Vehicle Software Version Control via Global and Vehicle Trees

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current systems lack a mechanism for effectively monitoring and maintaining software versions for electronic devices in vehicles, leading to inefficiencies in software updates and management.

Innovation Solution

A lightweight and efficient version control mechanism is implemented using a global version tree (GVT) and vehicle version tree (VVT) to manage software versions for electronic devices in vehicles, enabling seamless software updates and management.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a lightweight version control mechanism is implemented, then device complexity is reduced, but software version monitoring capability is improved

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesoftware version monitoring capabilityVSAvoidsystem structure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments version control into two separate tree structures: a global version tree (GVT) that stores all available software versions, and a vehicle version tree (VVT) that tracks installed versions. This segmentation allows independent management of version information without requiring complex integrated monitoring systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The GVT is pre-populated with all available software versions and their metadata before deployment. This preliminary action enables the system to quickly compare against installed versions (VVT) without requiring real-time analysis of all possible versions, reducing computational complexity during runtime.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Manufacturing precision

If comprehensive software version information is maintained, then software update accuracy is improved, but information storage requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesoftware update accuracyVSAvoidversion information storage
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential version identification information into the VVT structure, while detailed version metadata is stored separately in the GVT. This extraction approach allows accurate version tracking with minimal storage overhead in the vehicle system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The VVT is nested within the GVT structure, where the VVT contains only the subset of version information relevant to installed software, while the GVT contains the complete version hierarchy. This nesting allows the system to maintain comprehensive version data while keeping vehicle-side storage requirements low.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Data Source

PatentEP4073629B1Method for managing software versions of electronic device (s) in a vehicle and related device
Publication Date: 2025.02.12 YINWANG INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES CO LTD
  • EP4073629B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4073629B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP4073629B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

Embodiments of this application provide a method for managing software versions of an electronic device in a vehicle and a relevant device, the method including: transmitting an update bundle to a target vehicle; receiving an update response from the target vehicle, wherein the update response is used to indicate one or more patches which have been successfully installed among the N patches; updating a vehicle version tree corresponding to the target vehicle according to the update response to obtain an updated VVT. The above-mentioned technical solution provides a lightweight and efficient version control mechanism for maintaining the software versions for each the electronic devices in a vehicle.