US-12619532-B2 - Vehicle information collection apparatus and vehicle information collection system

US12619532B2US 12619532 B2US12619532 B2US 12619532B2US-12619532-B2

Abstract

Vehicle information collection apparatus, includes: processor and memory. Processor is configured to: acquire identification information of vehicle and usage information regarding usage status of in-vehicle equipment from in-vehicle equipment, in-vehicle equipment incorporating flash memory and being associated with identification information. Memory is configured to store identification information. Processor is further configured to: determine whether identification information has been acquired for first time based on identification information stored, generate first-acquisition time information when identification information is determined to have been acquired for first time, first-acquisition time information being information of first acquisition time at which identification information has been acquired for first time, and determine whether to permit writing of usage information into flash memory based on length of collection period and first-acquisition time information, collection period being period for collecting usage information and being determined in advance according to model of vehicle or in-vehicle equipment.

Inventors

Ryuichi Tsuchie
Hiroyuki Tanabe
Kostas Petrikas
Yusuke Oishi
Luiz Guilherme MESQUITA KIMEL DOS SANTOS
Joao Felipe Santiago dos Santos Orui

Assignees

HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20241129
Priority Date: 20231205

Claims (10)

1 . A vehicle information collection apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: acquire identification information of a vehicle and usage information regarding a usage status of an in-vehicle equipment from the in-vehicle equipment, the in-vehicle equipment incorporating a flash memory and being associated with the identification information, wherein the memory is configured to: store the identification information acquired by the processor, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine whether the identification information has been acquired for the first time based on the identification information stored in the memory; generate first-acquisition time information when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time, the first-acquisition time information being information of a first acquisition time at which the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and determine whether to permit writing of the usage information into the flash memory based on a length of a collection period and the first-acquisition time information, the collection period being a period for collecting the usage information and being determined in advance according to a model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the processor permits writing of the usage information into the flash memory until the collection period elapses from the first acquisition time and prohibits writing of the usage information into the flash memory after the collection period elapses from the first acquisition time.
2 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: determine whether the usage information acquired is a predetermined amount or more when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and output warning information indicating that there is a possibility that the identification information has been falsified when it is determined that the usage information acquired is the predetermined amount or more.
3 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the usage information written in the flash memory is acquired and erased from the flash memory at a predetermined cycle, wherein the flash memory is gradually deteriorated by repeated writing and erasing of data.
4 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a user interface is displayed on a display of the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the usage information includes: information of a screen of the user interface displayed on the display at a time point when a user operation through the user interface is performed; and information of a coordinate position on the screen where the user operation is performed.
5 . A vehicle information collection apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: acquire identification information of a vehicle and usage information regarding a usage status of an in-vehicle equipment from the in-vehicle equipment, the in-vehicle equipment incorporating a flash memory and being associated with the identification information, wherein the memory is configured to: store the identification information acquired by the processor, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine whether the identification information has been acquired for the first time based on the identification information stored in the memory; generate first-acquisition time information when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time, the first-acquisition time information being information of a first acquisition time at which the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and determine whether to permit writing of the usage information into the flash memory based on a length of a collection period and the first-acquisition time information, the collection period being a period for collecting the usage information and being determined in advance according to a model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the processor: calculates a length of an individual collection period for collecting the usage information by subtracting, from the length of the collection period, a length of a period from a reference time determined in advance according to the model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment to the first acquisition time; permits writing of the usage information into the flash memory until the individual collection period elapses from the first acquisition time; and prohibits writing of the usage information into the flash memory after the individual collection period elapses from the first acquisition time.
6 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to: determine whether the usage information acquired is a predetermined amount or more when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and output warning information indicating that there is a possibility that the identification information has been falsified when it is determined that the usage information acquired is the predetermined amount or more.
7 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the usage information written in the flash memory is acquired and erased from the flash memory at a predetermined cycle, wherein the flash memory is gradually deteriorated by repeated writing and erasing of data.
