Upgrading method, device and system

Abstract

The invention discloses an upgrading method, device and system, and relates to the technical field of Internet of Vehicles. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring state information, wherein the state information is used for indicating a use scene where the terminal equipment in a charging state is located; and according to the state information, determining whether to execute the upgrading operation of the terminal equipment. According to the method, the conflict between the OTA upgrading operation of the terminal equipment and other operations can be reduced, and the user experience of a terminal equipment user is guaranteed.

Description

Upgrading method, device and system Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of vehicle networking technology, and in particular to an upgrading method, device and system. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of the automotive industry and the deepening of vehicle electrification, intelligence, networking, and sharing, the software functions of vehicles are becoming increasingly complex. Compared with vehicle hardware, vehicle software updates faster.

[0003] Currently, using over-the-air (OTA) technology to remotely wirelessly upgrade vehicle software has become an essential feature for intelligent connected vehicles. Because the OTA process is relatively time-consuming (tens of minutes to several hours), and most vehicle functions (such as driving functions and intelligent vehicle control functions involved in driving) are unavailable during the OTA process, users generally prefer to perform OTA upgrades when they are away from the vehicle for an extended period of time.

[0004] However, in practice, users tend to perform other operations while away from their vehicles for extended periods, such as charging their electric vehicles. In this scenario, conflicts between different vehicle operations can still occur. For example, if the charging operation is interrupted while the vehicle is charging to perform an OTA upgrade, and the charging operation cannot be automatically resumed after the OTA upgrade is completed, the vehicle will not be able to complete charging without human intervention, thus affecting subsequent use of the vehicle.

[0005] Therefore, how to reduce the conflict between the vehicle's OTA upgrade operations and other operations remains an important issue that needs to be solved urgently.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides an upgrade method, device and system, which help reduce the conflict between the OTA upgrade operation of the terminal device and other operations, and ensure the user experience of the terminal device user.

[0008] On the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade method, which can be executed by an OTA control unit of a terminal device. The OTA control unit can be implemented as a communication device, which can be an independent device, a chip or component in a device, or software. The communication device can be configured in the terminal device. For example, the communication device can be an application program that can be installed or run in a chip or component of the terminal device, or on a smart device such as a mobile phone or tablet computer in the terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device can be a software module that can be deployed in each electronic control unit (ECU) of the terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device can be a newly added hardware module in the terminal device, which can be configured with relevant judgment logic or algorithm, and can serve as an ECU in the terminal device to transmit information with other ECUs through an internal communication network to implement the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the product form or deployment method of the OTA control unit.

[0009] In one optional implementation, the terminal device may be a vehicle, and the communication device corresponding to the OTA control unit may be a telematics box (T-BOX), also known as a telematics control unit (TCU), which may integrate functional modules such as a global positioning system (GPS), an external communication interface, an ECU, a microcontroller, a mobile communication unit, and memory. The T-BOX can be internally connected to the vehicle bus (i.e., the terminal device's internal communication network, such as the CAN bus); externally, it can enable information exchange between the vehicle terminal, handheld devices, roadside units (RSUs), and public networks using V2V, V2R, V2H, and V2S communications through a cloud platform.

[0010] The upgrade method may include: acquiring status information, where the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; and determining whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device based on the status information.

[0011] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can flexibly execute the OTA upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information associated with the terminal device, reduce the conflict between the OTA upgrade operation and other operations, and ensure the user experience of the terminal device user. For example, when the terminal device is a vehicle, the above method can take into account the execution timing of different operations on the vehicle side, and ensure the implementation of the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation without causing conflicts with other operations on the vehicle side, which helps to protect the driving experience and driving safety of the vehicle user.

[0012] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the upgrade operation is any operation related to OTA upgrade, which may include but is not limited to: the terminal device sending an OTA upgrade request to the server, the terminal device receiving an upgrade request input or selected by the user, the terminal device downloading the OTA upgrade package from the server, the terminal device confirming the OTA content, the terminal device installing the OTA upgrade package, the terminal device activating the OTA upgrade package, etc., which will not be repeated here.

[0013] In conjunction with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, the method may further include: obtaining an upgrade request, the upgrade request being used to indicate a software upgrade requirement for the terminal device, the upgrade request being associated with the upgrade operation. For example, obtaining the upgrade request may include: receiving the upgrade request from an over-the-air (OTA) server; or obtaining the upgrade request based on first indication information input by a user on a user equipment (UE), where the UE includes the terminal device.

[0014] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can obtain status information in response to the upgrade request, and then determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information. It should be understood that this is only an example of the information of the process of triggering the upgrade operation of the terminal device and is not a limitation. In some embodiments, the OTA control unit can be a process of initiating the upgrade operation of the terminal device upon receiving indication information. The indication information may include an OTA upgrade package, which will not be repeated here.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including whether the charging device that charges the terminal device supports the automatic resumption charging function indicated by the status information, and determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information includes: when the status information indicates that the charging device does not support the automatic resumption charging function, not performing the upgrade operation; or, when the status information indicates that the charging device supports the automatic resumption charging function, performing the upgrade operation.

[0016] Through the above method, when an OTA upgrade request is received while the terminal device is in a charging state, the OTA control unit can first understand the relevant properties of the charging device, such as whether it supports the automatic resumption of charging function. If the charging device does not support the automatic resumption of charging function, even if an OTA upgrade request is received, the upgrade operation can be temporarily suspended to minimize the situation where the terminal device's charging operation cannot be automatically resumed after the upgrade operation is performed, so as to ensure that the terminal device's power level meets the user's usage needs as soon as possible.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation, and determining whether to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information also includes: when the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not executed.

[0018] For example, the status information may include one or more of the following: the charging attribute of the charging device that charges the terminal device; or whether the charging device that charges the terminal device is a public resource. Wherein, when the charging attribute of the charging device that charges the terminal device is DC fast charging, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation; and / or when the charging device that charges the terminal device is a public resource, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation.

[0019] Through the above method, when the priority of the usage scenario (such as the charging scenario) of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the upgrade operation can be temporarily not performed. This not only avoids the situation where the OTA upgrade interrupts the charging operation of the terminal device and affects the user's power demand for the terminal device, but also reduces the unreasonable occupation of public resources and the possible additional costs.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method may further include: receiving second indication information, where the second indication information indicates not to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device.

[0021] For example, the second indication information indicating that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not performed may include: the second indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is higher than the first threshold. In an optional embodiment, the second indication information may be obtained by the user's input in the human-machine interaction interface HMI, and the HMI belongs to the user equipment UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device. In another optional embodiment, the second indication information may be provided by a third-party device, which may include, for example, a management device for the charging device. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the provider of the second indication information.

[0022] Through the above method, the terminal device, as the decision-maker, can, upon receiving an upgrade request, even if the terminal device's OTA control unit determines to execute the terminal device upgrade operation based on the status information, the user can still instruct not to execute the terminal device upgrade operation through the second instruction information input by the HMI. Alternatively, the terminal device's OTA control unit can determine not to execute the terminal device upgrade operation based on the second instruction information from the charging device's management device, thereby reducing the unreasonable occupation of public resources and the potential additional costs.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation method, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation, and determining whether to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information, also includes: when the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation and the third indication information is obtained, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is executed, and the third indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0024] For example, the third indication information indicating that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is to be performed may include: the third indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold. In an optional embodiment, the third indication information is obtained by the user's input in the HMI, and the HMI belongs to the UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device. In another optional embodiment, the third indication information may be provided by a third-party device, which may include, for example, a management device for the charging device. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the provider of the third indication information. It can be understood that in the embodiment of the first aspect of the present application, the second indication information and the third indication information may come from the same management device, and the second threshold is less than or equal to the first threshold.

[0025] Through the above method, the terminal device, as the decision-maker, can, upon receiving an upgrade request, even if the terminal device's OTA control unit determines not to perform the terminal device upgrade operation based on the status information, the user can still instruct the terminal device to perform the upgrade operation through the third instruction information input by the HMI. Alternatively, the terminal device's OTA control unit can determine to perform the terminal device upgrade operation based on the third instruction information from the management device of the charging device.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation method, the obtaining of status information includes any one of the following: determining the status information based on an internal preset relationship; obtaining the status information by querying according to the identification of the charging device that charges the terminal device; receiving the status information from the charging device.

[0027] Through the above method, the OTA control unit of the terminal device can flexibly obtain status information, further expanding the application scenarios of the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application.

[0028] In conjunction with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, executing the terminal device upgrade operation includes: receiving an upgrade package for the terminal device; and executing the terminal device upgrade operation based on the upgrade package. For example, the terminal device upgrade package may come from an OTA server or from a user device, such as a smart terminal such as a mobile phone or tablet computer, although this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the terminal device may include a vehicle.

[0030] On the second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade method, which can be executed by an OTA server. The OTA server can be implemented as a communication device. The communication device can be an independent device, a chip or component in the device, or software. It can be deployed in the cloud, or a roadside device, or a remote server, or a local server, etc. The present application does not limit the product form and deployment method of the OTA server.

[0031] The upgrade method may include: receiving status information, wherein the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state; based on the status information, when it is determined that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, sending fourth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fourth indication information instructs the terminal device to perform the upgrade operation.

