6 directly through the communication interface unit 101 or via the Bluetooth interface 172 of the navigation device 111.

The memory unit 103 is formed as a storage medium by combining, for example, a nonvolatile memory that is appropriately writable and readable such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive), a nonvolatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). In the memory area, a program memory area and a data memory area are provided. The program memory area stores programs necessary to execute various control processes according to the embodiment of the present invention. The data memory area is provided with a log data memory 1031.

The log data memory 1031 is used to store log data acquired from the in-vehicle network 1. The log data includes arbitrary log data such as an operation log, manipulation log, authentication log, access log, event log, communication log, and security log. As an example of the security log, the state of the network is displayed by monitoring the state of a transmitted/received packet by the function of a firewall. Note that the data memory 1031 has an arbitrary arrangement and can be eliminated.

The control unit 102 includes, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and includes, as control functions for implementing the embodiment of the present invention, a log data acquirer 1021, an output destination rule acquirer 1022, an output destination decider 1023, an information amount reduction processor 1024, and an output controller 1025. These control function units are implemented by causing the hardware processor to execute the programs stored in the program memory area of the memory unit 103.

The log data acquirer 1021 performs processing of acquiring, from the in-vehicle network 1 via the communication interface unit 101, log data generated based on the operation states of the in-vehicle equipments including the ECUs 12, and storing the acquired log data in the log data memory 1031.

The output destination rule acquirer 1022 performs processing of acquiring a preset output destination rule from an external equipment, a server on the network, or the like via the communication interface unit 101, and transferring the acquired output destination rule to the output destination decider 1023. The output destination rule is a rule for selectively controlling the output destination of the acquired data, and is arbitrarily preset by a system administrator or the like. The automotive gateway 10 may include, in the memory unit 103, a memory for storing the acquired output destination rule or a buffer memory for temporarily saving the acquired output destination rule.

The output destination decider 1023 performs processing of deciding the output destination of the log data based on the acquired output destination rule.

The information amount reduction processor 1024 is optionally provided, and performs processing of reducing the information amount of transmission target log data, as needed.

The output controller 1025 performs processing of generating log data for transmission by adding destination information of the decided output destination to the transmission target log data, and outputting the generated log data.

(3) User Terminal

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the user terminal 6 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The user terminal 6 is, for example, an arbitrary information processing terminal having a communication function and portable by a user, such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a personal computer, and includes a communication interface unit 61, a control unit 62, and a memory unit 63 in addition to general functions (an input/output interface, an input function unit, a display function unit, and the like) necessary for information processing.

The communication interface unit 61 includes a wired or wireless interface for making it possible to transmit/receive information to/from the automotive gateway 10 or the navigation device 111 in addition to a wireless interface for making it possible to transmit/receive information to/from the mobile communication network 22.

The memory unit 63 uses, for example, a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory as a storage medium. Note that as the storage medium, a read-only memory such as a ROM or a volatile memory such as a RAM can be used. In the memory area, a program memory area and a data memory area are provided. The program memory area stores programs necessary to execute various control processes according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the data memory area, a log data memory 631 and an analysis criterion memory 632 are provided.

The log data memory 631 is used to store log data received from the automotive gateway 10.

The analysis criterion memory 632 is used to store various criteria to be used to perform analysis processing for the received log data. For example, the analysis criteria include a threshold and a reference waveform to be used for abnormality detection.

The control unit 62 includes, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU, and includes a data acquirer 621, a data processor 622, and a transmission controller 623 as control functions for implementing the embodiment of the present invention. These control function units are implemented by causing the hardware processor to execute the programs stored in the program memory area of the memory unit 63.

The data acquirer 621 performs processing of acquiring, via the communication interface unit 61, log data transmitted from the automotive gateway 10, and storing the acquired log data in the log data memory 631.

The data processor 622 functions as a data analysis processor, a data compression processor, or a prioritization processor to perform various processes including analysis, compression, or prioritization based on the log data acquired by the data acquirer 621 or the log data read out from the log data memory 631.

The transmission controller 623 performs processing of transmitting, to an external server including the SOC server 30 via the communication interface unit 61, an analysis result, the compressed log data, or the log data given with priority, which has been output from the data processor 622.

(Operation)

(1) Acquisition of Log Data

An information processing operation by the automotive gateway 10 having the above arrangement will be described next. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the processing procedure and processing contents. Assume that the user terminal 6 is registered in advance as an output destination candidate of the log data in the automotive gateway 10 by, for example, a Bluetooth pairing function.

In the in-vehicle network 1, each ECU 12 and the in-vehicle equipment or device always or periodically monitor their own operation states and the like, and generate log data representing operation histories based on the monitoring results. Furthermore, when the in-vehicle network 1 receives transmission data transmitted from the external network 2, log data representing the reception history of the transmission data is generated.

