# US 2024/0201976 A1 · Vehicle control apparatus

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- Number: US 2024/0201976 A1
- Document ID: US20240201976A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 18/287,802
- Filed: 2021-06-08
- Published: 2024-06-20
- Earliest claimed: 2021-06-08
- Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
- Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
- Inventors: Osamu MAEDA; Mitsuru HOMMA; Hajime HASEGAWA; Daisuke YASE; Tatsuya MAEKOBA
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20240201976A1

## CPC

- G06F 8/65: Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57)
- B60R 16/0231: {Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle (monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P)}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus according to the present disclosure includes two or more computing processing units, storage apparatuses in each of which a program is stored, an in-vehicle communication channel, an outside-communication unit that receives updating-program information and data related to an updating program, a program sorting unit that sorts updating program into an existing program and into a new program, a new-program writing unit that receives a new program from the outside and then writes the new program in a storage area for the computing processing unit that executes an updating program, and an existing-program writing unit that reads an existing program from the storage area where the existing program exists, by way of the in-vehicle communication channel, and then writes the existing program in a storage area for the computing processing unit that executes an updating program.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle control apparatus comprising:
two or more computing processors;
a storage area of a storage apparatus that is provided for each of the computing processors and in which a program to be executed by the computing processor is stored;
an in-vehicle communication channel that is utilized for communication among the computing processors;
an outside-communicator-that receives, from an outside, updating-program information related to an updating program for updating a program to be executed by the computing processor and data related to the updating program;
a program sorter that sorts, based on the updating-program information, the updating program into an existing program already existing in the storage area for the computing processor excluding the computing processor that executes the updating program and into a new program that does not exist in any storage areas for the computing processors;
a new-program writer that receives, from the outside, data for the new program obtained through sorting by the program sorter, by way of the outside-communicator, and then writes the data in the storage area for the computing processor that executes the updating program, by way of the in-vehicle communication channel; and
an existing-program writer that reads data for the existing program obtained through sorting by the program sorter, from a transfer-source storage area by way of the in-vehicle communication channel, and then writes the data for the existing program in the storage area for the computing processor that executes the updating program, by way of the in-vehicle communication channel.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein from the outside, the outside-communicator receives data for an updating program that adds a new function to a program to be executed by the computing processor.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein from the outside, the outside-communicator receives updating-program information related to an updating program that adds a new function to a program to be executed by the computing processor, and
wherein when the program sorter sorts the updating programs into the new programs, the new-program writer receives, from the outside, only a portion for adding a new function of the new program, by way of the outside-communicator, and then writes the portion in the storage area for the computing processor that executes the updating program, by way of the in-vehicle communication channel.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transferred-program nullificator that reads the existing program obtained through sorting by the program sorter, from the transfer-source storage area where the existing program exist, writes the existing program in the storage area for the computing processor that executes the existing program, by way of the in-vehicle communication channel, and then, after completion of the writing, prevents the existing program from operating in the transfer-source storage area.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein only when a function safety level in the case where the existing program is executed by a computing processor in which the existing program exists is the same as or lower than a function safety level in the case where the existing program is executed by the computing processor for executing an updating program, the existing-program writer writes data for the existing program.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computing processor is configured with an SoC.