JP2016081150A - Electronic controller for automatic vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic controller for automatic vehicle capable of adding any program without changing a program on a non-volatile memory.SOLUTION: In an electronic controller for automatic vehicle 100 in which a program can be transferred from the outside to an area which starts from a specific memory address on a volatile memory 130, the electronic controller for automatic vehicle 100 is configured to execute a program, which starts from the memory address on the volatile memory 130, from a program on a non-volatile memory 120.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an automotive electronic control device.

  An electronic control unit such as an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) for automobiles acquires sensor information and calculates a control command value triggered by a cycle or event by an in-vehicle device control program stored in a non-volatile memory. Thus, the vehicle-mounted device (for example, a fuel injection device) is controlled.

Japanese Patent No. 3568704

  As described in Japanese Patent No. 3568704 (Patent Document 1), the electronic control unit determines whether or not the nonvolatile memory needs to be rewritten after reset start in order to realize the rewriting of the nonvolatile memory.

At this time, if it is determined that rewriting is necessary, the rewriting process is performed by a rewriting control program in a RAM (Random Access Memory) which is a volatile memory, and then the process is terminated. If it is determined that rewriting is not necessary, the process jumps to an in-vehicle device control program (for example, an engine control program) written in the nonvolatile memory. In the in-vehicle device control program, a process for controlling the in-vehicle device is executed in response to a cycle or an event. At this time, without rewriting the in-vehicle device control program, any processing can be performed within the same execution timing as the in-vehicle device control program. The process cannot be added or changed and executed.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted.

  The present application includes a plurality of means for solving the above-mentioned problems. To give an example, an electronic control apparatus for automobile capable of transferring a program from the outside to an area starting from a specific memory address on a volatile memory. The program starting from the memory address on the volatile memory is executed from the program on the nonvolatile memory.

  According to the present invention, an arbitrary program can be added, changed, and executed within the same execution timing as the control program without rewriting the control program stored in the nonvolatile memory.

The block diagram of ECU and a program transfer tool. Overview of program rewriting and execution processing. The flowchart of the process which the rewriting control program of ECU performs. The flowchart of the process which the vehicle-mounted apparatus control program of ECU performs. The flowchart of the process performed when a rewritable program is an empty process. The flowchart of the process performed when a rewritable program is arbitrary processes.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an ECU and a program transfer tool according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The ECU 100 is for controlling fuel injection, ignition, and the like in an automobile engine, and includes a microcomputer 110, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 120 that is a nonvolatile memory, a RAM 130 that is a volatile memory, and a communication circuit 140. It is comprised including. The ECU 100 is detachably connected to the program transfer tool 200 via a communication line 300 such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

  The microcomputer 110 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a cache memory, and the like, and executes various programs stored in the ROM 120 and the RAM 130.

  The communication circuit 140 is used when the ECU 100 communicates with other devices including the program transfer tool 200.

  The program transfer tool 200 includes a storage 210 (for example, a hard disk) and a communication circuit 220. The program transfer tool 200 includes a terminal (for example, a personal computer) and a device connected to the ECU 100, and an operator who operates the program transfer tool 200 can interactively issue instructions to the program transfer tool 200. . The program transfer tool 200 transfers program data stored in the storage 210 to the ECU 100.

  Arbitrary processing transferred to the ECU 100 is stored in the storage 210 as program data. A plurality of arbitrary processes may be stored as program data.

  The communication circuit 220 is used when the program transfer tool 200 communicates with the ECU 100.

  Here, an outline of the program rewriting and execution processing of the ECU 100 is shown in FIG.

  In step 1 (abbreviated as “S1” in the figure, the same applies hereinafter), the rewrite control program 121 is activated and communicates with the program transfer tool 200 when the special mode is determined. , A program including any processing). Note that the write data may be transferred in a batch or may be transferred in a time division manner.

  In step 2, the rewrite control program 121 writes the acquired program data in the rewritable program area 131 of the RAM 130. At this time, the program data written in the rewritable program area 131 is the rewritable program 132. The rewritable program area 131 is an area that starts from a fixed memory address on the RAM 130 and is sufficiently larger than the program size of the rewritable program 132.

  In step 3, the in-vehicle device control program 122 executes the rewritable program 132 at the same execution timing as the control processing of the in-vehicle device (for example, fuel injection device) such as acquisition of sensor information and calculation of a control command value.

  A flowchart of processing executed in the rewrite control program 121 is shown in FIG.

