Upgrading method, device and system

The OTA control unit monitors the vehicle battery status and decides on upgrading operations, which solves the problem of upgrade failure caused by battery failure, and improves the upgrade success rate and stability of vehicle functions.

CN119866486APending Publication Date: 2025-04-22YINWANG INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202280099960.0
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2022-12-15
Publication Date
2025-04-22

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

During the upgrade of on-board components, insufficient battery power or failure leads to the upgrade failure, affecting user traffic and the availability of vehicle functions.

Method used

The OTA control unit monitors the vehicle's power battery or battery status, decides whether to perform an upgrade operation, and ensures that the upgrade will only be performed if the battery does not fail.

Benefits of technology

It improves the success rate of vehicle-mounted components upgrades, ensures user traffic saving and vehicle functions stability.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The invention discloses an upgrading method, device and system, and relates to the technical field of Internet of Vehicles. The method comprises the steps that the software upgrading requirement of at least one electronic control unit (ECU) of a vehicle is obtained, and the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery does not break down, the upgrading operation of the vehicle is executed according to the software upgrading requirement; and when it is determined that the power battery breaks down or the storage battery breaks down, execution of the upgrading operation of the vehicle is suspended. The method can be used for improving the success rate of vehicle-mounted part upgrading.
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Description

Upgrading method, device and system

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of vehicle networking technology, and in particular to an upgrade method, device and system.

[0002] With the development of Internet of Vehicles technology, over the air (OTA) technology is widely used in the upgrade of vehicle-mounted components. Vehicle-mounted components include not only vehicle-mounted communication terminals, but also vehicle-mounted controllers (e.g., passive entry passive start controller (PEPS), battery management system (BMS), motor control unit (MCU) and power distribution unit (PDU)). Therefore, the upgrade complexity of vehicle-mounted components is high.

[0003] During the upgrade process of the vehicle components, if the battery powering the vehicle components (such as a storage battery or a power battery, etc.) is low on power or loses power due to a malfunction, the upgrade will fail, thereby wasting user traffic and even causing some functions of the vehicle to be unavailable.

[0004] Therefore, how to ensure the success rate of vehicle component upgrades remains an important issue that needs to be addressed urgently.

[0005] Summary of the invention

[0006] The present application provides an upgrade method, device and system for improving the success rate of upgrading vehicle components.

[0007] In the first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade method, which can be executed by an OTA control unit. 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 a terminal device, which can include a vehicle, a management device associated with an OTA server, or a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle. For example, the communication device can be an application program that can be installed or run in a chip or component of a vehicle, or on a smart device such as a mobile phone or tablet computer in the vehicle. Alternatively, the communication device can be a software module that can be deployed in each electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. Alternatively, the communication device can be a newly added hardware module in the vehicle, which can be configured with relevant judgment logic or algorithm, and can be used as an ECU in the vehicle 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.

[0008] Taking the terminal device as a vehicle as an example, the communication device corresponding to the OTA control unit can be 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. T-BOX can be connected to the vehicle bus (i.e., the internal communication network of the terminal device, such as the CAN bus, etc.) internally; externally, it can realize information interaction between vehicle terminals, handheld devices, roadside units (RSUs), and public networks using communications such as vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to road (V2R), vehicle to human (V2H), and vehicle to internet (V2I) through a cloud platform.

[0009] The upgrade method may include: obtaining software upgrade requirements of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty, executing an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirements; or, when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is faulty, suspending execution of the upgrade operation of the vehicle.

[0010] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can decide whether to execute the vehicle upgrade operation based on whether the power battery or storage battery associated with at least one ECU of the vehicle is faulty, so as to reduce the impact of other vehicle operations or failures of on-board components on the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation, ensure the implementation of the vehicle's OTA upgrade operation, and help to ensure the driving experience and driving safety of vehicle users.

[0011] 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 vehicle sending an OTA upgrade request to the server, the vehicle receiving an upgrade request input or selected by the user, the vehicle downloading the OTA upgrade package from the server, the vehicle confirming the OTA content, the vehicle installing the OTA upgrade package, the vehicle activating the OTA upgrade package, rollback operations, etc., which will not be repeated here.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation method, obtaining the software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle includes: receiving an upgrade task from an over-the-air download OTA server, wherein the upgrade task is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU; or, obtaining the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU based on first indication information input by a user in a user equipment UE, wherein the UE includes the vehicle.

[0013] Through the above method, the OTA control unit may receive a software upgrade request from an OTA server or UE, thereby triggering the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle. It should be understood that this is only an example of the information of the process of triggering the upgrade operation of the vehicle and is not any limitation. In some embodiments, the OTA control unit may be a process of initiating the upgrade operation of the vehicle upon receiving the indication information, and the indication information may include an OTA upgrade package, which will not be repeated here.

[0014] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the upgrade task or the first indication information is also used to indicate a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal associated with the at least one ECU, wherein the high voltage signal is associated with the power battery and the low voltage signal is associated with the storage battery.

[0015] Through the above method, for example, when the OTA server and the user initiate the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle, they can indicate the association between at least one ECU of the vehicle and the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle through a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal, so that the OTA control unit can monitor the status of the power battery or the storage battery, thereby flexibly controlling the implementation of the vehicle's upgrade operation.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving second indication information from an OTA server or receiving third indication information from a UE, the second indication information and the third indication information are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is monitored to be faulty, and the UE includes the vehicle or the smart terminal of a user using the vehicle.

[0017] Through the above method, exemplarily, the OTA control unit can receive relevant indication information from the OTA server or UE, thereby starting status monitoring of the vehicle's power battery or storage battery, so as to promptly detect whether the power battery or storage battery is faulty, thereby suspending the vehicle's upgrade operation in the event of a battery failure, or promptly resuming the vehicle's upgrade operation after the battery failure is restored, so as to improve the success rate of the vehicle's OTA upgrade.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: outputting fault information of the power battery or the storage battery through a human-machine interaction interface HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server.

[0019] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can output the fault information of the power battery or the storage battery through the HMI in real time, so that users who can use the HMI can monitor the battery status in time.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: outputting a reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle through an HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server, and the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle includes a power battery failure or a storage battery failure.

[0021] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can output the reason for the failure of the vehicle's upgrade operation in real time through the HMI, so that the user can discover and solve the problem in time, thereby improving the success rate of the vehicle's OTA upgrade.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: recording upgrade progress information of at least one ECU; after the power battery fault is recovered or the storage battery fault is recovered, continuing the upgrade operation of the vehicle based on the software upgrade requirements and the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle was suspended.

[0023] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can record the upgrade progress information in a timely manner, so that after the battery fault is recovered, it can continue the upgrade operation of the vehicle from the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle was suspended, rather than starting the upgrade from scratch, which helps to save upgrade time and save user traffic.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the upgrade progress information may include information of different stages or different states involved in the OTA upgrade, and does not limit the stage name or state name involved in the OTA upgrade.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: outputting the upgrade progress information through an HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an OTA server.

[0026] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can output the vehicle's upgrade progress information in real time through the HMI so that the user can check the upgrade progress in time.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: obtaining software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU; performing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement includes: performing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement and the software upgrade timing information.

[0028] Through the above method, the OTA control unit can also obtain the software upgrade timing information of different ECUs, and implement the upgrade operations of different ECUs in an orderly manner according to the software upgrade timing information. For example, the software upgrade timing information may include the serial timing or parallel timing of different ECUs, the serial timing indicating that different ECUs need to be upgraded OTA in sequence based on the serial order, and the parallel timing indicating that there are at least two ECUs among the different ECUs that can be upgraded OTA concurrently.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement specifically includes: obtaining an upgrade package of the at least one ECU according to the software upgrade requirement; and executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the upgrade package.

