Method for updating vehicle ECUs using differential update packages
First Claim
1. A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle, each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in a vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
- creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises;
comparing a new desired image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with an existing present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory said existing present image comprises a plurality of blocks of bytes; and
producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image, one block of bytes at a time, said changes comprising a set of instructions;
said set of instructions comprises (1) an instruction to copy one block of bytes at a time of said plurality of blocks of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory, (2) an instruction perform one or both of applying a set of modifications to said one block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said one block of bytes to generate one block of bytes of said new image, (3) an instruction to erase said one block from said predetermined flash memory, and (4) an instruction to copy said one block of bytes of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory;
downloading said DUP to one or more vehicles comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) via a wireless network;
utilizing said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to said predetermined ECU to update said predetermined ECU flash memory one block of bytes at a time;
generating an update status report for said DUP update of said predetermined ECU flash memory; and
utilizing filtering criteria to filter said update status report to generate a filtered data stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle comprises: creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises: comparing a new image of the digital contents of a predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of the predetermined ECU flash memory; and producing a set of changes to modify the present image to the new image, said changes comprising a set of instructions. The DUP comprises a set of instructions that are utilized to update the ECU flash memory a block at a time.
23 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for upgrading vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) in a vehicle, each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in a vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a differential upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU, said creating comprises; comparing a new desired image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with an existing present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory said existing present image comprises a plurality of blocks of bytes; and producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image, one block of bytes at a time, said changes comprising a set of instructions; said set of instructions comprises (1) an instruction to copy one block of bytes at a time of said plurality of blocks of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory, (2) an instruction perform one or both of applying a set of modifications to said one block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said one block of bytes to generate one block of bytes of said new image, (3) an instruction to erase said one block from said predetermined flash memory, and (4) an instruction to copy said one block of bytes of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory; downloading said DUP to one or more vehicles comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) via a wireless network; utilizing said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to said predetermined ECU to update said predetermined ECU flash memory one block of bytes at a time; generating an update status report for said DUP update of said predetermined ECU flash memory; and utilizing filtering criteria to filter said update status report to generate a filtered data stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for real-time monitoring of widely distributed software updates of vehicle electronic control units (ECUs), each ECU comprising a flash memory, each ECU disposed in one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a digital upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU in each vehicle of said plurality of vehicles, said creating comprises; comparing a new image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory with a present image of the digital contents of said predetermined ECU flash memory, said present image comprising a plurality of blocks of bytes; producing a set of changes to modify said present image to said new image on a block of bytes by block of bytes basis, said changes comprising a set of instructions; said set of instructions comprises (1) an instruction to copy one block of bytes of said plurality of blocks of bytes at a time from said predetermined ECU flash memory, (2) an instruction perform one or both of applying a set of modifications to said one block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said one block of bytes to generate a block of bytes of said new image, (3) an instruction to erase said one block from said predetermined ECU flash memory, and (4) an instruction to copy said block of bytes of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied one block of bytes from said predetermined ECU flash memory; downloading said DUP to said plurality of vehicles via a wireless distributed network; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to update a corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically generate an update status report for said DUP update of said corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; operating each said telematics control unit to automatically upload said status report to said wireless distributed network; and utilizing data stream filtering criteria in said wireless distributed network to filter said update status report to generate a corresponding filtered data stream. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for real-time monitoring of widely distributed software updates of vehicle electronic control units (ECUs), each ECU comprising a flash memory comprising a plurality of blocks of data, each ECU disposed in one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle comprising a telematics control unit (TCU) that is operable to communicate to said ECUs, said method comprising:
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creating a digital upgrade package (DUP) for each upgrade to a predetermined ECU in each vehicle of said plurality of vehicles; downloading said DUP to said plurality of vehicles via a wireless distributed network; utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically respond to receipt of said DUP to update a corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory by updating said ECU flash memory on a block of data by block of data basis;
said updating comprising (1) copying one block of bytes of said plurality of blocks of bytes at a time from said predetermined ECU, (2) performing one or both of applying a set of modifications to said one block of bytes and adding additional bytes to said one block of bytes to generate a block of bytes of said new image, (3) erasing said one block from said predetermined ECU, and (4) copying said block of bytes of said new image into said predetermined ECU flash memory in place of said copied one block of bytes from said predetermined ECU;utilizing each said telematics control unit to automatically generate an update status report for each said DUP update of said corresponding said predetermined ECU flash memory; operating each said telematics control unit to automatically upload said status report to said wireless distributed network; and operating said wireless distribute network to generate a data stream comprising update status reports from said plurality of vehicles; and utilizing data stream filtering criteria to filter said update status reports to generate a filtered data stream. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification