# US 12,217,555 B2 · Center device, data communication system, and program product for controlling data distribution

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- Number: US 12,217,555 B2
- Document ID: US12217555B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/477,998
- Filed: 2021-09-17
- Published: 2022-01-06
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2019-03-22
- Assignees: Denso Corporation
- Applicants: Denso Corporation
- Inventors: Nao Sakurai; Yoshitaka Ozaki
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12217555B2

## CPC

- G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)}
- G06F 8/60: Software deployment
- G08G 1/0125: {Traffic data processing}
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04L 67/34: {involving the movement of software or configuration parameters (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416)}
- H04L 67/535: {Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34)}
- H04W 4/44: for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
- H04W 4/50: Service provisioning or reconfiguring
- G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A center device includes a distribution control unit that is configured to control distribution of data to a vehicle, a normal operation determination unit that is configured to determine whether operation of distributed data on a vehicle is normal, and a distribution target expansion unit that is configured to expand a distribution target for the data when the normal operation determination unit determines that operation of the distributed data on the vehicle is normal after the data was distributed to the vehicle.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A center device, comprising:
a distribution control unit that is configured to:
control distribution of data to a first vehicle via a public communication network, the first vehicle including an electronic control unit which is a target for a program update and a vehicle master device configured to distribute, to the electronic control unit, data for the program update, the electronic control unit being capable of performing functions or performances based on the distributed data at the first vehicle; and
distribute, to the vehicle master device, a first command for controlling the vehicle master device to enable at least one function or one performance of the functions or performances of the distributed data;
a normal operation determination unit that is configured to determine whether the electronic control unit normally performed the at least one function or one performance of the functions or performances of the distributed data based on information received from the first vehicle; and
a distribution target expansion unit that, in response to determining that the electronic control unit normally performed the at least one function or one performance of the functions or performances of the distributed data, is configured to distribute, to the vehicle master device, a second command for controlling the vehicle master device to enable remaining functions or performances of the functions or performances of the distributed data, wherein
the distribution target expansion unit is further configured to:
not distribute the second command to the vehicle master device in response to the normal operation determination unit determining that the electronic control unit did not normally perform the at least one function or one performance of the functions or performances of the distributed data.

### Claim 2

A center device, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing computer program code, wherein
the computer program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:
distribute data to a target vehicle via a public communication network, the data being used for program update for an electronic control unit mounted in the target vehicle that is configured to perform at least a first function and a second function based on the distributed data;
transmit a first command to the target vehicle for instructing the electronic control unit to perform the first function based on the distributed data;
determine whether the electronic control unit normally performed the first function based on the distributed data;
transmit a second command to the target vehicle for instructing the electronic control unit to perform the second function with the distributed data in response to determining that the electronic control unit normally performed the first function; and
not transmit the second command to the target vehicle in response to determining that the electronic control unit did not normally perform the first function.

### Claim 3

A center device, comprising:
a distribution control unit that is configured to control distribution of data to a first vehicle;
a normal operation determination unit that is configured to determine whether operation of distributed data on the first vehicle is normal;
a distribution target expansion unit that is configured to expand a distribution target for the data when the normal operation determination unit determines that operation of the distributed data on the first vehicle is normal after the data was distributed to the first vehicle via a public communication network; and
a grouping unit that divides the distribution target for the data into groups, wherein
the distribution target expansion unit is further configured to expand the distribution target for the data according to the groups formed by the grouping unit,
the distribution target for the data are a plurality of vehicles, and
the grouping unit is further configured to divide the plurality of vehicles into the groups in accordance with a distance of each of the plurality of vehicles to a nearest dealer.