[0030] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: determining whether the vehicle meets an upgrade condition based on status information of the vehicle, wherein the status information is used to describe a hardware status and / or software status of the vehicle.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the status information includes at least one of the following: the power information of the battery of the vehicle, the power information of the power battery of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, the gear information of the vehicle or the braking information of the vehicle; the upgrade condition includes at least one of the following: the power of the battery is greater than or equal to a first threshold; the power of the power battery is greater than or equal to a second threshold; the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a third threshold; the vehicle is in a parking gear; or, the vehicle is in a parking brake state.

[0032] In the second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade method, which can be applied to HMI, and the method may include: receiving control information, wherein the control information is associated with a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, and the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty, outputting upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU according to the control information; when the power battery or the storage battery is faulty, outputting a reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the control information.

[0033] 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 vehicle, 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 upgrade progress information of at least one ECU or the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle, which will not be repeated here.

[0034] In combination with the second aspect, in one possible implementation method, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, execution success state or execution failure state.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving second indication information from an OTA server or receiving third indication information from a UE, the second indication information and the third indication information being used to indicate whether monitoring the power battery or the storage battery is faulty; and outputting the second indication information or the third indication information.

[0036] It should be noted that this embodiment is only an example of the generation method of the second indication information or the third indication information and is not a limitation. In practical 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. In another possible implementation, the second indication information or the third indication information in this embodiment may be an example of control information. The embodiment of this application does not limit the specific content and reception timing of the control information.

[0037] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: outputting fault information of the power battery or the storage battery.

[0038] In the third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrading device, comprising: an acquisition unit, used to acquire the software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; an execution unit, used to execute the upgrading operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; or, when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is faulty, suspend the execution of the upgrading operation of the vehicle.

[0039] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit is specifically used to: receive an upgrade task from an over-the-air download OTA server, wherein the upgrade task is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU; or, based on first indication information input by a user in a user equipment UE, obtain the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU, wherein the UE includes the vehicle.

[0040] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the upgrade task or the first indication information is also used to indicate a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal associated with the at least one ECU, wherein the high voltage signal is associated with the power battery and the low voltage signal is associated with the storage battery.

[0041] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the device also includes a transceiver unit for receiving a second indication message from an OTA server or receiving a third indication message from a UE, wherein the second indication information and the third indication information are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is monitored to be faulty, and the UE includes an intelligent terminal of the vehicle or a user using the vehicle.

[0042] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the execution unit is also used to: output fault information of the power battery or the storage battery through a human-computer interaction interface HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server.

[0043] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the execution unit is also used to: output the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle through the HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server, and the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle includes a power battery failure or a battery failure.

[0044] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the device also includes: a recording unit for recording the upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU; the execution unit is also used to continue the upgrade operation of the vehicle after the power battery fault is recovered or the storage battery fault is recovered, based on the software upgrade requirements and the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle is suspended.

[0045] In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the upgrade progress information may include information of different stages or different states involved in the OTA upgrade, and does not limit the stage name or state name involved in the OTA upgrade.

[0046] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the execution unit is also used to: output the upgrade progress information through the HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with the OTA server.

[0047] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit is also used to: obtain software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU; the execution unit is specifically used to: execute the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirements and the software upgrade timing information.

[0048] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the execution unit is specifically used to: obtain an upgrade package of the at least one ECU according to the software upgrade requirement; and execute an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the upgrade package.

[0049] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the device also includes: a determination unit, used to determine whether the vehicle meets the upgrade conditions based on the status information of the vehicle, and the status information is used to describe the hardware status and / or software status of the vehicle.

[0050] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the status information includes at least one of the following: the power information of the battery of the vehicle, the power information of the power battery of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, the gear information of the vehicle or the braking information of the vehicle; the upgrade condition includes at least one of the following: the power of the battery is greater than or equal to a first threshold; the power of the power battery is greater than or equal to a second threshold; the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a third threshold; the vehicle is in a parking gear; or, the vehicle is in a parking brake state.

[0051] In the fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an upgrade device, comprising: a transceiver unit, used to receive control information, wherein the control information is associated with a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, and the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; an output unit, used to output upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU according to the control information when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; and when the power battery or the storage battery fails, outputting a reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the control information.

[0052] In combination with the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation method, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, execution success state or execution failure state.

[0053] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit is also used to: receive second indication information from the OTA server or receive third indication information from the UE, the second indication information and the third indication information are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is faulty; the output unit is also used to output the second indication information or the third indication information.

[0054] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the output unit is further used to: output fault information of the power battery or the storage battery.

[0055] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising: a communication interface for communicating with other devices; and 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.

[0056] In a sixth 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.

[0057] In the seventh 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.

[0058] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory and is used to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented, or the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect is implemented.

[0059] In a ninth 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.

[0060] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the vehicle includes a unit for implementing the method as described in the second aspect and any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0061] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising an upgrade device for implementing the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect, or an upgrade device for implementing the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

[0062] In the eleventh 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. By way of 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, intelligent factories, etc.), and intelligent terminals (mobile phones, computers, tablet computers, PDAs, desktops, headphones, speakers, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, etc.).

[0063] Based on the implementations provided in the above aspects, the embodiments of the present application can be further combined to provide more implementations.

[0064] The technical effects that can be achieved by any possible implementation method in any of the second to eleventh 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 here.

[0065] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0066] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing a flow chart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG4 is a schematic diagram showing a flow chart of an upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing a software upgrade sequence according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG6 shows a schematic diagram of an upgrading device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG7 shows a schematic diagram of an upgrading device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG8 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0073] To facilitate understanding, some terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are first introduced below.

[0074] 1. User:

[0075] The "user" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application is a person who uses a terminal device. The user may include the owner of the terminal device (or referred to as the owner, the 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 owner of the terminal device. Taking the terminal device as a vehicle as an example, the user may be the owner of the vehicle, or other persons authorized by the owner to use the vehicle.

[0076] 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.

[0077] In an embodiment of the present application, for ease of distinction, taking the terminal device as a vehicle as an example, the users may include a first user and a second user, where the first user is the owner of the vehicle and the second user is an authorized user other than the owner of the vehicle, and they will not be distinguished or described one by one in the following text.

[0078] 2. User equipment (UE):

[0079] Generally refers to electronic devices used by users.

[0080] Taking the vehicle as an example, the user device may include the vehicle-mounted terminal of the vehicle used by the user or the user's smart terminal, such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, etc. For an unmanned vehicle, the user device may be the vehicle-mounted terminal of the vehicle; it may also be a smart terminal placed on the vehicle, such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, etc.; it may also be other electronic devices associated with the vehicle, such as electronic devices controlled by vehicle management personnel, including but not limited to desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablet computers, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the product form of the user device.

[0081] 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 (such as a vehicle), a smart terminal of a first user (which may be referred to as the first terminal), or a smart terminal of a second user (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 combinations of devices: an OTA server and a vehicle; an OTA server, a vehicle, and a smart terminal of a first user; an OTA server, a vehicle, and a smart terminal of a second user; or, an OTA server, a vehicle, a smart terminal of a first user, and a smart terminal of a second user. The upgrade method implemented by each device combination will be described in detail below in conjunction with the method flow chart, which will not be repeated here.

[0082] 3. Storage batteries and power batteries:

[0083] The battery provides power for the engine when the car is started. When the car engine starts and works normally, the car generator will charge the electricity into the battery. When the engine is operating normally, the electricity generated by the generator is generally rectified, filtered and voltage-regulated to be integrated into 12V for use by the entire car. When the engine is not working, some equipment such as speakers and lights in the car are powered by the battery.

[0084] The power battery is equipped with new energy vehicles and is specifically used to provide power to the vehicle and all the vehicle's auxiliary electrical appliances.

[0085] 4. High voltage signal or low voltage signal:

[0086] In new energy vehicles, a high voltage signal can be used to indicate the first energy supply unit corresponding to the upgrade of the vehicle's components to be upgraded (such as the vehicle-mounted terminal, etc.), and the first energy supply unit is, for example, a power battery. A low voltage signal can be used to indicate the second energy supply unit corresponding to the upgrade of the vehicle's components to be upgraded (such as the battery management system, etc.), and the second energy supply unit is, for example, a storage battery. The power of the first energy supply unit is greater than that of the second energy supply unit, and / or the voltage peak that the first energy supply unit can provide is higher than the voltage peak that the second energy supply unit can provide.