[0032] Through the above method, the OTA server can act as a decision-maker and determine whether to send the fourth indication information to the terminal device based on the obtained status information. As a result, the OTA server only needs to send the fourth indication information when the terminal device upgrade operation is allowed, which can reduce the interaction between the OTA server and the terminal device and reduce communication overhead.

[0033] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, when the status information indicates any of the following information, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be executed: the status information indicates that the charging device charging the terminal device supports the automatic resumption of charging function; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is lower than the priority of the upgrade operation; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, and the fifth indication information is obtained, and the fifth indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0034] Through the above method, the OTA server can determine whether to allow the upgrade operation of the terminal device to be executed based on various status information, further improving the flexibility of the upgrade solution of the embodiment of the present application and expanding the application scenarios of the upgrade solution.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the fifth indication information indicates that an upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed, including: the fifth indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than a second threshold. In an optional embodiment, the fifth indication information is obtained by the user's input in the HMI, and the HMI belongs to the user's UE, and the UE includes the terminal device. In another optional embodiment, the fifth indication information can be provided by a third-party device, which may include, for example, a management device for the charging device. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the provider of the fifth indication information.

[0036] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the fourth indication information includes an upgrade package of the terminal device.

[0037] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade method, which is applied to a human-machine interface HMI, and the method includes: receiving control information, the control information is associated with status information, and the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; outputting first indication information according to the control information, the first indication information indicating the execution of an upgrade operation of the terminal device, or indicating not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0038] For example, the status information used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state may include the status information indicating whether the charging device charging the terminal device supports the automatic charging resumption function. Or, for example, the status information used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state may include the status information used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation. In different usage scenarios, the control information associated with the status information and the specific content of the first indication information may be different.

[0039] For example, if the status information indicates that the charging device that charges the terminal device supports the automatic resumption of charging function, the control information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, and the first indication information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed. If the status information indicates that the charging device that charges the terminal device does not support the automatic resumption of charging function, the control information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not allowed to be performed, and the first indication information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not performed. Or for example, if the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the control information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not allowed to be performed, and the first indication information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not performed. If the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is lower than the priority of the upgrade operation, the control information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, and the first indication information may indicate that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed.

[0040] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the control information may come from at least one device, including but not limited to an OTA server, a user device (such as a user's mobile phone, tablet computer or other smart terminal) or a third-party device (such as a charging device for charging the terminal device, a management device for the charging device, etc.), and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. The HMI can make a comprehensive decision based on the control information from at least one device and output the first indication information, which will not be repeated here. In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the second indication information or the third indication information input by the user in response to the first indication information is received, wherein, when the first indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the second indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device; or, when the first indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the third indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0041] It should be noted that this embodiment is merely an example of how the second indication information or the third indication information is generated and does not limit it in any way. In actual applications, the second indication information or the third indication information may not be input by the user. For example, the second indication information or the third indication information may come from a third-party device. For example, the second indication information may indicate that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is higher than the first threshold, and the third indication information may indicate that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold. In another possible implementation, the second indication information or the third indication information in this embodiment may be an example of control information, which may be received by the HMI before outputting the first indication information. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific content and reception timing of the control information.

[0042] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving fourth indication information input by the user, the fourth indication information is used to obtain an upgrade request, the upgrade request is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the terminal device, and the upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation.

[0043] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising: an acquisition unit for acquiring status information, wherein the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; and a determination unit for determining whether to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information.

[0044] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the acquisition unit is further used to: acquire an upgrade request, where the upgrade request is used to indicate a software upgrade requirement of the terminal device, and the upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation.

[0045] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit is used to: receive the upgrade request from the over-the-air download OTA server; or, obtain the upgrade request based on the first indication information entered by the user in the user equipment UE, and the UE includes the terminal device.

[0046] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including whether the charging device that charges the terminal device supports the automatic resumption charging function indicated by the status information, and determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information includes: when the status information indicates that the charging device does not support the automatic resumption charging function, not performing the upgrade operation; or, when the status information indicates that the charging device supports the automatic resumption charging function, performing the upgrade operation.

[0047] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation, and the determination unit is used to: when the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, not perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0048] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the status information includes one or more of the following: charging properties of the charging device that charges the terminal device; or whether the charging device that charges the terminal device is a public resource.

[0049] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, when the charging attribute of the charging device that charges the terminal device is DC fast charging, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation; and / or, when the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs to a public resource, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation.

[0050] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a communication unit, configured to receive second indication information, where the second indication information indicates not to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device.

[0051] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the second indication information indicates that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not performed, including: the second indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the terminal device belongs is higher than the first threshold.

[0052] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the second indication information is obtained by user input in a human-machine interaction interface HMI, the HMI belongs to a user equipment UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device.

[0053] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation, and the determination unit is used to: when the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation and the third indication information is obtained, execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, and the third indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0054] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the third indication information indicates that an upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed, including: the third indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than a second threshold.

[0055] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the third indication information is obtained by user input in an HMI, the HMI belongs to a UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device.

[0056] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the obtaining of status information includes any one of the following: determining the status information based on an internal preset relationship; obtaining the status information by querying according to the identification of the charging device that charges the terminal device; receiving the status information from the charging device.

[0057] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, executing the upgrade operation of the terminal device includes: receiving an upgrade package for the terminal device; and executing the upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the upgrade package.

[0058] In combination with the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation, the terminal device includes a vehicle.

[0059] In the fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including: a communication unit for receiving status information, wherein the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; based on the status information, when it is determined that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, a fourth indication information is sent to the terminal device, wherein the fourth indication information indicates the execution of the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0060] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation method, when the status information indicates any of the following information, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be executed: the status information indicates that the charging device charging the terminal device supports the automatic resumption of charging function; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is lower than the priority of the upgrade operation; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, and the fifth indication information is obtained, and the fifth indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0061] In combination with the fifth aspect, in one possible implementation method, the fifth indication information is obtained by the user's input in the HMI, the HMI belongs to the UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device; or, the fifth indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold.

[0062] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the fourth indication information includes an upgrade package of the terminal device.

[0063] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a human-machine interaction interface HMI, comprising: a communication unit for receiving control information, wherein the control information is associated with status information, and the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; an output unit for outputting first indication information according to the control information, wherein the first indication information indicates to execute an upgrade operation of the terminal device, or indicates not to execute an upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0064] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the communication unit is further used to: receive second indication information or third indication information input by the user in response to the first indication information, wherein, when the first indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the second indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device; or, when the first indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the third indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0065] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the communication unit is also used to: receive fourth indication information input by the user, the fourth indication information is used to obtain an upgrade request, the upgrade request is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the terminal device, and the upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation.

[0066] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes: a communication interface for communicating with other devices; a processor, coupled to the communication interface, so that the communication device executes the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, or executes the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0067] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer executes the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, or executes the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0068] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or execute the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, or execute the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0069] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, including a processor, which is coupled to a memory and is used to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the memory. When the computer program or instruction is executed, it implements the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or implements the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, or implements the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0070] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a vehicle, comprising a unit for implementing the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0071] In combination with the eleventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the vehicle may include an HMI for outputting first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device, or indicates not to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0072] In the twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising a terminal device for implementing the method as described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect, an OTA server for implementing the method as described in the second aspect and any possible implementation method of the second aspect, and a charging device, wherein the charging device is used to charge the terminal device.

[0073] In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, which can be used to implement the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or to execute the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, or to execute the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect, or to execute the method described in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation of the fourth aspect. For example, the terminal device includes but is not limited to: intelligent transportation equipment (such as cars, ships, drones, trains, trucks, etc.), intelligent manufacturing equipment (such as robots, industrial equipment, intelligent logistics, smart factories, etc.), and intelligent terminals (mobile phones, computers, tablets, PDAs, desktops, headphones, speakers, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, etc.).

[0074] In the fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which may include one or more of the following communication devices: a communication device that executes the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect; a communication device that executes the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect; a communication device that executes the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0075] Based on the implementations provided in the above aspects, the embodiments of the present application can be further combined to provide more implementations.

[0076] The technical effects that can be achieved by any possible implementation method in any of the second to fourteenth aspects mentioned above can be referred to the description of the technical effects that can be achieved by any possible implementation method in any of the first aspect mentioned above, and the repetitions will not be discussed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0077] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0078] FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing a flow chart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing a system architecture of an embodiment of the present application applied to a vehicle networking scenario;

[0080] FIG4 shows a flowchart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application applied to a vehicle networking scenario;

[0081] FIG5 shows a flowchart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application applied to a vehicle networking scenario;

[0082] FIG6 shows a flowchart of an upgrade method applied to a vehicle networking scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG7 shows a flowchart of an upgrade method applied to a vehicle networking scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG8 shows a flowchart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application applied to a vehicle networking scenario;

[0085] FIG9 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG10 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG11 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG12 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG13 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] To facilitate understanding, some of the terms involved in the embodiments of this application are first introduced below.

