Software programming method

Abstract

This invention provides a software writing method that eliminates the need for dedicated software writing devices and processes, while increasing the size of software that can be written during vehicle manufacturing. [Solution] A method for writing software used during vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit to be installed in a vehicle during the vehicle manufacturing process, comprising the steps of: determining whether or not the target ECU, which is the electronic control unit to be software written to, has been installed in the vehicle; and, if the target ECU has been installed in the vehicle, writing the software for the target ECU stored by the software distribution server to the target ECU via OTA.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method for writing software at the time of vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted on a vehicle in the process of manufacturing the vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for writing software for vehicle control to an electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle. In the writing method described in this Patent Document 1, in the process of manufacturing a vehicle, a dedicated writing unit in which the software to be written is stored in advance is wired-connected to the electronic control unit, and the software is written from this writing unit to the electronic control unit.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The wired software writing using the dedicated writing unit described in the above Patent Document 1 needs to be performed between the end of the vehicle assembly process and the start of the next completion and inspection process. Therefore, there is a problem that the writing time is restricted and the software size is limited. In addition, there are problems that a dedicated writing unit for storing the software to be written in advance is required, and a process dedicated to software writing is required.

[0005] Therefore, there is room for further consideration regarding the method for writing software at the time of vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle.

[0006] This disclosure was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a software writing method that can increase the size of software that can be written during vehicle manufacturing, while eliminating the need for a dedicated software writing unit or a dedicated software writing process. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To solve the above problems, one aspect of the disclosed technology is a method for writing software used during vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit to be mounted on a vehicle during the vehicle manufacturing process, the method comprising: determining whether or not the target ECU, which is an electronic control unit to be software written to, has been installed in the vehicle; and, if the target ECU has been installed in the vehicle, writing software for the target ECU stored by a software distribution server to the target ECU via OTA. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the software writing method described above, a dedicated software writing device and a dedicated software writing process are not required, and the size of the software that can be written during vehicle manufacturing can be increased. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Schematic diagram of a system for executing a software writing method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] Processing sequence diagram illustrating a software writing method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] Diagram for comparing the flow of the production process in the factory between this disclosure and conventional methods. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] The software writing method disclosed herein enables the OTA function from the stage when the wireless communication device and the electronic control unit to be written are assembled into the vehicle during the vehicle assembly process, and performs the writing of the software of the electronic control unit to be written, which is stored on the software distribution server, via OTA. The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0011] <Embodiment> [composition] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a system 10 for realizing a software writing method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The system 10 illustrated in Figure 1 consists of a power manager 100, an OTA master 200, a target ECU 300, other ECUs 400, and a DCM 500 mounted on the vehicle, and a software distribution server 700 located outside the vehicle.

[0012] The power manager 100, OTA master 200, target ECU 300, other ECU 400, and DCM 500 are connected to each other via in-vehicle LAN such as USB, Ethernet (registered trademark), and CAN, enabling communication between them.

[0013] The power manager 100 is a device (power management device) that manages the power supply status of the vehicle, and includes the battery and power control ECU, which are the in-vehicle power sources. This power manager 100 can control and manage the power supply status of the OTA master 200, target ECU 300, other ECUs 400, and DCM 500.

[0014] The target ECU300 is an electronic control unit that requires software writing (installation) during vehicle manufacturing (the target of software writing). Although Figure 1 shows only one target ECU300, two or more target ECU300s may be installed in the vehicle.

[0015] The other ECU 400 is an electronic control unit that does not particularly require software writing during vehicle manufacturing. Although the number of the other ECUs 400 shown in FIG. 1 is one, two or more other ECUs 400 may be mounted on the vehicle.

[0016] The OTA master 200 is an OTA device for executing software writing at the time of vehicle manufacturing on the target ECU 300, which is an electronic control unit to be software-written, by OTA (Over The Air). The OTA master 200 can acquire software for the target ECU 300 from the software distribution server 700 via the DCM 500. Details of the processing performed by this OTA master 200 will be described later.

[0017] The DCM 500 is a wireless communication device for performing wireless data communication with the software distribution server 700. This DCM 500 receives the corresponding software from the software distribution server 700 in response to a request from the OTA master 200 and transmits it to the OTA master 200.

[0018] The software distribution server 700 is a device having a function of registering and managing a program for updating software of an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted on a vehicle. Further, the software distribution server 700 has a function of communicating with a vehicle (DCM 500) assembled in a factory to acquire, transmit, and manage vehicle information. The software distribution server 700 in the present embodiment has at least software (initial software for the target ECU) that must be first written to the target ECU 300 at the time of vehicle manufacturing.

[0019] The above-described power manager 100, OTA master 200, target ECU 300, other ECU 400, and DCM 500 are sequentially assembled to the vehicle (vehicle body) in the vehicle assembly process at the time of vehicle manufacturing. The present disclosure provides a method of writing software at the time of vehicle manufacturing to the target ECU 300 in this vehicle assembly process.

[0020] [Control] Referring further to FIG. 2, a software writing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a sequence of software writing processes executed by a power manager 100, an OTA master 200, a target ECU 300, other ECUs 400, a DCM 500, and a software distribution server 700.

[0021] The processing sequence shown in FIG. 2 is started by assembling at least the configurations of the power manager 100, the OTA master 200, and the DCM 500 in the vehicle (steps S101, S201, S501). Note that the OTA function is enabled from the stage when these three configurations are assembled in the vehicle.

[0022] The power manager 100 supplies power to the OTA master 200 (step S102). The OTA master 200 supplied with power executes a startup process when power is supplied for the first time as predetermined (step S202). When the OTA master 200 is started by this process, the function of the vehicle transitions to the factory OTA mode.

[0023] In the factory OTA mode, when the target ECU 300 that needs to write software during vehicle manufacturing is assembled in the vehicle (step S301), the OTA master 200 requests the power manager 100 to supply power for starting the target ECU 300 and the DCM 500 (step S203). Note that the OTA master 200 has information in advance regarding which electronic control device is the target ECU 300, and based on this information, it is possible to determine the timing when the target ECU 300 is assembled in the vehicle. The power manager 100 that has received the power supply request from the OTA master 200 supplies power to the target ECU 300 and the DCM 500 (step S103).

[0024] When power is supplied to the DCM500, the OTA master 200 requests the DCM500 to distribute the vehicle manufacturing software that needs to be written to the target ECU300 (step S204). Upon receiving the request to distribute the vehicle manufacturing software, the DCM500 requests the software distribution server 700 to distribute the vehicle manufacturing software that needs to be written to the target ECU300 (step S502).

[0025] The software distribution server 700 searches for the relevant vehicle manufacturing software in response to a distribution request from the DCM 500 (step S701). Unique identification information such as the vehicle's VIN or the ID of the target ECU 300 can be used for this search. The software distribution server 700 then distributes the retrieved vehicle manufacturing software to the DCM 500 (step S702).

[0026] The DCM500, having received the vehicle manufacturing software from the software distribution server 700, distributes the vehicle manufacturing software to the OTA master 200 (step S503). The OTA master 200 detects the start of software distribution by receiving the vehicle manufacturing software from the DCM500 (step S205).

[0027] Upon detecting the start of software distribution, the OTA master 200 requests all other ECUs 400 already installed in the vehicle to cease communication (step S206). This request to cease communication is made to restrict communication from other ECUs 400 that is not necessary for the OTA software writing process. This cessation of communication by other ECUs 400 is performed at least from the start to the end of software writing to the target ECU 300. Upon receiving a request to cease communication from the OTA master 200, the other ECUs 400 send a response to the request to the OTA master 200 (step S401). The other ECUs 400 then stop communication processing via the in-vehicle LAN and transition their state to a state of waiting for the cessation to be released (step S402).