[0087] 5. Upgrade operation:

[0088] In the embodiment of the present application, the upgrade operation refers to the operation associated with the OTA upgrade. The vehicle's upgrade operation may include but is not limited to: the vehicle sends an upgrade request to the OTA server; the vehicle receives an upgrade request input or selected by the user; the vehicle downloads the upgrade package from the OTA server; the vehicle confirms the OTA content; the vehicle installs the upgrade package; the vehicle activates the upgrade package, etc.

[0089] In an optional implementation, when the OTA server determines that the vehicle needs to be upgraded via OTA (for example, a newer version of the software exists), it can send relevant indication information to the vehicle, which is used to trigger the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle. The vehicle can receive the indication information from the OTA server and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the vehicle automatically or through interaction with the user.

[0090] For example, the indication information may indicate a software upgrade requirement for at least one electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. The vehicle may execute the vehicle upgrade operation according to the software upgrade requirement when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty and relevant components of the vehicle meet corresponding upgrade conditions, and suspend the vehicle upgrade operation when the power battery or the storage battery fails.

[0091] By way of 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 OTA process (including OTA upgrade package download, installation, activation and other processes), etc.

[0092] In one embodiment, the vehicle can automatically check the status of the vehicle components, such as whether the power battery is faulty, whether the storage battery is faulty, the power of the power battery, the power of the storage battery, the vehicle speed, the gear position, etc., to determine whether the vehicle's own conditions allow the vehicle upgrade operation to be performed. In another embodiment, the vehicle can 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 vehicle can output the indication information to the user through the output device, and receive the user's input information through the input device, and the input information can be used to control the execution of the vehicle's upgrade operation, for example, the user's input information can be used to generate an upgrade request, confirm the upgrade operation, refuse to perform the upgrade operation, or delay the upgrade operation, etc.

[0093] In another embodiment, the OTA server can be used to obtain the status information of the vehicle's on-board components, which is used to describe (or characterize) the status of the on-board components, including but not limited to whether the vehicle's power battery is faulty, whether the storage battery is faulty, the power of the power battery, the power of the storage battery, the vehicle speed, gear position, etc. The OTA server can determine whether the vehicle side allows the relevant upgrade operation to be performed based on the status information. When determining that the vehicle upgrade operation is allowed, the OTA server can send relevant indication information to the terminal device. In some embodiments, for example, when the OTA server cannot communicate directly with the vehicle, the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal can be used as an intermediate device between the OTA server and the vehicle, and the OTA server can send the relevant indication information to the first user's smart terminal or the second user's smart terminal, and the first user can use the first user's smart terminal or the second user can use the second user's smart terminal to assist in performing the vehicle upgrade operation.

[0094] In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the decision-making subject of the vehicle upgrade operation is not limited. For example, the decision can be made by the OTA server based on the status information of the vehicle-mounted components, or by the vehicle itself based on the status information of the vehicle-mounted components; nor is it limited to whether the receiving end of the instruction information from the OTA server is the vehicle, the first user's smart terminal, or the second user's smart terminal. In practical 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 vehicle, 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.

[0095] 6. Status information:

[0096] In the embodiment of the present application, information describing (or characterizing) the state of a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted component is referred to as state information.

[0097] Taking the terminal device as a vehicle as an example, the status information can reflect whether the vehicle side allows the vehicle upgrade operation to be performed by characterizing the status of the vehicle as a whole or the vehicle-mounted components. For example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in a startup state by characterizing the status of the vehicle's engine. For another example, the status information can reflect whether the vehicle's battery is faulty by characterizing the status of the vehicle's battery (including a power battery or a storage battery). For another example, the status information can indicate whether the vehicle is in a 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 a sensing state by characterizing the status of the sensor system. The sensing state may include but is not limited to the following states: whether the vehicle's camera captures images of the vehicle's surrounding environment, whether the vehicle's wheel speed sensor captures the rotation speed of the tire, or whether the vehicle's water temperature sensor captures the temperature information of the vehicle's components, etc. The specific content of the status information is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0098] It is understandable that in the embodiments of the present application, the status information can be obtained from the vehicle or from other devices associated with the vehicle. For example, other devices associated with the vehicle may include charging equipment (or charging piles) for charging the vehicle, roadside equipment, etc. The charging equipment can provide status information to characterize whether the vehicle is charged, and the roadside equipment can 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 vehicle is not limited to the above examples, and any information provided by the other devices that can be used to characterize the status of the vehicle or vehicle-mounted components can be used as an example of status information.

[0099] 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 the embodiments of the present application and will not be described in detail herein.

[0100] It should be noted that the above description is only an example of the meaning of the status information using a vehicle as an example and is not a limitation. In other embodiments, any information that can be used for the status of the entire vehicle or its on-board components can be used as status information and will not be repeated here.

[0101] In an embodiment of the present application, one purpose of the status information is to decide whether the upgrade operation of the vehicle can be performed. An electronic device serving as a decision-maker, such as an OTA server, a vehicle, a smart terminal of the first user, or any device in the smart terminal of the second user, can obtain the status information and determine whether to perform the upgrade operation of the vehicle and how to perform the upgrade operation of the vehicle based on the status information. Among them, 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 vehicle (such as charging equipment for charging the vehicle, roadside equipment, etc.); receiving the status information from the other devices (such as charging equipment).

[0102] For example, when the OTA server acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from at least one of the vehicle, other devices associated with the vehicle (such as a charging device for charging the vehicle, 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 vehicle acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from the vehicle itself according to the internal preset relationship, other devices associated with the vehicle (such as a charging device for charging the vehicle, 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 smart terminal of the first user or the second user acts as a decision-maker, the status information can be obtained from the vehicle, other devices associated with the vehicle (such as a charging device for charging the terminal device, a management device for the charging device, etc.). Any of the above decision-makers can obtain the status information in accordance with the provisions of the preset decision-making method or any suitable method required by the business, and use the obtained status information to make a comprehensive decision. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the way in which any decision-maker obtains the status information, and will not be distinguished or repeated one by one in the following text.

[0103] The embodiments of the present application provide an upgrade method, device and system, which detects the status of vehicle-mounted components (such as the vehicle's power battery and / or storage battery) in real time or periodically, so as to decide whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation according to whether the vehicle-mounted component fails or whether the failure is restored, so as to minimize the probability of upgrade failure, help save user traffic, and help reduce the possibility of some functions of the vehicle being unavailable. 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. In addition, 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 new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0104] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

[0105] As shown in FIG1 , the application scenario may include an OTA server 110 and a vehicle 120. In an optional embodiment, the application scenario may also include other devices associated with the vehicle, such as a charging device 130, a smart terminal 140 of a first user (e.g., the owner of the vehicle 120), or at least one of a smart terminal 150 of a second user (e.g., the user of the vehicle 120). Any two of the OTA server 110, the vehicle 120, the charging device 130, the smart terminal 140 of the first user, or the smart terminal 150 of the second user can communicate with each other, and the communication method may be a wired communication method or a wireless communication method, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The dotted box in FIG1 only schematically indicates that the corresponding device is an optional device.

[0106] The OTA server 110 can trigger the OTA upgrade process on the vehicle 120 side.

[0107] For example, when the OTA server 110 knows that the software on the vehicle 120 needs to be upgraded, it can obtain the upgrade task of the vehicle 120 and selectively send the upgrade task to any device of the vehicle 120, the first user's smart terminal 140 or the second user's smart terminal 150, so that the upgrade operation of the vehicle 120 can be collaboratively executed according to the upgrade task through the OTA server 110 and at least one device of the vehicle 120, the first user's smart terminal 140 or the second user's smart terminal 150.