[0091] 1. User:

[0092] The "user" mentioned in the embodiments of this application is the person who uses the terminal device. The user may include the owner of the terminal device (also known as the owner, owner, etc.), or other persons authorized by the owner of the terminal device to use the terminal device, such as relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. of the terminal device owner. For example, if the terminal device is a vehicle, the user may be the vehicle owner, or other persons authorized by the vehicle owner to use the vehicle.

[0093] It should be understood that for an unmanned vehicle, the user can be a virtual user or a real person who manages the vehicle, and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0094] In the embodiment of the present application, for the sake of distinction, the owner of the terminal device may be referred to as the first user, and the authorized user other than the owner of the terminal device may be referred to as the second user, which will not be distinguished or described one by one in detail below.

[0095] 2. User device:

[0096] Generally refers to electronic devices used by users.

[0097] Taking a vehicle as an example, a user device may include an onboard terminal used by the user or a user's smart terminal, such as a mobile phone or tablet computer. For an unmanned vehicle, the user device may be the vehicle's onboard terminal; it may also be a smart terminal placed on the vehicle, such as a mobile phone or tablet computer; or it may be other electronic devices associated with the vehicle, such as electronic devices operated by vehicle management personnel, including but not limited to desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, and tablet computers. The embodiments of this application do not limit the product form of the user device.

[0098] In an embodiment of the present application, a communication system for implementing the upgrade method may include an OTA server and at least one user device, and the user device may include at least one of a terminal device, a first user's smart terminal (which may be referred to as the first terminal), or a second user's smart terminal (which may be referred to as the second terminal). In different embodiments, the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application may be collaboratively implemented by any of the following device combinations: an OTA server and a terminal device; an OTA server, a terminal device, and a first user's smart terminal; an OTA server, a terminal device, and a second user's smart terminal; or an OTA server, a terminal device, a first user's smart terminal, and a second user's smart terminal. The upgrade method implemented by each device combination will be described in detail below in conjunction with the method flow chart, and will not be elaborated here.

[0099] 3. Status information:

[0100] In the embodiment of the present application, information that indicates the usage scenario of the terminal device by describing (or representing) the state is called state information.

[0101] Taking the terminal device as an example of a vehicle, the status information can indicate the usage scenario of the vehicle by characterizing the status of the entire vehicle or vehicle components. For example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in the starting state by characterizing the status of the vehicle's engine. For another example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in the charging state by characterizing the status of the vehicle's battery pack. For another example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in the running state by characterizing the status of at least one of the vehicle's throttle system, parking system, or braking system. For another example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in the perception state by characterizing the status of the sensor system. The perception state may include but is not limited to the following states: whether the vehicle's camera captures images of the vehicle's surroundings, whether the vehicle's wheel speed sensor captures the tire's rotational speed, or whether the vehicle's water temperature sensor captures the temperature information of the vehicle's components, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific content of the status information.

[0102] It is understandable that in the embodiments of the present application, the status information can be obtained from the terminal device, or from other devices associated with the terminal device. Still taking the terminal device as a vehicle as an example, other devices associated with the terminal device may include a charging device for charging the vehicle. The charging device may provide status information to characterize whether the vehicle is being charged. Alternatively, other devices associated with the terminal device may include roadside equipment, which may provide status information to characterize whether the vehicle is near the roadside equipment (for example, staying near the roadside equipment or driving past the roadside equipment). In actual applications, the status information provided by other devices associated with the terminal device is not limited to the above examples, and any information provided by the other devices that can be used to characterize the usage scenario of the terminal device can be used as an example of status information.

[0103] In addition, the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal may also provide status information. For example, the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal may monitor the terminal device and provide the obtained monitoring information as status information to the terminal device or the OTA server. Similarly, the status information provided by the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal may be any suitable information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application and will not be further described here.

[0104] It should be noted that the above description is only an example of the meaning of status information using a vehicle as an example and is not a limitation. In other embodiments, any information that can be used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device can be used as status information, which will not be repeated here.

[0105] In an embodiment of the present application, one purpose of the status information is to decide whether the upgrade operation of the terminal device can be performed. An electronic device serving as a decision-maker, such as an OTA server, a terminal device, a smart terminal of the first user, or a smart terminal of the second user, can obtain the status information and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information. The method of obtaining the status information includes, but is not limited to, any of the following: determining the status information based on an internal preset relationship; obtaining the status information by querying according to the identification of other devices associated with the terminal device (such as a charging device that charges the terminal device); receiving the status information from the other device (such as a charging device).

[0106] For example, when the OTA server acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from at least one of the terminal device, other devices associated with the terminal device (such as a charging device that charges the terminal device, a management device for the charging device, etc.), the first user's smart terminal, or the second user's smart terminal. For another example, when the terminal device acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from the terminal device itself according to an internal preset relationship, other devices associated with the terminal device (such as a charging device that charges the terminal device, a management device for the charging device, etc.), the first user's smart terminal, or the second user's smart terminal. For another example, when the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from the terminal device, other devices associated with the terminal device (such as a charging device that charges the terminal device, a management device for the charging device, etc.). Any of the above decision-makers can obtain status information in accordance with the provisions of the preset decision-making method or any appropriate method required by the business, and use the obtained status information to make a comprehensive decision. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the manner in which any decision-maker obtains status information, and will not be distinguished or elaborated on one by one below.

[0107] 4. Upgrade operation:

[0108] In an embodiment of the present application, an upgrade operation refers to an operation associated with an OTA upgrade. The upgrade operation of a terminal device may include but is not limited to: the terminal device sends an upgrade request to an OTA server; the terminal device receives an upgrade request input or selected by a user; the terminal device downloads an upgrade package from the OTA server; the terminal device confirms the OTA content; the terminal device installs the upgrade package; the terminal device activates the upgrade package, etc.

[0109] In an optional implementation, when the OTA server determines that the terminal device needs to be upgraded via OTA (for example, a newer version of the software exists), it may send an indication message (for example, represented as first indication message) to the terminal device, where the indication message is used to trigger the upgrade process of the terminal device. The terminal device may receive the indication message from the OTA server and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device automatically or through interaction with the user.

[0110] For example, the indication information may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: OTA activity content reminder, OTA activity content confirmation, OTA implementation reminder, OTA upgrade package download reminder, OTA upgrade package, monitoring of OTA process (including OTA upgrade package download, installation, activation and other processes), etc. One embodiment is that the terminal device can automatically determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information. Another embodiment is that the terminal device may include an output device (such as a human-machine interface HMI, a speaker, etc.) and / or an input device (such as an HMI, a microphone, etc.), and the terminal device may output the indication information to the user through the output device, and receive the user's input information through the input device. The input information can be used to control the execution of the upgrade operation of the terminal device. For example, the user's input information can be used to initiate an upgrade request, confirm the upgrade operation, refuse the upgrade operation, or delay the upgrade operation, etc.

[0111] In another optional implementation, the OTA server can be used to obtain status information, which is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device. The OTA server can determine whether to allow the upgrade operation of the terminal device to be performed based on the status information. When it is determined that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, the OTA server can send an indication information (for example, represented as a first indication information) to the terminal device, which instructs the terminal device to perform the upgrade operation. In some embodiments, for example, when the OTA server cannot communicate directly with the terminal device, the smart terminal of the first user or the smart terminal of the second user can be used as an intermediate device between the OTA server and the terminal device, and the OTA server can send the indication information to the smart terminal of the first user or the smart terminal of the second user, and the first user can assist in performing the upgrade operation of the terminal device through the smart terminal of the first user or the second user can assist in performing the upgrade operation of the terminal device through the smart terminal of the first user or the smart terminal of the second user.

[0112] In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the decision-making body of the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not limited. For example, the decision can be made by the OTA server based on the status information, or by the terminal device based on the status information; nor is it limited to whether the receiving end of the instruction information from the OTA server is the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal, or the second user's smart terminal. In actual applications, the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application can be collaboratively implemented by a combination of at least two devices among the OTA server, the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal, or the second user's smart terminal. For a detailed description, please refer to the relevant introduction in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below, which will not be repeated here.

[0113] 5. Charging equipment:

[0114] Charging equipment, also known as charging piles, is a device used to charge terminal devices.

[0115] Generally, charging equipment can include private charging equipment or public charging equipment. The private charging equipment belongs to the user personally and is only used to charge the terminal equipment used by the user personally. In some cases, the user can also provide the private charging equipment to other users free of charge. The public charging equipment belongs to an enterprise (including individual industrial and commercial households) and can be used to provide paid charging services for terminal equipment used by different users, such as a pay-per-use system, charging by time, charging by duration, charging by amount, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.

[0116] The charging equipment described in the embodiments of the present application may include private charging equipment and / or public charging equipment, which will not be distinguished or described one by one in the following.

[0117] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the charging device can be an example of a roadside device. The charging device can have a communication function and can communicate directly with the OTA server, or the terminal device, or the user's smart terminal through a network (including a wired communication network or a wireless communication network) to provide status information to the OTA server, or the terminal device or the user's smart terminal. The status information can be associated to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device, such as whether the charging device is charging the terminal device, whether it can provide charging services for the charging device, whether it supports automatic recovery charging function, etc. Alternatively, the charging device can be controlled by a management device and can communicate indirectly with the OTA server or terminal device through the management device to provide status information to the OTA server, or the terminal device, or the user's smart terminal. The embodiment of the present application does not limit whether the charging device can communicate with the OTA server, or the terminal device, or the user's smart terminal, and the communication method adopted.

