Vehicle control device

Abstract

To maintain a storage state in an on-board battery that allows rewriting to updated software to be completed, when an update notification regarding software of an on-board electronic control apparatus is received.SOLUTION: Storage state detection means 12 detects an SOC which is a storage state of a battery 6 charged by an alternator 5 that generates electric power by driving an engine, derivation means 13 derives, when a TCU 11 receives updated software distributed from an OTA center 3 by the derivation means 13, an update time T required for the rewrite update based on a data amount of the received updated software and a communication rate of a CAN communication which is an in-vehicle communication, and control means 14 performs control of storage ensuring for maintaining a predetermined storage state of an on-board battery based on one of the SOC of the battery 6 detected by the storage state detection means 12 or the update time T derived by the derivation means 13.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that controls software updates of an on-board electronic control device mounted on a vehicle using an engine as a drive source, with update software transmitted via wireless communication. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, when rewriting and updating the software of on-board electronic control devices such as multiple ECUs (Electronic Control Units) installed in an automobile, a fault diagnosis device owned by an automobile dealership is used, and the fault diagnosis device is connected to the on-board electronic control device via a wire, and the update software is transmitted to the on-board electronic control device to be updated by the fault diagnosis device.

[0003] In this case, there is a problem that the work locations and workers who rewrite and update the software of the on-board electronic control unit are limited to automobile dealerships, etc. Furthermore, because the electronic control of the vehicle by the on-board electronic control unit is interrupted during the work, the work cannot be carried out while the vehicle is in a drivable state, so the rewriting and updating work must be carried out under conditions where the alternator is not operating, such as when the ignition is on, and if the work takes a long time, it is necessary to carry out the work while taking into consideration the risk of the battery running out due to discharge during the rewriting and updating.

[0004] Meanwhile, in recent years, the introduction of connected cars, which refer to automobiles connected to the Internet, has progressed, and with the introduction of such connected cars, software updates for on-board electronic control units are now being performed wirelessly rather than via wired connections as in the past (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this case, over-the-air (OTA) technology is generally used for updating via wireless communication.

[0005] An overview of rewriting and updating using OTA technology is as follows: First, the automobile manufacturer creates software update data (hereafter referred to as update software) and registers it in a data center known as an OTA center. The update software is then wirelessly distributed from the OTA center to the automobiles that require the update. The distributed update software is received by the receiving function of the automobile's telematics ECU, and the on-board electronic control unit (ECU, etc.) that is the target of the update is automatically rewritten and updated with the update software.

[0006] Incidentally, even in the case of automatic rewriting via OTA, as mentioned above, it is necessary to take into consideration the possibility of the battery running out due to discharge during the rewriting. Therefore, it is conceivable to send and receive update notifications and perform the rewriting update to the updated software only when the battery is fully charged while driving.

[0007] That is, as shown in Figure 3, while the ignition (hereinafter referred to as IG) is on and the power state of the telematics ECU is on while driving, the telematics ECU is connected (synchronized) to the OTA center, and when the telematics ECU receives an update notification from the OTA center indicating that an update is necessary, the telematics ECU downloads the specified update software from the OTA center and temporarily stores it in the memory installed in the vehicle, provided that the battery is fully charged.After that, when the IG is turned off and the vehicle is stopped, the telematics ECU maintains the power state of the telematics ECU in an on state (self-retention) while executing an overwrite process with the update software stored in the memory, and after the overwrite is complete, the self-retention is released and the power state of the telematics ECU is turned off. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-97620 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] However, if the vehicle is normally driven for short periods of time and only over short distances, and the update notification is received with a low battery level, and the battery is not fully charged after the vehicle is stopped with a low battery charge, there is a risk that the update software rewrite will not be completed because there will not be enough battery power remaining to complete the rewrite to the update software after the vehicle is stopped.

[0010] On the other hand, it is possible to have the vehicle user check whether the remaining battery charge is at a level that allows the update software to be completely rewritten when an update notification is received, and to have the rewriting proceed if the remaining battery charge is sufficient, but this places an unnecessary burden on the user.

