CN118368612A - System, method and storage medium for carrying out OTA upgrade of vehicle-mounted equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a system for performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle apparatus, the system including: a first server that communicates with the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a first communication protocol; and a second server that communicates with the first server and the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a second communication protocol; wherein the first server is configured to: A. sending an OTA upgrading message to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal through the second server; and B, sending upgrade data to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal in response to an OTA upgrade request from the vehicle-mounted communication terminal, wherein the bandwidth and the computing resource occupied by the second communication protocol are smaller than those occupied by the first communication protocol.

Description

System, method and storage medium for carrying out OTA upgrade of vehicle-mounted equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of vehicles, and in particular, to a system, method and storage medium for performing software upgrade of an on-board device by Over-the-Air (OTA) technology.

Background

The software upgrade mode of the vehicle-mounted equipment is continuously changed. OTA upgrades provide the vehicle with the ability to remotely upgrade the in-vehicle device, such as for repairing a software bug or performing a functional update of the in-vehicle device. By remotely managing the OTA upgrade of the in-vehicle device, such as by an Application (APP) on the mobile terminal, operations that would otherwise be required in the vehicle (e.g., via an in-vehicle infotainment system) can be implemented, providing a more convenient way of upgrade.

However, when the network environment is unstable and when the OTA server managing the OTA upgrade handles instruction execution and download tasks for a large number of vehicles at the same time, the related instructions of the OTA upgrade may not be transferred between the vehicle and the user's mobile terminal due to failure to maintain the network connection or even to establish the network connection.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to better upgrade the vehicle-mounted equipment OTA, the following technical scheme is provided.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a system for performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle apparatus, the system comprising: a first server that communicates with the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a first communication protocol; and a second server that communicates with the first server and the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a second communication protocol; wherein the first server is configured to: A. sending an OTA upgrading message to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal through the second server; and B, sending upgrade data to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal in response to an OTA upgrade request from the vehicle-mounted communication terminal, wherein the bandwidth and the computing resource occupied by the second communication protocol are smaller than those occupied by the first communication protocol.

According to an embodiment of the present application, optionally, the second communication protocol further supports a short message communication function, and the second server is further configured to send a short message including a request for establishing a communication connection to the in-vehicle communication terminal when it is in an unconnected state with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present application, optionally, the OTA upgrade message includes a first verification code, the short message includes a second verification code, and the OTA upgrade request includes a third verification code, and the third verification code includes a ciphertext that encrypts the first verification code and the second verification code with a key that is pre-assigned to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal.

Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present application, the OTA upgrade message indicates upgradeability of one or more software packages running on a vehicle associated with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present application, optionally, the first server is configured to perform operation B in the following manner: determining whether the current communication connection quality index of the first server and the vehicle-mounted communication terminal is inferior to a first threshold value; and if the upgrade data is smaller than the first threshold value, sequentially sending the upgrade data to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal according to the order of priority.

According to an embodiment of the present application, optionally, the system further comprises a mobile application server configured to communicate to the first server an OTA upgrade request from the in-vehicle communication terminal or a mobile terminal associated with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

According to an embodiment of the application, optionally, the first server is further configured to send the OTA upgrade message to the mobile terminal via the mobile application server.

According to an embodiment of the application, optionally, the first server comprises an OTA server and the second server comprises an MQTT server.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle device, the method comprising: the first server sends an OTA upgrading message to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal through the second server; and transmitting upgrade data to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal in response to an OTA upgrade request from the vehicle-mounted communication terminal, wherein the first server communicates with the vehicle-mounted communication terminal based on a first communication protocol, the second server communicates with the first server and the vehicle-mounted communication terminal based on a second communication protocol, and the bandwidth and the computing resources occupied by the second communication protocol are smaller than those occupied by the first communication protocol.

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a program which, when executed by a processor, implements a method as described above.

Drawings

The above and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present application will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like or similar elements throughout the drawings, wherein:

fig. 1 shows a system for performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 shows a method for performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that the embodiments described herein are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter, which may be embodied in various forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application. In the following detailed description of embodiments, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, in some embodiments, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.

In the present application, terms such as "comprising," "including," and the like, mean that there are elements and steps that are not directly or explicitly recited in the description and claims, nor do the subject matter recited in the present application exclude the presence of other elements and steps.