In step S101, under the control of the log data acquirer 1021, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 loads the generated log data via the communication interface unit 101, and stores the log data in the log data memory 1031. At this time, the log data acquirer 1021 can be configured to add, to the loaded log data, information for identifying the ECU 12 or the in-vehicle equipment associated with the log data and time stamp information, and then store the log data in the log data memory 1031. The time stamp information may be based on an internal clock or GPS information or based on information obtained by accessing an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server.

The log data acquirer 1021 may store all the acquired data in the log data memory 1031 or may read an ID from a CAN message and perform processing corresponding to the read ID. For example, the log data acquirer 1021 can be configured to relay data, whose destination is an ECU on a specific bus, to the ECU without storing it in the log data memory 1031.

(2) Acquisition of Output Destination Rule

Next, in step S102, under the control of the output destination rule acquirer 1022, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 acquires a preset output destination rule from an external server or the like via the communication interface unit 101.

The output destination rule is a rule for selectively controlling the output destination of the acquired log data, which has been preset by the system administrator or the like, and may be fixed or updated appropriately. The output destination of the log data includes at least the SOC server 30 and the user terminal 6. The present invention, however, is not limited to them, and the output destination can include other servers (the mobility service server 25, the external server 28, the PSIRT server 40, and the like) connectable via the external network 2 and other nodes. An IP address or identification information of a destination node may be designated as the output destination of the data. Alternatively, a default output destination (the SOC server 30, the user terminal 6, or the like) may be designated by not setting the output destination of the data by the output destination rule. In the embodiment, one or both of the SOC server 30 and the user terminal 6 are designated as output destinations by the output destination rule.

The output destination rule controls the automotive gateway 10 so that log data associated with a specific in-vehicle equipment is output to a specific output destination. Alternatively, the output destination rule may control the automotive gateway 10 so as to designate the output destination in accordance with the type of the log data. The output destination rule may be in a form of a correspondence table for associating, with an output destination, attribute information of the log data including the type of log data and identification information of the in-vehicle equipment associated with the log data.

The output destination rule may control an output destination in accordance with the time stamp information. For example, the output destination rule may control the automotive gateway 10 so that log data acquired during a specific time period is output to a specific output destination. Alternatively, the output destination rule may designate an output destination in accordance with the magnitude of the information amount of log data acquired per unit time. Furthermore, the output destination rule may control to transmit specific log data to a plurality of output destinations.

The output destination rule may control an output destination in accordance with the importance or priority of log data. For example, the automotive gateway 10 can be configured to control the SOC server 30 as an output destination in descending order of priority, and control to set, if a transmission data amount per unit time to the SOC server 30 exceeds a predetermined amount, the output destination of the remaining data to the user terminal 6.

The importance or priority can be set for, for example, each control system associated with the log data. For example, since log data concerning driving of the vehicle such as the engine or suspension control system has high importance, high priority can be set. Since log data concerning control of a power window, air-conditioning, or the like has low importance, low priority can be set. Alternatively, log data having high priority may be transmitted to the user terminal 6. The user terminal 6 can collect log data for a predetermined period, analyze the log data, and then transfer the log data together with the analysis result to the SOC server 30, transmit only the analysis result to the SOC server 30, or transmit the log data to the SOC server 30 after compressing the collected log data to reduce the data amount. Alternatively, log data having high priority may be transmitted to both the SOC server 30 and the user terminal 6. In this case, for example, the SOC server 30 and the user terminal 6 can perform different parallel processes based on the log data.

The output destination rule may designate an output destination based on a request accepted from the SOC server 30 or the user terminal 6. For example, the output destination rule may control the automotive gateway 10 not to output data to the user terminal 6 for a predetermined period when a request is accepted from the user terminal 6. As an example, when the free area of the memory of the user terminal 6 becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, it is possible to cause the user terminal 6 to transmit, to the automotive gateway 10, a request to instruct not to transmit data to the user terminal 6. Upon accepting this request, the automotive gateway 10 can perform processing of temporarily excluding the user terminal 6 from the output destination for the period designated by the output destination rule, and control to transmit all the log data to the SOC server 30. Alternatively, the output destination rule may control the automotive gateway 10 not to output data to the SOC server 30 for a predetermined period when a request is accepted from the SOC server 30. As an example, when a failure of the SOC server 30 or a network failure occurs, it is possible to cause the SOC server 30 to transmit, to the automotive gateway 10, a request to instruct not to transmit data to the SOC server 30. Upon accepting this request, the automotive gateway 10 can perform processing of temporarily excluding the SOC server 30 from the output destination for the period designated by the output destination rule, and transmitting all the data to the user terminal 6 or selecting another server as an output destination.

Alternatively, the output destination rule may control the automotive gateway 10 to decide an output destination based on the magnitude of an information amount acquired per unit time by the log data acquirer 1021. For example, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 can read out, under a condition designated by the output destination rule, log data for a predetermined period accumulated in the log data memory 1031, divide the log data based on identification information of the in-vehicle equipment associated with the readout log data, calculate the information amount of each divided log data, and control to transmit, to the SOC server 30, the log data whose information amount exceeds a specific threshold and transmit the remaining log data to the user terminal 6.

