A method and control arrangement for updating software of a vehicle component

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and control arrangement for updating a vehicle component of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising: a vehicle component comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the vehicle component; a control arrangement comprising an internal storage for storing a control software controlling operation of the control arrangement, the control arrangement being configured to control operation of the vehicle component; wherein: the control software of the control arrangement is replaced with an update software, the update software being configured to update the software component of the vehicle component; the software component of the vehicle component is updated utilizing the update software; and, following the updating, the software of the control arrangement is restored to control software for controlling operation of the control arrangement.

Description

[0001] A METHOD AND CONTROL ARRANGEMENT FOR UPDATING SOFTWARE OF A VEHICLE COMPONENT

[0002] Technical field

[0003] Aspects of the invention relate to a method and a control arrangement for updating software of vehicle components. Further, aspects of the invention relate to a computer program, a computer-readable medium and a vehicle comprising a control arrangement.

[0004] Background

[0005] Modern vehicles, such as heavy vehicles, comprise a vehicle control system configured to control various functions of the vehicle. The vehicle control system may comprise a plurality of electric control units (ECUs), where such control units may be configured to control various systems of the vehicle. For example, systems of the vehicle that may be controlled by electronic control units may, e.g., comprise anti-lock brake systems, automatic cruise control systems, exhaust control systems, battery systems and various other systems.

[0006] The electronic control units comprise not only hardware components but in general also software or, more specifically, software components, where the software components may comprise operating software of the control units, and where the software hence is configured to run when the vehicle, and thereby control unit, is in operation.

[0007] As was mentioned, control units of this kind may be configured to control various systems of the vehicle, where such systems may comprise various vehicle components that also may comprise software components, and where the operation of such vehicle components may rely on the software stored therein.

[0008] The software components may need updates as time progress, e.g., in order to ensure compatibility with other systems. For example, the software may be further developed, and there may exist a desire to update vehicle components already being present in existing vehicles to thereby improve the functionality also for such vehicles, and also to ensure compatibility with new features of other systems. There may also exist other reasons, e.g., field quality issues arising following a period of normal use of the vehicle, for which updating of the software components may be desired.

[0009] Summary

[0010] It is an object of the invention to provide a method and a control arrangement for updating software of vehicle components in situations where otherwise software update may not be readily available.

[0011] According to a first aspect of the invention, the aforementioned and further objects are achieved through a method performed by a control arrangement for updating a vehicle component of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising: a vehicle component comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the vehicle component; a control arrangement comprising an internal storage for storing a control software controlling operation of the control arrangement, the control arrangement being configured to control operation of the vehicle component; the method comprising: replacing the control software of the control arrangement with an update software, the update software being configured to update the software component of the vehicle component; updating the software component of the vehicle component utilizing the update software; and, following the updating, restoring the software of the control arrangement to control software for controlling operation of the control arrangement.

[0012] As was mentioned, there exist situations when there may be a desire to update software components of vehicle components.

[0013] Software update of vehicle components of the kind to which the invention relates is in general performed when the vehicle is not in operation, and in particular when the vehicle is taken in for other service measures, e.g. in a vehicle workshop. Although there may exist vehicle software portions that may be updated wirelessly over the air this in general relates to portions of software of, e.g., a control unit, where the control unit itself participates in the update process through other software being stored on, and in particular that is currently running on, the control unit. The invention relates to software update of software components that are stored in memory in a more permanent manner, such as firmware and other software being stored in an erasable read-only memory.

[0014] Vehicle components, and in particular vehicle components being controlled by control units, are oftentimes designed in a way that require old software to simply be overwritten by the new software, and where the old software is simply erased from the vehicle component. Updating of this kind in general requires particular communication protocols being designed to overwrite existing software with new software, where the vehicle component itself does not participate in the update process, and where therefore software update tools need to be used.

[0015] Such software update tools are also utilized by vehicle workshops to perform required software update of various entities being present in the vehicle, where such entities may include vehicle components and control units. However, a vehicle may comprise components being manufactured by a large variety of manufacturers, and different manufacturers may utilize different communication protocols for performing the update. In order to update these components there may be a need to change the in-vehicle communication architecture to support updating of the component using the supplier-specific communication protocols. For example, the communication architecture may need to support a gateway of the supplier specific communication protocol which may affect many systems in the vehicle.

[0016] Thus, it is not always possible to use the updating tools at hand in e.g. the workshop in order to update the components in accordance with the supplier-specific communication protocol. Thus, In order to update these components either the supplier-specific component need to be adjusted to be compatible with the vehicle software update system or the vehicle software update system need to be adjusted to be compatible with the supplier-specific update software. Therefore, there may exist a number of vehicle components for which updating is not possible using the tools at hand in, e.g., a vehicle workshop.

[0017] According to the invention, updating is made possible also for such vehicle components by replacing the control software of the control arrangement with an update software that is configured to update the software component of the vehicle component. That is, the control software normally being executed when powering on the control arrangement and which is operative when the vehicle is in operation may be replaced by the update software. In this way the control arrangement, where the control arrangement may comprise one or more electric control units, can be seen as being (temporarily) converted to an update tool that is adapted for updating of one or more particular vehicle components. The software component of the vehicle component may then be updated utilizing the update software, and, following the updating, the software of the control arrangement can be restored to control software for controlling operation of the control arrangement so that the control arrangement may again resume normal operation and provide the functionality that is normally provided when the vehicle is in operation. Consequently, the invention provides a solution that may allow software updating of vehicle components when the vehicle components are installed in the vehicle, and for which vehicle components a software update may otherwise not be possible without replacing the complete component, or at least adjust the vehicle software update system or the supplier-specific software update system. Such replacement or adjustment may be both costly and in particular time consuming, since the vehicle component may be difficult to access.

[0018] The update software may be configured to be compatible with the vehicle software system. In this way the software may replace the control software of the control arrangement without any need for any software or hardware changes on the vehicle.

[0019] The update software may further comprise the update protocol of the component to be updated. Since the update software comprises the update protocol of the component, the software may update the component. Thus, there is no need to provide support for supplier-specific communication protocols within existing update tools. The update software may thus comprise an update protocol configured to update the software component of the vehicle. Thus, the supplier-specific update protocol is comprised in the update software.

[0020] According to aspects of the invention, the control software of the control arrangement is a software being executed when powering on the control arrangement, and, when the control software of the control arrangement is replaced by the update software, the update software replacing the control software of the control arrangement is automatically executed when powering on the control arrangement following the replacement of the software. The software being replaced may also include the boot software of the control arrangement, where the boot software may be replaced by new boot software forming part of the update software, but in general this may not be the case.

[0021] According to aspects of the invention the update software comprises an update feature for automatically updating the software component of the vehicle component when executed. That is, the update of the vehicle component may be configured to be automatically commenced when the control unit is started with the update software. The update software may also be configured to provide an indication when the update is completed, e.g., through a display or other means of a workshop tool or being present in the vehicle.

[0022] According to aspects of the invention the update is instead commenced only after receiving a confirmation from a user, where such confirmation may also be provided, e.g., through any suitable means.

[0023] According to aspects of the invention, the update software comprises a flash protocol configured to update the software component of the vehicle component through flashing of the software component of the vehicle component. Software being executed when a device is powered on, such as firmware, is in general stored in read-only memory storage, where such memory storages may be electrically erasable to allow currently stored software to be overwritten by new software. This is performed through a process called flashing, where various different flash protocols exist. The update software may be configured to perform flashing using a flash protocol being required for updating the software component of the vehicle component to thereby allow updating of the vehicle component.

[0024] According to aspects of the invention, the internal storage of the vehicle component is an electrically erasable memory storage, where the method may hence comprise erasing the software component stored in the electrically erasable memory storage of the vehicle component by overwriting the software component with an updated software component.

[0025] According to aspects of the invention, the internal storage of the control arrangement is an electrically erasable memory storage, and the control software of the control arrangement stored in the electrically erasable memory storage is erased by overwriting the control software with the update software. Thereby the update software may also be flashed onto the control arrangement.

[0026] According to aspects of the invention, the update software replacing the control software of the control arrangement comprises the updated software component to replace the software component of the vehicle component. Thereby the control arrangement may both automatically start the update software when being powered on, and also commence the update automatically as soon as the update software is executed.

