Information processing apparatus

Abstract

To provide a technique for suppressing a communication load when a server distributes an update file.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes a controller. The controller is configured to transmit a request for download of the update file to the server, transmit a command to prohibit the download of the update file from the server to one or a plurality of other information processing apparatuses existing around the information processing apparatus by wireless communication when the download of the update file from the server is started, deliver the update file to the other information processing apparatuses after the download of the update file is completed, and transmit identification information of the other information processing apparatuses to the server in response to completion of the delivery of the update file.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 proposes a technique for downloading a file from an OTA center. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-045278 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] One of the objects of the present disclosure is to provide a technology for reducing the communication load when a server distributes update files. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] An information processing device according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes a control unit configured to: send a request to a server to download an update file; when downloading of the update file from the server starts, send a command via wireless communication to one or more other information processing devices around the information processing device to prohibit downloading of the update file from the server; after downloading of the update file is completed, distribute the update file to the other information processing devices; and, in response to completion of distribution of the update file, transmit identification information of the other information processing devices to the server. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present disclosure, when a server distributes an update file, the number of information processing devices to which the server actually transmits the update file can be reduced, thereby suppressing the communication load on the server. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of a situation to which the present disclosure is applied. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 shows an example of a processing procedure of the information processing device. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 shows an example of a case where communication between on-board devices is multi-layered. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] [1 Application example] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of a scenario in which the present disclosure is applied. A first in-vehicle device 1 according to this embodiment is an example of an information processing device equipped with a control unit 11. The control unit 11 transmits a request to a server S to download an update file for updating the first in-vehicle device 1 mounted on a first vehicle M1. When the download of the update file from the server S starts, the control unit 11 wirelessly transmits a command to second in-vehicle devices 2 mounted on one or more second vehicles M2 present around the first vehicle M1 to prohibit the download of the update file from the server S. After the download of the update file is complete, the downloaded update file is distributed to the second in-vehicle device 2. After the distribution is complete, the control unit 11 is configured to transmit identification information of the second in-vehicle device 2 to the server S.

[0009] As another form of the information processing device according to the above aspect, one aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing method that realizes all or part of the above components, a program, or a storage medium that stores such a program and is readable by a machine such as a computer. A storage medium that is readable by a machine such as a computer is a medium that stores information such as a program by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action.

[0010] The type of wireless communication performed between the server S and the first in-vehicle device 1, and between the first in-vehicle device 1 and the second in-vehicle device 2 is not particularly limited as long as it enables bidirectional communication, and may be determined appropriately depending on the embodiment. For example, cellular communication may be used for communication between the first in-vehicle device 1 and the server S, and V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle) communication may be used for communication between the first in-vehicle device 1 and the second in-vehicle device 2.

[0011] In this embodiment, the first in-car device 1 checks whether a software update is available, and if an update is available, transmits a request to the server S to download the update file. The method by which the first in-car device 1 checks whether an update is available is not particularly limited and may be determined appropriately depending on the embodiment. For example, the first in-car device 1 may transmit information to the server S at predetermined time intervals inquiring whether an update is available.

[0012] (Download update file) An update file is a file used to update the software of an information processing device. While it is desirable to use the latest version of software, software that is frequently updated requires the cumbersome task of downloading the update file each time. One technology to solve this problem is to wirelessly download the update file and automatically perform updates based on that download. One example is OTA (Over The Air), in which an OTA file is distributed as the update file. Software updates for in-vehicle devices are particularly important from a security perspective, and the use of OTA, which allows for easy updates, is beneficial.

[0013] When downloading the update file from the server S is started, the first in-vehicle device 1 determines whether a second vehicle M2 is present around the first vehicle M1. The method for determining whether a second vehicle M2 is present is not particularly limited and may be selected appropriately depending on the embodiment. In one example, the surrounding conditions may be detected by a sensor mounted on the first vehicle M1, and the presence of the second vehicle M2 may be determined. In another example, the presence of the second in-vehicle device 2 connected via the communication interface 13 of the first in-vehicle device 1 may be determined based on the presence of the second in-vehicle device 2 around the first vehicle M1.

