Vehicle OTA upgrading system and vehicle

Abstract

A vehicle, provided with a vehicle OTA upgrading system. The vehicle OTA upgrading system comprises a storage center and a plurality of controllers connected to the storage center. The storage center is used for acquiring and storing an upgrade package. The controllers are each used for, after receiving an upgrade notification, reading a corresponding upgrade package from the storage center and running said upgrade package so as to upgrade the controller.

Description

Vehicle OTA upgrade system and vehicle Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of vehicle OTA upgrade, and more specifically to a vehicle OTA upgrade system and a vehicle. Background Art

[0002] In related technologies, the software programs of electronic control units (ECUs) and domain controllers are stored in large-capacity internal memories. To ensure the security and reliability of software programs, the memories are typically divided into multiple partitions, such as a common partition (containing ROM (Read-Only Memory) programs, such as the boot program), partition A, and partition B. After the ECU and domain controller are powered on, they run the programs in the common partition, followed by those in partition A. If this fails, they switch to partition B. Conversely, after the ECU and domain controller are powered on, they run the programs in the common partition, followed by those in partition B. If this fails, they switch to partition A. During a vehicle software upgrade, if the A partition program is detected, partition B is upgraded; if the B partition program is detected, partition A is upgraded. If the upgrade fails, the system can roll back to the previous version, ensuring the security and reliability of the upgrade process. However, these ECUs and domain controllers require large-capacity memories to store the resources needed for the upgrade. Furthermore, these storage resources are prone to fragmentation, hindering centralized management and allocation of storage resources.

[0003] Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention is proposed to address at least one of the above-mentioned problems. According to a first aspect of the present application, a vehicle OTA upgrade system is provided, comprising: a storage center and multiple controllers connected to the storage center; the storage center is configured to obtain and store upgrade packages; and the controllers are configured to, upon receiving an upgrade notification, read and execute the corresponding upgrade packages from the storage center to upgrade the controllers.

[0005] In one embodiment of the present application, the system further includes: a computing unit, connected to the storage center and the controller, respectively, for updating the target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center and generating an upgrade notification in response to an upgrade request instruction; wherein, after receiving the upgrade notification, the controller reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present application, the system further includes: an Ethernet gateway, connected to the computing unit, the storage center and the controller respectively.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present application, there are multiple Ethernet gateways, and any two of the Ethernet gateways are communicatively connected; wherein the storage center and the computing unit are respectively connected to one or more Ethernet gateways.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present application, the computing unit includes at least two computing sub-units; each computing sub-unit is connected to a different Ethernet gateway.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present application, the controller includes a storage area, the upgrade package includes the target firmware and its name, and after receiving the upgrade notification, the controller reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target upgrade flag, and when upgrading, is used to: read the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center; obtain the target firmware name according to the updated target firmware upgrade flag; load the target firmware into the storage area according to the target firmware name, and jump to the target firmware to run.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present application, the computing unit is further used to: when the operation information shows that the target firmware fails to run, update the target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center to the target firmware upgrade flag of the previous version, and resend the upgrade notification to the controller.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present application, the storage center is specifically used to: download and store the upgrade package when preset conditions are met; wherein, the preset conditions include: the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade packages currently stored in the storage center, the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade packages in progress, the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade packages being downloaded, and the data is legal.

[0012] In one embodiment of the present application, after determining that the data is legal, the storage center is also used to: when there is no need to reconnect with the Ethernet gateway, save the downloaded data and check the current version information; when it is necessary to reconnect with the Ethernet gateway, directly check the current version information; when the current version information meets the requirements, download and store the upgrade package.

[0013] In one embodiment of the present application, the computing subunit is connected to the storage center via a PCIe bus or optical fiber.

[0014] According to a second aspect of the present application, a vehicle is provided, comprising: any one of the above-mentioned vehicle OTA upgrade systems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0016] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle OTA upgrade system provided by one embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle OTA upgrade system provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] 3 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of a controller reading an upgrade package corresponding to an updated target upgrade flag after receiving an upgrade notification according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a process for a storage center to obtain and store an upgrade package according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle OTA upgrade system provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a process for updating files in a storage center according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle provided in one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments of the present invention, and it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. Based on the embodiments of the present invention described in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0024] In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these details. In other instances, certain technical features well known in the art are not described to avoid confusion with the present invention.

[0025] It should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in different forms and should not be interpreted as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to make disclosure thorough and complete and to fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

[0026] In order to fully understand the present invention, a detailed structure will be provided in the following description to illustrate the technical solution proposed by the present invention. Optional embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. However, in addition to these detailed descriptions, the present invention may also have other implementations.

[0027] The following embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other.