8 . The vehicle information collection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a user interface is displayed on a display of the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the usage information includes: information of a screen of the user interface displayed on the display at a time point when a user operation through the user interface is performed; and information of a coordinate position on the screen where the user operation is performed.
9 . A vehicle information collection system, comprising: an in-vehicle equipment incorporating a flash memory and being associated with identification information of a vehicle; and a server configured to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle equipment through the Internet, wherein the server is configured to: acquire the identification information and usage information regarding a usage status of the in-vehicle equipment from the in-vehicle equipment; store the identification information acquired; determine whether the identification information has been acquired for the first time based on the identification information stored; generate first-acquisition time information when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time, the first-acquisition time information being information of a first acquisition time at which the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and output the first-acquisition time information generated to the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the in-vehicle equipment is configured to determine whether to permit writing of the usage information into the flash memory based on a length of a collection period and the first-acquisition time information outputted by the server, the collection period being a period for collecting the usage information and being determined in advance according to a model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment, wherein the in-vehicle equipment permits writing of the usage information into the flash memory until the collection period elapses from the first acquisition time and prohibits writing of the usage information into the flash memory after the collection period elapses from the first acquisition time.
10 . The vehicle information collection system according to claim 9 , wherein writing of the usage information into the flash memory is prohibited in a period before the in-vehicle equipment accesses the server for the first time and a period before the in-vehicle equipment accesses the server after being initialized or reset.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-205489 filed on Dec. 5, 2023, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle information collection apparatus and a vehicle information collection system that incorporate a flash memory and collect information regarding a usage status of in-vehicle equipment associated with identification information of a vehicle. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a device configured to collect information from equipment having a flash memory is known. For example, a device described in JP 2009-230660 A receives and accumulates actual life information from a plurality of computer terminal devices each using a flash memory as a main storage device via a communication line, and predicts the number of days until the flash memory of each terminal device reaches an end-of-life failure. In each terminal device, one substitute block is allocated when one block reaches the end of life, and each terminal device detects and stores the number of remaining substitute blocks, and outputs, as the actual life information, information from when a substitute block is newly allocated until when a substitute block is newly allocated next. However, in the device described in JP 2009-230660 A, when a substitute block is newly allocated, information on the number of remaining substitute blocks is unconditionally stored in each terminal device, and thus, there is a possibility that an excessive load is applied to the flash memory included in each terminal device. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An aspect of the present invention is a vehicle information collection apparatus, including: a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: acquire identification information of a vehicle and usage information regarding a usage status of an in-vehicle equipment from the in-vehicle equipment, the in-vehicle equipment incorporating a flash memory and being associated with the identification information. The memory is configured to: store the identification information acquired by the processor. The processor is further configured to: determine whether the identification information has been acquired for the first time based on the identification information stored in the memory; generate first-acquisition time information when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time, the first-acquisition time information being information of a first acquisition time at which the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and determine whether to permit writing of the usage information into the flash memory based on a length of a collection period and the first-acquisition time information, the collection period being a period for collecting the usage information and being determined in advance according to a model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment. Another aspect of the present invention is a vehicle information collection system, including: an in-vehicle equipment incorporating a flash memory and being associated with identification information of a vehicle; and a server configured to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle equipment through the Internet. The server is configured to: acquire the identification information and usage information regarding a usage status of the in-vehicle equipment from the in-vehicle equipment; store the identification information acquired; determine whether the identification information has been acquired for the first time based on the identification information stored; generate first-acquisition time information when it is determined that the identification information has been acquired for the first time, the first-acquisition time information being information of a first acquisition time at which the identification information has been acquired for the first time; and output the first-acquisition time information generated to the in-vehicle equipment. The in-vehicle equipment is configured to determine whether to permit writing of the usage information into the flash memory based on a length of a collection period and the first-acquisition time information outputted by the server, the collection period being a period for collecting the usage information and being determined in advance according to a model of the vehicle or the in-vehicle equipment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of embodiments in relation to the attached drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a vehicle information collection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example