[0118] The embodiments of the present application provide an upgrade method, device and system, which flexibly execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the status information indicating the usage scenario of the terminal device, thereby helping to reduce the conflict between the OTA upgrade operation of the terminal device and other operations, and ensuring the user experience of the terminal device user. For example, the terminal device may include a vehicle. Among them, the method and the device are based on the same technical concept. Since the principles of solving problems by the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repetitions will not be repeated. Moreover, in the various embodiments of the present application, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form a new embodiment according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0119] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

[0120] As shown in Figure 1, the application scenario may include an OTA server 110 and a terminal device 120. In an optional implementation, the application scenario may also include a charging device 130, which can be used to charge the terminal device 120. In another optional implementation, the application scenario may also include a smart terminal 140 of a first user (for example, the owner of the terminal device 120). In another optional implementation, the application scenario may also include a smart terminal 150 of a second user (for example, an authorized user of the terminal device 120). Any two devices among the OTA server 110, the terminal device 120, the charging device 130, the smart terminal 140 of the first user, or the smart terminal 150 of the second user can communicate, and the communication method may be a wired communication method or a wireless communication method, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The dotted box in Figure 1 only schematically indicates that the corresponding device is an optional device.

[0121] Based on the application scenario shown in FIG1 , an embodiment of the present application proposes an upgrade method.

[0122] FIG2 is a flow chart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be implemented by the OTA server 110 in FIG1 in collaboration with at least one of the terminal device 120, the first user's smart terminal 140, or the second user's smart terminal 150. As shown in FIG2, the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0123] S210: Upon learning that an OTA upgrade is required for the terminal device, the OTA server sends an indication message to the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal 140, or the second user's smart terminal 150, indicating the terminal device's software upgrade requirement. In response, the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal 140, or the second user's smart terminal 150 receives the indication message from the OTA server.

[0124] S220: Any of the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal 140 or the second user's smart terminal 150 obtains status information and determines whether to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the status information.

[0125] It should be noted that the OTA upgrade process on the terminal device side can be initiated by the OTA server by way of example here, and the initiator of the upgrade process is not limited to the OTA server. In different method embodiments, the method process of the embodiment of the present application can be implemented in collaboration between the OTA server and the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal 140, or the second user's smart terminal 150. The indication information exchanged in S210 is only an example of information on the OTA initiation of the OTA upgrade process for the terminal device and is not a limitation. In other embodiments, the indication information exchanged in S210 can be replaced by an upgrade request, an OTA upgrade package, or other information associated with the OTA upgrade operation, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0126] In one example, an upgrade operation of a terminal device conflicts with a charging operation of the terminal device. Taking the scenario where the status information indicates a terminal device in a charging state as an example, when implementing S220, any one of the terminal device, the first user's smart terminal 140, or the second user's smart terminal 150, as the decision-making party, may make a decision based on the status information regarding at least one aspect of the situation:

[0127] (1) The status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including status information specifically indicating whether the charging device charging the terminal device supports the automatic resumption charging function. When the status information indicates that the charging device does not support the automatic resumption charging function, the upgrade operation is not performed; or, when the status information indicates that the charging device supports the automatic resumption charging function, the upgrade operation is performed.

[0128] If the charging device does not support automatic charging resumption, and the charging operation is interrupted to perform the terminal device upgrade, the terminal device cannot automatically resume charging after the OTA upgrade is completed, and it will be impossible to ensure that the terminal device's power level meets the usage requirements. Therefore, whether the charging device supports automatic charging resumption can serve as one of the decision-makers' basis for decision-making.

[0129] (2) The status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation. The status information specifically indicates that when the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the upgrade operation of the terminal device will not be performed. The status information may include one or more of the following: the charging attributes of the charging device that charges the terminal device; or whether the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs to a public resource. For example, when the charging attribute of the charging device that charges the terminal device is DC fast charging, it indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation; and / or, when the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs to a public resource, it indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation.

[0130] When the priority of the charging operation is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the charging operation must be completed first and cannot be interrupted at will to ensure that the available power of the terminal device meets the usage requirements. Therefore, whether the priority of the charging operation is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation can also be used as one of the decision-making bases for the decision-maker.

[0131] (3) The status information is used to indicate that the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state includes that the decision-making device receives the second indication information, and the second indication information indicates that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is not performed.

[0132] For example, the second indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the terminal device belongs is higher than the first threshold. In an optional implementation, the second indication information can be obtained by user input information in the human-machine interaction interface HMI, and the HMI can belong to the user equipment UE of the user, and the UE can include the terminal device. In another optional implementation, the second indication information can be provided by a third-party device, and the third-party device can include a charging device or a management device of the charging device. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the provider of the second indication information.

[0133] That is to say, the user or other device can intervene in the decision-making process of the decision-making device and assist in determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device through the second indication information. Therefore, whether the decision-making device receives the second indication information can also serve as one of the decision-making bases for the decision-making party. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the "second indication information" is only for the convenience of distinguishing the indication information obtained at different stages and is not a limitation. In different method embodiments, the second indication information can also have other names. For example, the second indication information can be expressed as the third indication information.

[0134] (4) The status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including: when the status information specifically indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, and when the third indication information is obtained, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is executed, and the third indication information indicates that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is executed.

[0135] For example, the third indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold. In an optional implementation, the third indication information can be obtained by the user's input in the HMI, and the HMI can belong to the user's UE, and the UE can include the terminal device. In another optional implementation, the third indication information can be provided by a third-party device, and the third-party device can include a charging device or a management device of the charging device. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the provider of the third indication information.

[0136] That is to say, even if the priority of the charging operation is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the user or other control device can intervene in the decision-making process of the decision-making device and assist in determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device through the third indication information. Therefore, whether the third indication information is received can also be used as one of the decision-making bases for the decision-maker. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the "third indication information" is only for the convenience of distinguishing the indication information obtained at different stages and is not limited. In different method embodiments, the third indication information can also have other names. For example, the third indication information can be expressed as the fourth indication information.

[0137] It should be understood that the decision scenarios (1) to (4) described above are merely illustrative and not limiting. In other embodiments, the status information may be used to indicate other content. Accordingly, the decision made by the decision-making device based on the status information may not be limited to the above examples and will not be further described here.

[0138] It should be noted that the upgrade scheme in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the Internet of Vehicles, such as vehicle to everything (V2X), long term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), etc. For example, it can be applied to a vehicle with a driving mobile function, or other devices in a vehicle with a driving mobile function. The other devices include but are not limited to: other sensors such as an on-board terminal, an on-board controller, an on-board module, an on-board module, an on-board component, an on-board chip, an on-board unit, an on-board radar or an on-board camera. The vehicle can implement the upgrade method provided in the embodiment of the present application through the on-board terminal, on-board controller, on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip, on-board unit, on-board radar or on-board camera. Of course, the control scheme in the embodiment of the present application can also be used for other smart terminals with mobile control functions other than vehicles, or be set in other smart terminals with mobile control functions other than vehicles, or be set in a component of the smart terminal. The smart terminal can be an intelligent transportation device, a smart home device, a robot, etc. For example, it includes but is not limited to smart terminals or controllers, chips, radars, cameras and other sensors, and other components within smart terminals.

[0139] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0140] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish between multiple objects and are not used to define the priority or importance of multiple objects. For example, "first indication information" and "second indication information" are only used to distinguish different indication information, and do not indicate a difference in priority or importance between the two indication information.

[0141] For ease of understanding, the following takes the terminal device as an example of a vehicle and combines different embodiments to introduce the implementation details of the upgrade method of this application.

[0142] FIG3 shows a schematic diagram of the system architecture of an embodiment of the present application.

[0143] As shown in Figure 3, the system architecture may include an OTA server 310, a vehicle 320, a smart terminal 330, and a charging device 340. The OTA server 310 may communicate with any of the vehicle 320, the smart terminal 330, or the charging device 340 via a wireless network to transmit relevant indication information or status information, thereby implementing the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application.

[0144] The vehicle 320 may include, for example, but is not limited to, a network communication device 321, an OTA control unit 322, at least one human-machine interface (HMI) 323 (e.g., HMI 323_1, HMI 323_2), a cockpit domain controller 324, an electronic control unit (ECU) such as a vehicle sensing system 325 or a charging control unit 326, and an in-vehicle communication network (e.g., a CAN bus) for implementing internal vehicle communications. The smart terminal 330 may include a smart terminal of a first user or a smart terminal of a second user. The charging device 340 may be used to charge the vehicle 320.

[0145] The network communication device 321 can serve as a communication bridge between external devices such as the OTA server 310, smart terminal 330, and charging device 340 and the internal ECU of the vehicle 320, enabling the transmission, reception, and forwarding of OTA upgrade-related instruction information or other information. Within the vehicle 320, the network communication device 321 can, for example, transmit information to and from the various ECUs of the vehicle 320 via an in-vehicle communication network such as the CAN bus. In this embodiment of the present application, the network communication device 321 can support wireless or wired communication, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0146] The OTA control unit 322 can serve as a decision-making unit for implementing OTA upgrade control within the vehicle 320. It can make a comprehensive decision based on one or more of the following information: for example, instruction information from the OTA server 310, input information obtained from at least one human-machine interface (HMI) 323, relevant status information obtained from the cockpit domain controller 324, relevant status information obtained from the vehicle sensor system 325, relevant status information obtained from the charging control unit 326, and relevant status information obtained from other ECUs. The decision result is used to obtain a decision result, such as executing or not executing the upgrade operation for the terminal device. The specific execution of the upgrade operation is controlled based on the decision result.