[0014] When one or more second vehicles M2 are present around the first vehicle M1, the first in-car device 1 transmits a command to the second in-car devices 2 mounted on each of the surrounding second vehicles M2 to prohibit the download of update files from the server S. Here, the range around the first vehicle M1 may be specified as appropriate, as long as it is a range within which the first in-car device 1 can connect to the second in-car device 2 via wireless communication. Furthermore, the update files for which downloading is prohibited are limited to the latest update file currently downloaded by the first in-car device 1.

[0015] Upon receiving the command prohibiting the download of the update file from the server S, the second in-car device 2 transmits an ACK response to the first in-car device 1. The ACK response includes identification information of the second in-car device 2. The identification information may include information unique to the second in-car device 2, such as the ID or management number of the second in-car device 2. Note that if the second in-car device 2 has already acquired the latest update file, the second in-car device 2 may be configured not to transmit an ACK response to avoid acquiring the same file twice.

[0016] After the update file has been downloaded from the server S, the first in-car device 1 distributes the update file to the second in-car device 2 that has responded with an ACK. When the first in-car device 1 receives information indicating that reception of the update file has been completed from the second in-car device 2, the distribution of the update file is considered to be complete. In this way, the first in-car device 1 that has completed downloading the update file distributes the update file to the surrounding second in-car devices 2, thereby reducing the communication load caused by the server S transmitting the update file.

[0017] When the distribution of the update file is complete, the first in-car device 1 transmits to the server S information indicating that the download of the update file has been completed, as well as identification information of the second in-car device 2 that received the update file from the first in-car device 1. This allows the server S to know which in-car devices have received the latest update file, thereby achieving the advantageous effect of avoiding duplicate file transmission to in-car devices that have already received the update file.

[0018] [2 Configuration Examples] As shown in Fig. 1, the first in-vehicle device 1 according to this embodiment is a computer in which a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication interface 13 are electrically connected. The control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc., and is configured to execute any information processing. The storage unit 12 For example, it may be configured with a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, etc. In this embodiment, the storage unit 12 stores a program 81. The program 81 is a program for causing the first in-vehicle device 1 to execute information processing according to this embodiment. The program 81 includes a series of instructions for the information processing. The communication interface 13 is configured to perform wired or wireless data communication via a network. The communication interface 13 may be configured with, for example, a wired LAN (Local Area Network) module, a wireless LAN module, etc. In this embodiment, the first in-vehicle device 1 may use the communication interface 13 to perform data communication via a network with another computer (e.g., a server S, a second in-vehicle device 2, etc.).

[0019] Regarding the specific hardware configuration of the first in-vehicle device 1, components can be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 11 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processors may be a microprocessor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), It may be configured with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc.

[0020] [3 Example of operation] 2 shows an example of a processing procedure of the first in-vehicle device 1 according to this embodiment. The following processing procedure is an example of an information processing method executed by a computer.

[0021] (Step S101) In step S101, if there is a software update, the control unit 11 transmits a request to download the update file to the server S. The control unit 11 may check whether there is an update as appropriate. Once the transmission of the request to the server S is complete, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S102.

[0022] (Steps S102 to S103) In step S102, the control unit 11 downloads the update file from the server S. At this time, in step S103, the control unit 11 determines whether or not a second vehicle M2 is present around the first vehicle M1. If the second vehicle M2 is not present, the control unit 11 ends the information processing according to this embodiment. If the second vehicle M2 is present, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S104.

[0023] (Steps S104 to S105) In step S104, the control unit 11 transmits a command from the server S to the second in-vehicle devices 2 mounted on one or more second vehicles M2 present around the first vehicle M1, prohibiting the download of the update file. If an ACK response is not received from the second in-vehicle device 2 that has received this command, the control unit 11 terminates the information processing according to this embodiment. If an ACK response is received, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S106. The ACK response includes identification information of the second in-vehicle device 2.

[0024] (Steps S106 to S107) In step S106, the control unit 11 determines whether the download of the update file from the server S is complete. If the download is complete, the process proceeds to step S107. In step S107, the control unit 11 distributes the downloaded update file to the second in-car device 2 that sent the command prohibiting the download of the update file from the server S. When the control unit 11 receives a reply from the second in-car device 2 that has received the distribution of the update file, the control unit 11 may consider the distribution of the update file to be complete. When the distribution of the update file is complete, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S108.