In the present application, the use of terms such as "first" or "second" are not intended to imply or establish any particular ordering of elements, nor are any elements intended to be limited to only a single element unless explicitly disclosed, such as by the use of the terms "before," "after," "single," or other such terms. Rather, such terms are used merely to distinguish between elements, e.g., a first element that differs from a second element.

Fig. 1 illustrates a system 100 for performing OTA upgrades of in-vehicle devices according to an embodiment of the application. The system 100 may be built based on a message publish-subscribe model. One protocol that has employed the message publish-subscribe mode is the message queue telemetry transport (MessageQueuingTelemetryTransport, MQTT) protocol. The MQTT protocol is an internet of things transport protocol designed for "lightweight" publish/subscribe messaging, aimed at providing reliable network services with a degree of real-time for internet of things devices in low bandwidth and unstable network environments. The MQTT protocol is capable of supporting more device connections and QoS levels while reducing computation resource occupancy relative to conventionally used HTTP, HTTPs, etc. protocols. The MQTT server (also referred to as MQTT proxy) 110 is a server for a message publish-subscribe model.

As shown in fig. 1, in an embodiment of a system 100 for OTA upgrades of in-vehicle devices, the system may include an MQTT server 110, an OTA server 120 communicatively coupled with the MQTT server 110 by wire or wirelessly, an in-vehicle communication terminal 130 (which may include or be referred to as an in-vehicle T-Box module) communicatively coupled with both the MQTT server 110 and the OTA server 120, a mobile application server 140 communicatively coupled with the OTA server 120 by wire or wirelessly, and a mobile terminal 150 communicatively coupled with the mobile application server 140. Examples of the mobile terminal 150 may include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, notebook computers, tablet computers, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), game consoles, music storage, wearable electronics, mobile Type Communication (MTC) devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, and the like.

The MQTT server (also referred to as MQTT proxy) 110 can be configured to manage the receiving and forwarding of messages and the sending of request short messages based on the MQTT protocol. In particular, the MQTT server 110 can encapsulate and issue instructions from clients (in some embodiments, the OTA server 120) via the MQTT protocol for pushing to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 subscribing to the MQTT server 110. The MQTT server 110 may also be configured to wake up (e.g., by sending a short message) the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 according to instructions of a user (e.g., a user of a mobile terminal as described below) (e.g., checking whether a new version of software of the in-vehicle device exists) to establish a connection of the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 with the MQTT server 110. Herein, the MQTT server 110, the OTA server 120, the mobile application server 140, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130, and the mobile terminal 150 may be associated with each other by a vehicle identification number (Vehicle Identification Number, VIN) of the vehicle for messaging therebetween.

The OTA server 120 is configurable as an information interaction hub for OTA upgrades to manage OTA upgrade events. The OTA server 120 handles on the one hand the OTA upgrade event triggered by the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 and on the other hand the OTA upgrade event triggered by the mobile terminal 150. In particular, the OTA server 120 may be configured to publish the OTA upgrade message to the MQTT server 110 to which the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 subscribes and to send OTA software data to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 based on a request from the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 or a request from the mobile terminal 150 associated with the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 through the same VIN.

The in-vehicle communication terminal 130 generally integrates a remote refresh master node, a network connection module, a client interaction module, etc. and is configured to implement in-vehicle OTA node and gateway functions, etc., which may cooperate to implement, for example, OTA upgrade functions. The in-vehicle communication terminal 130 is coupled between the MQTT server 110 and the OTA server 120 and is configurable to manage OTA upgrade events for the in-vehicle device and to implement OTA upgrades of software for the in-vehicle device based on user operations or messages from the server (e.g., the MQTT server 110).

The in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may be configured to communicate with the OTA server 120 via a wireless communication protocol such as HTTP, HTTPs, etc., to receive and process messages (e.g., instructions) from the OTA server 120 directly or from the mobile terminal 150 forwarded via the OTA server 120 to perform in-vehicle device software upgrades. The in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may also be configured to upload the upgrade status and results to the mobile application server 140.