[0027] According to aspects of the invention, the method comprises, prior to overwriting the control software of the control arrangement, and / or the software component of the vehicle component to be updated, storing a backup of the control software of the control arrangement and / or the software component of the vehicle component. In this way the control arrangement and / or vehicle component may be restored in case the replacing of the control software, and / or update of vehicle component, goes wrong. However, it is also to be noted that in particular the control software of the control arrangement may be already stored, e.g., in a software library of the vehicle manufacturer and / or vehicle workshop, so that the backup in general may not be needed.

[0028] According to aspects of the invention, the control arrangement controls a plurality of vehicle components each comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the respective vehicle component. The method may then comprise updating the plurality of vehicle components using the update software. The plurality of vehicle components may, e.g., be similar vehicle components that may be updated consecutively or sequentially. According to aspects of the invention, different types of vehicle components may be updated by the update software, in which case the update software may, e.g., be configured to communicate according to a plurality of flash protocols.

[0029] According to aspects of the invention, the control arrangement and vehicle component communicates over a data bus, such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus or any other suitable kind of data bus and the software component of the vehicle component may be updated over the data bus.

[0030] According to aspects of the invention, the vehicle component may be a voltage / current sensor of a high-voltage battery for sensing a voltage / current of the high-voltage battery. Such vehicle components may oftentimes form integrated parts of, e.g., a battery pack and be difficult to access and thereby difficult to replace in case the software needs to be updated, and no suitable update tool is available. It is to be noted that the invention is applicable for essentially any vehicle component that may need to be updated and for which no suitable update tool may be available with the result that the vehicle component otherwise may need to be replaced instead. For example, the battery charging system may comprise vehicle components that may be updated according to the invention. Also the instrument cluster may comprise such vehicle components. Various further examples exist.

[0031] According to a further aspect, the invention relates to a control arrangement for updating a software component of a vehicle component through replacing software of the control arrangement with an update software. It will be appreciated that all that has been described for the method aspects of the invention is applicable also to control arrangement aspects of the invention. Thus, all the aspects described for methods according to the invention may be performed by the control arrangement, which may also be a control unit, i.e. , a device. The control arrangement and its embodiments have advantages corresponding to the advantages discussed above with regard to the various aspects of methods according to the invention.

[0032] According to another aspect of the invention, aforementioned and further objectives are achieved through a vehicle comprising a control arrangement according to aspects of the invention.

[0033] According to a further aspect, the invention relates to a computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to aspects of the invention.

[0034] According to an aspect, the invention relates to a computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to aspects of the invention.

[0035] Further advantageous aspects of the method, the control arrangement, the vehicle, the computer program, and the computer-readable medium according to the invention will emerge from the detailed description.

[0036] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0037] Aspects of the invention will now be illustrated, for exemplary purposes, in more detail by way of embodiments and with reference to the enclosed drawings, where similar references are used for similar parts, in which:

[0038] Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary battery electric vehicle in which aspects of the invention may be utilized;

[0039] Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary battery module of a battery pack for which the resistance of a shunt resistor may be determined according to aspects of the invention; Fig. 3 illustrates a battery pack comprising a plurality of battery modules according to Fig.2;

[0040] Fig. 4A illustrates an exemplary method according to aspects of the invention;

[0041] Fig. 4B illustrates a further exemplary method according to aspects of the invention;

[0042] Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a control arrangement according to aspects of the invention.

[0043] Detailed Description

[0044] With reference to Fig. 1 , an embodiment of a vehicle 100 according to aspects of the invention is schematically illustrated for exemplary purposes. The vehicle 100 is illustrated as a tractor vehicle. However, for other embodiments, the vehicle 100 may, for example, be any other kind of heavy vehicle, such as a bus or a truck. The vehicle may also, e.g., be a passenger car. The vehicle may also be of other types of vehicles. Although not illustrated in Fig. 1 , the vehicle 100 may be equipped with a trailer. The vehicle 100 comprises a powertrain configured as an electric vehicle EV, for example a hybrid electric vehicle, HEV, or a battery electric vehicle, BEV. It should also be understood that the powertrain of the vehicle 100 may be of various other different designs with different kinds of motive power sources than the one illustrated in Fig. 1 without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the invention is also applicable also for vehicles being equipped with, e.g., an internal combustion engine, ICE only, and for fuel cell electric or hybrid electric vehicles, FC(H)EV.