[0011] An object of the present invention is to maintain a charged state of an in-vehicle battery that allows the completion of rewriting to updated software when an update notification is received for software in an in-vehicle electronic control unit. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle control device of the present invention is a vehicle control device that controls the rewriting and updating of software of an on-board electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle using an engine as a drive source with update software transmitted via wireless communication, and includes: communication means for receiving the update software transmitted via wireless communication from outside the vehicle; power storage state detection means for detecting a power storage state of an on-board battery that is charged to a target charging voltage by a power generation device that generates power by driving the engine; derivation means for deriving an update time required for the rewriting and updating based on the data volume of the update software received by the communication means; and control means for controlling the accumulation of power to maintain the on-board battery in a predetermined power storage state based on either the power storage state detected by the power storage state detection means or the update time derived by the derivation means. The control for ensuring the stored power by the control means includes control for prohibiting idling stop and control for increasing the target charging voltage by the power generation device.Here, the predetermined charge state is, for example, a higher charge state.

[0013] With this configuration, the charge state detection means detects the charge state of the onboard battery, which is charged by a power generation device that generates electricity when the engine is driven, the derivation means derives the update time required for the rewrite update based on the data capacity of the update software received by the communication means, and the control means controls the storage of power to maintain the onboard battery in a predetermined charge state based on at least one of the charge state of the onboard battery detected by the charge state detection means and the update time derived by the derivation means, so that when an update notification is received regarding the software of the onboard electronic control device, the charge state of the onboard battery can be maintained so that the rewriting to the update software can be completed.

[0016] Also ,car If both vehicles have an idling stop function, control that prohibits idling stop is effective, and if they do not have an idling stop function, control that increases the target charging voltage by the power generation device is effective, making it possible to maintain the charge state of the vehicle battery at a high level more effectively depending on whether or not the idling stop function is present. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] According to this invention, power storage control is performed to maintain the vehicle battery in a predetermined power storage state based on at least one of the power storage state of the vehicle battery and the update time derived based on the data capacity of the update software.Therefore, when an update notification is received for the software of the vehicle electronic control device, the battery can be maintained in a power storage state that allows rewriting to the update software to be completed without placing a burden on the user, such as having to check the remaining charge of the vehicle battery, and automatic updating can be performed in a timely manner when an update notification is received. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1]1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a vehicle control device of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of FIG. 1. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of a conventional example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] An embodiment in which a vehicle control device of the present invention is mounted on an idle-stop vehicle will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

[0020] As shown in Figure 1, a vehicle control device 1 installed in an idling stop vehicle is connected to an OTA (Over The Air) center 3, which is a data center, via the Internet 2, and is configured so that update software created in advance by the automobile manufacturer and registered in the OTA center 3 can be downloaded via the Internet 2.

[0021] The vehicle control device 1 is configured as shown in FIG. 1 and includes a TCU (Telematics Control Unit) 11 as a communication means of the present invention that is connected to an OTA center 3 outside the vehicle via the Internet 2 and transmits and receives various data and information; a power storage state detection means 12 that detects the power storage state of an on-board battery 6 that is charged by an alternator 5 that serves as a power generation device of the present invention; a derivation means 13 that derives an update time T required for updating by rewriting the received update software to the update software received by the TCU 11; and a control means 14 that, when the TCU 11 receives an update notification from the OTA center 3 indicating that an update is necessary, temporarily stores the specified update software downloaded via the Internet 2 and the TCU 11 in one of the dual bank memories M1, M2, and then rewrites the software of the ECU to be updated, such as an IDS (Idling Stop) ECU 9 that controls idling stop control or another ECU 10 that controls another control, with the update software stored in the dual bank memories M1, M2.

[0022] Here, battery 6 is, for example, a lead battery with a nominal voltage of 12 V, and is charged by the generated power generated by alternator 5, which is a power generating device in the present invention, when driven by an engine (not shown). That is, when a driver gets in the vehicle and turns on the ignition (IG) to start the engine (not shown), the starter relay turns on, power is supplied from battery 6 to the starter, and the starter starts, starting the stopped engine and causing alternator 5 to start generating power, which charges battery 6. The target charging voltage for charging battery 6 by alternator 5 is switched to 12 V or 13.5 V by charge control means 7 shown in FIG. 1, and when rapid charging is required, the target charging voltage is switched to a maximum value of 15.5 V.

[0023] The power storage state detection means 12 detects the percentage of battery capacity (hereinafter also referred to as SOC (State Of Charge)) based on the integrated value of the battery current detected by a current sensor 8 as shown in Fig. 1, for example, and the SOC is 100% when the battery 6 is fully charged, and changes to 95%, 90%, 88%, 85%, etc. depending on the remaining capacity of the battery 6. The power storage state detection means 12 detects the percentage of the SOC of the battery 6, and outputs the detected SOC to the control means 14 as information on the power storage state of the battery 6. Here, the higher the SOC value, the higher the power storage state of the battery 6, and the lower the SOC value, the lower the power storage state of the battery 6.