[0108] For example, the upgrade task may include upgrade operation information, which may include but is not limited to one or more of the following: OTA activity content reminder, OTA activity content confirmation, OTA start-up reminder, OTA upgrade package download reminder, monitoring OTA process (including OTA file package download, installation, activation and other processes), etc. After receiving the upgrade operation information, any device of the vehicle 120, the first user's smart terminal 140 and / or the second user's smart terminal 150 may output the upgrade operation information, and the corresponding user on the device side may perform subsequent related operations according to the upgrade operation information output by the device to complete the upgrade operation for the vehicle 120. In addition, during the process of implementing the OTA upgrade on the vehicle 120 side, the first user or the second user may also learn about the upgrade progress through the vehicle 120 or their respective smart terminals.

[0109] For example, when the first user is using the vehicle 120, the vehicle 120 can receive and output an upgrade task from the OTA server. The first user can perform subsequent related processing according to the upgrade task, such as confirming the content of the OTA activity, confirming the start of the OTA upgrade, confirming the download of the OTA upgrade package, etc., thereby confirming the relevant process of implementing the OTA upgrade in the vehicle 120, and at the same time, the first user can monitor the implementation progress of the OTA upgrade. For another example, the smart terminal 140 of the first user or the smart terminal 150 of the second user can receive and output an upgrade task from the OTA server 110 through text messages, emails, or applications, etc. The first user or the second user can perform subsequent related processing according to the upgrade task, such as confirming the content of the OTA activity, confirming the start of the OTA upgrade, confirming the download of the OTA upgrade package, etc., thereby remotely confirming the relevant process of starting the OTA upgrade of the vehicle 120, and at the same time, the first user or the second user can monitor the implementation progress of the OTA upgrade on their respective smart terminals.

[0110] It should be understood that this is only an example of the function of the OTA server 110 and not any limitation. In some embodiments, the OTA server 110 may also receive relevant instruction information from the vehicle 120, the charging device 130, the first user's smart terminal 140, and the second user's smart terminal 150 to trigger the OTA upgrade process on the vehicle 120. In other words, the OTA server 110 may actively or passively trigger the OTA upgrade process on the vehicle 120, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0111] The vehicle 120 may include, for example, but is not limited to, a network communication device 221, an OTA control unit 222, a human machine interface (HMI) 223, a cockpit domain controller 224, a vehicle sensor system 225 and other electronic control units (ECU), as well as an in-vehicle communication network (such as a CAN bus, etc.) for realizing internal vehicle communication.

[0112] Among them, the network communication device 221 can serve as a communication bridge between external devices such as the OTA server 110, the charging device 130, the first user's smart terminal 140 or the second user's smart terminal 150 and the internal ECU of the vehicle 120, and realize the ability to receive, send and forward instruction information or other information related to OTA upgrade. Inside the vehicle 120, the network communication device 221 can, for example, realize information transmission between each ECU of the vehicle 120 through an in-vehicle communication network such as a CAN bus. In the embodiment of the present application, the network communication device 221 can support wireless communication or wired communication, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0113] The OTA control unit 222 can be used as a decision-making unit for implementing OTA upgrade control in the vehicle 120, and can make a comprehensive decision based on one or more of the following information: for example, an upgrade task from the OTA server 110, input information obtained from the HMI 223, relevant status information obtained from the cockpit domain controller 224, relevant status information obtained from the vehicle sensor system 225, relevant status information obtained from other ECUs, input information from user equipment, etc., to obtain a decision result, such as executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle, or not executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle, or suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle, or resuming the upgrade operation of the vehicle, or not resuming the upgrade operation of the vehicle, etc. Further, the specific implementation of the upgrade operation is controlled based on the decision result.

[0114] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the OTA control unit 222 and the network communication device 221 can be different unit modules or the same unit 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 to the vehicle bus (i.e., the internal communication network of the terminal device, such as a CAN bus, etc.) internally; externally, the cloud platform can be used to realize information interaction between vehicle terminals, handheld devices, roadside units (RSUs), and public networks using V2V, V2R, V2H, V2S, etc. Alternatively, the OTA control unit 222 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 120, 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 222.

[0115] In an optional implementation, the OTA control unit 222 may be logically divided into different sub-units according to its own functions. For example, the OTA control unit 222 may include an OTA upgrade main control unit, a battery fault monitoring unit, and an ECU upgrade context management unit.

[0116] Among them, the OTA upgrade main control unit can be used to implement the process control of the whole vehicle OTA on the vehicle 120 side. The battery fault monitoring unit can be used to monitor the status of the vehicle's battery (including power battery and / or storage battery), and record the battery fault information when the corresponding battery fails. The fault information may include but is not limited to the cause of the fault, fault mark, etc. The OTA upgrade main control unit can communicate with the battery fault monitoring unit and determine whether there is a battery fault based on the fault information recorded at the battery fault monitoring unit. If there is a battery failure, the upgrade operation of the ECU associated with the faulty battery cannot be executed, and the ongoing OTA upgrade operation is suspended, or the upgrade operation that has not yet started is not executed. If there is no battery failure, the ongoing OTA upgrade operation can continue to be executed, or the upgrade operation to be executed can be started.

[0117] The ECU upgrade context management unit is used to record the upgrade progress information of each ECU when it is upgraded, including but not limited to the information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and the information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. The OTA upgrade main control unit can communicate with the ECU upgrade context management unit and decide how to perform subsequent upgrade operations based on the recorded upgrade progress information. For example, if the OTA upgrade main control unit receives an upgrade task and the ECU upgrade context management unit does not record any upgrade progress information, the OTA upgrade main control unit can restart the vehicle upgrade operation according to the upgrade task. For another example, if a battery failure occurs during the upgrade of a certain ECU, resulting in the interruption of the upgrade operation and thus suspending the execution of the upgrade operation of the vehicle, after the failure of the relevant battery is restored, the OTA upgrade main control unit can continue to execute the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle was suspended.

[0118] It should be noted that this is only an example description of the functions of the OTA control unit of the embodiment of the present application and is not a limitation. In actual applications, the units of the OTA control unit used to implement the above functions can be deployed in the same ECU, such as T-Box, or in different ECUs. For example, the OTA upgrade main control unit can be deployed in the T-Box, the battery fault monitoring unit can be deployed in the battery management system, and the ECU upgrade context management unit can be deployed in any ECU of the vehicle. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the product form or functional deployment method of the OTA control unit.

[0119] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the vehicle 120 may also include an ECU flash unit, which is used to flash the OTA upgrade package into a specific ECU when performing an OTA upgrade. In practical applications, the ECU flash unit may be an independent ECU in the vehicle 120, or the ECU flash unit may be deployed in the control unit of each ECU. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the product form or deployment method of the ECU flash unit.

[0120] The HMI 223 is an input device / output device in the vehicle 120. The HMI 223 can communicate with the OTA control unit 222 through the in-vehicle communication network and provide an OTA operation interface, which can be used to output indication information, output OTA upgrade progress information, receive user input information, etc. Among them, the HMI 223 can have its own communication identification and communication address, which can be used to receive indication information to be output, or provide the acquired input information to other modules. For example, the HMI 223 may include vehicle-mounted devices such as a vehicle-mounted display screen (such as a touch screen), and may also include external associated devices such as smart phones and tablet computers located in the vehicle 120, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0121] The vehicle sensing system 225 may include, for example, sensors such as cameras. The vehicle sensing system 225 may obtain relevant status information of the vehicle or vehicle components through perception, and provide the relevant status information to the OTA control unit 222 or other ECUs. In an optional implementation, the vehicle sensing system 225 may, for example, provide the obtained relevant status information to the cockpit domain controller 224, and the cockpit domain controller 224 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 225 may also provide the perception results to the cockpit domain controller 224, and the cockpit domain controller 224 may obtain relevant status information based on the perception results, and provide the relevant status information to the OTA control unit 222, so that the OTA control unit 222 can 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.