[0028] In a first aspect, the present application provides a vehicle OTA upgrade system. As shown in FIG1 , the vehicle OTA upgrade system 10 includes: a storage center 100 and a plurality of controllers 200 connected to the storage center 100 ;

[0029] The storage center 100 is used to obtain and store upgrade packages.

[0030] It should be noted that the storage center 100100 stores relevant data in the form of files and directories with a higher degree of abstraction, thereby simplifying the storage part in the controller 200. The controller 200 no longer requires complex A and B partitions, reducing the complexity of OTA upgrades and facilitating the formation of a standardized operating interface.

[0031] The storage center 100 may include a memory, which may include a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, a random access memory (RAM) and / or a cache memory, etc. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, a flash memory, etc.

[0032] After receiving the upgrade notification, the controller 200 is configured to read and run the corresponding upgrade package from the storage center 100 to upgrade the controller 200 .

[0033] The vehicle OTA upgrade system 10 of the embodiment of the present invention centrally manages and allocates storage resources through the storage center 100, which can reduce the storage space of the controller 200 and the complexity of the controller 200, and is conducive to the modularization, standardization and pure software of OTA upgrades.

[0034] In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 2, the vehicle OTA upgrade system 10 also includes: a computing unit 300, which is connected to the storage center 100 and the controller 200 respectively, and is used to update the target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center 100 and generate an upgrade notification in response to the upgrade request instruction.

[0035] After receiving the upgrade notification, the controller 200 reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center 100 .

[0036] It should be noted that by adding the calculation unit 300 , the internal structure of the controller 200 is simplified, and when a fault occurs in the controller 200 in the vehicle, the fault can be quickly located.

[0037] As an example, the computing unit 300 may also send a confirmation request to the user regarding whether to perform an upgrade, and if the user agrees to the upgrade, send an upgrade notification to the controller 200 .

[0038] In this embodiment, the computing unit 300 can perform some computing functions, thereby ensuring high reliability and stability of the vehicle system during OTA (Over-The-Air) upgrades, and also speeding up software development and testing. This also accelerates OTA upgrades and reduces the complexity of the controller 200.

[0039] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG2 , the vehicle OTA upgrade system 10 further includes an Ethernet gateway 400 , which is connected to the computing unit 300 , the storage center 100 , and the controller 200 , respectively.

[0040] In this embodiment, high-speed and reliable data transmission can be ensured by using the Ethernet gateway 400 .

[0041] In some embodiments, there are multiple Ethernet gateways 400, and any two Ethernet gateways 400 are communicatively connected; wherein, the storage center 100 and the computing unit 300 are respectively connected to one or more Ethernet gateways 400.

[0042] As an example, when there are two Ethernet gateways 400, the storage center 100 and the computing unit 300 can be connected to different Ethernet gateways 400, or the storage center 100 and the computing unit 300 can each be connected to two Ethernet gateways 400. When there are three or more Ethernet gateways 400, the Ethernet gateways 400 can be connected in a ring, and the storage center 100 and the computing unit 300 can be connected to one or more Ethernet gateways 400. It is worth noting that when the Ethernet gateways 400 are connected in a ring, any two Ethernet gateways 400 can be directly connected or indirectly connected through other Ethernet gateways 400.

[0043] In this embodiment, by providing multiple Ethernet gateways 400 and ensuring communication between any two Ethernet gateways 400, the reliability of the connection between the storage center 100 and the computing unit 300 can be guaranteed, preventing the interruption of vehicle OTA upgrades due to a failure of an Ethernet gateway 400. Furthermore, when three or more Ethernet gateways 400 are connected in a ring, redundant paths can be provided, load balancing can be achieved, and scalability can be increased. Furthermore, the meshed communication method also facilitates effective communication and backup between various devices.

[0044] In some embodiments, the computing unit 300 includes at least two computing sub-units, wherein each computing sub-unit is connected to a different Ethernet gateway 400 .

[0045] As an example, the computing unit 300 may include a first computing subunit and a second computing subunit; the first computing subunit and the second computing subunit are each connected to a different Ethernet gateway 400. When multiple controllers 200 need to be upgraded simultaneously, the processing speed of a single computing unit 300 is limited, slowing down the OTA upgrade process. Therefore, the first computing subunit and the second computing subunit may each be assigned to a different upgrade task.

[0046] In this embodiment, by providing multiple computing subunits, the upgrade speed of the vehicle OTA can be increased when multiple controllers 200 need to be upgraded simultaneously.

[0047] In some embodiments, the controller 200 includes a storage area, and the upgrade package includes the target firmware and its name. As shown in FIG3 , after receiving the upgrade notification, the controller 200 reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target upgrade flag and, when performing the upgrade, is used to:

[0048] In step S11 , the updated target firmware upgrade flag is read from the storage center 100 .

[0049] Specifically, when the controller 200 is in an idle state and receives an upgrade notification, it restarts and enters a boot program, and the boot program reads the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center 100 .