[0024] The derivation means 13 derives the update time T required to rewrite and update the update software based on the data capacity of the update software received by the TCU 11 and the known communication speed of CAN (Controller Area Network) communication, which is commonly used for in-vehicle communication, and outputs the update time T derived by the derivation means 13 to the control means 14.

[0025] In an idle stop vehicle, the IDSECU 9 executes idle stop control from the time the driver gets in the vehicle and turns on the ignition (IG) to start the engine for the first time until the IG is turned off to stop the engine.

[0026] For example, when a predetermined stop condition is met, such as when the driver depresses the brake pedal at a traffic light turning red and the master cylinder pressure is equal to or greater than a predetermined depression pressure, the engine is automatically stopped when the vehicle speed drops below a predetermined speed, even if the vehicle does not come to a complete stop. On the other hand, when a predetermined restart condition is met, such as when the driver releases the brake pedal at a traffic light turning green and the master cylinder pressure drops to a predetermined release pressure, the starter is started based on a restart command from the IDSECU 9, and the stopped engine is automatically restarted.

[0027] In this way, in an idle stop vehicle, automatic engine stopping and automatic engine restarting are repeated alternately while the vehicle is running from when the IG is turned on until when it is turned off, and when the engine is restarted, the starter is driven, temporarily causing rapid consumption of the battery 6.

[0028] Then, when the TCU 11 receives an update notification from the OTA center 3 that an update is available, the control means 14 performs control such as prohibiting idling stop control by the IDSECU 9 and switching the target charging voltage of the battery 6 by the charging control means 7 and the alternator 5 to a maximum value (e.g., 15.5 V) to rapidly charge the battery 6, based on both the SOC detected as the charging state of the battery 6 by the charging state detection means 12 and the update time T derived by the derivation means 13, in order to maintain the remaining charge of the battery 6 at a predetermined charging state that allows the rewriting of the update software to be completed.

[0029] At this time, if the SOC of the battery 6 is 100%, i.e., close to full charge, the remaining capacity of the battery 6 is sufficient to complete the rewriting of the update software, so the control means 14 rewrites and updates the update software of the ECU to be updated without prohibiting idling stop control by the IDSECU 9, which is a control to ensure storage of power to maintain the battery 6 in a predetermined storage state, or switching the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to the maximum value by the charging control means 7 and alternator 5.

[0030] On the other hand, if the SOC of the battery 6 is not 100% when the TCU 11 receives an update notification from the OTA center 3 that an update is available, the remaining capacity of the battery 6 is not sufficient to complete the rewriting of the update software. Therefore, depending on the SOC value at that time, control is performed to ensure power storage to maintain the battery 6 in a predetermined power storage state, by either only prohibiting idling stop control or by both prohibiting idling stop control and switching the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to the maximum value.

[0031] Next, the control procedure for ensuring charge storage by the control means 14 for maintaining the battery 6 in a predetermined charge state will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 2, the control means 14 determines whether or not an update notification has been received by the TCU 11 from the OTA center 3 via the Internet 2, indicating whether or not there is an update (step S1). If the result of this determination is NO, there is no need for an update, so normal control is executed (step S2), which does not perform control to prohibit idling stop control by the IDSECU 9, nor control to switch the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to its maximum value by the charging control means 7 and alternator 5, and then the operation ends.

[0033] On the other hand, when the TCU 11 receives an update notification from the OTA center 3 via the Internet 2 indicating that an update is available, the process proceeds to step S3 after the judgment in step S1 described above, where the derivation means 13 derives the update time T required for rewriting and updating to the update software based on the data volume of the update software received by the TCU 11 and the communication speed of the CAN communication (step S3), and determines whether the derived update time T is 30 minutes or more (step S4).If the judgment result is YES, it is determined whether the SOC of the battery 6 detected by the power storage state detection means 12 is 90% or less (step S5).

[0034] If the determination result in step S5 is YES, it is determined that the remaining capacity of the battery 6 is not sufficient to complete the rewrite update of the update software, the update time T is long, the SOC of the battery 6 is low, and it is expected that the rewrite update will consume a lot of power, so it is necessary to keep the battery 6 in a high charged state.As a result, as a control to ensure that the battery 6 is in a predetermined charged state, both control to prohibit idling stop control and control to switch the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to the maximum value are performed (step S6), and then the operation ends.

[0035] Furthermore, if the judgment result of the above step S5 is NO, that is, if the SOC of the battery 6 is not 90% or less, then in step S7 it is judged whether the SOC of the battery 6 is 95% or less (step S7), and if this judgment result is YES, it can be determined that the remaining charge of the battery 6 is relatively sufficient to complete the rewriting update of the update software, so that only the control to prohibit idling stop control is performed as the control to ensure power storage to maintain the battery 6 in a predetermined power storage state (step S8), and then the operation ends.

[0036] Furthermore, if the judgment result of step S7 is NO, it can be determined that the SOC of battery 6 is 96% or more and the remaining capacity of battery 6 is sufficient to complete the rewrite update of the update software, so normal control is performed (step S9) to ensure power storage to maintain battery 6 in a predetermined power storage state, without controlling to prohibit idling stop control or switching the target charging voltage of battery 6 to the maximum value, and then the operation ends.

[0037] Meanwhile, if the determination result of step S4 is NO, that is, if the update time T derived in step S3 is less than 30 minutes, the process proceeds to step S10, where it is determined whether the derived update time T is 20 minutes or more (step S10). If the determination result is YES, it is determined that the update time T is relatively short, between 20 minutes and 30 minutes, and it is determined whether the SOC of the battery 6 detected by the charge state detection means 12 is 85% or less (step S11).

[0038] If the judgment result in step S10 is YES, although the SOC of battery 6 is 85% or less and the remaining charge is not sufficient to complete the rewrite update of the update software, since the update time T is short and the power consumed in the rewrite update is expected to be relatively small, it can be determined that there is no need to keep the battery 6 in a very high charged state, and therefore only control to prohibit idling stop control is performed as a control to ensure charge storage to maintain battery 6 in a predetermined charged state (step S12), and then the operation ends.

[0039] On the other hand, if the judgment result of step S11 is NO, the update time T is relatively short, at more than 20 minutes but less than 30 minutes, and the SOC of battery 6 is 86% or more, and it can be determined that the remaining charge of battery 6 is sufficient to complete the rewrite update of the update software.Therefore, as a control to ensure power storage to maintain battery 6 in a predetermined power storage state, normal control is performed (step S13), which does not perform control to prohibit idling stop control or control to switch the target charging voltage of battery 6 to the maximum value, and then the operation ends.

[0040] Incidentally, if the judgment result of step S10 described above is NO, that is, if the update time T derived in step S3 is less than 20 minutes, it is expected that the update time T is short and the power consumed in the rewrite update will be very small, so it can be determined that there is no need to keep the battery 6 in a high charged state, and the process proceeds to step S2, where normal control is executed as control to ensure charge storage in order to maintain the battery 6 in a predetermined charged state, which does not perform control to prohibit idling stop control or control to switch the target charge voltage of the battery 6 to the maximum value (step S2), and then the operation ends.

[0041] If the determination in step S1 above indicates that an update is required, the update notification will specify the ECU to be updated. After steps S6, S8, S9, S12, and S13 are executed, the ECU identified as the target for update is rewritten and updated.

[0042] 2, if an update is required, the TCU 11 receives the update software distributed from the OTA center 3 via the Internet 2. The control unit 14 stores the received update software in one of the dual bank memories M1 and M2. After steps S6, S8, S9, S12, and S13 are processed, the IDSECU 9 or any other ECU 10 to be updated is rewritten with the update software stored in the dual bank memories M1 and M2. This allows for updating while the vehicle is running. Note that the update software distributed from the OTA center 3 may be stored in a single bank memory instead of the dual bank memories M1 and M2. It goes without saying that updating may also be performed while the vehicle is stopped.

[0043] Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the battery storage state detection means 12 detects the SOC, which is the battery storage state of the battery 6 that is charged by the alternator 5 that generates electricity when the engine is driven, and when the TCU 11 receives update software distributed from the OTA center 3, the derivation means 13 derives the update time T required for the rewrite update based on the data capacity of the received update software and the communication speed of the CAN communication, which is in-vehicle communication, and the control means 14 controls the storage of power to maintain the in-vehicle battery in a high storage state (predetermined storage state) based on either the SOC of the battery 6 detected by the battery storage state detection means 12 or the update time T derived by the derivation means 13. Therefore, it is possible to automatically update in a timely manner when an update notification is received, while maintaining the battery storage state that allows rewriting to the update software to be completed, without burdening the user with having to check the remaining charge of the in-vehicle battery.