[0122] The charging device 130 can be used to charge the vehicle 120. In an optional implementation, the charging device 130 can also be replaced by a roadside device or other device, and the charging device 130 or the roadside device or other device can communicate with the vehicle 120 or the OTA server 110 and provide relevant status information to the vehicle 120 or the OTA server 110.

[0123] The smart terminal 140 of the first user and / or the smart terminal 150 of the second user can communicate with the OTA server 110 and the network communication device of the vehicle 120 through the mobile network. When the OTA server 110 determines that it can send indication information directly to the smart terminal 140 / 150 (for example, the indication information is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the terminal device), the OTA server 110 can send the indication information directly to the smart terminal 140 / 150. The smart terminal 140 / 150 can also receive indication information forwarded from the network communication device of the vehicle 120. For example, an OTA application can be installed and run on the smart terminal 140 / 150 side. The vehicle owner or the authorized user of the vehicle can control the operation of the vehicle 120 through the application running on their respective smart terminals, and can control the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle 120 through communication with the OTA server 110. In the process of implementing the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application, at least one of the above-mentioned HMI 223 and smart terminal 140 / 150 can be used as an output device to output the indication information from the OTA server 110. The output device can be a device that finally outputs the indication information, or it can be an 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 above-mentioned HMI 223 and smart terminal 140 / 150 can be used as an input device to receive user input information. The input information can be indication information from the user, used to indicate whether to perform the vehicle upgrade operation. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the input method and input timing of the user's input information.

[0124] Based on the architecture shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the present application proposes an upgrade method, which can be implemented by the OTA control unit in FIG. 2 . Referring to FIG. 3 , the upgrade method may include the following steps:

[0125] S310: The OTA control unit obtains a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle.

[0126] In the embodiment of the present application, the software upgrade requirement may be a software version update requirement caused by the existence of a new version of the software corresponding to any ECU of the vehicle. Software upgrade refers to the update of the control software corresponding to the ECU from a lower version to a higher version. The higher version can usually fix some functional defects or deficiencies of the lower version. After the software upgrade, better performance is generally obtained, which better meets the needs of users and prevents virus invasion. When implementing S310, as an example, the OTA control unit of the vehicle can obtain the software upgrade requirement from the OTA server or the user device, and the user device may include the input device of the vehicle or the user's smart terminal. Among them, on the user device side, the user can query the OTA server through the user device whether there is a software upgrade requirement. If so, the user device can forward the software upgrade requirement from the OTA server to the OTA control unit of the vehicle; if not, the user device can notify the OTA control unit of the vehicle. The initiation method of the software upgrade requirement is not limited here.

[0127] For example, the OTA server is a service provider that uniformly manages the software versions of different vehicles. The OTA server can prepare for OTA activities, such as preparing OTA upgrade packages, formulating OTA-related messages, etc., and determine the target vehicles that need to be upgraded by OTA. Among them, the vehicles that can be upgraded by OTA may include all vehicles with 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 S310, the OTA server may send an upgrade task to the target vehicle, and the content of the upgrade task may indicate the software upgrade requirements of different ECUs of the target vehicle. Accordingly, the OTA control unit of the target vehicle may receive the upgrade task from the OTA server. Alternatively, the OTA server may send an upgrade task to the user's smart terminal, and the user's smart terminal may forward the upgrade task to the target vehicle, and the content of the upgrade task may indicate the software upgrade requirements of different ECUs of the target vehicle. Alternatively, the user may send the first indication information input by the user in the user device to the OTA control unit of the vehicle through the smart terminal used by the user, so that the OTA control unit of the vehicle obtains the software upgrade requirements of at least one ECU according to the first indication information. The vehicle's input device may include, for example, an HMI or a microphone. The user may send first indication information input by the user to the vehicle's OTA control unit through the input device according to his or her own needs or according to relevant information output by the vehicle's output device, so that the vehicle's OTA control unit may obtain the software upgrade requirements of at least one ECU according to the first indication information.

[0128] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, whether it is an upgrade task from the OTA server or the first indication information 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 or sending timing of the software upgrade request.

[0129] In an embodiment of the present application, at least one ECU of a vehicle is associated with a power battery or storage battery of the vehicle, and the power battery or storage battery can be used to provide electrical energy to the corresponding ECU so that the ECU can operate and realize corresponding functions. When the OTA control unit learns the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU, it will generally perform the vehicle upgrade operation according to the software upgrade requirement. However, if the battery that provides power to the vehicle or the ECU fails, the software upgrade of the ECU will fail, thereby affecting the success rate of the software upgrade of the vehicle. Therefore, before executing the vehicle upgrade operation, the OTA control unit needs to determine whether the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU to be software upgraded is faulty. Furthermore, the OTA control unit can decide whether to execute the vehicle upgrade operation based on the status of the power battery or storage battery.

[0130] For example, S320: when the OTA control unit determines that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty, the OTA control unit performs an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement.

[0131] For another example, S330: when the OTA control unit determines that the power battery is faulty or the storage battery is faulty, the OTA control unit suspends the upgrade operation of the vehicle.

[0132] In an embodiment of the present application, in an optional implementation, the association relationship between at least one ECU of the vehicle and the power battery / storage battery may be preset. When the OTA control unit obtains which ECU of the at least one ECU needs to perform a software upgrade based on the upgrade task or the content of the first indication information, it can know the power battery / storage battery associated with the ECU to be upgraded based on the preset association relationship, and know whether the battery that needs to be monitored by the ECU is a power battery or a storage battery, so as to determine whether the vehicle upgrade operation can be performed according to the battery failure condition.

[0133] For example, the preset association relationship between the ECU and the vehicle battery can be realized by explicit marking. For example, each ECU of the vehicle can be marked with 1 or 0, and the mark "1" can indicate that the ECU is associated with the power battery, and the mark "0" can indicate that the ECU is associated with the storage battery. When the OTA control unit learns the target ECU, it can determine whether the battery to be monitored by the target ECU is a power battery or a storage battery according to the "1" or "0" marked for the target ECU.

[0134] In another optional embodiment, when implementing S310, the upgrade task from the OTA server or the first indication information from the user device can also be used to indicate a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal associated with at least one ECU to characterize the association between the at least one ECU and the power battery or the storage battery of the vehicle, so that the OTA control unit can determine whether the battery to be monitored by the ECU is a power battery or a storage battery based on the high / low voltage signal associated with the ECU.

[0135] For example, the high voltage signal can be associated with the vehicle's power battery, and the low voltage signal can be associated with the vehicle's storage battery. Then, after the OTA control unit determines the target ECU that needs to perform a software upgrade, it can monitor the status of the power battery based on the high voltage signal associated with the target ECU, or monitor the status of the storage battery based on the low voltage signal associated with the target ECU.

[0136] It should be understood that this is only an example of the association between the high / low voltage signal and the vehicle battery and not any limitation. In practical applications, the low voltage signal may be associated with the vehicle's power battery, and the high voltage signal may be associated with the vehicle's storage battery. This association may be determined by the vehicle's communication protocol or may be affected by the software version. This is not limited in the present application. Moreover, with the evolution of vehicle functions or the upgrade of software versions, the association between the high / low voltage signal and the vehicle battery may change, which will not be described in detail here.

[0137] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the monitoring function of the OTA control unit on the status of the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle can be preset and performed in real time or periodically after the vehicle is put into use. In some embodiments, the function of the OTA control unit to monitor the status of the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle can also be awakened by an upgrade task from the OTA server or a first indication information from the user device. In other embodiments, the OTA control unit can receive a second indication information from the OTA server or a third indication information from the user device, and the second indication information and the third indication information can be used to indicate whether the power battery or storage battery is faulty, that is, the second indication information or the third indication information can wake up the OTA control unit to monitor the status of the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle, and the user device may include a smart terminal of the vehicle or a user using the vehicle. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the awakening time or awakening method of the monitoring function. After the monitoring function is awakened, the OTA control unit can decide how to perform the upgrade operation of the vehicle in real time according to whether each battery of the vehicle is faulty.