[0147] The OTA control unit 322 or charging control unit 326 and the network communication device 321 can be different modules or the same module, such as a telematics box (T-BOX), also known as a telematics control unit (TCU), which can integrate functional modules such as a global positioning system (GPS), an external communication interface, an ECU, a microcontroller, a mobile communication unit, and a memory. The T-BOX can be connected internally to the vehicle bus (i.e., the terminal device's internal communication network, such as the CAN bus); externally, it can enable information exchange between vehicle terminals, handheld devices, roadside units (RSUs), and public networks using V2V, V2R, V2H, V2S, etc., through a cloud platform. Alternatively, the OTA control unit 322 or the charging control unit 326 can be a newly added hardware module in the vehicle, which can be configured with relevant judgment logic or algorithm, and can serve as an ECU in the vehicle 320, transmitting information with other ECUs through the vehicle's internal communication network to implement the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the product form of the OTA control unit 322 or the charging control unit 326.

[0148] The vehicle sensing system 325 may include, for example, sensors such as cameras. The vehicle sensing system 325 may obtain relevant status information of the entire vehicle or vehicle components through perception, and provide the relevant status information to the OTA control unit 322 or other ECUs. In an optional implementation, the vehicle sensing system 325 may, for example, provide the obtained relevant status information to the cockpit domain controller 324. The cockpit domain controller 324 may perform other data processing or decision-making based on the obtained relevant status information, which will not be repeated here. As another implementation, the vehicle sensing system 325 may also provide the perception results to the cockpit domain controller 324. The cockpit domain controller 324 may obtain relevant status information based on the perception results, and provide the relevant status information to the OTA control unit 322 for the OTA control unit 322 to make a comprehensive decision. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the status information transmitted between the internal ECUs of the vehicle and the transmission form.

[0149] The at least one human-machine interaction interface HMI 323 is an input device / output device in the vehicle 320. The at least one human-machine interaction interface HMI 323 can communicate with the OTA control unit 322 through the in-vehicle communication network and provide an OTA operation interface, which can be used to output instruction information, receive user input information, etc. Among them, the at least one human-machine interaction interface HMI 323 can have its own communication identification and communication address, which can be used to receive instruction information to be output, or provide the acquired input information to other modules. For example, the at least one human-machine interaction interface HMI 323 can include in-vehicle devices such as an in-vehicle display screen (such as a touch screen), and can also include external associated devices such as a smartphone and a tablet computer located in the vehicle 320. This embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0150] The smart terminal 330 can communicate with the OTA server 310 and the network communication device of the vehicle 320 through the mobile network. When the OTA server 310 determines that it can send indication information directly to the smart terminal 330 (for example, the indication information is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the terminal device), the OTA server 310 can send the indication information directly to the smart terminal 330. The smart terminal 330 can also receive indication information forwarded by the network communication device of the vehicle 320. For example, the smart terminal 330 can install and run an OTA application. The vehicle owner or authorized user of the vehicle can control the operation of the vehicle 320 through the application running on their respective smart terminals, and can control the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle 320 through communication with the OTA server 310. In the process of implementing the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application, at least one device among the above-mentioned at least one human-machine interaction interface HMI 323 and the smart terminal 330 can be used as an output device to output the indication information from the OTA server 310. The output device can be the device that finally outputs the indication information, or it can be the output device that outputs the indication information during the upgrade process. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the output method and output timing of the indication information. At least one of the at least one human-machine interface (HMI) 323 and the intelligent terminal 330 can function as an input device to receive user input information. This input information can be user-instructed information indicating whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device. This embodiment of the present application does not limit the method or timing of inputting the user input information.

[0151] Based on the system architecture shown in FIG1 or FIG3, the embodiment of the present application also proposes an upgrade method. The method can be implemented by a terminal device, as shown in FIG4, and the method may include the following steps:

[0152] S410: Acquire status information, where the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state.

[0153] S420: Determine whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device according to the status information.

[0154] Among them, in combination with different ways of obtaining status information for indicating the usage scenario of the terminal device and different situations specifically indicated by the status information, the terminal device is taken as an example of a vehicle with a manual driving mode. When the vehicle is in a charging state, the specific implementation process of the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application may include the different situations shown in the following method examples 1 to method examples 4, which are introduced separately below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings such as Figures 5 to 9. It can be understood that the steps of Figures 5 to 9 are only examples of the steps that may be included in the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application and are not any limitation. The specific execution order of the steps in each example can be adjusted with each other. In some embodiments, a new embodiment can also be formed based on the combination of technical features in the different embodiments described in combination with Figures 5 to 9. In the following embodiments, the charging control unit can be replaced by other ECUs of the vehicle, and the ECU can interact with the OTA control unit to provide other status information to the OTA control unit.

[0155] Method example 1: As a decision-maker, the terminal device can obtain status information when receiving an upgrade request, and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information.

[0156] As shown in FIG5 , in method example 1, the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0157] S501: The OTA control unit of the vehicle obtains an upgrade request, which is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the terminal device. The upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation of the vehicle.

[0158] When S501 is implemented, the OTA control unit of the vehicle may obtain the upgrade request from the OTA server or user equipment, which may include a user's smart terminal or an input device of the vehicle.

[0159] For example, an OTA server is a service provider that uniformly manages software versions for different vehicles. The OTA server can perform OTA activity preparation work, such as preparing OTA upgrade packages, formulating OTA-related messages, etc., and determine the target vehicles that need to undergo OTA upgrades. Among them, the vehicles that can undergo OTA upgrades can include all vehicles installed with the software to be upgraded, or any vehicle selected from all vehicles. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method of determining the vehicle. When implementing S501, the OTA server can send an upgrade request to the target vehicle, and accordingly, the OTA control unit of the target vehicle can receive the upgrade request from the OTA server. Alternatively, the OTA server can send the upgrade request to the user's smart terminal, and the user's smart terminal can forward the upgrade request to the target vehicle. Alternatively, the user can send a first indication information input by the user to the vehicle's OTA control unit through the smart terminal used by the user, so that the vehicle's OTA control unit obtains the upgrade request based on the first indication information. The vehicle's input device can include, for example, an HMI or a microphone. The user can send the first indication information input by the user to the vehicle's OTA control unit through the input device according to their own needs or based on relevant information output by the vehicle's output device, so that the vehicle's OTA control unit obtains the upgrade request based on the first indication information.

[0160] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, whether it is an upgrade request from the OTA server or an upgrade request from the user device, it can be issued in real time or according to a reservation plan. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the initiation method and sending timing of the upgrade request.

[0161] S502: The vehicle's OTA control unit interacts with the vehicle's charging control unit to obtain status information, where the status information is used to characterize the vehicle's usage scenario.

[0162] In specific implementation, S402 may include the following steps, for example:

[0163] S5021: The OTA control unit sends a status query request to the charging control unit. The charging control unit receives the query request from the OTA control unit. This query request is used to query whether the vehicle is charging and the attributes of the charging device used to charge the vehicle, such as whether the automatic charging resume function is supported and the priority of the charging operation.

[0164] S5022: The charging control unit may confirm whether the vehicle is in a charging state in response to the query request.

[0165] S5023 (optional step): When the vehicle is in a charging state, the charging control unit may interact with the charging device to query the properties of the charging device.

[0166] S5024: The charging control unit sends a query result to the OTA control unit, indicating whether the vehicle is in a charging state. In an optional embodiment, the query result may also include attributes related to the charging device used to charge the vehicle. This query result can serve as status information to characterize the vehicle's usage scenario.

[0167] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned S5023 is an optional step, and the charging control unit of the vehicle can interact with the charging device in real time in response to the query request from the OTA control unit to query the relevant attributes of the charging device in real time. In some embodiments, when the charging device charges the vehicle, the charging device can report certain attribute information of itself to the charging control unit of the vehicle (it can be reported actively or in response to the command of the charging control unit, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this), and the charging control unit can save the attribute information reported by the charging device. Upon receiving the query request from the OTA control unit, the charging control unit can feedback the query results to the OTA control unit according to the saved attribute information. In other embodiments, the charging control unit or the OTA control unit can also obtain the relevant attributes of the charging device according to the identifier after knowing the identifier of the charging device. The relevant attributes of the charging device can be used as status information to indicate the usage scenario of the vehicle in the charging state. The embodiment of the present application does not limit this implementation step.

[0168] S503: The vehicle's OTA control unit determines whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation based on the status information. If it is determined to perform the vehicle upgrade operation, the process proceeds to S504-S507. If not, the process proceeds to S508.