[0050] In step S12, the target firmware name is obtained according to the updated target firmware upgrade flag.

[0051] In step S13, the target firmware is loaded into the storage area according to the target firmware name, and the target firmware is jumped to run.

[0052] Specifically, the boot program may search for the target firmware in the storage center 100 according to the target firmware name, and download the target firmware to the storage area.

[0053] It should be noted that, since the controller 200 downloads new target firmware from the storage center 100 when it needs to be upgraded, the storage area may be a small-capacity storage space.

[0054] As an example, the target firmware's operating information may be updated to the storage center 100. The target firmware's operating information includes whether the target firmware upgrade is successful, etc. After receiving the target firmware upgrade successful operating information, the storage center 100 sends the controller 200 upgrade completion notification to the computing unit 300.

[0055] In this embodiment, the controller 200 does not need to be configured with a large storage space, and no longer requires complex A and B partitions, which is conducive to improving the upgrade success rate of the controller 200.

[0056] In some embodiments, the computing unit 300 is further configured to update the target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center 100 to a previous version of the target firmware upgrade flag when the operation information indicates that the target firmware fails to run, and resend the upgrade notification to the controller 200 .

[0057] In this embodiment, by updating the target firmware upgrade flag to the target firmware upgrade flag of the previous version after the corresponding controller 200 fails to upgrade, the normal operation of the controller 200 can be ensured without affecting the user's car experience.

[0058] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG4 , the storage center 100 is specifically used to: download and store the upgrade package when preset conditions are met; wherein the preset conditions include: the upgrade package currently stored in the storage center 100 does not contain the scheduled upgrade package, the upgrade package currently undergoing the upgrade task does not contain the scheduled upgrade package, the upgrade package currently being downloaded does not contain the scheduled upgrade package, and the data is legal.

[0059] As an example, when the storage center 100 already has an upgrade package scheduled for download or is in the process of upgrading the upgrade package scheduled for download, the download process of the upgrade package is terminated.

[0060] As another example, when a scheduled upgrade package download is in progress, the download is paused and the process goes to the step of verifying whether the data is legitimate.

[0061] Accordingly, when the upgrade package is downloaded successfully and is the last upgrade package, the download is terminated.

[0062] As an example, if the upgrade package download fails, the upgrade package is re-downloaded. If the re-download exceeds three times, the download process ends. After determining that the successfully downloaded upgrade package is the last upgrade package, the download task ends.

[0063] In this embodiment, by adding a verification procedure before downloading the scheduled upgrade package, the efficiency of downloading and storing the upgrade package can be improved while ensuring data security.

[0064] In some embodiments, after determining that the data is legal, the storage center 100 is also used to: when there is no need to reconnect with the Ethernet gateway 400, save the downloaded data and check the current version information; when it is necessary to reconnect with the Ethernet gateway 400, directly check the current version information; when the current version information meets the requirements, download and store the upgrade package.

[0065] It should be noted that due to network or connection issues, the storage center 100 may need to reconnect to the Ethernet gateway 400, and the integrity and accuracy of the downloaded data may not be guaranteed. Therefore, when the storage center 100 needs to reconnect to the Ethernet gateway 400, it directly checks the current version information and does not save the downloaded data. When the storage center 100 does not need to reconnect to the Ethernet gateway 400, saving the downloaded data and checking the current version information can save network resources and reduce OTA upgrade time.

[0066] In this embodiment, by determining whether it is necessary to reconnect to the Ethernet gateway 400, the downloaded data can be saved in time. After checking the version information, if the downloaded data is the data of the version that needs to be downloaded currently, the downloaded data is retained, thereby saving network resources.

[0067] In some embodiments, the computing subunit is connected to the storage center 100 via a PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) bus or an optical fiber.

[0068] For example, in a computing unit 300 comprising a first computing subunit and a second computing subunit, during system startup, the first and second computing subunits can select different links to communicate with the storage center 100, thereby accelerating startup. During system operation, the first and second computing subunits can also select different links to communicate with the storage center 100, ensuring that their communications do not conflict.

[0069] As an example, the controller 200 may be connected to the storage center 100 via a CAN FD (CAN with Flexible Data-Rate) bus.

[0070] In this embodiment, a variety of communication methods are provided, and various devices are connected through PCIe bus, optical fiber or CANFD bus, which can speed up data exchange and improve data transmission capabilities.