[0138] Taking the implementation of S310 as an example, the OTA upgrade process of the vehicle is triggered by sending an upgrade task to the OTA control unit of the vehicle through the OTA server, as shown in FIG4 , the upgrade method may specifically include the following steps:

[0139] S401: The OTA server sends an upgrade task to the OTA control unit of the vehicle, and accordingly, the OTA control unit receives the upgrade task from the OTA server.

[0140] S402: The OTA control unit performs task analysis on the received upgrade task, thereby obtaining software upgrade requirements of at least one ECU.

[0141] For example, the upgrade task may indicate the identification, software version, etc. of at least one ECU to be upgraded. The OTA control unit may know the target ECU to be upgraded by parsing the identification, software version, and other information.

[0142] Alternatively, the upgrade task may also indicate a high-voltage signal or a low-voltage signal associated with at least one ECU. The high-voltage signal may be associated with the vehicle's power battery, and the low-voltage signal may be associated with the vehicle's storage battery. The OTA control unit may know the battery that needs to be monitored by the target ECU by parsing the association between each ECU and the high / low voltage signal.

[0143] Alternatively, the upgrade task may also include the software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU, and the OTA control unit may know the timing of performing software upgrades on each ECU through the parsed software upgrade timing information. As shown in FIG5 , the software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU may include two situations:

[0144] (1) Serial timing: Indicates that different ECUs need to be OTA upgraded in sequence based on the serial order. For example, in Figure 5, ECU A is upgraded first, and then ECU B is upgraded after ECU A is upgraded. After ECU B is upgraded, ECU C is upgraded;

[0145] (2) Parallel timing: Indicates that there are at least two ECUs in different ECUs that can be OTA upgraded concurrently. For example, in Figure 5, ECU A is upgraded first, and then ECU B and ECU C are upgraded concurrently after ECU A is upgraded. After ECU B and / or ECU C are upgraded, ECU D is upgraded.

[0146] The OTA control unit can record the task content obtained by parsing the upgrade task, as well as information such as the initial stage and status of each ECU in this upgrade task.

[0147] S403: The OTA control unit may obtain an upgrade package of at least one ECU according to software upgrade requirements.

[0148] For example, the OTA control unit can download the upgrade package of the at least one ECU from the OTA server according to the software upgrade requirements. The OTA server can actively send the upgrade package of the at least one ECU to the OTA control unit, or the OTA control unit can request the upgrade package of the at least one ECU from the OTA server, and the OTA server sends the upgrade package of the at least one ECU to the OTA control unit in response to the request from the OTA control unit. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method for obtaining the upgrade package.

[0149] S404 (optional step): The OTA control unit may output the upgrade task through the HMI, and after receiving the upgrade confirmation information input by the user through the HMI, start the vehicle upgrade process. For example, the HMI here may belong to the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0150] S405: The OTA control unit performs a status check on the vehicle to determine whether the vehicle meets the upgrade conditions. If the vehicle meets the upgrade conditions based on the vehicle status information, the process proceeds to S406; if the vehicle does not meet the upgrade conditions based on the vehicle status information, the upgrade task is suspended and the next status check on the vehicle is performed to determine whether the vehicle meets the upgrade conditions.

[0151] In an embodiment of the present application, the vehicle's status information can be used to describe the hardware status and / or software status of the vehicle. The upgrade conditions are associated with the status information and can be used to indicate the conditions that the vehicle should meet in the corresponding state.

[0152] For example, the status information may include at least one of the following: the power information of the battery of the vehicle, the power information of the power battery of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, the gear information of the vehicle or the braking information of the vehicle; the upgrade condition includes at least one of the following: the power of the battery is greater than or equal to a first threshold (for example, 30%); the power of the power battery is greater than or equal to a second threshold (for example, 30%); the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a third threshold (for example, 0); the vehicle is in a parking gear (for example, P gear); or, the vehicle is in a parking brake state.

[0153] Specifically, taking the battery power as an example, the software upgrade of the ECU takes a long time. If the battery or power battery associated with the target ECU is insufficient, the power may be exhausted during the upgrade process, resulting in an upgrade interruption. In order to avoid the interruption problem caused by insufficient power as much as possible, when checking the status of the vehicle, the power of the battery or power battery can be checked. If the current remaining power of the battery or power battery is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, it indicates that the remaining power can support a complete software upgrade, and the battery power meets the corresponding upgrade conditions, and OTA upgrade can be allowed. On the contrary, if the remaining power of the battery or power battery is less than the corresponding threshold, the possibility of insufficient power and upgrade interruption during the OTA upgrade process is relatively high, and the upgrade conditions corresponding to the battery power are not met, and OTA upgrade is not recommended. It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned first threshold or second threshold is only an example, and does not limit the specific values ​​of the two thresholds, nor does it limit whether the two thresholds are the same or different, and will not be repeated here.

[0154] Taking the speed of the vehicle as an example, in order to ensure the driving safety of the vehicle, OTA upgrades are generally not allowed during driving. If the current speed of the vehicle is non-zero when checking the status of the vehicle, it means that the vehicle is driving. In this case, OTA upgrades may cause some functions of the vehicle to be unavailable, which is very likely to cause traffic accidents. The upgrade conditions corresponding to the speed are not met, and OTA upgrades are not allowed. If the speed of the vehicle is zero, it means that the vehicle is not driving, and even if an OTA upgrade is performed, it will not cause a traffic accident. Therefore, the upgrade conditions corresponding to the speed are met, and OTA upgrades are allowed.

[0155] Taking the parking gear as an example, when the vehicle stops, the driver will generally adjust the gear of the vehicle to the parking gear to ensure that the vehicle remains stationary at the current position. On the contrary, if the driver adjusts the gear of the vehicle to the forward gear (such as D gear) or the reverse gear (such as R gear), the vehicle will still move forward or backward. It is also unsafe to perform an OTA upgrade at this time. Therefore, when checking the status of the vehicle, you can also check whether the gear of the vehicle is in the parking gear. If so, it means that the vehicle currently does not support movement, meets the upgrade conditions corresponding to the gear, and allows OTA upgrades. On the contrary, if the gear of the vehicle is not in the parking gear, it means that the vehicle currently has the possibility of moving, does not meet the upgrade conditions corresponding to the gear, and does not allow OTA upgrades.

[0156] Taking the parking brake status of the vehicle as an example, when the vehicle is stopped, the driver will start the manual or electronic parking system of the vehicle to prevent the vehicle from sliding forward or backward on uneven ground, so that the vehicle is in the parking brake state. Therefore, when checking the status of the vehicle, you can also check whether the vehicle is in the parking brake state. If so, it means that the vehicle currently does not support coasting, meets the upgrade conditions corresponding to the parking brake, and allows OTA upgrades. Conversely, if the vehicle is not in the parking brake state, it means that the vehicle currently has the possibility of coasting, does not meet the upgrade conditions corresponding to the parking brake, and does not allow OTA upgrades.

[0157] It should be understood that the above status information and upgrade conditions are only examples and not limitations. In practical applications, any software / hardware status that may affect the OTA upgrade or conflict with the OTA upgrade operation can be part of the vehicle status check, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application and will not be described in detail here.

[0158] S406: The OTA control unit executes an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU and the upgrade package of the at least one ECU to perform software upgrade on the at least one ECU.

[0159] In a specific implementation, when the OTA control unit performs software upgrade on any ECU of the at least one ECU as a target ECU, S406 may include the following steps:

[0160] S407: The OTA control unit first queries the status of the battery (power battery or storage battery) associated with the target ECU to determine whether the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle is faulty.

[0161] For example, if the target ECU is associated with a high voltage signal, the OTA control unit queries the status of the power battery. If the target ECU is associated with a low voltage signal, the OTA control unit queries the status of the battery.

