Method and apparatus for updating devices in a remote network

Abstract

A network architecture for updating control units in a remote network such as in a vehicle comprises an administration module, a verification module and an agent module. The administration module formulates a policy for governing the update of control units based on context information about the control units provided to the administration module. In formulating the policy, the administration unittakes account of compatibility between the control units with regard to versions of the update so that the update can succeed. Or, if the update fails in whole or part, a stable state of the remote network can nevertheless still be obtained, since the administration module may provide error handling procedures for the agent module when errors are encountered during update.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to updating of equipment, and in particular to updating of controllers in vehicles. One aspect includes providing compatible updates to remote controllers based on perception of vehicle remote network features, especially compatibility between controllers. Another aspect is to provide an error handling process for errors in updates. Background technique [0002] Devices include firmware and embedded software, and can provide, for example, specific functions or an operating system for a controller. Patches are usually available to update the controller's firmware or software. Here, for the sake of convenience, the terms "update" and "patch" and their corresponding forms may be used interchangeably. [0003] Cars are transitioning from mechanical to electronic design. In-vehicle devices such as controllers, and electronic control units (ECUs for short) used in vehicles such as embedded systems can also be updated. [00...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Each controller is multi-module compatible, which introduces a computational cost per controller

Images