A silent upgrade method for air conditioner

Abstract

The present invention proposes a silent upgrade method for an air conditioner, which relates to the technical field of air conditioner upgrades. The method includes receiving an incremental upgrade package to obtain upgrade resource demand estimation information and monitoring key environmental parameters; determining whether to trigger the air conditioner's cooling gap period identification mechanism based on the key environmental parameters; after the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered, identifying multiple cooling gap periods to obtain historical gap data, and predicting the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges based on the historical gap data; when the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period, determining the duration of the current cooling gap period based on the key environmental parameters, and comparing the duration of the current cooling gap period, the key environmental parameters, and the upgrade resource demand estimation information to determine whether a silent upgrade operation should be performed during the current cooling gap period. The present invention utilizes the pre-cooling release time of the air conditioner's cooling gap period to determine whether the air conditioner has sufficient resources to complete the silent upgrade, thereby achieving a silent upgrade without shutting down the air conditioner.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of air conditioner upgrades, and in particular relates to a silent upgrade method for an air conditioner. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of air conditioning technology, upgrade techniques are also constantly improving. Silent upgrades are a common upgrade method. Silent upgrades involve the system automatically launching an upgrade program during idle time, completing the upgrade while the user is not using the air conditioner. Existing silent upgrade solutions stagger the user's air conditioner usage times, utilizing the air conditioner's standby time to complete the upgrade. This method requires analyzing user usage habits to determine the air conditioner's idle standby time, but it cannot complete the silent upgrade while the user is using the air conditioner. Therefore, achieving silent upgrades while the user is using the air conditioner is a current research and development direction for upgrade technology. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In response to the problems raised in the background technology, the present invention proposes a silent upgrade method based on upgrade time selection.

[0004] To achieve this object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0005] A silent upgrade method for an air conditioner, comprising:

[0006] Upgrade preparation phase:

[0007] Step A: Receive the incremental upgrade package, perform security verification and decryption on the incremental upgrade package, and obtain estimated upgrade resource requirements;

[0008] While receiving incremental upgrade packages, monitor key environmental parameters;

[0009] Upgrade opportunity detection and prediction phase:

[0010] Step B: Determine whether to trigger the cooling interval recognition mechanism of the air conditioner based on key environmental parameters;

[0011] Step C: After the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered, multiple cooling gap periods are identified to obtain historical gap data, and the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted based on the historical gap data;

[0012] Silent upgrade phase:

[0013] Step D: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period, the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under the corresponding temperature difference range is obtained based on the key environmental parameters, and the predicted duration is used as the duration of the current cooling gap. The duration of the current cooling gap period, the key environmental parameters and the estimated upgrade resource demand information are compared, and based on the comparison results, it is determined whether the current cooling gap period meets the requirements for performing a silent upgrade operation. If so, the silent upgrade operation is performed.

[0014] Preferably, the step A comprises:

[0015] Step A1: The air conditioner master control system receives an encrypted incremental upgrade package from the cloud server through a preset communication interface. The incremental upgrade package includes the target firmware version number, digital signature, incremental patch data, and estimated upgrade resource requirements.

[0016] Step A2: The air conditioner master control system verifies the integrity and source legitimacy of the incremental upgrade package in the isolated security area. After passing the verification, the incremental upgrade package is decrypted in the isolated security area and the incremental patch data is temporarily stored in the non-volatile storage area.

[0017] Step A3: After receiving the incremental upgrade package, the air conditioner main control system continuously monitors key environmental parameters in real time. The key environmental parameters include outdoor temperature, indoor temperature, the current set temperature of the air conditioner, the current operating mode, historical data of the compressor start and stop cycle, fan speed, CPU utilization, and memory usage.

[0018] Preferably, in step B, determining whether to trigger the cooling interval recognition mechanism of the air conditioner includes:

[0019] When the indoor temperature is within the range close to the set temperature and the absolute value of the temperature change rate is continuously less than the preset fluctuation value, the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered;

[0020] The temperature change rate is calculated according to the following formula:

[0021] ;

[0022] TCR stands for temperature change rate;

[0023] Indicates the current indoor temperature;

[0024] Indicates the indoor temperature at the last unit time interval;

[0025] t represents a unit time interval.

[0026] Preferably, in step C, identifying the cooling gap period includes:

[0027] Step C1: Determine whether the compressor is in a shutdown state or a low-speed operation state, whether the CPU utilization rate is gradually decreasing, and whether the fluctuation range of the memory usage rate is decreasing. If so, obtain the current temperature change rate;

[0028] Step C2: Determine whether the absolute value of the current temperature change rate is less than the temperature change rate threshold. If so, it is determined that the air conditioner has entered a cooling interval period.

