Vehicle Control Image Storage for Over-the-Air Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle software update methods require vehicles to be taken to a dealership for manual updates, which is inconvenient and inefficient, as they involve tracking individual software levels and applying updates manually.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system with updatable control images stored in non-volatile memory, allowing over-the-air updates through a file control system that tracks images rather than files, enabling error checking and updating on an image basis, with separate partitions for different vehicle functions and the ability to update while the vehicle is in use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional dealership-based manual update methods are used, then software updates can be applied, but the process requires significant time and manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service through automated update checking, downloading, and installation. The vehicle's control system automatically queries for available updates, retrieves them via wireless communication, and installs them without requiring dealership intervention or manual technician operation, thereby dramatically improving update efficiency and eliminating time loss associated with manual processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/manual update process with an automated electronic system. Instead of manual connection and application of updates by technicians, the system uses wireless communication protocols and automated software agents to check for, download, and install updates, substituting mechanical operations with electronic automation to improve productivity and reduce time loss.
2Quantity of substance
If vehicle memory is sized to store all control images, then complete controls are available, but memory size becomes excessively large (at least twice the size of all controls)
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments control images into individual updateable units rather than storing complete sets of all controls. The memory only needs to accommodate the size of single control images for updating purposes, not the cumulative size of all vehicle controls. This segmentation allows the memory capacity to be minimized to just what's needed for update operations, dramatically reducing the required memory size from twice the total control size to merely the size of individual control images.
3Reliability
If error checking is performed on a file basis, then detailed verification is possible, but the process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the error checking process by performing verification on complete control images as single units rather than checking individual files separately. This consolidation maintains comprehensive error detection capability since entire control images are verified, while simultaneously reducing complexity by eliminating the need for multiple separate file-level checks. The error checking mechanism operates on unified image units, simplifying the verification process while preserving reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle can include methods and systems to update controls for a plurality of vehicle systems that operate using updatable controls, wherein each control is mounted in vehicle persistent memory as an image. The controls are stored in non-volatile vehicle memory that has a size less than twice a size of all of the controls loaded thereon. A core system provides access to the control images in the memory.