The output destination rule may be stored in advance as part of a routing table normally provided in the automotive gateway 10, and the log data acquirer 1021 may decide an output destination by extracting information from the routing table. Alternatively, the log data acquirer 1021 may acquire the output destination rule in a form of a correspondence table from an external storage medium such as a USB memory.

(3) Decision of Output Destination

Next, in step S103, under the control of the output destination decider 1023, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 reads out the log data stored in the log data memory 1031, and decides the output destination of the log data based on the output destination rule acquired by the output destination rule acquirer 1022. For example, the output destination decider 1023 reads out the identification information of the associated in-vehicle equipment and the time stamp information from the target log data, and collates them with the output destination rule in the form of the correspondence table, thereby deciding the output destination of the log data. In the embodiment, the output destination is selectively decided between the SOC server 30 and the user terminal 6.

(4) Reduction of Information Amount

Next, in step S104, under the control of the information amount reduction processor 1024, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 performs processing of reducing the information amount of the transmission target log data, as needed. For the information amount reduction processing, for example, statistic calculation, sampling, filtering processing, data compression, and the like can be used. Step S104 is optional, and may be skipped or selectively executed in accordance with the output destination or the output target log data.

(5) Output

Next, in step S105, under the control of the output controller 1025, the control unit 102 of the automotive gateway 10 performs processing of generating transmission data and outputting it. For example, the output controller 1025 generates transmission data by adding a destination IP address and other necessary information to the output target log data, and outputs the generated transmission data via the communication interface unit 101. At this time, the automotive gateway 10 can output a signal after executing necessary control such as protocol or rate conversion.

The output controller 1025 may add identification information of the associated ECU to the output target log data. This makes it possible to analyze the log data in association with the ECU in the SOC server 30 or the user terminal 6. The output controller 1025 may be configured to link GPS position information of the vehicle with the log data and transmit it. This makes it possible to analyze the log data in association with the position information in the SOC server 30 or the user terminal 6.

Note that the automotive gateway 10 can transmit data to the SOC server 30 through, for example, the mobile communication network 22 via the TCU 14. On the other hand, for example, the automotive gateway 10 can transmit data to the user terminal 6 directly via the communication interface unit 101 or through short-distance wireless communication such as Bluetooth, BLE, or Wi-Fi via the navigation device 111.

Alternatively, data may be transmitted to the SOC server 30 through road-to-vehicle communication via V2X15 or the like. In road-to-vehicle communication, the vehicle can perform data communication complying with a communication standard such as WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments) or ETSI ITS G5 with a road-side equipment installed on the side of a road on which the vehicle travels. Log data transmitted from the vehicle is sent to various servers including the SOC server 30 via the network by the road-side equipment installed on the side of the road.

(6) Processing by User Terminal

Next, an information processing operation by the user terminal 6 which has received the log data transmitted from the automotive gateway 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the processing procedure and processing contents.

In step S201, under the control of the data acquirer 621, the user terminal 6 receives the log data from the automotive gateway 10 via the communication interface unit 101 of the automotive gateway 10 or the Bluetooth interface 172 of the navigation device 111 connected to the automotive gateway 10.

Next, in step S202, under the control of the data processor 622, the user terminal 6 executes various processes for the received log data. In the embodiment, the data processor 622 can read out the analysis criterion stored in the analysis criterion memory 632, and perform, for the log data, predetermined analysis processing for every predetermined amount or every predetermined period. For example, the data processor 622 is configured to detect occurrence of an abnormality when the log data exceeding a threshold read out as the analysis criterion is detected, and output the result to the transmission controller 623. Alternatively, the data processor 622 is configured to perform trend analysis of the log data based on a reference waveform read out as the analysis criterion, and output the analysis result to the transmission controller 623. Alternatively, the data processor 622 may be configured to detect the presence/absence of a predetermined obstacle or extract an image including a predetermined obstacle based on a reference image read out as the analysis criterion.

Alternatively, the data processor 622 can perform, for the log data, arbitrary compression processing (for example, sampling, statistic calculation, encoding, or the like) for every predetermined amount or every predetermined period, thereby reducing the data amount. Alternatively, the data processor 622 can prioritize the log data by, for example, identifying the attribute information of the log data and giving priority corresponding to the attribute information. For example, the data processor 622 is configured to give high priority to the log data which needs to be transferred to the SOC server 30 with a low delay based on the preset criterion.

Processing to be executed by the data processor 622 may be preset by the owner of the user terminal 6, or an instruction input by the administrator of the SOC server 30 may be received and processing corresponding to the instruction may be executed.

Next, in step S203, under the control of the transmission controller 623, the user terminal 6 performs processing of transmitting, to the SOC server 30, the analysis result, the compressed log data, or the log data given with priority, which has been output from the data processor 622. The output destination from the transmission controller 623 is not limited to the SOC server 30, and the data may be transmitted to another arbitrary external equipment or may be displayed on the display unit of the user terminal