[0029] Preferably, in step C, historical gap data is obtained, and the predicted duration of the refrigeration gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted based on the historical gap data, including:

[0030] Step C3: Obtain the indoor and outdoor temperature difference when the air conditioner enters each cooling interval and the duration of each cooling interval;

[0031] Step C4: averaging the durations of N cooling gaps within the same temperature difference range between the indoor and outdoor temperatures to obtain predicted durations of cooling gaps within multiple different temperature difference ranges.

[0032] Preferably, in said step D, it includes:

[0033] Step D1: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, obtain the predicted duration of the temperature difference range to which the current indoor and outdoor temperature difference belongs, and use the predicted duration as the duration of the current cooling interval period;

[0034] Step D2: Obtain the CPU utilization and memory occupancy of the air conditioner during the current cooling interval to determine the CPU resource availability and memory resource availability;

[0035] Step D3: Based on the estimated upgrade resource requirements of the incremental upgrade package, obtain the estimated upgrade duration under "typical idle load" conditions, the estimated minimum CPU resource requirements of the upgrade task, and the estimated peak memory requirements of the upgrade task;

[0036] Step D4: Determine the upgrade safety time based on the safety factor and the duration of the current cooling interval; determine whether the CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the baseline CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition; if so, execute step D5; if not, trigger the dynamic adjustment strategy;

[0037] Step D5: Determine whether all the requirements are met: the upgrade safety time is greater than the upgrade time, the CPU resource availability is greater than the minimum CPU resource requirement, and the memory resource availability is greater than the peak memory requirement. If so, perform a silent upgrade operation during the current cooling gap period. If not, it is considered that the current cooling gap period does not meet the requirements for the silent upgrade operation, and wait for the next cooling gap period.

[0038] Preferably, in step D4, triggering the dynamic adjustment strategy includes:

[0039] Step D41: Calculate the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability using the following formula:

[0040] ;

[0041] Indicates the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability;

[0042] Indicates the estimated upgrade time under "typical idle load" conditions;

[0043] Represents baseline CPU resources under "typical idle load" conditions;

[0044] Indicates the current CPU resource availability;

[0045] Step D42: When the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is less than the upgrade safety time, execute step D5;

[0046] If the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the upgrade safety time, and if the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is still within the duration of the current cooling interval, and the CPU resource availability exceeds the minimum CPU resource requirement and the memory resource availability exceeds the peak memory requirement, a silent upgrade is performed during the current cooling interval using the safety boundary mechanism.

[0047] Preferably, a silent upgrade is performed with a safety boundary mechanism during the current cooling interval, including:

[0048] Set a boundary time. If the silent upgrade operation fails to complete within the boundary time, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly paused to release all occupied resources.

[0049] Preferably, when the air conditioner performs the silent upgrade operation during the current cooling interval, the method further includes:

[0050] When it is determined that the air conditioner has exited the current cooling interval or the air conditioner main control system receives a user control instruction, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly suspended, all occupied resources are released, and the silent upgrade operation is re-executed after the air conditioner enters the next cooling interval that meets the requirements for executing the silent upgrade operation.

[0051] Preferably, after the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, if the compressor state changes to a high-speed operation state or the CPU utilization and / or memory occupancy rate rises to a level that is insufficient to support the silent upgrade operation or the absolute value of the current temperature change rate exceeds the temperature change rate threshold, the air conditioner is determined to exit the current cooling interval period.

[0052] The beneficial effects of the present invention compared to the prior art are as follows:

[0053] The present invention uses the pre-cooling release time during the air conditioner's cooling interval to determine whether the air conditioner has sufficient resources to complete a silent upgrade. Unlike passively waiting in standby mode or forced shutdown, the present invention accurately identifies and utilizes the low-load windows that naturally exist in the air conditioner's own operating rules and do not affect user comfort for upgrades. Based on a deep integration of the air conditioner's physical working characteristics and software upgrade requirements, the present invention achieves a silent upgrade without shutting down the air conditioner. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] Figure 1 The present invention is a flowchart of a silent upgrade method for an air conditioner. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and through specific implementation methods.

[0056] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field based on the embodiments of the present invention without making any creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0057] The terms "first," "second," and so on, in the description and claims of the present invention and the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish between different items, not to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms "including," "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, apparatus, product, or end comprising a series of steps or elements is not limited to the listed steps or elements but may optionally include steps or elements not listed therein, or may optionally include other steps or elements inherent to such process, method, product, or end.

[0058] References herein to "embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor does it constitute a separate or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is understood, both explicitly and implicitly, by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0059] This application proposes a silent upgrade method for air conditioners, such as Figure 1 As shown, including:

[0060] Upgrade preparation phase:

[0061] Step A: Receive the incremental upgrade package, perform security verification and decryption on the incremental upgrade package, and obtain estimated upgrade resource requirements;

[0062] While receiving incremental upgrade packages, monitor key environmental parameters;

[0063] Specifically, step A includes:

[0064] Step A1: The air conditioner master control system receives an encrypted incremental upgrade package from the cloud server through a preset communication interface. The incremental upgrade package includes the target firmware version number, digital signature, incremental patch data, and estimated upgrade resource requirements.

