain time has elapsed, transmitting information which indicates that the program has been activated to said center via said communication unit.

5. An in-vehicle terminal according to claim 4, further comprising an operating unit manipulated by an operator, wherein said transmission unit transmits information according to whichever timing that comes earlier, a time that said operating unit is manipulated or the time that the certain time has elapsed.

6. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, the terminal comprising:

a communication unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit storing a program downloaded from said center via said communication unit; and

an indication unit counting a number of times the stored program has been activated, and when the number of times of activation reaches a predefined number of times, transmitting information which indicates that the program has been activated to said center via said communication unit.

7. An in-vehicle terminal according to claim 6, further comprising a second indication unit transmitting information according to whichever timing that comes earlier, a time that an operating unit is manipulated by an operator or a time that the predefined number of times is attained.