The mobile Application server 140 is coupled between the mobile terminal 150 and the OTA server 120 and is configured to communicate messages related to OTA upgrades to the mobile terminal 150 (e.g., applications (APP) running on the mobile terminal 150), wherein user instructions may also be communicated to the OTA server 120 through the mobile Application server 140 to enable information interaction of the mobile terminal 150 with the OTA server 120.

Mobile terminal 150 may be configured to push OTA-upgraded update content to the user, OTA-upgraded information sent by OTA server 120 to mobile application server 140 and thus to mobile terminal 150, for example, via an APP running thereon; and the user may send instructions (e.g., agree to make an OTA upgrade) via mobile terminal 150 to manage the OTA upgrade. The user may also send a request to check for OTA upgrades to the OTA server 120 via the mobile application server 140, for example, through an APP running on the mobile terminal 150.

In some embodiments, mobile application server 140 is configured to communicate with mobile terminal 150 and with OTA server 120. The user may input various types of instructions such as "start/pause/resume download", "start installation (e.g., agree and confirm installation)", through the mobile terminal 150. The mobile terminal 150 may send the instructions to the mobile application server 140 by utilizing various wireless technologies, such as GSM, CDMA, LTE, NR, wiFi, wiMAX. In some embodiments, the mobile application server 140 may pass the received instructions completely through to the OTA server 120.

In some embodiments, the OTA server 120 is configured to communicate with the MQTT server 110 and can establish the MQTT connection by issuing a request to the MQTT server 110 to establish the MQTT connection, and issue instructions associated with VIN on the MQTT server 110.

In some embodiments, if the MQTT connection of the MQTT server 110 with the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 has not been established (e.g., the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 is in a dormant state for power conservation and needs to wake up, that is, at this time the MQTT server 110 cannot establish the MQTT connection with the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 in response to a request by the in-vehicle communication terminal 130), the MQTT server 110 may request a short messaging server (not shown in fig. 1) in communication with the MQTT server 110 to send a short message to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 of the vehicle associated with VIN. The point-to-point short message service enables, for example, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 to receive digital or text messages of no more than 140 bytes, and the sender (short message sending server in this embodiment) can reserve the sent short message and the short message can be retransmitted by the receiver, for example, when the receiver accesses the communicable network, if the receiver (in this embodiment, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130) does not receive the short message (for example, because the receiver has not accessed the communicable network). By such a store-and-forward mechanism of the short message, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 can be awakened in, for example, an unreliable network environment. That is, the MQTT server 110 may be configured to request the short message sending server to send a short message to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 of the vehicle associated with VIN for waking up. In some embodiments, the MQTT server 110 could be configured with the functionality to send short messages.

In some embodiments, the content of the short message may be a uniform resource locator (UniformResource Locator, URL) and port number of the OTA server 120 or MQTT server 110 to cause the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 to initiate a request to establish a connection with the OTA server 120 or MQTT server 110, e.g., by performing DNS resolution. In some embodiments, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 has stored the URL and port number of the OTA server 120 or the MQTT server 110 or both so that the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 can initiate a request to establish a connection with the OTA server 120 or the MQTT server 110 or both while in an active state (e.g., awake).

In some embodiments, if the MQTT connection of the MQTT server 110 with the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 has been established, or the MQTT connection has been established as described above, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may be configured to maintain uninterrupted communication over the long connection established with the MQTT server 110 and subscribe to instructions previously issued on the MQTT server 110 by the OTA server 120.

In some embodiments, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may be configured to receive instructions from the mobile terminal 150 from the short messaging server, such as when communication with the MQTT server 110 is unstable, still by way of a short message.

In some embodiments, the OTA server 120 may be configured to send data, such as a thermal update, an update of one or more software/firmware, or a combination thereof, of the in-vehicle device OTA upgrade to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 in response to an OTA upgrade request initiated by the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 (e.g., by a processor that may be included in the in-vehicle communication terminal) to the OTA server 120 or to the OTA server 120 via the MQTT server 110.

In some embodiments, a message, such as an OTA upgrade of the in-vehicle device sent from the OTA server 120 to the MQTT server 110 or forwarded by the MQTT server 110, may contain a first authentication code, such as for authenticating a user operation, while a short message sent to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may contain a second authentication code, such as for authenticating a user operation. Further, the request related to the OTA upgrade sent by the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 to the OTA server 120 may include a third authentication code, where the third authentication code may include ciphertext that encrypts the first authentication code and the second authentication code with a key that is pre-assigned to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 to enhance communication security.