[0065] Step A2: The air conditioner master control system verifies the integrity and source legitimacy of the incremental upgrade package in the isolated security area. After passing the verification, the incremental upgrade package is decrypted in the isolated security area and the incremental patch data is temporarily stored in the non-volatile storage area.

[0066] Step A3: After receiving the incremental upgrade package, the air conditioner main control system continuously monitors key environmental parameters in real time. The key environmental parameters include outdoor temperature, indoor temperature, the current set temperature of the air conditioner, the current operating mode, historical data of the compressor start and stop cycle, fan speed, CPU utilization, and memory usage.

[0067] In this embodiment, the air conditioner master control system receives an encrypted incremental upgrade package from a cloud server or local gateway via a preset communication interface, such as Wi-Fi, LoRa, or a cellular network. The target firmware version number in the incremental upgrade package is used to determine whether the base version number of the upgrade is correct. The digital signature verifies the integrity and source legitimacy of the upgrade package. The incremental patch data is used to replace the parameters of the update. The upgrade resource requirement estimate includes the estimated upgrade duration, CPU resources required, and peak memory usage under "typical idle load" conditions. After security verification in an isolated security zone (such as TrustZone), the incremental patch data in the incremental upgrade package is decrypted and temporarily stored in a non-volatile storage area for retrieval and use when the air conditioner master control system detects an appropriate upgrade opportunity. The non-volatile storage area can be a dedicated upgrade partition of Flash memory, for example.

[0068] Furthermore, when the air conditioner main control system receives the incremental upgrade package, it will begin to continuously monitor key environmental parameters in real time. The key environmental parameters are used to determine the timing of the subsequent upgrade. The specific analysis is shown below.

[0069] It should be noted that the silent method for air conditioners in this application is applicable to incremental upgrade operations; air conditioner upgrades generally include full upgrades and incremental upgrades. In the full upgrade method, the entire data set or program is processed each time the upgrade is performed, and all old version files are replaced by new version files. In the incremental upgrade method, only the data that needs to be updated needs to be processed each time the upgrade is performed. The data processing volume is small and the updating and replacement parameters will not have too much impact on the operation of the entire machine. The silent upgrade method in this application is based on the intermittent cooling characteristics of the air conditioner without shutting down the air conditioner. When the indoor temperature approaches or reaches the set temperature, the compressor will stop working. When the compressor stops, there is still residual refrigerant flowing in the pipe, which is the "residual cooling release period". This intermittent time is used to achieve silent upgrades of the air conditioner, ensuring that the user does not shut down the air conditioner and completes the silent upgrade while using the air conditioner. Therefore, the time required for the upgrade should not be too long, and the number of updated and replaced parameters should not be too many to avoid the air conditioner being forced to shut down during the upgrade process. Therefore, the incremental upgrade method is most suitable for this method.

[0070] For the silent upgrade method of the full upgrade package, this application also proposes the following method: when the air conditioner main control system detects that the upgrade package is a full upgrade package, it monitors the key environmental parameters in real time. After the full upgrade package is securely verified and decrypted, it determines whether the air conditioner is in operation at the current time based on the key environmental parameters. If so, the silent upgrade is not triggered. If not, the user's historical usage habit data is obtained. Based on the user's historical usage habit data, it is determined how much idle time there is from the current time to the next time the user uses the air conditioner. However, if the idle time is longer than the time required for the full upgrade, the full upgrade is executed. If the idle time is less than the full upgrade, it waits for the time point when the idle time is longer than the time required for the full upgrade, and performs the full upgrade at that time point.

[0071] Upgrade opportunity detection and prediction phase:

[0072] Step B: Determine whether to trigger the air conditioner's cooling interval recognition mechanism based on key environmental parameters, specifically including:

[0073] When the indoor temperature is within the range close to the set temperature and the absolute value of the temperature change rate is continuously less than the preset fluctuation value, the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered;

[0074] The temperature change rate is calculated according to the following formula:

[0075] ;

[0076] TCR stands for temperature change rate;

[0077] Indicates the current indoor temperature;

[0078] Indicates the indoor temperature at the last unit time interval;

[0079] t represents a unit time interval.

