Software update method and apparatus for vehicle

• US 10,630,538 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2017
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Kim, Dong Ok, Chae, Jun Byung, Seo, Kang Woon, Yun, Jin Hwa
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thanh T
• Application Number:
  US15/727,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20180102939A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 709225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40169 Flexible bus arrangements arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• 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 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• 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 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0248 dependent on the time of the day, e.g. according to expected transmission activity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An operation method of a first communication node constituting an Ethernet-based vehicle network of a vehicle may comprise waking up by transitioning from a sleep state to a ready state; preventing transmission of network requests to other communication nodes connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network; and performing update of software. Thus, only a target end node among a plurality of end nodes connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network can be woken up for update of software so as to reduce power consumption of the vehicle due to the update of software. Also, abnormal operations due to the update of software can be prevented by allowing the update of software to be performed only while the vehicle is not running.

Claims

1. An operation method of a first communication node constituting an Ethernet-based vehicle network of a vehicle, comprising:

transitioning, by a physical (PHY) layer included in the first communication node, from a sleep state to a ready state at an update reservation time when software of the first communication node is updated;

controlling, by the PHY layer operating in the ready state, a physical coding sub-layer (PCS) to prevent transmitting network requests to other communication nodes connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network; and

performing, by a controller included in the first communication node, updating the software,

wherein the updating is performed in case that software used for the updating is identified as stored in a memory of the first communication node, and

wherein the PHY layer operates in the sleep state, the ready state, or a normal state,

the PHY layer operating in the ready state or the normal state is woken up, and

the PHY layer operating in the normal state transmits the network requests to the other communication nodes.

2. The operation method according to claim 1, wherein the update reservation time is received from a second communication node connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network.

3. The operation method according to claim 2, wherein the updating is performed while the vehicle is turned off.

4. The operation method according to claim 3, wherein a result of the updating is transmitted to the second communication node after the vehicle is turned on.

5. The operation method according to claim 3, further comprising performing, by the controller, a reboot and checking the updating after the updating is completed.

6. The operation method according to claim 5, further comprising restoring, by the controller, previous software before the updating when the updating fails.

7. An operation method of a communicator constituting an Ethernet-based vehicle network of a vehicle, comprising:

transitioning, by a physical (PHY) layer included in the communicator, from a sleep state to a ready state at an update reservation time when software of the communicator is updated;

controlling, by the PHY layer operating in the ready state, a physical coding sub-layer (PCS) to prevent transmitting network requests to other communication nodes connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network, and

performing, by a controller included in the communicator, updating the software of the communicator using downloaded software, and

wherein the PHY layer operates in the sleep state, the ready state, or a normal state,

the PHY layer operating in the ready state or the normal state is woken up, and

the PHY layer operating in the normal state transmits the network requests to the other communication nodes.

8. The operation method according to claim 7, further comprising downloading software from a software center.

9. The operation method according to claim 8, wherein the software is downloaded after the waking up at the update reservation time.

10. The operation method according to claim 8, wherein the software is downloaded while the vehicle is running.

11. The operation method according to claim 8, further comprising transmitting, by the PHY layer, the downloaded software to a specific communication node connected to the Ethernet-based vehicle network when the downloaded software corresponds to the specific communication node.

12. The operation method according to claim 11, further comprising receiving, by the PHY layer, a result of updating software of the specific communication node using the downloaded software from the specific communication node.

13. A communication node constituting an Ethernet-based vehicle network of a vehicle, comprising a physical (PHY) layer including a PHY layer processor, and a controller including a controller processor and a memory storing at least one instruction executed by at least one of the PHY layer processor and the controller processor, wherein the at least one instruction, when executed, is configured to cause:

the PHY layer to transition from a sleep state to a ready state at an update reservation time when software of the communication node is updated;

the PHY layer to control operating in the ready state, a physical coding sub-layer (PCS) to prevent transmitting network requests to other communication nodes connected to the vehicle network; and

the controller to perform updating the software of the communication node using received software at the update reservation time,

wherein the PHY layer operates in the sleep state, the ready state, or a normal state,

the PHY layer operating in the ready state or the normal state is woken up, and

the PHY layer operating in the normal state transmits the network requests to the other communication nodes.

14. The communication node according to claim 13, wherein the at least one instruction, when executed, is further configured to cause:

the PHY layer to receive software from a communicator in the vehicle while the vehicle is running;

the memory to store the received software; and

the PHY layer to receive an update reservation time of the received software from the communicator.

15. The communication node according to claim 14, wherein the at least one instruction, when executed, is further configured to cause the controller to update the software of the communication node after the vehicle is turned off.

16. The communication node according to claim 13, wherein the at least one instruction, when executed, is further configured to cause the controller to perform a reboot and check the updating after the updating is completed.

17. The communication node according to claim 15, wherein the at least one instruction, when executed, is further configured to cause the controller to restore previous software before the updating when the updating fails.