[0045] The vehicle 100 may further, as illustrated, be a wheeled vehicle, i.e. , a vehicle 100 having wheels 102. Only the wheels 102 on the left-hand side of the vehicle 100 are visible in Fig. 1 . It is to be understood that the vehicle 100 may have fewer or more wheels than what is shown in Fig. 1 .

[0046] The powertrain comprises at least one electrical machine 101 configured to apply a propulsive power and / or a braking power to one or more of the wheels 102 of the vehicle 100. The at least one electrical machine 101 may be arranged essentially anywhere, for as long as power is provided to one or more of the wheels 102 of the vehicle 100. Various applicable examples exist in the art.

[0047] The vehicle 100 is configured to comprise a plurality of electric battery packs 103, 104, 105, and may also comprise further nondisclosed battery packs. The current and voltage through each battery pack may, individually or collectively, be determined using a voltage / current sensor in a manner known per se, and the battery packs may form part of a battery arrangement 106 of the vehicle 100.

[0048] The components of the powertrain of the vehicle 100, as well as other components being present in the vehicle may be controlled by a vehicle control system forming part of a vehicle electrical system via a control arrangement 120. The control arrangement 120 may be distributed over several electrical control units, where the control units may be configured to control different parts of the vehicle 100. The control arrangement 120 may, e.g., include a control unit for controlling the applying of a propulsive power and / or regenerative brake power of the electrical machine 101 . The control arrangement may also comprise a control unit 121 for controlling battery packs, i.e. , a control unit being arranged to control various functionality of a battery pack. This may comprise, e.g., charging and discharging of the battery pack. Such a control unit may, e.g., form part of a battery management system (BMS) that may also be responsible for various other functions involving the battery. According to aspects of the invention the control arrangement comprises and may consist of a single control unit, where this control unit is controlled to operate according to the invention. The control arrangement 120 will be schematically described in further detail in conjunction with Fig. 5.

[0049] Control systems of the disclosed kind may also comprise, e.g., various sensors and actuators and other means that are used in the control of the vehicle, and where the operation of such sensors, actuators, etc. may be controlled by one or more control units of the control arrangement. For example, according to the invention, e.g., at least voltage and current sensing means, e.g., in the form of a joint voltage / current sensor, may be configured to measure a voltage over battery pack and also the current flowing through a battery pack, where hence the voltage and current sensing means may be controlled by the control arrangement and where, e.g., each battery pack may comprise one or more such voltage and current sensing means.

[0050] With further regard to vehicle components in the form of such voltage and current sensing means, and also with regard to vehicle components in the form of various other sensor means, and actuators etc. being used in the control of the vehicle, it is in general the case that such vehicle components comprise software, where proper operation of the vehicle component relies upon such software. As is the case with many other applications, software of this kind may need to be updated in order to provide for the desired functionality. For example, the functionality of the vehicle is oftentimes continuously being further developed, and software components of vehicle components being utilized in the updated vehicle functionality may be required to allow such newly developed functionality to be implemented in the vehicle. However, it is also the case that vehicles in general comprise vehicle components from various different manufacturers.

[0051] For example, a subsystem such as an antilock brake system may be developed by one manufacturer, whereas, e.g., a battery system may be developed by another manufacturer, where various different examples may exist. This also means that the various vehicle components may rely on different communication protocols when it comes to a performing of a software update of the vehicle component. In case the communication protocol being utilized for such software updating is widely spread, it may be the case that the communication protocol is implemented, e.g., in workshop tools being otherwise utilized by the vehicle manufacturer to perform software updates, so that thereby such tools may be utilized in the update process.