[0080] In this embodiment, for example, the outdoor temperature is 35°C, the indoor temperature is 32°C before the air conditioner is turned on, and the user turns on the air conditioner and sets the temperature to 26°C. The temperature range of the set temperature proposed by the air conditioner main control system is the set temperature. , then the approximate range is 25.5℃ to 26.5℃. As the air conditioner is used for an increasing amount of time, the indoor temperature gradually decreases. When the indoor temperature drops from 32℃ to the range of 25.5℃ to 26.5℃, the first condition of triggering the cooling gap period identification mechanism of the air conditioner is met. The second condition is then judged whether the absolute value of the temperature change rate is continuously less than the preset fluctuation value. When the unit time interval t is set to 5 minutes, it means that the temperature change rate is calculated every 5 minutes. For example, in the first 5-minute time period, the indoor temperature drops from 32℃ to 30℃, in the second 5-minute time period, from 30℃ to 28℃, in the third 5-minute time period, from 28℃ to 27℃, in the fourth 5-minute time period, from 27℃ to 26.2℃, and in the fifth 5-minute time period, from 26.2℃ to 26℃. The temperature change rate in the first 5-minute time period is , a negative number indicates that the temperature is cooling down. The temperature change rate of the second 5-minute time period is also -0.4, the temperature change rate of the third 5-minute time period is -0.2, the temperature change rate of the fourth 5-minute time period is -0.16, and the temperature change rate of the fifth 5-minute time period is -0.04. When the preset fluctuation value is 0.25, the absolute value of the temperature change rate from the third temperature change to the fifth temperature change is less than the preset fluctuation value for three consecutive times, then it is determined that the second condition of the cooling gap period identification mechanism of the air conditioner is met. When both conditions are met, we believe that the indoor temperature is close to the set temperature, the cooling speed is very slow, and it is close to the equilibrium point. At this time, the compressor may be in a shutdown state or a low-speed operation state. Now is the time to identify the cooling gap period.

[0081] Step C: After the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered, multiple cooling gap periods are identified to obtain historical gap data, and the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted based on the historical gap data;

[0082] Preferably, in step C, identifying the cooling gap period includes:

[0083] Step C1: Determine whether the compressor is in a shutdown state or a low-speed operation state, whether the CPU utilization rate is gradually decreasing, and whether the fluctuation range of the memory usage rate is decreasing. If so, obtain the current temperature change rate;

[0084] Step C2: Determine whether the absolute value of the current temperature change rate is less than the temperature change rate threshold. If so, it is determined that the air conditioner has entered a cooling interval period.

[0085] In this example, after the cooling gap identification mechanism is triggered by the formula in step B, four judgment conditions are required to confirm whether the air conditioner has entered a cooling gap period. The first judgment condition is to detect that the compressor is in a shutdown state or a low-speed operation state. The second judgment condition is that the CPU utilization rate gradually decreases. For example, from the high indoor temperature when the air conditioner is just turned on to the set temperature, the CPU utilization rate gradually decreases from 85% to 45%. This means that because complex compressor drives and some high-load algorithms are no longer needed to achieve a large-scale cooling, the third judgment condition is that the fluctuation range of the memory occupancy rate becomes smaller. For example, in the rapid cooling stage when the air conditioner is just turned on, the fluctuation range of the memory occupancy rate will be large and small as the load algorithm and compressor drive are scheduled. When it is detected that the fluctuation range of the memory occupancy rate has decreased, for example, the basic Maintain an occupancy rate of 65%. After all three judgment conditions are met, obtain the current temperature change rate and determine whether the absolute value of the current temperature change rate is less than the temperature change rate threshold. For example, if the current temperature change rate is +0.08°C / minute and its absolute value 0.08 is less than the preset temperature change rate threshold of 0.2°C / minute, it means that the temperature is relatively stable and the air conditioner has entered a cooling interval period. It should be noted that when the compressor just stops or changes from high-speed operation to low-speed operation, the indoor temperature will continue to drop for a period of time. That is, the current indoor temperature change rate is a negative value, such as -0.02°C / minute. After the compressor stops, the room temperature begins to slowly rise due to the heat load, and the current indoor temperature change rate is a positive value, such as +0.08°C / minute.

[0086] Preferably, in step C, historical gap data is obtained, and the predicted duration of the refrigeration gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted based on the historical gap data, including:

[0087] Step C3: Obtain the indoor and outdoor temperature difference when the air conditioner enters each cooling interval and the duration of each cooling interval;

[0088] Step C4: averaging the durations of N cooling gaps within the same temperature difference range between the indoor and outdoor temperatures to obtain predicted durations of cooling gaps within multiple different temperature difference ranges.

