Vehicle control apparatus

1 . A vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a storage in which software has been written;

an interface configured to receive updating software for updating the software; and

processing circuitry configured to:

detect a power-source remaining capacity of a battery;

detect a power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery;

calculate a software-updating electric power for writing the updating software in the storage;

permit starting of updating the software in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is larger than the software-updating electric power;

permit continuation of updating the software in the case where the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery is smaller than a predetermined decrease determination value;

start writing the updating software in the storage in the case where the starting of updating the software is permitted;

continue writing the updating software in the storage in the case where, during writing the updating software in the storage, the continuation of updating the software is permitted; and

interrupt writing the updating software in the storage in the case where starting of updating the software is not permitted or continuation of updating the software is not permitted.

2 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in accordance with at least one of a power-source voltage of the battery, a cold cranking ampere, or a battery-liquid specific gravity.

3 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate software-updating continuation power to be consumed before completion of writing during writing the updating software in the storage,

wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount is smaller than the predetermined decrease determination value and larger than a predetermined second decrease determination value, the processing circuitry calculates a required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power at a predetermined decreasing-timing increasing rate,

wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount is the same as or smaller than the second decrease determination value, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power in accordance with the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount, and

wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is larger than the required power-source remaining capacity, the processing circuitry permits continuation of updating the software.

4 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in accordance with a power-source voltage of the battery, and

wherein in the case where the power-source voltage of the battery is smaller than 11.5 V, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof, and in the case where the power-source voltage of the battery is the same as or larger than 11.5 V and smaller than 12.5 V, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 5% thereof each time the power-source voltage of the battery decreases by 0.1 V from 12.5 V.

5 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in accordance with a cold cranking ampere of the battery, and

wherein in the case where the cold cranking ampere is smaller than 70% of an initial cold cranking ampere of the battery, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof, and in the case where the cold cranking ampere is the same as or larger than 70% of the initial cold cranking ampere of the battery and smaller than 100% of the initial cold cranking ampere of the battery, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power at a rate of a decreasing amount of the cold cranking ampere to 100% thereof.

6 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in accordance with a battery-liquid specific gravity of the battery, and

wherein in the case where the battery-liquid specific gravity is smaller than 1.21, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof, and in the case where the battery-liquid specific gravity is the same as or larger than 1.21 and smaller than 1.28, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 7% thereof each time the battery-liquid specific gravity decreases by 0.01 from 1.28.

7 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein in the case where the battery has been being utilized for 5 years or longer exceeding a usable years thereof, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof.

8 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein in the case where the battery has two or more times of battery-exhaustion histories, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof.

9 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein in the case where a vehicle has stopped continuously for one month or longer or has travelled a distance shorter than 2 km ten or more times, the processing circuitry calculates the required power-source remaining capacity by increasing the software-updating continuation power by 100% thereof.

10 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in the case where the processing circuitry determines that starting of updating the software is permitted, the processing circuitry starts writing the updating software in the storage, and in the case where writing the updating software in the storage is completed within a predetermined writing completion time, the processing circuitry continues writing the updating software in the storage regardless of whether the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery is smaller than the predetermined decrease determination value.

11 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein in the case where writing the updating software in the storage is completed within 2 minutes, the processing circuitry continues writing the updating software in the storage, regardless of whether the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery is smaller than the predetermined decrease determination value.

12 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in the case where the processing circuitry determines that starting of updating the software is permitted, the processing circuitry starts writing the updating software in the storage, and in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is larger than a sum of the software-updating electric power and a predetermined excessive electric power, the processing circuitry continues writing the updating software in the storage regardless of whether the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery is smaller than the predetermined decrease determination value.

13 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is larger than a sum of the software-updating electric power and 20% of an initial electric-power capacity of the battery, the processing circuitry continues writing the updating software in the storage regardless of whether the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery is smaller than the predetermined decrease determination value.

14 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount of the battery at a predetermined polling period, and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate an elapsed-time rate, which is a rate of the polling period to a predetermined time from starting of writing the updating software in the storage to completion thereof, and in the case where the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in the polling period is larger than a value obtained by multiplying a product of the software-updating electric power and the elapsed-time rate by a predetermined coefficient, the processing circuitry determines that continuation of updating the software is not permitted.

15 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity decreasing amount in the polling period is larger than a double of the product of the software-updating electric power and the elapsed-time rate, the processing circuitry determines that continuation of updating the software is not permitted.

16 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the interface is configured to receive updating-software information, which is information on the updating software,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate updating-software reception electric power for receiving updating-software data, which is a main body of the updating software, based on the updating-software information, and calculate software reception updating electric power, which is a sum of the updating-software reception electric power and the software-updating electric power calculated based on the updating-software information, and

wherein in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is larger than the software reception updating electric power, the interface receives the updating-software data, and in the case where the power-source remaining capacity of the battery is the same as or smaller than the software reception updating electric power, the interface rejects reception of the updating-software data.