In some embodiments, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may be further configured to request the MQTT server 110 to disconnect the MQTT connection based on the status of the OTA upgrade of the in-vehicle device (e.g., the in-vehicle device has completed the upgrade or the OTA upgrade times out (e.g., the connection duration or download duration exceeds a threshold)).

In some embodiments, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may be configured to maintain a connection with the MQTT server 110 while simultaneously disconnecting from the OTA server 120. As such, the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 may maintain a connection with the OTA server 120 while simultaneously disconnecting from the MQTT server 110 (e.g., maintain a download from the OTA server 120 for a period of time).

In some embodiments, the user may interact directly with the interactable component in the vehicle having the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 (e.g., an in-vehicle infotainment system in the vehicle) without the mobile terminal 150, such that the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 is capable of receiving instructions from the MQTT server 110 and downloading, for example, OTA upgrade software from the OTA server 120 to effect OTA upgrades of the in-vehicle device, as described above.

In some embodiments, the OTA server 120 may be configured to push a message of an in-vehicle device OTA upgrade (e.g., a software package running on the vehicle may be currently subjected to the OTA upgrade, its updated content, etc.) to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 or to the mobile terminal 150 via the mobile application server 140, which the user may receive in the vehicle (e.g., via an in-vehicle infotainment system in the vehicle) or via the mobile terminal 150 (e.g., an APP on the mobile terminal 150), respectively.

In some embodiments, the user may determine whether to perform an OTA upgrade of the in-vehicle device in the vehicle or through mobile terminal 150 based on the message.

In some embodiments, the OTA server 120 may be configured to determine whether to transmit upgrade data with priority to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 based on the connection quality with the in-vehicle communication terminal 130. In particular, if it is detected that the current communication connection quality indicator (e.g., channel quality indicator, signal-to-interference plus noise ratio, reference signal received power, received signal strength indicator, etc.) is less than the respective threshold, the OTA server 120 may be configured to preferentially send critical upgrade data (firmware upgrade data for controllers such as the engine, gearbox, motor, etc. of the vehicle) to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130, and to send upgrade data such as for in-vehicle entertainment interactive systems to the in-vehicle communication terminal 130 after such critical upgrade data is completely sent.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 of performing OTA upgrades of an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment of the application. Method 200 includes steps 210 and 220.

One or more steps of the method 200 of performing an OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle device may be implemented by some or all of the MQTT server, OTA server, in-vehicle communication terminal, mobile application server, and mobile terminal as described above with respect to fig. 1, and they may be configured and utilized as described above with respect to fig. 1, and are not repeated herein.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the OTA server to send a message of the in-vehicle device OTA upgrade to the in-vehicle communication terminal through the MQTT server at step 210. In particular, the OTA server is configured to communicate with the MQTT server and can establish the MQTT connection by issuing a request to the MQTT server to establish the MQTT connection, and issue the instructions associated with VIN on the MQTT server, as described above. And as described with respect to fig. 1, if the MQTT connection of the MQTT server with the in-vehicle communication terminal has been established, or the MQTT connection has been established by way of sending a short message as described above, the in-vehicle communication terminal can maintain uninterrupted communication through the long connection established with the MQTT server and subscribe to the instruction previously issued by the OTA server on the MQTT server, that is, the MQTT server in turn forwards the instruction from the OTA server to the in-vehicle communication terminal.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the OTA server to send data, such as a thermal update, an update of one or more software/firmware, or a combination thereof, of the OTA device to the in-vehicle communication terminal in response to an OTA update request initiated by the in-vehicle communication terminal to the OTA server or to the OTA server via the MQTT server, as described above, at step 220.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the mobile application server to communicate with the mobile terminal and with the OTA server such that instructions are sent from the mobile terminal to the mobile application server and then to the OTA server, as described above.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the in-vehicle communication terminal to receive instructions from the mobile terminal from the short messaging server, still by way of a short message, when communication with the MQTT server is unstable, as described above.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include implementing OTA upgrades of the in-vehicle device by directly interacting with an interactable component in a vehicle having an in-vehicle communication terminal (e.g., an in-vehicle infotainment system in the vehicle) without the mobile terminal, as described above.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the OTA server to push in-vehicle device OTA upgraded information to the in-vehicle communication terminal or to the mobile terminal through the mobile application server, which the user may receive in the vehicle or through the mobile terminal (e.g., APP on the mobile terminal), respectively, as described above.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include determining, based on the information, whether to perform an OTA upgrade of the in-vehicle device in the vehicle or through the mobile terminal, as described above.