[0162] For example, the OTA control unit may query the status of the power battery or storage battery by interacting with the battery fault monitoring unit, and the battery fault may be identified by an explicit or implicit fault mark. If the OTA control unit queries that the power battery or storage battery has a fault mark, it can be determined that the power battery or storage battery has a fault. If the OTA control unit does not query the fault mark, it can be determined that the power battery or storage battery has no fault.

[0163] If the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU fails, the process proceeds to S410 ; if the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU does not fail (including no failure or the failure has been recovered), the process proceeds to S408 .

[0164] S408: The OTA control unit interacts with the ECU upgrade context management unit to query the upgrade progress information, and records the queried upgrade progress information to the disk.

[0165] For example, the upgrade progress information may include information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state.

[0166] S409: The OTA control unit performs an upgrade operation of the vehicle based on the upgrade progress information.

[0167] It should be understood that in S408, according to the queried upgrade progress information, if it is at the initial moment of the first ECU to be upgraded in this upgrade task, then in S409, the OTA control unit can perform OTA upgrade from the initial moment. If it is at the interrupt node of the corresponding stage where the target ECU is located, then in S409, the OTA control unit can continue to perform the OTA upgrade operation based on the interrupt node. If it is at the end moment of the last ECU to be upgraded in this upgrade task, then in S409, the OTA control unit can end this upgrade task.

[0168] S410: If the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU fails, the battery fault monitoring unit associated with the OTA control unit can record a battery fault mark for the power battery or the faulty battery. Accordingly, the OTA control unit can cancel all provided vehicle status signals (including in-vehicle network communication signals, low voltage signals or high voltage signals, etc.), set the upgrade task to a paused state, and wait for the faulty battery to recover. If the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU recovers from the fault, after S410, the OTA control unit can repeat the above steps S405-S409 to continue the vehicle upgrade operation, including periodically querying the status of the power battery or storage battery associated with the target ECU, recording the upgrade progress information, etc., until the upgrade task is completed.

[0169] In an optional implementation, during the execution of the above S405-S409, the OTA control unit may also output relevant information through the HMI, so that a user who uses the HMI may view the execution information of the upgrade task in a timely manner.

[0170] For example, if there is a power battery failure or a storage battery failure, the OTA control unit can output the power battery or storage battery failure information through the HMI. The HMI may belong to the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the output device associated with the OTA server, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0171] Or for example, during the upgrade operation, the OTA control unit can output upgrade progress information through the HMI, including but not limited to information of any of the following stages described in the above embodiments: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. The HMI may belong to the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the output device associated with the OTA server, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0172] Or for example, during the upgrade operation, if the OTA control unit suspends the execution of the vehicle's upgrade operation, the OTA control unit may also output the reason for suspending the execution of the vehicle's upgrade operation through the HMI. The HMI may belong to the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI may belong to an output device associated with the OTA server, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The reason for suspending the execution of the vehicle's upgrade operation includes the power battery failure or the battery failure, or may include other reasons that affect the OTA upgrade or conflict with the OTA upgrade operation, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0173] It should be understood that this is only an example of HMI output information and not any limitation. In actual applications, when the OTA control unit is performing a vehicle upgrade operation, any information can be output through the HMI. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this and will not be repeated here.

[0174] So far, the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application has been described in detail in combination with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. In this method, when the software upgrade of the ECU is required, the state of the battery associated with the low voltage signal or the high voltage signal associated with the ECU can be monitored in real time, so that the battery failure problem can be discovered in time, the cause of the failure or the reason for the upgrade interruption can be recorded, so as to solve the failure problem in time, avoid the situation where the upgrade task fails directly due to battery failure, and improve the success rate of OTA upgrade. In addition, the upgrade progress information is recorded during the execution of the upgrade operation. After the power battery fault is recovered or the storage battery fault is recovered, the OTA control unit can recheck the vehicle status and continue to execute the upgrade operation of the vehicle based on the software upgrade requirements and the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle is suspended, instead of starting the upgrade from scratch, which helps to save the upgrade time and save user traffic. The upgrade method can also be applied to other terminal devices other than vehicles, which will not be repeated here.

[0175] It should be noted that in the upgrade method of the embodiment of the present application, a fuse mechanism is introduced, which is a control mechanism for the maximum duration of the vehicle upgrade. The cloud can define the fuse duration, for example, the cloud defines the maximum upgrade duration of 5 hours. If it exceeds 5 hours, the task will fail directly. When the OTA control unit receives the upgrade task and starts the upgrade, it will enter the upgrade mode for the first time, and record the start time when the software upgrade starts based on the first upgrade package downloaded. If the software of some or all ECUs indicated by the upgrade task has not been upgraded after 5 hours, the OTA control unit can notify the vehicle to exit the upgrade mode and set the upgrade task to a failed state. As shown in Figure 4, entering S406 is considered to be entering the upgrade mode. The OTA control unit will record the time of this upgrade task after the task is executed to S406, which is used as the start time of the vehicle upgrade fuse. When a battery failure occurs during the execution of the vehicle upgrade operation, the OTA control unit will clear this start time and re-enter S406 after the battery failure is restored to re-record the start time. This method can postpone the fuse time window to avoid the battery failure after a long time of failure and the task directly failing to end after the failure is restored beyond the fuse duration.

[0176] The embodiment of the present application also provides an upgrade device for executing the method executed by the OTA control unit or HMI in the above method embodiment. The relevant features can be found in the above method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0177] Referring to FIG. 6 , the upgrading device 600 may include: an acquiring unit 601, used to acquire the software upgrading requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle; an executing unit 602, used to execute the upgrading operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrading requirement when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; or, when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is faulty, suspend the upgrading operation of the vehicle.

[0178] In an optional embodiment, the acquisition unit 601 is specifically used to: receive an upgrade task from an over-the-air download OTA server, wherein the upgrade task is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU; or, based on first indication information input by a user in a user equipment UE, obtain the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU, wherein the UE includes the vehicle.

[0179] In an optional embodiment, the upgrade task or the first indication information is also used to indicate a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal associated with the at least one ECU, wherein the high voltage signal is associated with the power battery and the low voltage signal is associated with the storage battery.

[0180] In an optional embodiment, the device also includes a transceiver unit for receiving a second indication message from an OTA server or receiving a third indication message from a UE, wherein the second indication message and the third indication message are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is monitored to be faulty, and the UE includes an intelligent terminal of the vehicle or a user using the vehicle.

[0181] In an optional embodiment, the execution unit is also used to: output fault information of the power battery or the storage battery through a human-machine interface HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server.

[0182] In an optional embodiment, the execution unit is further used to: output the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle through the HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to the smart terminal of the user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server, and the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle includes a power battery failure or a storage battery failure.

[0183] In an optional embodiment, the device also includes: a recording unit for recording the upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU; the execution unit is also used to continue the upgrade operation of the vehicle after the power battery fault is recovered or the storage battery fault is recovered, based on the software upgrade requirements and the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle is suspended.

[0184] In an optional embodiment, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state.

[0185] In an optional embodiment, the execution unit is further used to: output the upgrade progress information through the HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with the OTA server.

[0186] In an optional implementation, the acquisition unit is further used to acquire software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU; the execution unit is specifically used to: execute the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement and the software upgrade timing information.

[0187] In an optional implementation, the execution unit 602 is specifically used to: obtain an upgrade package of the at least one ECU according to the software upgrade requirement; and execute an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the upgrade package.

[0188] In an optional embodiment, the device further includes a determination unit for determining whether the vehicle meets an upgrade condition based on status information of the vehicle, wherein the status information is used to describe a hardware status and / or software status of the vehicle.

[0189] In an optional embodiment, the status information includes at least one of the following: the battery power information of the vehicle, the power information of the power battery of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, the gear information of the vehicle or the braking information of the vehicle; the upgrade condition includes at least one of the following: the battery power is greater than or equal to a first threshold; the power of the power battery is greater than or equal to a second threshold; the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a third threshold; the vehicle is in a parking gear; or, the vehicle is in a parking brake state.

