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

• US 7,280,894 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2002
• Issued: 10/09/2007
• 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.), 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, Tada, Akihito
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US10/288,438
• Publication Number:
  US 20050246069A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,798 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/35, 701/200, 709/217, 709/219, 717/168, 717/172, 717/173, 717/177, 717/178, 705/14
• 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 to download a program comprising an in-vehicle terminal program and an information manager; and

a storage unit in which the program downloaded from said center via said communicating unit is stored, wherein

the information manager controls the in-vehicle terminal to provide a suspending unit, when state of communication is improper in course of downloading the program from said center, automatically suspending the downloading.

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 to download a program comprising an in-vehicle terminal program and an information manager; and

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

wherein the information manager controls the in-vehicle terminal according to a process comprising;

when state of communication is improper in the course of downloading the program from said center, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

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

3. 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 to download a program comprising an in-vehicle terminal program and an information manager; and

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

wherein the information manager controls the in-vehicle terminal according to a process comprising;

selecting suspension of downloading or automatic restart thereof;

when said selecting has selected suspension, if state of communication is improper in the course of downloading the program from said center, automatically suspending the downloading;

when said selecting has selected automatic restart, if state of communication is improper in the course of downloading the program from said center, storing information indicating a state of downloading attained at that time; and

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