[0028] Upon receiving a communication stop response from another ECU 400, the OTA master 200 requests the target ECU 300 to transition to the factory OTA state (step S207). Upon receiving the request to transition to the factory OTA state, the target ECU 300 executes a predetermined startup process that occurs when power is first supplied (step S302). This process causes the target ECU 300 to transition to the factory OTA state. The target ECU 300 then sends a response to the OTA master 200 indicating that it has transitioned to the factory OTA state (step S303).

[0029] The OTA master 200 performs the process of writing the vehicle manufacturing software to the activated target ECU 300 (step S208). Once the writing of the vehicle manufacturing software is complete, the target ECU 300 notifies the OTA master 200 and the DCM 500 that the software writing is complete (steps S304, S305). Upon receiving the notification from the target ECU 300 that the software writing is complete, the DCM 500 further notifies the software distribution server 700 that the software writing on the target ECU 300 is complete (step S504).

[0030] Upon receiving confirmation from the target ECU 300 that the software writing process is complete, the OTA master 200 sends a request to release the communication suspension to all other ECUs 400 that have requested the communication suspension to be stopped (step S209). Upon receiving the request to release the communication suspension from the OTA master 200, the other ECUs 400 resume communication processing via the in-vehicle LAN and transition to the state where the suspension has been released (step S403).

[0031] The OTA master 200, having sent a request to all other ECUs 400 to release the communication suspension, performs a process to release the factory OTA mode and transition the vehicle's functions back to normal mode (step S210). With the above procedure, the process of writing the vehicle's manufacturing software to the target ECU 300 is completed.

[0032] If there are multiple ECU300 units to which vehicle manufacturing software should be written, the necessary vehicle manufacturing software will be written to each ECU300 unit in accordance with the procedure described above each time it is installed in the vehicle.

[0033] <Effects and Actions> As described above, according to the software writing method according to one embodiment of this disclosure, during vehicle manufacturing, the OTA function is activated from the stage (timing t) when the wireless communication device (DCM) and the target electronic control unit (target ECU) are assembled to the vehicle in the vehicle assembly process, and software writing to the target ECU is performed in parallel via OTA even while other processes are passing through (see Figure 3). This process extends the software writing time, making it possible to write larger software to the target ECU than before.

[0034] Furthermore, in the software writing method according to this embodiment, software is written to the target ECU via OTA (Over-the-Air) mode, which is performed only during vehicle assembly at the factory, with communication of electronic control devices (other ECUs) that are not the target of the writing disabled. This makes it possible to increase the writing speed (communication speed).

[0035] Furthermore, the software writing method according to this embodiment is effective not only in that it can increase the size of the software during writing compared to the conventional writing method described in Patent Document 1 mentioned above, but also in that it eliminates the need for a dedicated software writing unit and a dedicated process for software writing.

[0036] Although one embodiment of the disclosed technology has been described above, the disclosure can be understood not only as a software writing method, but also as a program for executing this method, a computer-readable non-temporary storage medium storing this program, a system for executing this method, and a vehicle equipped with this system. [Industrial applicability]

[0037] The software writing method described herein can be used, for example, when writing software for vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit installed in a vehicle during the vehicle manufacturing process. [Explanation of symbols]

[0038] 10 Systems 100 Power Manager 200 OTA Master 300 Target ECUs 400 other ECUs 500 DCM 700 Software Distribution Servers

Claims

1. A method for writing software used during vehicle manufacturing to an electronic control unit installed in a vehicle during the vehicle manufacturing process, A step of determining whether the target ECU, which is the electronic control unit to be programmed with software, has been installed in the vehicle, When the target ECU is installed in the vehicle, the software distribution server writes the software for the target ECU stored in the software distribution server to the target ECU via OTA. Software programming method.

2. The step further includes stopping communication by electronic control devices other than the target ECU during the period from the start to the end of writing the software for the target ECU, The software writing method according to claim 1.

3. The further step includes enabling the OTA function when the wireless communication device that performs communication with the software distribution server, the OTA device that performs writing the software acquired via the wireless communication device to the electronic control unit, and the power management device that manages the vehicle's power supply are all installed in the vehicle. The software writing method according to claim 1 or 2.

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