Vehicle upgrade system and method thereof

• US 8,655,541 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2011
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Inventors: You, Sung Il
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, SHARDUL D
• Application Number:
  US13/313,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20130079950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/29, 701/32, 340/438, 717/173
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/66 of program code stored in read-only memory [ROM]
• 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

A vehicle update system for updating a vehicle'"'"'s ROM data is provided. More specifically, a telematics unit is configured to receive new ROM data transmitted from a telematics server. An electronic control unit (ECU) is configured first check to determine whether certain update conditions are satisfied and when they are satisfied, update the old ROM data to the new ROM data using at least one of a main battery and an auxiliary battery. More specifically, the update conditions are that the charged state and the voltage level for at least one of the main battery and the auxiliary battery is greater than a certain level, the vehicle is stopped or parked, and the controller area network (CAN) communication state of the vehicle is normal.

Claims

1. A vehicle update system for updating a vehicle, the system comprising:

a telematics unit that receives new ROM data transmitted from a telematics server;

an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to check that certain update conditions are satisfied and when the certain update conditions are satisfied, update old ROM data to the new ROM data;

a main battery configured to provide power to update the old ROM data to the new ROM data when the vehicle engine is on; and

an auxiliary battery configured to provide power to the ECU update the old ROM data to the new ROM data when the vehicle engine is off,

wherein the update condition is that the charged state and the voltage level for at least one of the main battery and the auxiliary battery is larger than a certain level, the vehicle is in a stopped or parked state, and the controller area network (CAN) communication state of the vehicle is normal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the telematics unit receives the new ROM data transmitted from the telematics server only when a first ROM ID of the old ROM data is the same as a second ROM ID of the new ROM data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the telematics server transmits the new ROM data to the telematics unit when a request for the new ROM data is transmitted from the portable terminal.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU stops the update when the update conditions are not satisfied.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the telematics unit periodically requests checking the update condition to the ECU.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU rechecks the update condition when the vehicle engine state is changed while the update is being performed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU transmits an update completion message to the telematics unit when the update is completed.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the telematics unit transmits a restart message to the ECU when the update completion message is not transmitted to the telematics unit within a certain period of time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the ECU performs an update using the new ROM data associated with the restart message when a transmission count relating to a number of times the restart message is sent is smaller than a preset number.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the ECU performs an update using the old ROM data when a transmission count relating to a number of times the restart message is sent is the same as the preset number.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the ECU turns off the auxiliary battery when the vehicle engine is off and a transmission count relating to a number of times the restart message is sent is greater than the preset number.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU resets the state of the ECU after the update is completed.

13. A vehicle update method used in a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving new ROM data transmitted from a telematics server by a telematics unit (step 1);

checking, by an electronic control unit (ECU), whether certain update conditions are satisfied; and

when the update conditions are satisfied, updating old ROM data to the new ROM data using at least one of a main battery and an auxiliary battery (step 2),

wherein the update conditions are that the charged state and the voltage level for at least one of the main battery and the auxiliary battery is greater than a preset level, the vehicle is stopped or parked, and the controller area network (CAN) communication state is normal, and

wherein the ECU performs the update using the auxiliary battery when the vehicle engine is off, and performs the update using the main battery when the vehicle engine is on.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein step 1 is performed when a first ROM ID of the old ROM data is the same as a second ROM ID of the new ROM data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein step 1 is performed when a request for the new ROM data is transmitted from a portable terminal to the telematics server.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

rechecking the update conditions by the ECU when the vehicle engine state is changed while the update is being performed (step 3).

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a restart message to the ECU by the telematics unit if an update completion message, which the ECU transmits to the telematics unit, is not transmitted within a certain period of time after the update is completed (step 4).

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

performing an update using the new ROM data associated with the restart message by the ECU when a transmission count relating to a number of times the restart message is sent is less than a preset number (step 5).

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

performing an update using the old ROM data by the ECU when a transmission count relating to a number of times the restart message is sent is the same as the preset number (step 6).

20. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, comprising:

program instructions that receive and translate new ROM data transmitted from a telematics server by a telematics unit;

program instructions that check whether certain update conditions are satisfied; and

program instructions update old ROM data to the new ROM data using at least one of a main battery and an auxiliary battery when certain update conditions are satisfied,

wherein the update conditions are that the charged state and the voltage level for at least one of the main battery and the auxiliary battery is greater than a preset level, the vehicle is stopped or parked, and the controller area network (CAN) communication state is normal, and

wherein the ECU performs the update using the auxiliary battery when the vehicle engine is off, and performs the update using the main battery when the vehicle engine is on.