[0089] In this embodiment, as the air conditioner is used for an increasing period of time, it may enter multiple cooling gap periods. At this time, we will obtain the duration of each cooling gap period. However, due to different indoor and outdoor temperature differences, the duration of each cooling gap period will be different. Therefore, we need to classify the duration of different cooling gap periods based on the indoor and outdoor temperature difference when the air conditioner enters each cooling gap period. This is conducive to predicting the duration of the next cooling gap period and ensuring that the predicted duration of the next cooling gap period is more accurate. In one embodiment, for example, the duration of the first cooling gap period is 3 minutes, the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is 4°C, the duration of the second cooling gap period is 7 minutes, the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is 8°C, and the duration of the third cooling gap period is 15 minutes. The duration of the cooling gap period is 6.5 minutes, and the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is 8.2℃. The duration of the fourth cooling gap period is 8 minutes, and the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is 8.8℃. Therefore, the indoor and outdoor temperature difference of the second to fourth cooling gap periods is in the same temperature range of 8℃ to 9℃. The average value of the duration of the second to fourth cooling gap periods is taken, that is, (7+6.5+8)÷3≈7.17 minutes. Based on conservative judgment, a slightly lower integer value of 7 minutes can be taken for 7.17 minutes. Then we predict that when the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is in the range of 8℃ to 9℃, the duration of the next cooling gap period will be about 7 minutes. Through the above operation, we can obtain the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under different temperature difference ranges.

[0090] Silent upgrade phase:

[0091] Step D: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period, the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under the corresponding temperature difference range is obtained based on the key environmental parameters, and the predicted duration is used as the duration of the current cooling gap. The duration of the current cooling gap period, the key environmental parameters and the estimated upgrade resource demand information are compared, and based on the comparison results, it is determined whether the current cooling gap period meets the requirements for performing a silent upgrade operation. If so, the silent upgrade operation is performed. Specifically including:

[0092] Step D1: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, obtain the predicted duration of the temperature difference range to which the current indoor and outdoor temperature difference belongs, and use the predicted duration as the duration of the current cooling interval period;

[0093] In this embodiment, through steps C3 and C4, we obtain the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under different temperature difference ranges. Then, when the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period, by obtaining the current indoor and outdoor temperature difference, the predicted duration under the corresponding temperature difference range is obtained, and the predicted duration is used as the duration of the current cooling gap period; for example, in the previous example, it is predicted that the duration of the next cooling gap period when the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is in the range of 8°C to 9°C will be approximately 7 minutes. If the indoor and outdoor temperature difference range when the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period is in the range of 8°C to 9°C, 7 minutes will be used as the duration of the current cooling gap period.

[0094] Step D2: Obtain the CPU utilization and memory occupancy of the air conditioner during the current cooling interval to determine the CPU resource availability and memory resource availability;

[0095] In this embodiment, when the air conditioner enters the cooling interval period, the CPU utilization and memory occupancy of the air conditioner at this time are obtained. For example, the CPU utilization is 45% and the memory occupancy is maintained at 65%. If the air conditioner main control system is set to safely allocate resources to the background to perform upgrade operations when the CPU utilization is lower than 70%, then the CPU resource availability is 70%-45%=25%, which means that 25% of the CPU time slices are available to perform the upgrade operation; if the upgrade task is estimated to require 10% additional temporary memory, the current memory occupancy is 65%, and the memory resource availability is 100%-65%=35%, 35%>10%, which means that there are sufficient memory resources available to perform the upgrade operation.

[0096] Step D3: Based on the estimated upgrade resource requirements of the incremental upgrade package, obtain the estimated upgrade duration under "typical idle load" conditions, the estimated minimum CPU resource requirements of the upgrade task, and the estimated peak memory requirements of the upgrade task;

[0097] In this embodiment, the air conditioner master control system can obtain upgrade resource requirement estimates from the incremental upgrade package received from the cloud server. The upgrade resource estimates include the estimated upgrade duration under "typical idle load" conditions, the estimated minimum CPU resource requirement for the upgrade task, and the estimated peak memory requirement for the upgrade task. The "typical idle load" condition means that the system has 30% CPU resource availability that can be continuously allocated to the upgrade task. For example, according to testing, based on a 30% CPU resource availability, the system estimates that the upgrade duration is 4.5 minutes, the estimated minimum CPU resource requirement for completing the upgrade task is 15%, and the estimated peak memory requirement for completing the upgrade task is 10%.

[0098] Step D4: Determine the upgrade safety time based on the safety factor and the duration of the current cooling interval; determine whether the CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the baseline CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition; if so, execute step D5; if not, trigger the dynamic adjustment strategy;

[0099] In this embodiment, when the CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the benchmark CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition, step D5 is executed. The benchmark CPU resource is the 30% CPU resource availability described in step D3. For example, when the CPU resource availability is 40%, which is greater than 30% of the benchmark CPU resource, the operation of step D5 can be executed. For another example, in the embodiment of step D2, if the CPU resource availability is 70%-45%=25%, and 25%<30%, the dynamic adjustment policy is triggered.

[0100] The upgrade safety time is determined based on the safety factor and the duration of the current cooling interval, which can be interpreted as:

[0101] In this embodiment, the safety factor can be set to 0.7. If the duration of the current cooling gap period is 7 minutes in the embodiment of step D1, the upgrade safety time is minutes, which means that the estimated upgrade time can be completed within the predicted gap period, provided that sufficient buffer time (7 - 4.9 = 2.1 minutes) is reserved.