[0169] In one example, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including status information that can indicate whether the charging device charging the vehicle supports the automatic resumption of charging function. When implementing S503, when the status information indicates that the charging device does not support the automatic resumption of charging function, the vehicle upgrade operation is not performed; or, when the status information indicates that the charging device supports the automatic resumption of charging function, the vehicle upgrade operation is performed. Thus, when the vehicle is in the charging state and receives an OTA upgrade request, the relevant properties of the charging device can be understood first, such as whether it supports the automatic resumption of charging function. When the charging device does not support the automatic resumption of charging function, even if an OTA upgrade request is received, the upgrade operation can be temporarily not performed to avoid the situation where the charging operation cannot be restored after the upgrade operation, so as to ensure that the vehicle's power can meet the user's car needs as soon as possible.

[0170] In another example, the status information is used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state, including the status information being used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation. When implementing S503, when the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the vehicle is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, the upgrade operation of the vehicle is not performed. Among them, the status information may include one or more of the following: the charging properties of the charging device that charges the vehicle; or whether the charging device that charges the vehicle belongs to a public resource. Therefore, when the vehicle is in a travel priority scenario or a public resource scenario, the upgrade operation can be temporarily not performed, which can not only avoid the situation where OTA upgrades interrupt charging and affect the user's travel needs, but also reduce the unreasonable occupation of public resources and the possible additional costs.

[0171] S504: The OTA control unit of the vehicle instructs the charging control unit to interrupt the charging operation.

[0172] S505: The vehicle's OTA control unit performs an upgrade operation on the vehicle.

[0173] S506: After the upgrade operation of the vehicle is completed, the OTA control unit of the vehicle reminds the charging control unit to resume the charging operation of the vehicle.

[0174] S507: The vehicle's OTA control unit feeds back an upgrade result, such as a successful upgrade, to the OTA server or user equipment that initiated the upgrade request.

[0175] S508: The OTA control unit of the vehicle feeds back the upgrade result to the OTA server or user equipment that initiated the upgrade request, for example, not allowing the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0176] Therefore, through the method steps shown in the above method example 1, the terminal device, as the decision-maker, can flexibly execute the OTA upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information when the upgrade request is obtained, thereby reducing the conflict between the OTA upgrade operation and other operations and ensuring the user experience of the terminal device user. In this way, when the terminal device can be a vehicle, the above method can take into account the execution timing of different operations on the vehicle side, and ensure the implementation of the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation without causing conflicts with other operations on the vehicle side, thereby ensuring the vehicle user experience and driving safety.

[0177] It should be noted that, in the method steps shown in FIG5 , the method steps related to the scene recognition function, such as S502 and S503, can also be implemented by a module independent of the OTA control unit, such as a scene recognition module (not shown in the figure). The scene recognition module can send the scene recognition result to the charging control unit, and the charging control module determines whether to allow the vehicle to perform the upgrade operation based on the scene recognition result. In the case where the vehicle is allowed to perform the upgrade operation, S504 in FIG5 can be replaced by the following steps: the charging control unit can interrupt the charging operation of the vehicle and instruct the OTA control unit to allow the upgrade operation. Correspondingly, in S505: the OTA control unit can start the upgrade operation of the vehicle. S506 in FIG5 can be replaced by the following steps: after the upgrade operation is completed, the charging control unit can automatically resume the charging operation of the vehicle. In the case where the vehicle is not allowed to perform the upgrade operation, S508 in FIG5 can be replaced by the following steps: the charging control unit can feedback a prompt of rejecting the upgrade to the OTA control unit, that is, the upgrade is not allowed. In other embodiments, the scene recognition function implemented by the above scene recognition module can also be incorporated into the charging control unit. In this case, the charging control unit can directly confirm the charging status and scene recognition results, and feedback the instruction information of whether the vehicle is allowed to perform the upgrade operation to the OTA control unit based on the scene recognition results. In other words, the above scene recognition function can be implemented flexibly, and the embodiments of this application are not limited to this. Similarities can be found in the relevant description of Figure 5 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0178] It should be noted that the above descriptions concerning the priority of charging operations or the priority of upgrading operations are only schematic descriptions of the judgment logic, and do not mean that the priority of charging operations or the priority of upgrading operations need to be marked. Any information that can indicate the priority of charging operations or the priority of upgrading operations can be used to characterize the priority, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0179] It should be noted that the detailed description of S503 above is only an example and not a limitation. In another example, during the judgment process of S503, the OTA control unit may also perform at least one level of judgment process to determine whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation. As shown in Figure 6, the judgment process of S503 may include the following steps:

[0180] S601: After receiving the upgrade request and status information, the OTA control unit can first determine whether the charging device charging the vehicle supports the automatic recovery charging function. If so, it proceeds to S602; if not, it proceeds to S607.

[0181] S602: The OTA control unit determines at the second level whether the vehicle is in a travel priority scenario, for example, whether the charging attribute of the charging device charging the vehicle is DC fast charging. If so, the process proceeds to S607; otherwise, the process proceeds to S603.

[0182] S603: The OTA control unit determines at the third level whether the charging equipment used to charge the vehicle is a public resource, such as a pay-per-use charging equipment. If yes, the process proceeds to S607; otherwise, the process proceeds to S604.

[0183] S604: The vehicle's OTA control unit instructs the charging control unit to interrupt the charging operation.

[0184] S605: The vehicle's OTA control unit performs an upgrade operation on the vehicle.

[0185] S606: After the upgrade operation of the vehicle is completed, the OTA control unit of the vehicle reminds the charging control unit to resume the charging operation of the vehicle.

[0186] S607: The OTA control unit of the vehicle feeds back the upgrade result to the OTA server or user equipment that initiated the upgrade request, for example, not allowing the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0187] The identification process at each level in S601-S603 is the same as that in the example shown in S503. The similarities can be referred to in the other examples and will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the step-by-step judgment process in FIG6 is merely an example and not a limitation. In other embodiments, the execution order of the judgment process at each level can be adjusted, and this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0188] Method example 2: As the decision-maker, the terminal device can obtain status information and second indication information when receiving an upgrade request, and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the second indication information.

[0189] As shown in FIG7 , in method example 2, the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0190] S701: The vehicle's OTA control unit obtains an upgrade request, which indicates the terminal device's software upgrade requirements and is associated with the vehicle's upgrade operation. The specific implementation process is the same as S501. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S501 and will not be repeated here.

[0191] S702: The vehicle's OTA control unit interacts with the vehicle's charging control unit to obtain status information, which is used to characterize the vehicle's usage scenario. The specific implementation process is the same as S502. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S502, which will not be repeated here. Among them, S702 may include S7021-S7024, and the specific implementation process is the same as S5021-S5024. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S5021-S5024, which will not be repeated here.

[0192] S703: The vehicle's OTA control unit determines whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation based on the status information. The specific implementation process is the same as S503. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S503 and will not be repeated here.

[0193] In an optional implementation, S704 (optional step): the OTA control unit may send control information (or decision result) to the HMI, where the control information is associated with the status information. The HMI may output indication information (e.g., first indication information) based on the control information, where the first indication information may be used to indicate whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation or not.

[0194] In the event that the control information indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is not allowed, the first indication information output by the HMI indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is not performed. S705: The vehicle's OTA control unit receives second indication information from the HMI, and the second indication information indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is performed. The second indication information may be obtained by the user inputting into the HMI, and the HMI may belong to the user's user device, which may include the vehicle's input device and may also include the user's smart terminal.

[0195] S706: The vehicle's OTA control unit instructs the charging control unit to interrupt the charging operation.

[0196] S707: The vehicle's OTA control unit performs the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0197] S708: After the vehicle upgrade operation is completed, the vehicle's OTA control unit reminds the charging control unit to resume charging operations on the vehicle.

[0198] S709: The vehicle's OTA control unit feeds back an upgrade result, such as a successful upgrade, to the OTA server or user equipment that initiated the upgrade request.

[0199] It should be noted that the above S704-S705 are merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In some embodiments, S705 may be executed directly without executing S704, and S705 has no correlation with the decision result of S703. In other embodiments, S705 may be advanced to before S702, so that the vehicle's OTA control unit can directly determine not to perform the vehicle upgrade operation based on the received second indication information, without having to execute the judgment process of S702-S703.

[0200] Therefore, through the steps shown in the above method example 2, the terminal device acts as the decision-maker. When an upgrade request is obtained, even if the vehicle's OTA control unit determines to perform an upgrade operation on the vehicle based on the status information, the user can still input the second indication information through the HMI to indicate not to perform the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0201] It should be noted that in the above method example 2, the source of the second indication information is only an example and not a limitation. In some embodiments, the second indication information may come from other devices, such as a management device of the charging device. For example, the second indication information may indicate that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the vehicle belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold. The second threshold can be any value preset as needed, and there is no limitation on this value. When the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the vehicle belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold, if the vehicle in the charging state prioritizes the execution of the OTA upgrade operation, the charging operation of the vehicle will be interrupted but the resource occupation of the charging device will not be abandoned. Since the use demand of other vehicles for the charging device is not urgent, even if the charging operation of the vehicle is interrupted and the upgrade operation is performed first, the charging of other vehicles will not be affected. When the vehicle's OTA control unit receives the second indication information from the management device of the charging device, it can allow the vehicle's upgrade operation to be executed. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the management device of the charging device may also send information to the user device indicating that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device charging the vehicle belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold value, and the user device determines whether to send the second indication information to the OTA control unit based on the received information, which will not be repeated here.

