Patent ID: 7913242

Claim:
A software management system for use in a vehicle, comprising: a portable memory device adapted to store software files and diagnostic information; multiple vehicle processors connected to a system bus of the vehicle and each adapted to generate diagnostic information indicating success of software installation on the respective vehicle processor, wherein the diagnostic information for each respective vehicle processor includes an indication of a software version installed on the respective vehicle processor; a communications port of the vehicle; an interface processor connected to the communications port and the system bus, wherein the interface processor is adapted to, when the portable memory device is connected to the communications port: identify software files stored on the portable memory device for each of the multiple vehicle processors, load the identified software files onto the multiple vehicle processors, and transmit the diagnostic information received from the multiple vehicle processors to the portable memory device; and an external processor having a communications port and adapted to receive the diagnostic information from the portable memory device and to analyze the diagnostic information to determine successful software installation on the vehicle.