[0102] Step D5: Determine whether all the requirements are met: the upgrade safety time is greater than the upgrade time, the CPU resource availability is greater than the minimum CPU resource requirement, and the memory resource availability is greater than the peak memory requirement. If so, perform a silent upgrade operation during the current cooling gap period. If not, it is considered that the current cooling gap period does not meet the requirements for the silent upgrade operation, and wait for the next cooling gap period.

[0103] In this embodiment, based on the data illustrated in steps D1 to D5, if the upgrade safety time of 4.9 minutes is greater than the upgrade duration of 4.5 minutes, the CPU resource availability of 40% is greater than the minimum CPU resource requirement of 15% for completing the upgrade task, and the memory resource availability of 35% is greater than the peak memory requirement of 10% for completing the upgrade task, a silent upgrade operation is performed during the current cooling interval. That is, if the upgrade time meets the conditions, the memory resource meets the conditions, the CPU resource meets the conditions, and the current cooling interval is the optimal window for silent upgrade, then the current cooling interval is considered to be suitable for silent upgrade. If any of the above conditions is not met, the current cooling interval is considered to be too small or insufficient in resources for upgrading, and does not meet the silent upgrade requirements. The current cooling interval is abandoned, and monitoring continues, waiting for the next cooling interval.

[0104] Furthermore, during silent upgrades, the air conditioner control system dynamically adjusts task priorities. For example, tasks that maintain basic comfort, such as reading temperature sensor data and basic fan control, are assigned the highest real-time priority to ensure their absolute priority execution. Upgrade tasks (such as firmware flashing and verification) are set as low-priority background tasks, executing only using the control system's idle computing cycles and CPU resources.

[0105] Furthermore, it also includes starting a coprocessor (such as a low-power MCU or FPGA): offloading the computationally intensive incremental patch application calculations (such as binary difference merging and data block checksum calculations) in the incremental upgrade package to the coprocessor for execution. The air conditioner master control system transmits the incremental patch data stored in the upgrade partition to the coprocessor in blocks. The coprocessor calculates the data block content and checksum value corresponding to the new firmware based on the incremental patch instructions and the old firmware data in the currently running partition. The coprocessor returns the calculated new data block and checksum value to the air conditioner master control system. The air conditioner master control system uses idle cycles to write the new data block to the firmware partition and immediately verifies the correctness of the written data using the checksum value provided by the coprocessor after writing, thereby completing the silent upgrade.

[0106] In addition, after the air conditioner main control system enters the "silent upgrade mode", this mode does not have any prompts on the user interface (such as indicator lights and display screens) or only makes extremely low-visibility log records.

[0107] Preferably, in step D4, triggering the dynamic adjustment strategy includes:

[0108] Step D41: Calculate the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability using the following formula:

[0109] ;

[0110] Indicates the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability;

[0111] Indicates the estimated upgrade time under "typical idle load" conditions;

[0112] Represents baseline CPU resources under "typical idle load" conditions;

[0113] Indicates the current CPU resource availability;

[0114] As mentioned above, when the CPU resource availability is less than the baseline CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition, the dynamic adjustment strategy is triggered. For example, in the embodiment of step D2, the CPU resource availability is 70%-45%=25%, and 25%<30%, so the dynamic adjustment strategy is triggered; because the estimated upgrade time is calculated under the premise that the system has 30% CPU resource availability that can be continuously allocated to the upgrade task, for example, the estimated upgrade time at 30% CPU resource availability is 4.5 minutes, but the actual CPU resource availability of this machine is only 25%, which means that the actually allocated resources are less than the estimated resources. If the upgrade time is estimated based on the 25% CPU resource availability, it will be more than 4.5 minutes. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the estimated upgrade time at the current CPU resource availability. As shown in the above example, the baseline CPU resource under "typical idle load" conditions is 30%, the current CPU resource availability is 25%, and the estimated upgrade time under "typical idle load" conditions is 4.5 minutes. minutes, which means the actual estimated time required to complete the upgrade task is 5.4 minutes.

[0115] Step D42: When the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is less than the upgrade safety time, execute step D5;

[0116] If the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the upgrade safety time, and if the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is still within the duration of the current cooling interval, and the CPU resource availability exceeds the minimum CPU resource requirement and the memory resource availability exceeds the peak memory requirement, a silent upgrade is performed during the current cooling interval using the safety boundary mechanism.