  In step 11, it is determined whether or not the special mode is set. The special mode refers to an operation mode for executing step 13. In the normal mode (during normal operation other than the special mode), a specific mode such as an A / D input value or communication data that cannot be input from the outside is specified. Determination is made based on whether or not a combination of data is input to the ECU 100. The rewrite control program 121 determines that the mode is the special mode if a specific combination of data is input to the ECU 100 and advances the process to Step 13 (Yes), while the specific combination of data is input to the ECU 100. If not, it is determined that the mode is not the special mode, and the process proceeds to Step 12. It should be noted that security can be ensured by adding an authentication procedure (for example, public key authentication) as a determination condition for the special mode.

  In step 12, an empty process for executing nothing is created as program data. When creating an empty process, it is not necessary to communicate with the program transfer tool 200 described in Step 1 and can be created inside the rewrite control program 121.

  In step 13, arbitrary processing is acquired from the program transfer tool 200 in step 1 and held as program data.

  In step 14, the rewritable program area 131 is rewritten in step 2 with the program data created in step 12 or step 13. At this time, the program written in the rewritable program area 131 is called a rewritable program 132.

  In step 15, the in-vehicle device control program 122 is activated.

  A flowchart of processing executed in the in-vehicle device control program 122 is shown in FIG.

  In step 21, in step 3, the rewritable program 132 is repeatedly executed in the execution loop. The rewritable program 132 executes the rewritable program 132 stored at the start memory address of the rewritable program area 131 and ends when the rewritable program 132 ends. That is, by rewriting the contents of the rewritable program 132 in step 14, it is possible to add and change the processing to be executed. Note that the execution timing of the process is not limited to periodic execution, and may be aperiodic execution triggered by an event (for example, interrupt process) (process start factor). Further, step 21 is not limited to being executed at one place in the in-vehicle device control program, and may be executed at a plurality of places. At that time, the step 21 divided into a plurality of locations may execute different rewritable programs.

  FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of processing executed when the rewritable program is empty processing.

  FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of processing executed when the rewritable program is arbitrary processing.

  In step 31, arbitrary processing is executed.

  Here, in order to facilitate understanding of the execution process of the rewritable program, a specific application example will be assumed and described.

(Application 1)
Application example 1 is a case where a process of monitoring control data stored in a RAM or ROM is added as an arbitrary process.

  In the case of an automotive ECU, a waterproof seal process is often performed when shipped to the market. Therefore, it becomes impossible to connect an external monitor tool such as ICE (In-Circuit Emulator). Therefore, control data is acquired by communication such as CAN (Controller Area Network). However, since there is a limit to the number of data that can be transmitted and received by communication, it is not possible to monitor all control data.

  Therefore, as an arbitrary process to be read in step 13, a process for designating control data to be monitored from the outside is acquired. By executing this process from the in-vehicle device control program, it becomes possible to monitor the control data that was not monitored at the time of shipment by specifying it later.

  This application example 1 can be used for cause analysis of an ECU collected from the market due to occurrence of a failure, and for collection of control data from an ECU equipped with wireless communication.

(Application 2)
Application example 2 is a case where a process for rewriting a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) is added as an arbitrary process.

  In order to prevent unintended rewriting of a non-volatile memory area, an automotive ECU may be prohibited from incorporating a process for rewriting an arbitrary non-volatile memory area when shipped to the market.

  Therefore, a process of rewriting the designated area of the nonvolatile memory to an arbitrary value is acquired as an arbitrary process read in step 13. By executing this process from the in-vehicle device control program, only a part of the nonvolatile memory area can be rewritten.

  This application example 2 can be used for cause analysis of an ECU collected from the market due to a failure.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to above-described embodiment, Various modifications are included. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to one having all the configurations described.

100 ... ECU
110 ... Microcomputer 120 ... ROM
121 ... Rewrite control program 122 ... In-vehicle device control program 130 ... RAM
131: rewritable program area 132: rewritable program 140: communication circuit 200 ... program transfer tool 210 ... storage 220 ... communication circuit 300 ... communication line

Claims (3)

An automotive electronic control device capable of transferring a program from the outside to an area starting from a specific memory address on a volatile memory,
An automotive electronic control device that executes a program starting from a memory address on the volatile memory from a program on a nonvolatile memory. The electronic control device for an automobile according to claim 1,
An automotive electronic control device that transfers the program by communicating with another device. The electronic control device for an automobile according to claim 2,
An automotive electronic control device that executes a program started from a memory address on the volatile memory in response to a cycle or an event.