Electric/electronic architecture for a motor vehicle with an electronic computing device and an interface controller, and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12562937-B2
Application number	US-202117794667-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2021
Priority date	Jan 23, 2020
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

An electric/electronic architecture for a motor vehicle includes an electronic computing device for communicating with at least one actuator of the motor vehicle. The electric/electronic architecture has an interface controller which is contacted by at least one sensor device of the motor vehicle and the electronic computing device, wherein the at least one actuator directly communicates with the electronic computing device, and the at least one sensor device directly communicates with the interface controller.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . An electrical/electronic architecture for a motor vehicle, comprising:
an electronic computing device, comprising at least a first processor, and configured to communicate with at least one actuator of the motor vehicle; and an interface control unit, comprising at least a second processor, that is in contact with at least one sensor device of the motor vehicle and the electronic computing device, wherein the at least one actuator is configured to:
communicate directly with the electronic computing device via a bidirectional bus;
control at least one manipulated variable of the actuator;
detect an actual variable of the actuator; and
transmit the actual variable to the electronic computing device,
the at least one sensor device is configured to communicate directly with the interface control unit, wherein the interface control unit communicates with the electronic computing device via a unidirectional bus, wherein the at least one actuator comprises an intelligent actuator, and wherein no other external sensors are attached to the at least one actuator.

2 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic computing device comprises: only one power supply interface for the at least one actuator, for the at least one sensor device, and for the interface control unit, and only one bus interface configured to communicate with the at least one actuator and the interface control unit.

3 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one actuator is configured to:
control only one manipulated variable of the actuator.

4 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one actuator is configured to be programmed based on a master-slave method.

5 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one actuator comprises a hardware acceleration device.

6 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one further electronic computing device comprising at least a third processor; and at least one further interface control unit comprising at least a fourth processor, wherein the at least one further electronic computing device is configured to communicate with the electronic computing device and to communicate with the further interface control unit.

7 . A method for operating an electrical/electronic architecture for a motor vehicle, the method comprising:
communicating between an electronic computing device, comprising at least a first processor, and at least one actuator of the motor vehicle; communicating, by the at least one actuator, directly with the electronic computing device via a bidirectional bus; detecting, by the at least one actuator, an actual variable of the actuator; and transmitting, by the at least one actuator, the actual variable to the electronic computing device, wherein the electrical/electronic architecture comprises an interface control unit comprising at least a second processor, wherein the method further comprises: communicating, by at least one sensor device, directly with the interface control unit of the electrical/electronic architecture; communicating, by the interface control unit, with the electronic computing device via a unidirectional bus; and controlling, by the at least one actuator, at least one manipulated variable of the at least one actuator, wherein the at least one actuator comprises an intelligent actuator, and wherein no other external sensors are attached to the at least one actuator.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
providing power for the at least one actuator, for the at least one sensor device, and for the interface control unit via only one power supply interface of the electronic computing device; and communicating, with the at least one actuator and the interface control unit via only one bus interface of the electronic computing device.

9 . The method according to claim 7 ,
wherein controlling, by the at least one actuator, the at least one manipulated variable of the actuator comprises: controlling, by the at least one actuator, only one manipulated variable of the actuator.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
programming the at least one actuator based on a master-slave method.

11 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one actuator comprises a hardware acceleration device.

12 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
communicating, by at least one further electronic computing device, comprising at least a third processor, of the electrical/electronic architecture, with the electronic computing device; and communicating, by the at least one further electronic computing device, with at least one further interface control unit, comprising at least a fourth processor, of the electrical/electronic architecture.

13 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 5 , wherein
the hardware acceleration device is configured to implement at least one security measure.

14 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the interface control unit is in contact with at least one second actuator, and is configured to control the at least one second actuator.

15 . The electrical/electronic architecture according to claim 1 , wherein
the interface control unit is in contact with a display element, and is configured to actuate the display element.

Assignees

• Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag

Inventors

• Lorenz Tobias
• Pfeiffer Andreas
• Schaefer Martin

Classifications

• H04L2012/40273

  the transportation system being a vehicle · CPC title

• B60R16/0231

  Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle (monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P) · CPC title

• H04L12/40169 Primary

  Flexible bus arrangements (arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654) · CPC title