[0025] (Step S108) In step S108, the control unit 11 transmits to the server S information indicating that the download of the update file has been completed, as well as identification information of the second in-car device 2 that has received the update file distributed from the first in-car device 1. When this step is completed, the information processing according to this embodiment ends.

[0026] The timing of downloading the update file in step S102 and the timing of issuing a command from the server S to the second in-car device 2 to prohibit downloading of the update file in steps S103 and S104 may be determined as appropriate. That is, the order of processing of step S102, step S103, and step S104 may be reversed, or they may be set to be processed simultaneously. Furthermore, step S106, which determines whether the download is complete, may also be performed as appropriate between the start of downloading the update file in step S102 and the distribution of the update file to the second in-car device 2 in step S107.

[0027] [Features] In this embodiment, when the first vehicle M1 downloads an update file for the first in-vehicle device 1 from the server S, if there are second vehicles M2 (second in-vehicle devices 2) nearby, the first vehicle M1 sends a command to the second vehicles M2 to prohibit them from downloading the update file from the server S. After downloading the update file, the first vehicle M1 distributes it to the second vehicles M2, and transmits information about the second vehicles M2 to the server S. With this configuration, the first vehicle M1 (first in-vehicle device 1) transmits the update file on behalf of the server S, thereby reducing the communication load on the server S.

[0028] [4 Variations] As a modification of this embodiment, communication between the in-vehicle devices may be configured to be multi-layered. That is, the first in-vehicle device 1 may be configured to play the role of the server S in addition to its original role, and the second in-vehicle device 2 may be configured to play the role of the first in-vehicle device 1 in addition to its original role. .

[0029] 3 shows an example of a multi-layered system of communication between in-vehicle devices. For example, when receiving an update file from a first in-vehicle device 1, a second in-vehicle device 2 transmits a command to a third in-vehicle device 3 mounted on one or more third vehicles M3 located around the second vehicle M2 to prohibit the download of the update file from the server S. Upon receiving an ACK response from the third in-vehicle device 3, the second in-vehicle device 2 distributes the acquired update file to the third in-vehicle device. This allows the update file to be distributed to a third in-vehicle device 3 mounted on a third vehicle M3 that is outside the connectable range of the first vehicle M1 but within the connectable range of the second vehicle M2.

[0030] Furthermore, upon receiving the ACK response from the third in-car device 3, the second in-car device 2 simultaneously transmits the identification information of the third in-car device 3 contained in the ACK response to the first in-car device 1. The first in-car device 1 then transmits the received information to the server S. This allows the server S to ascertain the in-car device to which distribution of the latest update file has been completed. Note that the transmission of the identification information of the third in-car device 3 by the second in-car device 2 to the first in-car device 1 may be performed together with the ACK response from the second in-car device 2 to the first in-car device 1, or may be included in the ACK response.

[0031] Furthermore, the third vehicle M3 may perform similar communication with surrounding vehicles. In this case, communication between the on-board devices is multi-layered as long as there are on-board devices that have not yet received the update file. This multi-layered communication between the on-board devices expands the range to which update files can be distributed through communication between the on-board devices, thereby further reducing the communication load on the server S.

[0032] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, the above description is merely an example of the present disclosure in all respects. It goes without saying that various improvements or modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The processes and means described in the present disclosure can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical contradiction occurs. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 1. First in-vehicle device; 2. Second in-vehicle device; 3. Third in-vehicle device; 11. Control unit, 12. Storage unit, 13··Communication interface, 81··Program, M1: First vehicle, M2: Second vehicle, M3: Third vehicle, S··Server

Claims

[Claim 1] An information processing device including a control unit, The control unit Sending a request to the server to download the update file; When the download of the update file from the server is started, a command to prohibit the download of the update file from the server is transmitted via wireless communication to one or more other information processing devices present around the information processing device; After the download of the update file is completed, the update file is delivered to the other information processing device; and transmitting identification information of the other information processing device to the server in response to completion of distribution of the update file; configured to perform Information processing device.

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