Control device

• US 9,201,843 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2010
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Suganuma, Hideaki, Fujiwara, Ryotaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Martinez Borrero, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US13/807,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20130103230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,981 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/36, 701/70, 701/22, 701/103, 701/29.1, 701/31.5, 701/49, 701/102, 701/112, 726/28, 726/1, 726/3, 726/7, 726/5, 180/65.265, 180/6.44, 180/9.5, 180/249
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

A program delivery center is a program update device which updates a program of an ECU mounted in a vehicle, wherein a right holder specification unit specifies a right holder who has a right to execute the update of the program on the basis of information regarding the vehicle, and a reprogramming guide execution unit sets and outputs program update guide notification to the right holder. Accordingly, the update of the program by a person other than the right holder can be avoided, thereby improving security. Furthermore, since the update of the program is notified to the right holder which can execute the update of the program, a program update execution frequency increases compared to a case where a user who cannot execute the update of the program is notified, thereby prompting the execution of the program update.

Claims

1. A control device which changes a control content of an electronic device mounted in a vehicle, the control device comprising:

a processor programmed to remotely control a program of the electronic device mounted in the vehicle by;

acquiring information regarding the vehicle from at least one of the vehicle or an information database separate from the vehicle in which vehicle information is stored;

determining ownership of the vehicle is either an individual or a legal entity based on the acquired information regarding the vehicle;

specifying a right holder of the vehicle who has a right to execute change of a program of the electronic control device on the basis of a result of the determination of ownership of the vehicle and the acquired information regarding the vehicle; and

setting and outputting a control content change guide notification to the right holder of the vehicle in accordance with the result of the determination of ownership of the vehicle, wherein the setting and outputting of the control content change guide notification to right holder is different when the result of determination of ownership of the vehicle is a legal entity as compared to when the result of determination of ownership of the vehicle is an individual.

2. The control device according to claim 1,

wherein, based upon the processor specifying the ownership is a legal entity, the right holder administrator, and the processor notifies the change of the control content to the administrator who administrates the vehicle, and

wherein, based upon the processor specifying the ownership is an individual, the processor obtains biometric information of a user acquired by at least one sensor before the processor notifies the change of the control content to the user.

3. The control device according to claim 1,

wherein information regarding the vehicle includes at least one of vehicle chassis number information representing the vehicle chassis number of the vehicle, maintenance record information relating to the maintenance records of the vehicle, parking lot information regarding a contract content of a parking lot contracted by a user of the vehicle, automobile insurance information regarding to the content of an automobile insurance contacted by the user of the vehicle, or navigation configuration information relating to a content set by the user in a navigation system mounted in the vehicle.

4. The control device according to claim 1,

wherein the right holder is the owner of the vehicle.