[0117] Furthermore, when the estimated upgrade time under the current CPU resource availability is less than the upgrade safety time, it means that even if the CPU resource availability is less than the baseline CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition, there is still enough upgrade time to complete the upgrade task; but if the estimated upgrade time under the current CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the upgrade safety time, for example, in the above example, the actual estimated upgrade time is 5.4 minutes, while the upgrade safety time is 4.9 minutes, then although the baseline CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition was 30% and the estimated upgrade time was 4.5 minutes, which is within the upgrade safety time of 4.9 minutes, in the local environment, The actual estimated upgrade duration of 5.4 minutes exceeds the upgrade safety time. More factors need to be considered. The upgrade safety time of 4.9 minutes is calculated based on a safety factor of 0.7 and the predicted duration of the current cooling interval of 7 minutes. This means we have reserved a 2.1-minute buffer time. If the buffer time is removed, the actual estimated duration of 5.4 minutes is within the predicted duration of the current cooling interval of 7 minutes, which is still sufficient to complete the upgrade. Therefore, the system will not abandon the upgrade just because 5.4 minutes exceeds 4.9 minutes. At this time, if the CPU resource availability is still greater than the minimum CPU resource requirement and the memory resource availability is still greater than the peak memory requirement, the upgrade will be performed silently using the safety boundary mechanism.

[0118] Of course, if the actual estimated duration is longer than the predicted duration of the current cooling interval, then the current cooling interval is not suitable for upgrading. You need to give up the upgrade during the current cooling interval and wait for the next cooling interval.

[0119] Preferably, a silent upgrade is performed with a safety boundary mechanism during the current cooling interval, including:

[0120] Set a boundary time. If the silent upgrade operation fails to complete within the boundary time, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly paused to release all occupied resources.

[0121] In this embodiment, executing a silent upgrade using a safety boundary mechanism can be understood as follows: since the re-estimated upgrade time of 5.4 minutes exceeds the upgrade safety time of 4.9 minutes, but is still within the total window (7.0 minutes), the system can choose to start the upgrade as planned, but strictly monitor the actual progress. A boundary time is set. For example, if the upgrade is not completed when the upgrade time reaches the boundary time, the silent upgrade is forcibly paused. For example, if the predicted duration is 7 minutes minus 1 minute of processing time, the boundary time is 6 minutes. If the upgrade time is not completed within 6 minutes, the upgrade is forcibly paused because the estimated actual upgrade time is only 5.4 minutes.

[0122] Preferably, when the air conditioner performs the silent upgrade operation during the current cooling interval, the method further includes:

[0123] When it is determined that the air conditioner has exited the current cooling interval or the air conditioner main control system receives a user control instruction, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly suspended, all occupied resources are released, and the silent upgrade operation is re-executed after the air conditioner enters the next cooling interval that meets the requirements for executing the silent upgrade operation.

[0124] Preferably, after the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, if the compressor state changes to a high-speed operation state or the CPU utilization and / or memory occupancy rate rises to a level that is insufficient to support the silent upgrade operation or the absolute value of the current temperature change rate exceeds the temperature change rate threshold, the air conditioner is determined to exit the current cooling interval period.

[0125] In this embodiment, the silent upgrade of this method is performed during the cooling interval period. When the air conditioner exits the cooling interval period, we need to forcibly pause the silent upgrade operation, because exiting the cooling interval period means that the CPU usage resources, memory occupancy, etc. of the air conditioner will change, which may result in insufficient resources to complete the upgrade; similarly, when receiving a control instruction issued by the user, we also assume that the air conditioner has exited the current cooling interval period.

[0126] Furthermore, the conditions for exiting the current cooling interval period are that the compressor state changes to a high-speed operation state or the CPU utilization and / or memory occupancy rate rises to a level that is insufficient to support the silent upgrade operation or the absolute value of the current temperature change rate exceeds the temperature change rate threshold. As long as one of these three conditions is met, the air conditioner is deemed to have exited the current cooling interval period.

[0127] The technical principles of the present invention have been described above with reference to specific embodiments. These descriptions are intended solely to illustrate the principles of the present invention and are not to be construed in any way as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention. Based on the explanations herein, those skilled in the art will readily conceive of other specific embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort, and such embodiments will fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A silent upgrade method for an air conditioner, characterized by: Upgrade preparation phase: Step A: Receive the incremental upgrade package, perform security verification and decryption on the incremental upgrade package, and obtain estimated upgrade resource requirements; While receiving the incremental upgrade package, key environmental parameters are monitored, including outdoor temperature, indoor temperature, the air conditioner's current set temperature, current operating mode, compressor start and stop cycle history data, fan speed, CPU utilization, and memory usage; Upgrade opportunity detection and prediction phase: Step B: Determine whether to trigger the cooling interval recognition mechanism of the air conditioner based on key environmental parameters, including: When the indoor temperature is within the range close to the set temperature and the absolute value of the temperature change rate is continuously less than the preset fluctuation value, the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered; The temperature change rate is calculated according to the following formula: ； TCR stands for temperature change rate; Indicates the current indoor temperature; Indicates the indoor temperature at the last unit time interval; t represents the unit time interval; Step C: After the cooling gap period identification mechanism is triggered, multiple cooling gap periods are identified to obtain historical gap data. Based on the historical gap data, the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted. Identifying the cooling gap period includes: Step C1: Determine whether the compressor is in a shutdown state or a low-speed operation state, whether the CPU utilization rate is gradually decreasing, and whether the fluctuation range of the memory usage rate is decreasing. If so, obtain the current temperature change rate; Step C2: Determine whether the absolute value of the current temperature change rate is less than the temperature change rate threshold. If so, it is determined that the air conditioner has entered a cooling interval period. Silent upgrade phase: Step D: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling gap period, the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under the corresponding temperature difference range is obtained based on the key environmental parameters, and the predicted duration is used as the duration of the current cooling gap. The duration of the current cooling gap period, the key environmental parameters and the estimated upgrade resource demand information are compared, and based on the comparison results, it is determined whether the current cooling gap period meets the requirements for performing a silent upgrade operation. If so, the silent upgrade operation is performed.

2. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step A comprises: Step A1: The air conditioner master control system receives an encrypted incremental upgrade package from the cloud server through a preset communication interface. The incremental upgrade package includes the target firmware version number, digital signature, incremental patch data, and estimated upgrade resource requirements. Step A2: The air conditioner master control system verifies the integrity and source legitimacy of the incremental upgrade package in the isolated security area. After passing the verification, the incremental upgrade package is decrypted in the isolated security area and the incremental patch data is temporarily stored in the non-volatile storage area. Step A3: The air conditioner main control system continuously monitors key environmental parameters in real time while receiving the incremental upgrade package.

3. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step C, historical gap data is obtained, and the predicted duration of the cooling gap period under multiple different temperature difference ranges is predicted based on the historical gap data, including: Step C3: Obtain the indoor and outdoor temperature difference when the air conditioner enters each cooling interval and the duration of each cooling interval; Step C4: averaging the durations of N cooling gaps within the same temperature difference range between the indoor and outdoor temperatures to obtain predicted durations of cooling gaps within multiple different temperature difference ranges.

4. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 3, characterized in that: In the step D, it includes: Step D1: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, obtain the predicted duration of the temperature difference range to which the current indoor and outdoor temperature difference belongs, and use the predicted duration as the duration of the current cooling interval period; Step D2: Obtain the CPU utilization and memory occupancy of the air conditioner during the current cooling interval to determine the CPU resource availability and memory resource availability; Step D3: Based on the estimated upgrade resource requirements for the incremental upgrade package, obtain the estimated upgrade duration under "typical idle load" conditions, the estimated minimum CPU resource requirements for the upgrade task, and the estimated peak memory requirements for the upgrade task. Step D4: Determine the upgrade safety time based on the safety factor and the duration of the current cooling interval period; Determine whether the CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the benchmark CPU resource under the "typical idle load" condition. If so, execute step D5; if not, trigger the dynamic adjustment policy; Step D5: Determine whether all the requirements are met: the upgrade safety time is greater than the upgrade time, the CPU resource availability is greater than the minimum CPU resource requirement, and the memory resource availability is greater than the peak memory requirement. If so, perform a silent upgrade operation during the current cooling gap period. If not, it is considered that the current cooling gap period does not meet the requirements for the silent upgrade operation, and wait for the next cooling gap period.

5. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 4, characterized in that: In step D4, triggering the dynamic adjustment strategy includes: Step D41: Calculate the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability using the following formula: ； Indicates the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability; Indicates the estimated upgrade time under "typical idle load" conditions; Indicates the baseline CPU resources under "typical idle load" conditions; Indicates the current CPU resource availability; Step D42: When the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is less than the upgrade safety time, execute step D5; If the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is greater than or equal to the upgrade safety time, and if the estimated upgrade duration under the current CPU resource availability is still within the duration of the current cooling interval, and the CPU resource availability exceeds the minimum CPU resource requirement and the memory resource availability exceeds the peak memory requirement, a silent upgrade is performed during the current cooling interval using the safety boundary mechanism.

6. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 5, characterized in that: Perform a silent upgrade with a safety boundary mechanism during the current cooling interval, including: Set a boundary time. If the silent upgrade operation fails to complete within the boundary time, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly paused to release all occupied resources.

7. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the air conditioner performs a silent upgrade during the cooling interval, the following operations are also performed: When it is determined that the air conditioner has exited the current cooling interval or the air conditioner main control system receives a user control instruction, the silent upgrade operation is forcibly suspended, all occupied resources are released, and the silent upgrade operation is re-executed after the air conditioner enters the next cooling interval that meets the requirements for executing the silent upgrade operation.

8. The silent upgrade method for an air conditioner according to claim 7, characterized in that: When the air conditioner enters the current cooling interval period, if the compressor state changes to high-speed operation or the CPU utilization and / or memory occupancy rises to a level that is insufficient to support the silent upgrade operation or the absolute value of the current temperature change rate exceeds the temperature change rate threshold, the air conditioner is determined to have exited the current cooling interval period.

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