[0044] Furthermore, the lower the SOC, which is the state of charge of the battery 6 detected by the state of charge detection means 12, is below a predetermined level, and the longer the update time T derived by the derivation means 13 is than a predetermined time, the more control is performed to maintain the battery 6 in a higher state of charge, by both prohibiting idling stop control and switching the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to its maximum value, so that the state of charge of the battery 6 can be maintained to a level that allows the rewrite update to the update software to be completed more reliably.

[0045] In addition, in an idling stop vehicle, by controlling the IDSECU9 to prohibit idling stop control as a control for ensuring power storage in the battery 6, it is possible to suppress power consumption in the battery 6 due to idling stop control during normal driving, and it is possible to maintain the battery 6 in a higher power storage state while automatically updating it in a timely manner when an update notification is received.

[0046] Furthermore, by controlling the switching of the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to the maximum value (15.5V) as a control for ensuring the storage of power in the battery 6, the battery 6 can be rapidly charged. Therefore, even if the user normally only drives for short periods of time and short distances, the storage state of the battery 6 can be effectively maintained at a high level, and the battery can be automatically updated when an update notification is received.

[0047] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0048] For example, in the above-described embodiment, whether or not to perform control to ensure storage of power to maintain the battery 6 in a high storage state is determined based on both the update time T derived by the derivation means 13 and the SOC, which is the storage state of the battery 6 detected by the storage state detection means 12, but the determination may also be based on either the update time T or the SOC.

[0049] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, an example was shown in which both the control to prohibit idling stop control and the control to switch the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to its maximum value are performed as the control to ensure storage of the battery 6 in a high storage state, but it is also possible to perform either the control to prohibit idling stop control or the control to switch the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to its maximum value, and particularly when the present invention is applied to a vehicle that does not have an idling stop function, it is desirable to perform only the control to switch the target charging voltage of the battery 6 to its maximum value as the control to ensure storage of the battery 6 in a predetermined storage state, and to perform the rewrite update when the vehicle is stopped after the control to ensure storage of the battery 6 is performed.

[0050] In the above embodiment, the determination thresholds for the update time T in steps S4 and S10 of FIG. 2 are set to 30 minutes or more and 20 minutes or more, and the determination thresholds for the SOC of the battery 6 in steps S5, S7, and S11 are set to 90% or less, 95% or less, and 85% or less, but the determination thresholds in this case are not limited to these numerical values.

[0051] In addition, in the above embodiment, when performing switching control of the target charging voltage of battery 6, which is a control to ensure the storage of power in battery 6, the target charging voltage is switched to the maximum value of 15.5 V, but the maximum value is not limited to this value.

[0052] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which a connection is made to an OTA center 3 outside the vehicle via the TCU 11 and the Internet 2, but the communication means is not limited to the TCU 11 and may be a DCM (Data Communication Module), and further, the data center outside the vehicle to which the communication means is connected may be an external server other than the OTA center. In short, any configuration is acceptable as long as wireless communication is possible via the Internet or the like.

[0053] The present invention can be applied to a vehicle control device that controls the software of an on-board electronic control device installed in a vehicle that uses an engine as a power source to be rewritten and updated with update software transmitted via wireless communication. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1...Vehicle control device 3. OTA Center 5...Alternator (generator) 6...Automotive battery 9. IDSECU 10...Other ECUs 11...TCU (communication means) 12...Storage state detection means 13...Derivation means 14...Control means M1, M2... Dual bank memory

Claims

[Claim 1] A vehicle control device that controls software of an on-board electronic control device mounted on a vehicle using an engine as a drive source to be rewritten and updated with update software transmitted via wireless communication, a communication means for receiving the update software transmitted from outside the vehicle by wireless communication; a power storage state detection means for detecting a power storage state of an on-board battery that is charged to a target charging voltage by a power generation device that generates power by driving the engine; a deriving means for deriving an update time required for rewriting and updating based on the data volume of the update software received by the communication means; a control means for controlling power storage to maintain the in-vehicle battery in a predetermined power storage state based on at least one of the power storage state detected by the power storage state detection means and the update time derived by the derivation means; Equipped with The control for securing the stored electricity by the control means is The control includes a control for prohibiting idling stop and a control for increasing the target charging voltage by the power generation device. A vehicle control device characterized by:

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