[0052] However, this may oftentimes not be the case and instead, when vehicle functionality is to be updated, the complete vehicle component may instead need to be replaced. Alternatively, the workshop tools may need to be updated such that they are compatible with the communication protocol, or the vehicle component itself may need to be updated to be compatible with the workshop tools and the vehicle software system. According to the invention, it is provided a solution that may allow an updating of software components of vehicle components in situations where otherwise the complete vehicle component would need to be replaced by a new vehicle component, or possibly be updated by the vehicle component manufacturer, with associated cumbersome handling as result.

[0053] As is realized, the vehicle 100 may comprise a large number of control units and sensors for controlling various part of the vehicle, as is known in the art. Fig. 1 , only illustrates units / devices / entities of the vehicle that are required for understanding the present invention. Furthermore, according to the present example the invention will be illustrated for a situation where a software component of a voltage / current sensor of a battery module is updated, but as is realized the invention is applicable for updating of a software component of any vehicle component where the invention may be applicable.

[0054] Fig. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary battery module 200 more in detail. The battery module 200 may form a battery pack, or a plurality of battery modules may form a battery pack. The battery module 200 comprises a plurality of battery cells, n according to the present example, denoted 201 _1 , 201 _2, 201 _3, ... , 201 _n. The battery cells 201 _1 , ... , 201_n are interconnected by means of electrical connectors, such as busbars or cables 202.

[0055] The battery module 200 further comprises external connectors 205, 206 to be connected, either to further battery modules of a battery pack and / or to the connection points of the battery pack. According to the illustrated example, the battery module 200 further comprises a cell management controller (CMC) 210. The cell management controller 210 may, inter alia, be utilized to monitor the battery cells of the battery module.

[0056] Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary battery pack 300 comprising a plurality of battery modules, e.g., according to the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2. In particular, the battery pack of Fig. 3 comprises three battery modules 301-303, but as is realized the number of battery modules forming the battery pack 300 may be any suitable number of battery modules. Furthermore, the vehicle electrical system may be configured to electrically connect the battery pack 300, either alone or as forming part of a larger battery arrangement of the vehicle comprising a plurality of battery packs, to the one or more electrical machines 101 of the vehicle to provide power for propelling and braking the vehicle.

[0057] It is important that the vehicle control system is aware of the current I that currently is flowing through the battery modules, and also the voltage U over the battery pack 300, in order to be able to correctly control the vehicle. There exist technologies for determining the voltage and current, and the particular principles are therefore not discussed herein. According to the illustrated example, measurements are accomplished by a combined sensor 308 comprising means 306, 307 both for measuring the voltage over the battery pack and the current flowing through the battery pack 300. The voltage / current sensor 308 is a vehicle component forming part of the vehicle 100, and also forming part of the battery pack 300. The voltage / current sensor 308 may also be used for other purposes in the vehicle. The voltage / current sensor 308, as well as various other vehicle components of the vehicle 100 may comprise a software component that operates the vehicle component, i.e., forms an operating system of the vehicle component. It is to be noted in this regard that although the invention is exemplified for a particular vehicle component in the form of a current / voltage sensor, there exist numerous other kinds of vehicle components having completely other purposes and uses, and for which the invention may be utilised in the same manner. Such software components may oftentimes comprise firmware, i.e. software that provides control of the hardware, that is stored in a non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM) or a programmable memory such as EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) or flash memory.

[0058] In case such software of a vehicle component is stored in a ROM memory an update in general requires replacement of the memory chip, which in reality oftentimes means that the complete vehicle component needs to be replaced, since such memory chips may not be designed to be removed after manufacture. However, in case the software component is stored in programmable memory such as EPROM, EEPROM of flash memory, the software may potentially be reprogrammed through flashing. Such reprogramming, however, requires specific programming tools that are capable of erasing and overwriting existing software. Furthermore, different vehicle component manufactures may utilize different communication protocols when performing such flashing of software components. This, in turn, means that different vehicle components require different reprogramming tools. There may exist reprogramming tools, e.g. at a vehicle workshop, that are capable of performing reprogramming according to some such communication protocols, but oftentimes a vehicle may comprise various vehicle components where reprogramming is not possible using the tools at hand, and therefore the complete vehicle component is instead replaced. This, however, may be unnecessarily costly.

