CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMOBILE

• US 20010044684A1
• Filed: 06/01/1999
• Published: 11/22/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: KISHIMOTO, YUJI, KOHGE, SHINICHI
• Granted Patent: US 6,643,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0457 characterised by control features of the drive means as such
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/66 of program code stored in read-only memory [ROM]

Abstract

A nonvolatile memory built in a vehicle control computer and storing control software and an auxiliary storage for setting an unerasable region to the nonvolatile memory and updating the control software in an erasable region to new control software are used.

Claims

1. A vehicle controller comprising an occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory built in a vehicle control computer and storing control processing information and auxiliary storage means for setting an unerasable region to said occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory and updating the control processing information in an erasable region to new control processing information.

2. The vehicle controller according to

claim 1

, wherein said auxiliary storage means is constituted by adding an information updating function to an occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory in a troubleshooting unit for reading trouble history information from a memory built in a vehicle control computer.

3. The vehicle controller according to

claim 1

or

2

, wherein said auxiliary storage means is provided with means for deciding whether the control processing information in the unerasable region of an occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory is updated.

4. The vehicle controller according to

claim 1

, wherein a vehicle control computer is provided with another nonvolatile memory for storing unerasable control processing information in addition to an occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory.

5. The vehicle controller according to any one of

claims 1

to

4

, wherein a storage connection means is included which sets an occasionally-erasable nonvolatile memory to the erasable mode when an auxiliary storage is connected.