[0190] Referring to FIG. 7 , the device 700 may include: a transceiver unit 701, for receiving control information, wherein the control information is associated with a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; an output unit 702, for outputting upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU according to the control information when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; and for outputting a reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the control information when the power battery or the storage battery is faulty.

[0191] In an optional embodiment, the upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state.

[0192] In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit 701 is also used to: receive a second indication message from an OTA server or receive a third indication message from a UE, wherein the second indication message and the third indication message are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is faulty; and the output unit is also used to output the second indication message or the third indication message.

[0193] In an optional implementation, the output unit 702 is further configured to output fault information of the power battery or the storage battery.

[0194] It should be understood that the division of the units in the above device is only a division of logical functions, and in actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into one 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 instructions are stored in the memory. The processor calls the instructions stored in the memory to implement any of the above methods or realize the functions of the units of the device, wherein 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 inside 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, and the hardware circuits can be understood as one or more processors; for example, in one implementation, the hardware circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and the functions of some or all of the above units are realized by designing the logical relationship of the components in the circuit; for another example, in another implementation, the hardware circuit can be realized by a programmable logic device (PLD), taking a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as an example, which can include a large number of logic gate circuits, and the connection relationship between the logic gate circuits is configured by a configuration file, so as to realize the functions of some or all of the above units. All units of the above devices can be realized in the form of a processor calling software, or in the form of hardware circuits, or in part by a processor calling software, and the rest by hardware circuits.

[0195] In the embodiment of the present application, the processor is a circuit with signal processing capability. In one implementation, the processor can be a circuit with instruction reading and running 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), etc.; in another implementation, the processor can realize certain functions through the logical relationship of the 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 processor loads a configuration document to implement the process of hardware circuit configuration, which 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.

[0196] 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.

[0197] In addition, all or part of the units in the above device can be 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 each unit of the device. The type of the at least one processor may be different, for example, including a CPU and an FPGA, a CPU and an artificial intelligence processor, a CPU and a GPU, etc.

[0198] In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art may imagine that the communication devices in the above embodiments may all adopt the form shown in FIG. 8 .

[0199] The device 800 shown in Fig. 8 includes at least one processor 810 and a communication interface 830. In an optional design, a memory 820 may also be included.

[0200] The specific connection medium between the processor 810 and the memory 820 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0201] In the apparatus as shown in FIG. 8 , the processor 810 may perform data transmission through the communication interface 830 when communicating with other devices.

[0202] When the communication device adopts the form shown in FIG. 8 , the processor 810 in FIG. 8 can call the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 820 so that the device 800 can execute any of the above method embodiments.

[0203] 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.

[0204] In a possible implementation manner, the processor may be coupled to the memory through an interface.

[0205] In a possible implementation, the chip system may also directly include a memory, in which a computer program or computer instructions are stored.

[0206] For example, the memory may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, 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. 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 SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0207] An embodiment of the present application also 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.

[0208] For example, in the embodiment 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 chip (system on chip, SoC), a CPU, a network processor (network processor, NP), a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), a PLD or other integrated chip, and can implement or execute the methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application can be directly embodied as a hardware decoding processor to perform, or the hardware and software modules in the decoding processor are combined and performed. The software module can be located in a mature storage medium in the field such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

[0209] It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products.

[0210] In a possible implementation, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a program code. When the program code runs on the computer, the computer executes the above method embodiment.

[0211] 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 enabled to execute the above method embodiment.

[0212] Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program codes.

[0213] 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 work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufactured 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.

[0214] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby 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.

[0215] 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, 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 new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

Claims

An upgrading method, characterized in that: include: Acquiring a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or storage battery of the vehicle; When it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty, performing an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement; Alternatively, when it is determined that the power battery is faulty or the storage battery is faulty, the upgrade operation of the vehicle is suspended. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The obtaining of the software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle includes: receiving an upgrade task from an over-the-air download OTA server, wherein the upgrade task is used to indicate the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU; or, obtaining the software upgrade requirement of the at least one ECU according to first indication information input by a user in a user equipment UE, wherein the UE includes the vehicle. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The upgrade task or the first indication information is also used to indicate a high voltage signal or a low voltage signal associated with the at least one ECU, wherein the high voltage signal is associated with the power battery and the low voltage signal is associated with the storage battery. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method also includes: receiving second indication information from an OTA server or receiving third indication information from a UE, wherein the second indication information and the third indication information are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is monitored to be faulty, and the UE includes an intelligent terminal of the vehicle or a user using the vehicle. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method also includes: outputting fault information of the power battery or the storage battery through a human-machine interface HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download OTA server. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method also includes: outputting a reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle through an HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an over-the-air download (OTA) server, and the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle includes a power battery failure or a storage battery failure. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The method also includes: recording the upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU; after the power battery fault is recovered or the storage battery fault is recovered, continuing the upgrade operation of the vehicle based on the software upgrade requirement and the upgrade progress information recorded when the upgrade operation of the vehicle was suspended. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The method further includes: outputting the upgrade progress information through an HMI, wherein the HMI belongs to the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to a smart terminal of a user using the vehicle, or the HMI belongs to an output device associated with an OTA server. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The method also includes: obtaining software upgrade timing information of the at least one ECU; and executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement, including: executing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement and the software upgrade timing information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The performing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement specifically includes: obtaining an upgrade package of the at least one ECU according to the software upgrade requirement; and performing the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the upgrade package. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The method further includes: determining that the vehicle meets an upgrade condition based on status information of the vehicle, wherein the status information is used to describe a hardware status and / or a software status of the vehicle. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The state information includes at least one of the following: power information of the storage battery of the vehicle, power information of the power battery of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, gear information of the vehicle, or braking information of the vehicle; the upgrade condition includes at least one of the following: the power of the storage battery is greater than or equal to a first threshold; the power of the power battery is greater than or equal to a second threshold; the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a third threshold; The vehicle is in a parking position; Alternatively, the vehicle is in a parking brake state. An upgrading method, characterized in that: include: Receive control information, the control information is associated with the software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle, and the at least one ECU is associated with the power battery or storage battery of the vehicle; when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty, output the upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU according to the control information; when the power battery or the storage battery is faulty, output the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the control information. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The upgrade progress information includes information of any of the following stages: upgrade stage, activation stage or rollback stage, and information of any of the following states of the ECU in each stage: initial state, notified execution state, successful execution state or failed execution state. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The method also includes: receiving second indication information from an OTA server or receiving third indication information from a UE, wherein the second indication information and the third indication information are used to indicate whether the power battery or the storage battery is monitored to be faulty; and outputting the second indication information or the third indication information. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that The method further includes: outputting fault information of the power battery or the storage battery. An upgrading device, characterized in that: include: An acquisition unit, used to acquire a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; an execution unit, configured to execute an upgrade operation of the vehicle according to the software upgrade requirement when it is determined that the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; Alternatively, when it is determined that the power battery is faulty or the storage battery is faulty, the upgrade operation of the vehicle is suspended. An upgrading device, characterized in that: include: a transceiver unit, configured to receive control information, wherein the control information is associated with a software upgrade requirement of at least one electronic control unit ECU of a vehicle, wherein the at least one ECU is associated with a power battery or a storage battery of the vehicle; and an output unit, configured to output upgrade progress information of the at least one ECU according to the control information when the power battery or the storage battery is not faulty; When the power battery or the storage battery fails, the reason for suspending the upgrade operation of the vehicle is output according to the control information. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises: a communication interface for communicating with other devices; and a processor coupled to the communication interface, so that the communication device executes the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-13, or executes the method as claimed in any one of claims 14-17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or to execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 17. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises a computer program, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 17. A chip, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor, wherein the processor 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, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 14 to 17 is implemented. A vehicle, characterized in that The method comprises means for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13. The vehicle according to claim 24, characterized in that Comprising means for implementing the method as claimed in any one of claims 14-17. A communication system, characterized in that: It comprises an upgrading device for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 and an upgrading device for implementing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 17.