Vehicle information communication system

A vehicle information communication system comprising:

• a vehicle apparatus mounted in a vehicle, including
• a plurality of ECUs each having installed software and each associated with a respective ECU software identifier (SWID) which is changed together at least with change in the installed software, and
• a vehicle computer coupled to the plurality of ECUs;
• and
• a center apparatus including
• an approved-configuration database (DB) that includes approved-configuration information which contains a plurality of approved ECU SWID combinations in association with a plurality of vehicle models,
• an update DB that contains ECU software update data, and
• a center computer configured to communicate with the vehicle computer of the vehicle apparatus via wireless communications,
• wherein:
• the vehicle computer is configured to send vehicle configuration information including the ECU SWIDs of the plurality of ECUs to the center apparatus via the wireless communications;
• the center computer is configured to:
• perform a first determination of whether the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle matches the approved-configuration information registered in the approved-configuration DB, through determining whether all of the ECU SWIDs of the plurality of ECUs in the vehicle configuration information received from the vehicle apparatus are included in any of particular ECU SWID combinations among the plurality of approved ECU SWID combinations registered in the approved-configuration DB, the particular ECU SWID combinations corresponding to the vehicle model of the vehicle;
• perform a second determination of whether software update data exists in the update DB for at least one of the plurality of ECUs of the vehicle;
• and
• when both the first and second determinations are true, send the software update data to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications;
• and
• the vehicle computer is further configured to:
• based on the software update data received from the center apparatus, perform ECU software update;
• and
• in response to completion of the ECU software update in the vehicle, perform processing to send new vehicle configuration information including the ECU SWIDs of the plurality of ECUs to the center apparatus;
• wherein:
• when the sending of the new vehicle configuration information to the center apparatus is performed by the vehicle computer in response to the completion of the ECU software update in the vehicle, the center computer
• (i) performs the first determination using the new vehicle configuration information,
• (ii) notifies the vehicle apparatus about abnormality when the first determination using the new vehicle configuration information is false, and
• (iii) sends further software update data to the vehicle apparatus via the wireless communications when both of the first determination using the new vehicle configuration information and the second determination performed after the receipt of the new vehicle configuration information are true.