Gateway device, in-vehicle network system, and firmware update method

An in-vehicle network system provided with a plurality of electronic controllers on-board a vehicle that communicate over one or more networks, and a gateway device connected to the one or more networks, the gateway device comprising:

• one or more memories;
• and
• circuitry, that in operation,
• acquires firmware update information, the firmware update information including updated firmware to be applied to a first electronic controller from among the plurality of electronic controllers on-board the vehicle,
• determines, by accessing the one or more memories, whether or not the first electronic controller satisfies a second condition based on second information about the first electronic controller, wherein the second information is whether the first electronic controller includes a firmware cache for performing a pre-update firmware cache operation, and
• causes, when the second condition is determined not to be satisfied, the gateway device to execute a proxy process,
• wherein the gateway device requests the first electronic controller to transmit boot ROM data to the gateway device, creates updated boot ROM data with the updated firmware, and transmits the updated boot ROM data to the first electronic controller that updates the boot ROM and resets the first electronic controller with the updated firmware.

A method used in an in-vehicle network system provided with a plurality of electronic controllers on-board a vehicle that communicate over one or more networks, the method comprising:

• acquiring firmware update information, the firmware update information including updated firmware to be applied to a first electronic controller from among the plurality of electronic controllers;
• determining, by accessing the one or more memories, whether or not the first electronic controller satisfies a second condition based on second information about the first electronic controller, wherein the second information is whether the first electronic controller includes a firmware cache for performing a pre-update firmware cache operation;
• and
• causing, when the second condition is determined not to be satisfied, the gateway device to execute a proxy process,
• wherein the gateway device requests the first electronic controller to transmit boot ROM data to the gateway device, creates updated boot ROM data with the updated firmware, and transmits the updated boot ROM data to the first electronic controller that updates the boot ROM and resets the first electronic controller with the updated firmware.