US-12619420-B2 - Electronic control unit

US12619420B2US 12619420 B2US12619420 B2US 12619420B2US-12619420-B2

Abstract

An electronic control unit includes a first processing unit and a second processing unit. Each of the first processing unit and the second processing unit includes a processor and a rewritable storage device. Each of the first processing unit and the second processing unit is configured to perform a service by the processor executing software stored in the rewritable storage device. The electronic control unit is configured to set, during a period other than a first period during which all services performed by the first processing unit are suspendable, a second period during which all services performed by the second processing unit are suspendable.

Inventors

Masanori Katoh
Kazuyoshi SHIOHARA

Assignees

TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231025
Priority Date: 20221223

Claims (6)

1 . An electronic control unit comprising: a first processing unit; including a first processor and a first rewritable storage device, and being configured to perform a first service by executing first software stored in the first rewritable storage device; and a second processing unit; including a second processor and a second rewritable storage device, being configured to perform a second service by executing second software stored in the second rewritable storage device, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to: suspend all services executed by the first processing unit, during a first period, suspend all services executed by the second processing unit during a second period, different from the first period, restart the first processing unit to complete updating of the first software during the first period, and shutdown the second processing unit during the second period and restart the second processing unit to complete updating of the second software during the first period.
2 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein: the electronic control unit is installed in a vehicle; the first period exists when a main switch of the vehicle is on; and the second period exists when the main switch is off.
3 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein: the electronic control unit is installed in a vehicle; the first processing unit is configured to perform the first service during the second period; and the second processing unit is configured to perform the second service during the first period.
4 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein: the first rewriteable storage device includes a first storage area and a second storage area for storing the first software before updating and the first software after updating, respectively, the second rewriteable storage device includes a third storage area and a fourth storage area for storing the second software before updating and the second software after updating, respectively, updating of the first software is performed by switching from reading the first storage area to the second storage area, and updating the second software is performed by switching from reading the third storage area to the fourth storage area.
5 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to complete updating of both the first software and the second software within two power cycles of a main switch of a vehicle.
6 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the first service comprises at least one of a parking monitoring service or a vehicle exit assistance service, and the second service comprises at least one of a safety assistance service or an advanced driver-assistance service.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-206718 filed on Dec. 23, 2022, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The disclosure relates to an electronic control unit. 2. Description of Related Art Vehicles are equipped with a plurality of electronic control units. In recent years, integration of electronic control units has progressed, and the number of types of services assigned to each electronic control unit has increased. Further, in recent years, over-the-air (OTA) technology for updating software of electronic control units by distributing update data through wireless communication has come into practical use, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2022-66959 (JP 2022-66959 A). SUMMARY There are cases in which restarting of the electronic control unit is required in order to complete updating of the software of the electronic control unit. Electronic control units that perform various types of services perform some sort of services while the vehicle is traveling or while the vehicle is parked, and accordingly there are cases in which completion of updating of the software is delayed due to not being able to obtain an opportunity to restart. An electronic control unit according to a first aspect of the present disclosure has a first processing unit and a second processing unit. Each of the first processing unit and the second processing unit includes a processor and a rewritable storage device. Each of the first processing unit and the second processing unit is configured to perform a service by the processor executing software stored in the rewritable storage device. The electronic control unit is configured to set, during a period other than a first period during which all services performed by the first processing unit are suspendable, a second period during which all services performed by the second processing unit are suspendable. Even in a situation in which the electronic control unit as a whole continues to execute some sort of service, each of the first processing unit and the second processing unit have a period in which all services are suspendable. Accordingly, both the first processing unit and the second processing unit are more likely to have an opportunity to restart in order to complete updating of the software. Thus, the electronic control unit described above has an advantage in that updating of software can be completed without delay, even in electronic control units that perform a wide variety of services. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like signs denote like elements, and wherein: FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of an electronic control unit; FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of procedures for updating software in the same electronic control unit; and FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing another example of the procedures for updating software in the same electronic control unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an electronic control unit will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Configuration of Electronic Control Unit First, a configuration of the electronic control unit according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In the following description, the term “electronic control unit” will be abbreviated to “ECU”. An ECU 10 according to the present embodiment makes up an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) of a vehicle 11. The ECU 10 is connected to an in-vehicle communication network 12. A plurality of ECUs other than the ECU 10 is installed in the vehicle 11. An example of such an ECU is a gateway ECU 13 that controls communication among ECUs via the in-vehicle communication network 12. In addition, the vehicle 11 is equipped with a plurality of ECUs 14 such as an ECU for engine control, an ECU for transmission control, and so forth. A communication module 16 for wireless communication is connected to the gateway ECU 13. The communication module 16 performs wireless communication externally from the vehicle via a wireless communication network 15. A distribution server 17 that distributes update data for software of the ECU 10 is connected to the wireless communication network 15. The ECU 10 has a first processing unit 20 and a second processing unit 30. The first processing unit 20 is a microcontroller that has a processor 21 and memory 22. The first processing unit 20 executes services by causing the processor 21 to execute programs stored in the memory 22. The memory 22 is a rewritable storage device such as flash memory. The memory 22 has a first storage area 23, a second storage area 24 and a third storage area