[0071] As an example, as shown in Figure 5, the number of Ethernet gateways 400 is 4, and the 4 Ethernet gateways 400 (Ethernet gateway 1, Ethernet gateway 2, Ethernet gateway 3, Ethernet gateway 4) are connected in a ring shape, the storage center 100 is connected to the first computing sub-unit 301 through the PCIe bus, the storage center 100 is connected to the second computing sub-unit 302 through optical fiber, the storage center 100 is connected to Ethernet gateway 1 and Ethernet gateway 4, the first computing sub-unit 301 is connected to Ethernet gateway 1 and Ethernet gateway 2, the second computing sub-unit 302 is connected to Ethernet gateway 3 and Ethernet gateway 4, the controller 200 includes ECU1, ECU2, ECU3 and a domain controller, ECU1 and ECU2 are connected to the storage center 100 through the CANFD bus, ECU3 is connected to Ethernet gateway 2, and the domain controller is connected to Ethernet gateway 3.

[0072] In this embodiment, the storage center 100 is connected to the computing unit 300 and the controller 200 through multiple communication links, so that the storage center 100 has high redundancy and high reliability, thereby improving the safety and reliability of the entire vehicle, reducing the coupling degree of vehicle software, and improving the success rate of vehicle OTA upgrades.

[0073] Next, as shown in FIG6 , when the vehicle is running (for example, the vehicle is traveling on the road), the update process of the files in the storage center 100 is given:

[0074] Create a temporary upgrade file.

[0075] Determine whether all files in the controller 200 have been upgraded.

[0076] If all upgrades are completed, the upgrade is complete.

[0077] If there are files that have not been upgraded, it is determined whether there is a rollback status module.

[0078] If it exists, roll back to the non-upgraded file part; if it does not exist, continue the upgrade.

[0079] Determine whether the upgrade or rollback is successful.

[0080] If successful, the process returns to the step of determining whether all files in the controller 200 have been upgraded; if unsuccessful, the upgrade count is increased by one.

[0081] When the number of recorded upgrades reaches 3 times, the current file is deleted and the process returns to the step of determining whether all files of the controller 200 have been upgraded; when the number of recorded upgrades does not reach 3 times, the current state is changed to rollback and the process returns to the step of determining whether all files of the controller 200 have been upgraded.

[0082] In addition, the present application provides a vehicle, as shown in FIG7 , wherein the vehicle 1 includes any one of the above-mentioned vehicle OTA upgrade systems 10. The vehicle may be, for example but not limited to, a passenger car, a truck, or a special engineering vehicle.

[0083] The vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention can improve the success rate and speed of the upgrade when performing OTA upgrade.

[0084] The present invention has been described through the above-described embodiments. However, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are for illustrative and illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the present invention to the described embodiments. Furthermore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and that various variations and modifications may be made based on the teachings of the present invention, all of which fall within the scope of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A vehicle OTA upgrade system (10), characterized in that: It comprises: a storage center (100) and a plurality of controllers (200) connected to the storage center; The storage center is used to obtain and store the upgrade package; and The controller is used to read and run the corresponding upgrade package from the storage center after receiving the upgrade notification, so as to upgrade the controller.

2. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system further comprises: a computing unit (300), connected to the storage center and the controller respectively, for responding to an upgrade request instruction, updating a target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center and generating an upgrade notification; After receiving the upgrade notification, the controller reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center.

3. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The system further comprises: an Ethernet gateway (400) connected to the computing unit, the storage center and the controller respectively.

4. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: There are multiple Ethernet gateways, and any two of the Ethernet gateways are communicatively connected; Wherein, the storage center and the computing unit are respectively connected to one or more Ethernet gateways.

5. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The computing unit comprises at least two computing subunits (301, 302); Wherein, each of the computing subunits is respectively connected to a different Ethernet gateway.

6. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The controller includes a storage area, the upgrade package includes the target firmware and its name, and after receiving the upgrade notification, the controller reads the upgrade package corresponding to the updated target upgrade flag and performs the upgrade, which is used to: Reading the updated target firmware upgrade flag from the storage center; Acquire the target firmware name according to the updated target firmware upgrade flag; According to the target firmware name, the target firmware is loaded into the storage area, and the target firmware is jumped to run.

7. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The computing unit is also used for: When the operation information shows that the target firmware fails to run, the target firmware upgrade flag in the storage center is updated to a target firmware upgrade flag of a previous version, and an upgrade notification is resent to the controller.

8. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The storage center is specifically used to: download and store the upgrade package when a preset condition is met; Among them, the preset conditions include: the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade package currently stored in the storage center, the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade package in progress, the scheduled download upgrade package does not exist in the upgrade package being downloaded, and the data is legal.

9. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: After confirming that the data is legitimate, the storage center is also used to: When there is no need to reconnect to the Ethernet gateway, save the downloaded data and check the current version information; When it is necessary to reconnect with the Ethernet gateway, the current version information is directly checked; When the current version information meets the requirements, the upgrade package is downloaded and stored.

10. The vehicle OTA upgrade system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The computing subunit is connected to the storage center via a PCIe bus or an optical fiber.

11. A vehicle, characterized in that: include: A vehicle OTA upgrade system as described in any one of claims 1-10.

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