Google patents car software system that swaps parts while driving
Google describes an operating system for cars that treats software features as interchangeable parts. It uses a central list to find the right version of a feature and loads it into the running system without restarting the car.
In the filing’s own words
A software defined vehicle (SDV) operating system may include components for executing software packages that declare unit types (e.g., interfaces) and define service units that each implement a unit type. For each unit type, there may be several service units that each provide a different implementation of that unit type. The SDV operating system may manage a service discovery module that registers service units for each unit type in a centralized registry. While executing a software package that declares a unit type, the service discovery module may fetch, from the centralized registry, an implementation of the unit type by a service unit defined by a different software package. While still executing the software package (i.e., at runtime), the SDV operating system may load a service unit defined by the software package with the fetched implementation. The SDV operating system may then execute the service unit based on the fetched implementation.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: executing, at a first time, and by an operating system of a software-defined vehicle, a first software package from a plurality of software packages, wherein each software package from the plurality of software packages defines one or more service units that each implement a respective unit type from a plurality of unit types, and wherein the first software package declares at least one unit type from the plurality of unit types in accordance with an inter-process communication policy including information indicative of one or more software packages from the plurality of software packages that are authorized to implement the at least one unit type; and while executing the first software package: fetching, by the operating system and from a centralized registry, a first set of implementations of the at least one unit type by the one or more software packages that are authorized to implement the at least one unit type; dynamically loading, by the operating system, one or more service units defined by the first software package with the first set of implementations; and executing, by the operating system, the one or more service units defined by the first software package based on the first set of implementations.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- Cohesive framework of runtime characterization of dynamic services in software-defined vehicle architectures
- Patent number
- US12769561B2
- Application number
- 18674149
- Filed
- May 24, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 9/445 Physics & computingG06F 8/65 Physics & computingMore from Google in Cars & transport
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.