[0202] Method example 3: As the decision-maker, the terminal device can obtain status information and third indication information when receiving an upgrade request, and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device based on the status information and the third indication information.

[0203] As shown in FIG8 , in method example 3, the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0204] S801: The vehicle's OTA control unit obtains an upgrade request, which indicates the terminal device's software upgrade requirements and is associated with the vehicle's upgrade operation. The specific implementation process is the same as S501. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S501 and will not be repeated here.

[0205] S802: The vehicle's OTA control unit interacts with the vehicle's charging control unit to obtain status information, which is used to characterize the vehicle's usage scenario. The specific implementation process is the same as S502. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S502, which will not be repeated here. Among them, S802 may include S8021-S8024, and the specific implementation process is the same as S5021-S5024. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S5021-S5024, which will not be repeated here.

[0206] S803: The vehicle's OTA control unit determines whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation based on the status information. The specific implementation process is the same as S503. For detailed implementation details, please refer to the relevant description of S503 and will not be repeated here.

[0207] In an optional implementation, S804 (optional step): the OTA control unit may send control information (or decision result) to the HMI, where the control information is associated with the status information. The HMI may output indication information (e.g., first indication information) based on the control information, where the first indication information may be used to indicate whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation or not.

[0208] In the event that the control information indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is permitted, the first indication information output by the HMI indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is to be executed. S805: The vehicle's OTA control unit receives third indication information from the HMI, where the third indication information indicates that the vehicle upgrade operation is not to be executed. The third indication information may be input by the user into the HMI, where the HMI may belong to a user device, which may include an input device of the vehicle and may also include a user's smart terminal.

[0209] S806: The OTA control unit of the vehicle feeds back the upgrade result to the OTA server or user equipment that initiated the upgrade request, for example, not allowing the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0210] Therefore, through the steps shown in the above method example 3, the terminal device acts as the decision-maker. When an upgrade request is obtained, even if the vehicle's OTA control unit determines not to perform the upgrade operation on the vehicle based on the status information, the user can still input the third indication information through the HMI to instruct the execution of the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0211] It should be noted that, in the above method example 3, it is only an example of the source of the third indication information and not a limitation. In some embodiments, the third indication information may come from other devices, such as a management device of the charging device. For example, the third indication information may indicate that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the vehicle belongs is higher than a first threshold value. The first threshold value may be any value preset as needed, and there is no limitation on this value. When the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the vehicle belongs is higher than the first threshold value, if the vehicle in the charging state preferentially performs the OTA upgrade operation, the charging operation of the vehicle will be interrupted but the resource occupation of the charging device will not be given up, resulting in other vehicles being unable to use the charging device, which is an unreasonable occupation of public charging resources. If the OTA control unit of the vehicle can receive the third indication information from the management device of the charging device, it can refuse to perform the vehicle upgrade operation to reduce the unreasonable occupation of public charging resources.

[0212] It should be noted that in the above-mentioned method examples 1 to 3, the method steps executed by the vehicle's OTA control unit can be replaced by being executed by the user's smart terminal, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the decision-making entity.

[0213] Method Example 4: As a decision-maker, the OTA server can obtain status information and determine whether to allow the terminal device to perform an upgrade operation based on the status information. When it is determined that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed, the OTA server sends first indication information to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to perform the upgrade operation.

[0214] As shown in FIG9 , in method example 4, the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0215] S901: The OTA server obtains (eg, receives) status information, where the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a vehicle in a charging state.

[0216] Among them, when implementing S901, the OTA server can, for example, obtain the status information from the vehicle or other devices associated with the vehicle (such as a charging device). Among them, the OTA server may send a request to the vehicle or the charging device to obtain the status information. For example, when the OTA server determines that the vehicle needs to perform an upgrade operation, it requests the vehicle or the charging device to obtain the status information. It is also possible that the vehicle or the charging device actively reports the status information to the OTA server. For example, at the start moment when the charging device performs a charging operation on the vehicle, the vehicle or the charging device may report the status information to the OTA server. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method of obtaining the status information.

[0217] For example, the status information used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state may include the status information indicating whether the charging device charging the terminal device supports the automatic resumption charging function. Or, for example, the status information used to indicate the usage scenario of the terminal device in the charging state may include the status information used to indicate the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device and / or the priority of the upgrade operation. For details, please refer to the introduction of the above-mentioned method example 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0218] S902: The OTA server determines whether to allow the vehicle upgrade operation based on the status information.

[0219] Among them, when the status information indicates any of the following information, the upgrade operation of the vehicle is allowed to be executed: the status information indicates that the charging device charging the vehicle supports the automatic recovery charging function; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the vehicle is lower than the priority of the upgrade operation; the status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the vehicle is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, and the fifth indication information is obtained, and the fifth indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

[0220] S903 (optional step): When it is determined that the upgrade operation of the vehicle is allowed, the OTA server instructs the charging device to interrupt the charging operation.

[0221] S904: The OTA server sends a fourth indication message to the vehicle, where the fourth indication message instructs the vehicle to perform an upgrade operation.

[0222] S905: The vehicle performs a vehicle upgrade operation.

[0223] S906: The vehicle feeds back the upgrade result, such as upgrade success, to the OTA server that initiated the upgrade request.

[0224] S907 (optional step): After the vehicle upgrade operation is completed, the OTA server reminds the charging device to resume charging the vehicle.

[0225] It should be noted that S903 and S907 are optional steps. In another embodiment, the OTA server can send information indicating whether to interrupt the charging operation or resume the charging operation to the vehicle, and the vehicle will interact with the charging device to determine whether to interrupt the charging operation or resume the charging operation. This will not be repeated here.

[0226] It is understood that the above method embodiment is only an example of the steps of the upgrade method implemented by the OTA server as the decision-maker and is not limited. In other embodiments, some steps of the above method example 2 or method example 3 can also be applied to method example 4.

[0227] For example, in Method Example 4, before or during S902, the user's HMI or the charging device's management device may also send a second or third instruction to the OTA. When S902 is implemented, the OTA server may determine, based on the second or third instruction, whether to allow the vehicle upgrade. If so, the OTA server may execute steps S903-S907 in Figure 9. If not, the OTA server does not need to execute steps S903-S907 in Figure 9.

[0228] For another example, in method example 4, after S904, the user's HMI or the management device of the charging device may send a second indication message or a third indication message to the vehicle. When implementing S905, the vehicle may determine whether to allow the vehicle upgrade operation in combination with the second indication message or the third indication message. If allowed, the vehicle may execute steps S905-S906 in Figure 9. If not allowed, the vehicle does not need to execute the step S905 in Figure 9, but may directly send the upgrade result to the OTA server in S906, for example, not allowing the vehicle upgrade operation. Similarities can be found in the relevant descriptions above in conjunction with Figures 5-8, which will not be repeated here.

[0229] So far, we have taken the vehicle as an example of a terminal device, and combined with the method flow charts of Figures 5-9 to introduce the different implementation processes of the upgrade method in the embodiment of the present application under different circumstances. This method can make decisions based on status information in different usage scenarios of intelligent connected vehicles, flexibly execute the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation, reduce conflicts between OTA upgrade operations and other operations, and ensure the user experience of vehicle users. The above method can take into account the execution timing of different operations on the vehicle side, and ensure the implementation of the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation without causing conflicts with other operations on the vehicle side, thereby ensuring the vehicle user experience and driving safety. This upgrade method can also be applied to other terminal devices besides vehicles, and will not be repeated here.

[0230] It should be noted that in the above-mentioned method examples 1 to 4, when the OTA control unit performs the terminal device upgrade operation, it can specifically: receive the upgrade package of the terminal device from the OTA server; and perform the terminal device upgrade operation according to the upgrade package. The upgrade package can be carried in the upgrade request from the OTA server or in the relevant instruction information from the OTA server. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this and will not be further described here.

[0231] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device for executing the method executed by the OTA server, terminal equipment (such as a vehicle or an OTA control unit of a vehicle), smart terminal, HMI, etc. in the above method embodiment. The relevant features can be found in the above method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0232] As shown in Figure 10, the communication device 1000 may include: an acquisition unit 1001 for acquiring status information indicating a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; and a determination unit 1002 for determining whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device based on the status information. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the method steps implemented by the terminal device in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0233] As shown in Figure 11, the communication device 1100 may include: a communication unit 1101, configured to receive status information indicating a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; and, based on the status information, when determining that an upgrade operation for the terminal device is permitted, sending first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information indicating the execution of the upgrade operation for the terminal device. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the method steps implemented by the OTA server in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0234] As shown in Figure 12, the communication device 1200 may include: a communication unit 1201 for receiving control information, the control information being associated with status information, the status information being used to indicate the usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; and an output unit 1202 for outputting first indication information based on the control information, the first indication information indicating whether to execute an upgrade operation for the terminal device or not to execute the upgrade operation for the terminal device. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the method steps implemented by the HMI in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0235] It should be understood that the division of the various units in the above device is only a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into a physical entity, or they can be physically separated. In addition, the units in the device can be implemented in the form of a processor calling software; for example, the device includes a processor, the processor is connected to a memory, and the memory stores instructions. The processor calls the instructions stored in the memory to implement any of the above methods or realize the functions of the various units of the device, where the processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessor, and the memory is a memory within the device or a memory outside the device. Alternatively, the units in the device can be implemented in the form of hardware circuits, and the functions of some or all of the units can be realized by designing the hardware circuits. The hardware circuit can be understood as one or more processors. For example, in one implementation, the hardware circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which realizes the functions of some or all of the above units by designing the logical relationship of the components in the circuit. For another example, in another implementation, the hardware circuit can be implemented by a programmable logic device (PLD). Taking a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as an example, it can include a large number of logic gate circuits, and the connection relationship between the logic gate circuits is configured by configuring the configuration file, thereby realizing the functions of some or all of the above units. All units of the above devices can be implemented in the form of software called by the processor, or in the form of hardware circuits, or in part by the form of software called by the processor, and the rest by hardware circuits.

