US-12619419-B2 - User equipment, software update system, control method, and non-transitory storage medium

US12619419B2US 12619419 B2US12619419 B2US 12619419B2US-12619419-B2

Abstract

User equipment includes one or more processors configured to: receive data on updating software on an in-vehicle electronic control unit (ECU); transmit the received data to a vehicle; and display progress of a first update process when the first update process is performed. The first update process is a process of updating the software on the in-vehicle ECU using the received data.

Inventors

Tomoyasu Ishikawa
Hiroshi Inoue
Shunsuke TANIMORI
Nana Kikuire

Assignees

TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230809
Priority Date: 20221005

Claims (9)

1 . User equipment comprising one or more processors configured to: receive data on updating software on an in-vehicle electronic control unit, wherein the data on updating software comprises a software update and a size of the software update; transmit the received data to a vehicle while receiving the received data; and simultaneously display progress of the reception of the data by the one or more processors, and progress of the transmission of the data by the one or more processor, as progress of a first update process when the first update process is performed, the first update process being a process of updating the software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit using the received data; wherein the progress of transmission of the data comprises an amount of software data transferred to the vehicle by the user equipment relative to the size of the software update.
2 . The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to display information on a next action in the first update process in addition to the progress of the first update process.
3 . The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured not to display progress of a second update process in a case where the second update process is being performed, even when there is a request to display the progress of the second update process, the second update process being a process in which the vehicle receives the data without via the user equipment to update the software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit.
4 . The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the data is updated software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit.
5 . A software update system that updates software on an electronic control unit, the software update system comprising: a server configured to distribute data on updating the software on the electronic control unit, wherein the data on updating software comprises a software update and a size of the software update; a vehicle equipped with the electronic control unit and configured to communicate with the server; and user equipment, wherein the user equipment is configured to communicate with the server and the vehicle, the user equipment is configured to simultaneously display progress of reception of the data by the user equipment, and progress of transmission of the data by the user equipment to the vehicle, as progress of a first update process, the first update process being a process in which the data distributed from the server is distributed to the vehicle via the user equipment to update the software on the electronic control unit, wherein the progress of transmission of the data comprises an amount of software data transferred to the vehicle by the user equipment relative to the size of the software update, and the user equipment is configured not to display progress of a second update process, the second update process being a process in which the data distributed from the server is distributed to the vehicle without via the user equipment to update the software on the electronic control unit.
6 . The software update system according to claim 5 , wherein the progress of the first update process includes the progress of reception of the data by the user equipment and the progress of transmission of the data from the user equipment to the vehicle.
7 . The software update system according to claim 6 , wherein the user equipment is configured to display information on a next action in the first update process in addition to the progress of the first update process.
8 . A control method in which progress of an update process of updating software on an in-vehicle electronic control unit is displayed on user equipment that updates the software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit by receiving data on the software that is distributed from a server and simultaneously transmitting the received data to a vehicle, the data on the software comprises a software update and a size of the software update, the control method comprising: determining whether the update process is performed using the data that is transmitted to the vehicle via the user equipment; and simultaneously displaying progress of the reception of the data by the user equipment, and progress of the transmission of the data from the user equipment to the vehicle, as progress of the update process when determination is made that the update process is performed using the data that is transmitted to the vehicle via the user equipment; wherein the progress of transmission of the data comprises an amount of software data transferred to the vehicle by the user equipment relative to the size of the software update.
9 . A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to perform the control method according to claim 8 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-160792 filed on Oct. 5, 2022, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to user equipment, software update systems, control methods, and non-transitory storage media. 2. Description of Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-149323 (JP 2017-149323 A) discloses a technique of updating software on an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted on a vehicle by Over-The-Air (OTA) technology. SUMMARY A vehicle can download new software (data) for an in-vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) by wirelessly communicating with an external server (e.g., an OTA center). In the vehicle, the target ECU (ECU whose software is a target to be updated) then sequentially performs installation of the updated software based on the downloaded software (data) and activation of the updated software. The software update can thus be performed. For example, when software (control program) is updated by such OTA technology, software is downloaded from the OTA center via an in-vehicle communication device (e.g., a communication module such as a Data Communication Module (DCM)) or equipment owned by a user (user equipment; e.g., mobile equipment such as a smartphone). When an update process of updating software on the in-vehicle ECU is performed, the progress of the update process and approval are notified in some cases. Notifications are displayed on devices such as a human-machine interface (HMI) mounted on a vehicle and user equipment. When the update process using software downloaded is performed via the in-vehicle communication device, or when the update process with software downloaded is performed via the user equipment, displaying the progress etc. on both the HMI and the user equipment may increase communication load and power consumption. The present disclosure provides user equipment, software update system, control method, and non-transitory storage medium that can reduce communication load when the progress of an update process of updating software is displayed on an in-vehicle ECU. (1) User equipment according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to: receive data on updating software on an in-vehicle ECU; transmit the received data to a vehicle; and display progress of a first update process when the first update process is performed. The first update process is a process of updating the software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit using the received data. With this configuration, the user equipment transmits the received data to the vehicle. The data (the software for the in-vehicle ECU) is thus distributed to the vehicle via the user equipment. When the first update process of updating the software on the in-vehicle ECU using the received data by the user equipment is performed, the one or more processors display the progress of the first update process. Information (data) necessary for the first update process is distributed (transmitted) to the vehicle via the user equipment. Therefore, the data that has already been received by the user equipment can be used when displaying the progress of the first update process. This can reduce the communication load. (2) In the user equipment according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the progress of the first update process may include progress of reception of the data by the one or more processors and progress of transmission of the data by the one or more processors. With this configuration, the progress can be displayed using the information (data) on the software received by the user equipment. This can reduce the communication load. (3) In the user equipment according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more processors may be configured to display information on a next action in the first update process in addition to the progress of the first update process. With this configuration, in the update process of updating the software on the in-vehicle ECU, the information on the next action in the first update process is also displayed. This makes it possible to smoothly proceed with the software update process. (4) In the user equipment according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more processors may be configured not to display progress of a second update process in a case where the second update process is being performed, even when there is a request to display the progress of the second update process. The second update process may be a process in which the vehicle receives the data without via the user equipment to update the software on the in-vehicle electronic control unit. With this configuration, in the case where the second update process in which the software for the in-vehicle ECU is distributed to the vehicle without