In some embodiments, the method 200 may include configuring the OTA server to determine whether to send upgrade data with priority to the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a quality of connection with the in-vehicle communication terminal. In particular, if it is detected that the current connection quality indicator is less than the threshold, the OTA server may be configured to preferentially send critical upgrade data to the in-vehicle communication terminal, and to send upgrade data, such as an in-vehicle entertainment interaction system, to the in-vehicle communication terminal after such critical upgrade data is completely sent.

In addition, the technical solution of the present application may also be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium in which a program that when executed by, for example, a processor, implements a method of performing OTA upgrade of an in-vehicle apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application may be stored. The computer-readable storage media described herein can include RAM, ROM, EPROM, E PROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other temporary or non-temporary storage medium that can be used to carry or store code elements in the form of programs or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable storage media. In an example, a computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the computer-readable storage medium. In the alternative, the computer readable storage medium may be integral to the processor.

Where applicable, the embodiments provided by the present application can be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Moreover, where applicable and without departing from the scope of the application, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both. Where applicable and without departing from the scope of the present application, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both. Further, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components may be implemented as hardware components, and vice versa.

The embodiments and examples set forth herein are presented to best explain the embodiments in accordance with the present technology and its particular application and to thereby enable those skilled in the art to make and use the application. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the foregoing description and examples have been presented for the purpose of illustration and example only. The description as set forth is not intended to cover various aspects of the application or to limit the application to the precise form disclosed.

Claims (10)

1. A system for performing OTA upgrades of an in-vehicle device, the system comprising:

A first server that communicates with the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a first communication protocol; and

A second server that communicates with the first server and the in-vehicle communication terminal based on a second communication protocol;

wherein the first server is configured to:

A. sending an OTA upgrading message to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal through the second server; and

B. in response to an OTA upgrade request from the vehicle-mounted communication terminal, upgrade data is sent to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal,

Wherein the bandwidth and computing resources occupied by the second communication protocol are less than the bandwidth and computing resources occupied by the first communication protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communication protocol further supports a short message communication function, and the second server is further configured to send a short message including a request to establish a communication connection to the in-vehicle communication terminal when it is in an unconnected state with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the OTA upgrade message comprises a first authentication code, the short message comprises a second authentication code, the OTA upgrade request comprises a third authentication code comprising ciphertext that encrypts the first authentication code and the second authentication code with a key pre-assigned to the vehicle communication terminal.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the OTA upgrade message indicates upgradeability of one or more software packages running on a vehicle associated with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first server is configured to perform operation B as follows:

determining whether the current communication connection quality index of the first server and the vehicle-mounted communication terminal is inferior to a first threshold value;

and if the upgrade data is smaller than the first threshold value, sequentially sending the upgrade data to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal according to the order of priority.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a mobile application server configured to communicate an OTA upgrade request to the first server from the in-vehicle communication terminal or a mobile terminal associated with the in-vehicle communication terminal.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first server is further configured to send the OTA upgrade message to the mobile terminal via the mobile application server.

8. The system of any of claims 1-7, wherein the first server comprises an OTA server and the second server comprises an MQTT server.

9. A method of performing OTA upgrades of an in-vehicle device, the method comprising:

the first server sends an OTA upgrading message to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal through the second server; and

In response to an OTA upgrade request from the vehicle-mounted communication terminal, upgrade data is sent to the vehicle-mounted communication terminal,

The first server communicates with the vehicle-mounted communication terminal based on a first communication protocol, the second server communicates with the first server and the vehicle-mounted communication terminal based on a second communication protocol, and the bandwidth and the computing resource occupied by the second communication protocol are smaller than those occupied by the first communication protocol.

10. A computer readable storage medium storing a program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of claim 9.