Granted Patent B2

US 12,561,123 · App. 17/806,181 · Granted Feb 24, 2026

Inventors: Tomoyasu Ishikawa (Nagoya, JP); Shunsuke Tanimori (Toyota, JP)

Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

G06F8/65H04W4/44H04W76/19

Abstract

Claims (34)

1 . A center comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

execute communication with a vehicle and a smartphone owned by a user of the vehicle;

permit software update processing of an electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle based on a notification of an approval by a user of the vehicle, the notification being received from the smartphone;

download the software update after permitting the software update processing;

acquire a communication state between the vehicle and the smartphone after downloading the software update;

restrict the software update processing executed by the communication between the vehicle and the center when determining that the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is being interrupted based upon the communication state acquired after permitting the software update processing; and

notify a software update state to the smartphone.

2 . The center according to claim 1 , wherein

a non-volatile memory having two storage areas is mounted on the electronic control unit, and

the at least one processor is configured to, in the software update processing of the electronic control unit, not permit activation in which update software written on the storage areas is made active and processing after the activation when the at least one processor receives the notification and the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is being interrupted.

3 . The center according to claim 1 , wherein

a non-volatile memory having one storage area is mounted on the electronic control unit, and

the at least one processor is configured to, in the software update processing of the electronic control unit, not permit installation in which update software is written on the storage area and processing after the installation when the at least one processor receives the notification and the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is being interrupted.

4 . The center according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to, when determining that the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is restored, permit the activation and the software update processing after the activation.

5 . The center according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to, when determining that the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is restored, permit the installation and the software update processing after the installation.

6 . The center according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to

acquire a cooperation state between the vehicle and the smartphone from the vehicle,

determine whether the vehicle is connected to the smartphone based on the cooperation state during the software update processing, and

notify the software update state to the smartphone when the at least one processor determines that the vehicle is connected to the smartphone during the software update processing.

7 . A method executed by a center including at least one processor and at least one memory, the method comprising:

executing communication with a vehicle and a smartphone owned by a user of the vehicle;

permitting software update processing of an electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle based on a notification of an approval by as user of the vehicle, the notification being received from the smartphone;

downloading the software update after permitting the software update processing;

acquiring a communication state between the vehicle and the smartphone after downloading the software update;

restricting the software update processing executed by the communication between the vehicle and the center when determining that the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is being interrupted based upon the communication state acquired after permitting the software update processing; and

notifying a software update state to the smartphone.

8 . A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that are executable by a computer of a center which includes at least one processor and at least one memory, and that cause the computer to execute functions comprising:

executing communication with a vehicle and a smartphone owned by a user of the vehicle;

permitting software update processing of an electronic control unit mounted on the vehicle based on a notification of an approval by as user of the vehicle, the notification being received from the smartphone;

downloading the software update after permitting the software update processing;

acquiring a communication state between the vehicle and the smartphone after downloading the software update;

restricting the software update processing executed by the communication between the vehicle and the center when determining that the communication between the vehicle and the smartphone is being interrupted based upon the communication state acquired after permitting the software update processing; and

notifying a software update state to the smartphone.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (42)