[0236] In an embodiment of the present application, a processor is a circuit with a signal processing capability. In one implementation, the processor may be a circuit with instruction reading and execution capability, such as a CPU, a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) (which can be understood as a microprocessor), or a digital signal processor (DSP); in another implementation, the processor may implement certain functions through the logical relationship of a hardware circuit, and the logical relationship of the hardware circuit is fixed or reconfigurable, such as a hardware circuit implemented by an ASIC or PLD, such as an FPGA. In a reconfigurable hardware circuit, the process of the processor loading a configuration document and implementing the hardware circuit configuration can be understood as the process of the processor loading instructions to implement the functions of some or all of the above units. In addition, it can also be a hardware circuit designed for artificial intelligence, which can be understood as an ASIC, such as a neural network processing unit (NPU), a tensor processing unit (TPU), a deep learning processing unit (DPU), etc.

[0237] It can be seen that each unit in the above device can be one or more processors (or processing circuits) configured to implement the above method, such as: CPU, GPU, NPU, TPU, DPU, microprocessor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or a combination of at least two of these processor forms.

[0238] In addition, the various units in the above devices can be fully or partially integrated together, or can be implemented independently. In one implementation, these units are integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC). The SOC may include at least one processor for implementing any of the above methods or implementing the functions of the various units of the device. The type of the at least one processor can be different, for example, including a CPU and FPGA, a CPU and an artificial intelligence processor, a CPU and a GPU, etc.

[0239] In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art may appreciate that the communication devices in the above embodiments may all adopt the form shown in FIG. 13 .

[0240] As shown in FIG13 , the apparatus 1300 includes at least one processor 1310 and a communication interface 1330. In an optional design, a memory 1320 may also be included.

[0241] The specific connection medium between the processor 1310 and the memory 1320 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0242] In the apparatus as shown in FIG. 13 , the processor 1310 may transmit data through the communication interface 1330 when communicating with other devices.

[0243] When the communication device adopts the form shown in FIG13 , the processor 1310 in FIG13 can call the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1320 so that the device 1300 can execute any of the above method embodiments.

[0244] An embodiment of the present application also relates to a chip system, which includes a processor for calling a computer program or computer instructions stored in a memory so that the processor executes the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0245] In a possible implementation, the processor may be coupled to the memory through an interface.

[0246] In a possible implementation, the chip system may also directly include a memory, in which a computer program or computer instructions are stored.

[0247] For example, the memory may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache memory. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0248] An embodiment of the present application further relates to a processor, which is used to call a computer program or computer instruction stored in a memory so that the processor executes the method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0249] For example, in the embodiments of the present application, the processor is an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. For example, the processor can be an FPGA, a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, a system on chip (SoC), a CPU, a network processor (NP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a PLD or other integrated chip, and can implement or execute the various methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

[0250] It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products.

[0251] In one possible implementation, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores program code. When the program code runs on the computer, the computer executes the above method embodiment.

[0252] In a possible implementation, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the above method embodiment.

[0253] Therefore, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0254] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0255] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0256] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these changes and variations. In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or logically conflicting, the terms and / or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

Claims

1. An upgrade method, characterized in that: include: Acquire status information, where the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of the terminal device in a charging state; Determine whether to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the status information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: An upgrade request is obtained, where the upgrade request is used to indicate a software upgrade requirement of the terminal device, and the upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The obtaining of the upgrade request includes: Receiving the upgrade request from an over-the-air (OTA) server; or The upgrade request is obtained according to first indication information input by the user in the user equipment UE, and the UE includes the terminal device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state, including whether the charging device charging the terminal device supports an automatic charging resumption function. The determining, based on the status information, whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device includes: When the status information indicates that the charging device does not support the automatic resumption charging function, not performing the upgrade operation; or When the status information indicates that the charging device supports the automatic resumption charging function, the upgrade operation is performed.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of the terminal device in a charging state, including the status information being used to indicate a priority of a charging operation of the terminal device and / or a priority of an upgrade operation, and the determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the status information further includes: When the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrading operation, the upgrading operation of the terminal device is not performed.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The status information includes one or more of the following: Charging properties of the charging device used to charge the terminal device; Whether the charging device used to charge the terminal device is a public resource.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that When the charging attribute of the charging device for charging the terminal device is DC fast charging, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation; and / or, When the charging device for charging the terminal device is a public resource, the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrading operation.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: Second indication information is received, where the second indication information indicates not to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The second indication information instructing not to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device includes: The second indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is higher than a first threshold.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The second indication information is obtained by user input in a human-machine interface HMI, where the HMI belongs to a user equipment UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of the terminal device in a charging state, including the status information being used to indicate a priority of a charging operation of the terminal device and / or a priority of an upgrade operation, and the determining whether to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device according to the status information further includes: When the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation and the third indication information is obtained, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed, and the third indication information indicates to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The third instruction information instructs executing an upgrade operation of the terminal device, including: The third indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than a second threshold.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that The third indication information is obtained by user input in the HMI, and the HMI belongs to the UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that The acquisition status information includes any of the following: Determining the state information according to an internal preset relationship; Acquiring the status information by querying according to an identifier of a charging device that charges the terminal device; The status information is received from the charging device.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that The performing of the upgrade operation of the terminal device includes: Receiving an upgrade package for the terminal device; According to the upgrade package, an upgrade operation of the terminal device is performed.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that The terminal device includes a vehicle.

17. An upgrade method, characterized in that: include: Receive status information, where the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; When it is determined, based on the status information, that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, fourth indication information is sent to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information instructs the terminal device to perform the upgrade operation.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that When the status information indicates any of the following information, the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed: The status information indicates that the charging device that charges the terminal device supports an automatic resumption charging function; The status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is lower than the priority of the upgrading operation; The status information indicates that the priority of the charging operation of the terminal device is higher than the priority of the upgrade operation, and fifth indication information is obtained, and the fifth indication information indicates to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The fifth instruction information instructing to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device includes: The fifth indication information indicates that the usage rate of the charging device set to which the charging device that charges the terminal device belongs is equal to or lower than the second threshold.

20. The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that The fifth indication information is obtained by the user's input in the HMI, the HMI belongs to the UE of the user, and the UE includes the terminal device.

21. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, characterized in that The fourth indication information includes the upgrade package of the terminal device.

22. An upgrading method, characterized in that: Applied to a human-machine interface (HMI), the method includes: receiving control information associated with status information, the status information being used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; First indication information is output according to the control information, where the first indication information indicates to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device, or indicates not to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive second indication information or third indication information input by the user in response to the first indication information, wherein, when the first indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the second indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device; or, when the first indication information indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, the third indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive fourth indication information input by the user, where the fourth indication information is used to obtain an upgrade request, where the upgrade request is used to indicate a software upgrade requirement of the terminal device, and where the upgrade request is associated with the upgrade operation.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: include: an acquiring unit, configured to acquire status information, wherein the status information is used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; A determining unit is configured to determine whether to perform an upgrade operation on the terminal device according to the status information.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: a communication unit, configured to receive status information indicating a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; When it is determined according to the status information that the upgrade operation of the terminal device is allowed to be performed, first indication information is sent to the terminal device, where the first indication information instructs to perform the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

27. A human-machine interface HMI, characterized in that: include: a communication unit, configured to receive control information associated with status information, the status information being used to indicate a usage scenario of a terminal device in a charging state; An output unit is used to output first indication information according to the control information, where the first indication information indicates to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device or indicates not to perform an upgrade operation of the terminal device.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises: a communication interface for communicating with other devices; A processor, coupled to the communication interface, causes the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-16, or the method according to any one of claims 17-21, or the method according to any one of claims 22-24.

29. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or the method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 24.

30. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or the method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 24.

31. A chip, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor coupled to a memory and configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the memory, wherein when the computer program or instruction is executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 17 to 21 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 24 is implemented.

32. A vehicle, characterized in that: The method comprises means for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

33. The vehicle according to claim 32, characterized in that An HMI is included, which is used to output first indication information, where the first indication information indicates to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device, or indicates not to execute the upgrade operation of the terminal device.

34. A communication system, characterized in that The invention comprises a terminal device for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, a server for implementing the method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, and a charging device for charging the terminal device.

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