[0059] According to the invention, it is therefore provided a method for updating a software component of a vehicle component such as the voltage / current sensor 308 of Fig. 3. Furthermore, each of the battery packs 103-105 of Fig. 1 may be of the kind illustrated in Fig.3, where hence voltage / current sensors of the battery packs 103-105 may be updated according to the invention. This provides for additional possibilities when it comes to vehicles where there, as was mentioned, may exist vehicle components from various manufacturers, and where such vehicle components may communicate according to various different protocols when it comes to updating internal software.

[0060] An exemplary method 400 is illustrated in Fig. 4A, and the method 400 starts in step 401 where the control software of, e.g., control unit 121 of the control arrangement 120 in Fig. 1 is replaced with an update software. That is, the control software that is normally used in the control unit during vehicle operation is replaced by a particular software being used in the update process, where the update software is configured to update the software component of the vehicle component. The update software is configured to be compatible with the vehicle software architecture, meaning that no adjustment of the software is needed in order to be able to replace the control software with the update software. With vehicle software system / architecture is herein meant the software architecture within the vehicle as well as supporting offline software infrastructure and applications.

[0061] The update software may comprise the update protocol of the component to be updated. Since the update software comprises the update protocol of the component, the software may update the component. Thus, there is no need to provide support for supplier-specific communication protocols within existing update tools.

[0062] In step 402 the software component of the vehicle component, such as the voltage / current sensor 308, is updated utilizing the update software that has replaced the control software of the control unit, and in step 403, following the updating, the software of the control unit 121 is restored to control software for controlling operation of the control unit, where this restored software may be the software that was running on the control unit 121 prior to being replaced.

[0063] The invention thereby provides a method where vehicle components can be updated using a method where a control unit that is normally used to control one or more vehicle components is temporarily converted, through replacement of software, so that it can be seen as an update tool for updating vehicle components. In this way, vehicles for which an update tool otherwise is not present may also be updated by updating the software instead of a complete replacement of the component, where replacement of such components may also be, e.g., cumbersome and difficult to disassemble from the vehicle or vehicle system in which the component is present. This may be the case with, e.g., the voltage / current sensor illustrated above.

[0064] A method 410 according to the invention will be illustrated more in detail in Fig. 4B. Similar to the method of Fig. 4A, the method 410 starts in a step 411 , where the control software of the control unit 121 of the control arrangement 120 is replaced with an update software. This can be performed, e.g., by overwriting the control software that is presently stored in the control unit 121 . The control unit 121 may also comprise programmable memory such as EPROM, EEPROM of flash memory of the kind discussed above, and the control software that is normally used in the control unit 121 during vehicle operation is in general also software that is stored in an such an electrically reprogrammable memory, and the replacement may hence be carried out by flashing the control unit 121 with the update software. Consequently, the control software of the control unit 121 may be stored in an electrically erasable memory storage, where in step 411 this control software is erased by overwriting the control software with the update software.

[0065] The control software being stored in the control unit 121 prior to the updating may oftentimes already be present and readily available, e.g., for use by vehicle workshops, and may therefore not need to be saved prior to the flashing of the control unit 121 with the update software. However, if this is not the case, the method may also comprise to backup the control software presently being stored in the control unit 121 prior to overwriting this control software with the update software. Furthermore, in addition to flashing the update software onto the control unit 121 , the software being flashed onto the control unit 121 may also comprise the updated software component that is to be used when updating the vehicle component. The update software may hence be simultaneously flashed onto the control unit 121 . According to the present example, the update software, as discussed, is an update tool for updating the voltage / current sensor 308 of the battery pack 300.

[0066] In step 412 the control unit 121 is rebooted to load the update software, where this will be carried out automatically since the update software is executed in place of the control software of the control unit 121 , and the control unit 121 now acts as an update tool with software that may have the sole purpose of updating one or more particular vehicle components being in communication with the control unit. In step 413, the software component of the voltage / current sensor 308 is updated utilizing the update software that has flashed onto the control unit 121. The updating may be configured to be carried out automatically as soon as the update software has been executed by the control unit 121 . The update software may comprise an update tool configured to update the voltage / current sensor 308 through flashing using a flash protocol adapted for the voltage / current sensor 308. Control units 121 and vehicle components being controlled by the control units may oftentimes communicate over a data bus, such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus or any other suitable kind of data bus, and the software component of the vehicle component may be updated over the data bus being used in the general communication, where, for example with regard to the voltage / current sensor 308, voltage and current measurements are communicated to the control unit 121 during normal operation, e.g., upon request or regularly.

