Serial communication safety controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017300439-A1
Application number	US-201715430396-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 10, 2017
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	Oct 19, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Serial communication verification and safety control is disclosed. A multi-part system such as a battery management system can include distributed or subsidiary components for determining status of various parts of the system with the components in serial or point-to-point communication with a collective main controller. A safety controller can be implemented to passively be coupled to the serial or point-to-point communication between the main controller and the subsidiary units. The safety controller can monitor and verify the communication between the main controller and the subsidiary units and send a safety command or verification indicator in another line of communication separate from the communication bus between the main controller and the subsidiary units.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A communication apparatus comprising:
a main controller; a subsidiary unit connected to the main controller through a data bus, wherein the main controller is configured to communicate with the subsidiary unit through the data bus; and a safety controller connected to the data bus and configured to:
monitor one or more communications between the main controller and the subsidiary unit through the data bus;
evaluate one or more communications between the main controller and the subsidiary unit through the data bus for evidence of a fault condition; and
output a safety signal that is based at least in part on the results of the evaluating to an output connection separate from the data bus.

2 . The communication apparatus of claim 1 further comprising safety action circuitry, wherein the main controller is configured to output a main action signal, and wherein the safety action circuitry is configured to perform a safety action based at least in part on the safety signal output from the safety controller.

3 . The communication apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of the subsidiary units, each of which is connected to the main controller through the data bus.

4 . The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the safety controller is configured to evaluate communications between the main controller and the subsidiary unit by comparing expected data and/or commands with actual data and/or commands communicated between the main controller and the subsidiary unit through the data bus.

5 . The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data bus is a serial peripheral interface (SPI), and wherein the main controller and the subsidiary unit are in communication using a SPI protocol.

6 . The communication apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the safety controller is further configured to receive data and/or commands communicated from the main controller to the subsidiary unit through a first master-out-slave-in (MOSI) pin of the safety controller and receive data and/or commands communicated from the subsidiary unit to the main controller through a second MOSI pin of the safety controller.

7 . A method of detecting fault conditions in a circuit, the method comprising:
receiving data and/or commands communicated from a main controller to at least a first subsidiary unit through a data bus; receiving data communicated from the first subsidiary unit to the main controller through the data bus; comparing the received data and/or commands from the main controller to the first subsidiary unit with expected data and/or commands from the main controller to the subsidiary unit; comparing the received data from the first subsidiary unit to the main controller with expected data from the first subsidiary unit to the main controller; and outputting a safety signal through a connection separate from the data bus.

8 . The method of claim 7 further comprising:
verifying command issuance from the main controller to the first subsidiary unit; and
evaluating data values communicated from the first subsidiary unit to the main controller.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the data bus is a serial peripheral interface (SPI) port, and wherein the main controller and the first subsidiary unit are in communication using a SPI protocol.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the data and/or commands communicated from the main controller to the first subsidiary unit are received at a first master-out-slave-in (MOSI) pin, and wherein the data communicated from the subsidiary unit to the main controller are received at a second MOSI pin.

11 . The method of claim 10 further comprising:
receiving data and/or commands communicated from the main controller to a second subsidiary unit;
receiving data communicated from the second subsidiary unit to the main controller;
comparing the received data and/or commands from the main controller to the second subsidiary unit with expected data and/or commands from the main controller to the second subsidiary unit;
comparing data communicated from the second subsidiary unit to the main controller with expected data from the second subsidiary unit to the main controller.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first subsidiary unit is coupled to a battery module, and wherein the data communicated from the subsidiary unit to the main controller comprises battery status data of the battery module.

Assignees

• Faraday&Future Inc

Inventors

• Paryani Anil
• Velev Omourtag Alexandrov

Classifications

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60L58/10

  for monitoring or controlling batteries · CPC title

• B60L3/0092

  with use of redundant elements for safety purposes · CPC title

• G06F13/364 Primary

  using independent requests or grants, e.g. using separated request and grant lines · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title