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

• US 6,760,650 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2003
• Issued: 07/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), 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.), Fijitsu Ten Limited, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Akimasa, Nanba, Shinichi, Hayashi, Hironobu, Sugimoto, Toshiaki, Egawa, Akihito, Tada
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US10/373,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20030139857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/208, 455/418, 455/419, 709/217, 714/15, 714/22, 717/173, 717/177, 717/178
• 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. An in-vehicle terminal employed in a communication system for downloading programs from a center to in-vehicle terminals, comprising:

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating means is stored;

a detecting unit detecting whether an ACC power supply has been turned off;

a storing unit, when a program is downloaded from said center to said in-vehicle terminal, if said detecting unit detects that the ACC power supply has been turned off, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

a transmitting unit, when the ACC power supply is restored, transmitting the stored information indicating the state of downloading to said center.

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

a communicating unit communicating with said center;

a storage unit in which a program downloaded from said center via said communicating unit is stored;

a selecting unit selecting suspension of downloading or continuation thereof;

a suspending unit, when said selecting unit selects suspension, if it is detected that an ACC power supply has been turned off, autonomously suspending downloading;

a storing unit, when said selecting unit selects continuation, if it is detected that the ACC power supply has been turned off, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

a transmitting unit, when communication is restarted, transmitting the stored information indicating the state of downloading to said center.