[0067] As was mentioned above, the internal storage of the voltage / current sensor 308 may also be an electrically erasable memory storage, where the previous software component stored in the electrically erasable memory storage of the vehicle component is erased by overwriting with the updated software component. The updated software component may, e.g., correct an encountered error, or provide for new vehicle functionality that has been developed, and for which new software is required. According to aspects of the invention, a backup of the old software of the voltage / current sensor 308 may be carried out, e.g., in case this software is not already available and there exists a desire to obtain a backup. However, in the general case the software component of the vehicle component is more likely to only be updated without taking any backup.

[0068] In step 414, any additional vehicle component being in communication with the control unit 121 , and that is to be updated using the same update tool, may also be updated using the update software that has been downloaded to the control unit 121 . For example, as was mentioned, the vehicle may comprise a plurality of battery packs, where each such battery pack may comprise a voltage / current sensor according to the above. The control unit may then be configured to update any such additional vehicle component, where this may be arranged to be performed sequentially, or simultaneously if possible.

[0069] In step 415, following the updating, the software of the control unit 121 , i.e. the update software in this case, is again overwritten by the control software that is normally used to control operation of the control unit 121 , where this may be the same software that was running on the control unit 121 prior to being replaced, or an updated software in case the control unit 121 is also to be updated.

[0070] According to an aspect of the invention, it is provided a control arrangement 120, such as the control unit 121 , for carrying out the methods according to the invention. The control arrangement 120, e.g., a device, according to the invention may be configured to perform all aspects that have been described with regard to the method. Hence the control arrangement 120 is provided with the above-described advantages for the various aspects of the invention. The invention also relates to a vehicle 100 including the control arrangement 120.

[0071] Fig. 5 illustrates a control arrangement 500 / 120, which may be utilized to carry out the invention. The control arrangement 500 / 120 comprises a computer 501 . The computer 501 can be any hardware or hardware / firmware device implemented using processing circuity such as, but not limited to, a processor, Central Processing Unit (CPU), a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a System-on-Chip (SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit, or any other device capable of electronically performing operations in a defined manner. The computer 501 is connected to a memory unit 502 arranged in the control arrangement 500 / 120, which memory unit provides the computer 501 with, e.g., the stored program code and / or the stored data which the computer 501 requires to be able to perform computations. The computer 501 is also arranged to store partial or final results of computations in the memory unit 502.

[0072] In addition, the control arrangement 500 / 120 is provided with devices 511 , 512, 513, 514 for receiving and transmitting input and output signals. These input and output signals can contain waveforms, impulses, or other attributes which, by the devices 511 , 513 for the reception of input signals, can be detected as information and can be converted into signals which can be processed by the computer 501 . These signals are then made available to the computer 501 . The devices 512, 514 for the transmission of output signals are arranged to convert signals received from the computer 501 in order to create output signals by, e.g., modulating the signals, which can be transmitted to other parts of and / or systems in the vehicle 100.

[0073] Each of the connections to the devices for receiving and transmitting input and output signals can be constituted by one or more of a cable; a data bus, such as a Controller Area Network CAN bus, a Media Orientated Systems Transport MOST bus, or some other bus configuration; or by a wireless connection. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the above-stated computer can be constituted by the computer 501 and that the above- stated memory can be constituted by the memory unit 502.

[0074] Control systems in modern vehicles commonly comprise communication bus systems consisting of one or more communication buses for linking a number of electronic control units, ECUs, or controllers, and various components located on the vehicle. Such a control system can comprise a large number of control units and the responsibility for a specific function can be divided amongst more than one control unit. Vehicles of the shown type thus often comprise significantly more control units than are shown in Fig. 1 , which is well known to the person skilled in the art within this technical field.

[0075] The invention may be implemented by the above-mentioned control unit 121 , or any other suitable control unit being present in the vehicle 100, and also be distributed over more than one control unit, in case this would be desired.

[0076] Here and in this document, units are often described as being arranged for performing steps of the method according to the invention. This also includes that the units are designed to and / or configured to perform these method steps.

[0077] Control units and other units may be logically separated but physically implemented in the same unit or can be both logically and physically arranged together. These units may, e.g., correspond to groups of instructions, which can be in the form of programming code, that are input into, and are utilized by a processor / computer 501 when the units are active and / or are utilized for performing its method step, respectively. The person skilled in the art will appreciate that the aspects described herein for updating a software component of a vehicle component may also be implemented in a computer program, which, when it is executed in a computer, instructs the computer to execute the method. The computer program is usually constituted by or part of a computer program product 503 which comprises a suitable digital storage medium on which the computer program is stored, such as a computer readable medium. In other words, the computer program product may be a computer readable medium and the computer program may be stored in the computer readable medium 200. According to embodiments of the invention the computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a tangible electronic, magnetic, optical, infrared, electromagnetic, and / or semiconductor system, apparatus, and / or device. The computer-readable medium may comprise a suitable memory, such as, e.g.: Read-Only Memory ROM, Programmable Read-Only Memory PROM, Erasable PROM EPROM, Flash memory, Electrically Erasable PROM EEPROM, a hard disk unit, etc.

[0078] The invention is not limited to the above-described aspects. Instead, the invention relates to, and encompasses all different aspects being included within the scope of the independent claims.

Claims

Claims1. A method performed by a control arrangement for updating a vehicle component of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising: a vehicle component comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the vehicle component; a control arrangement comprising an internal storage for storing a control software controlling operation of the control arrangement, the control arrangement being configured to control operation of the vehicle component; the method comprising: replacing the control software of the control arrangement with an update software, the update software being configured to update the software component of the vehicle component; updating the software component of the vehicle component utilizing the update software; and, following the updating, restoring the software of the control arrangement to control software for controlling operation of the control arrangement.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the control software of the control arrangement is a software being executed when powering on the control arrangement, and wherein, when the control software of the control arrangement is replaced by the update software, the update software replacing the control software of the control arrangement is automatically executed when powering on the control arrangement following the replacement.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the update software comprises an update feature for automatically updating the software component of the vehicle component when executed.

4. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -3, wherein the update software comprises a flash protocol configured to update the software component of thevehicle component through flashing of the software component of the vehicle component.

5. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -4, wherein the update software replacing the control software of the control arrangement comprises the updated software component to replace the software component of the vehicle component.

6. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -5, wherein the internal storage of the control arrangement is an electrically erasable memory storage, the method further comprising: erasing the control software of the control arrangement stored in the electrically erasable memory storage by overwriting the control software with the update software.

7. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -6, wherein the internal storage of the vehicle component is an electrically erasable memory storage, the method further comprising: erasing the software component stored in the electrically erasable memory storage of the vehicle component by overwriting the software component with an updated software component.

8. A method according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising: prior to overwriting the control software of the control arrangement, and / or the software component of the vehicle component to be updated, storing a backup of the control software of the control arrangement and / or the software component of the vehicle component.

9. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -8, wherein the control arrangement controls a plurality of vehicle components each comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the respective vehicle component, the method further comprising:updating the plurality of vehicle components using the update software.

10. A method according to any one of the claims 1 -9, wherein the control software being executed when powering on the control arrangement is operative when the vehicle is in operation.11 . A method according to any one of the claims 1 -10, wherein the control arrangement and vehicle component communicates over a data bus, such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, the method further comprising: updating the software component of the vehicle component over the data bus.

12. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of the claims 1 -11.

13. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of the claims 1 -11.

14. A system configured to update a vehicle component of a vehicle component comprising an internal storage for storing a software component for operating the vehicle component; wherein a control arrangement comprising an internal storage for storing a control software control operation of the control arrangement, the control arrangement being configured to control operation of the vehicle component; the system being configured to: replace the control software of the control arrangement with an update software, the update software being configured to update the software component of the vehicle component; update the software component of the vehicle component utilizing the update software; and,following the updating, restore the software of the control arrangement to control software for controlling operation of the control arrangement15. A vehicle comprising a system according to claim 14.

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