Master bus device for a vehicle communication bus of a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9715471-B2
Application number	US-201414762055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2014
Priority date	Feb 15, 2013
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

A master bus device for a motor vehicle exchanges messages with slave bus devices via a vehicle communication bus of the motor vehicle. It is specified in the master bus device by an operating schedule which is stored in a memory of the master bus device which messages the master bus device exchanges with the slave bus devices. To utilize the vehicle communication bus more efficiently, the master bus device has a switch-over device which is designed to receive a control signal from a device-external transmitting device and, in dependence on the control signal, to switch from the memory with the operating schedule to a further memory with a maintenance schedule which differs from the operating schedule, so that the maintenance schedule is used after switching over, for exchanging messages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A master bus device for a motor vehicle, to exchange messages with slave bus devices via a vehicle communication bus, the master bus device comprising:
a first memory to store an operating schedule of the master bus device for exchanging messages with the slave bus devices;
a second memory to store a maintenance schedule which differs from the operating schedule; and
a switch-over device to receive a control signal from an external device and, in dependence on the control signal, to switch from the first memory with the operating schedule to the second memory with the maintenance schedule and to specify the maintenance schedule to exchange messages with the slave bus devices,
the switch-over device being configured to detect a period elapsed since the switch-over to the maintenance schedule and to switch back to the operating schedule if the detected period is greater than a predetermined threshold value, wherein
the maintenance schedule differs from the operating schedule in at least one of the following respects:
the maintenance schedule is directed to unidirectional transmission from the master bus device to a particular slave device,
the maintenance schedule at least predominantly specifies messages for configuring or reconfiguring software of at least one slave bus device, and
a predominant part or all time slots of the maintenance schedule are used for transmission of software from the master bus device to the particular slave bus device.

2. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the master bus device has a receiving device to receive a new maintenance schedule from the external device and to store the received new maintenance schedule in the second memory.

3. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle communication bus is a local interconnect network (LIN) bus, and
the messages are LIN messages.

4. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the switch-over device is designed to switch back to the operating schedule based on a further control signal.

5. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operating schedule and the maintenance schedule each specify a respective transmitting time for each message.

6. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the operating schedule is configured for normal operation of the motor vehicle,
in the normal operation, a driver uses the motor vehicle, and
the operating schedule at least predominantly comprises messages relating to the operation of the motor vehicle during the normal operation.

7. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the maintenance schedule is configured for a maintenance operation of the motor vehicle,
in the maintenance operation, at least one maintenance slave bus device is modified for maintenance or further development or manufacture, and
the maintenance schedule at least predominantly comprises maintenance messages, and
the maintenance messages transfer data selected from the group consisting of diagnosis data, configuration data and operating software for the at least one maintenance slave bus device.

8. The master bus device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the operating schedule has no time slots reserved for transferring maintenance messages.

9. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle communication bus is a local interconnect network (LIN) bus operated according to a LIN protocol,
the maintenance schedule is configured for a maintenance operation of the motor vehicle,
in the maintenance operation, a maintenance slave bus device is modified for maintenance or further development or manufacture,
during the maintenance operation, a data record received from the external device is transferred to the maintenance slave bus device, and
the maintenance schedule specifies that the data record is transferred to the maintenance slave bus device using a transport protocol, which is tunneled through the LIN protocol.

10. The master bus device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the master bus device further comprises a third memory storing at least one further maintenance schedule, and
the switch-over device switches over to the third memory in dependence on the control signal.

11. The master bus device according to claim 1 , wherein
the slave bus devices are selected from the group consisting of sensors, actuators, and window controllers, and
the master bus device further comprises a controller which operates the slave bus devices.

12. A master bus device for a motor vehicle, to exchange messages with slave bus devices via a vehicle communication bus, the master bus device comprising:
a first memory to store an operating schedule for exchanging messages with the slave bus devices;
a second memory to store a maintenance schedule which differs from the operating schedule;
a switch-over device to receive a control signal from an external device and, in dependence on the control signal, to switch from the first memory with the operating schedule to the second memory with the maintenance schedule and to specify the maintenance schedule as the schedule used during the exchange of the messages with the slave bus devices; and
a receiving device to receive a new maintenance schedule from the external device and to store the received new maintenance schedule in the second memory, wherein
the maintenance schedule differs from the operating schedule in at least one of the following respects:
the maintenance schedule is directed to unidirectional transmission from the master bus device to a particular slave device,
the maintenance schedule at least predominantly specifies messages for configuring or reconfiguring software of at least one slave bus device, and
a predominant part or all time slots of the maintenance schedule are used for transmission of software from the master bus device to the particular slave bus device.

13. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the vehicle communication bus is a local interconnect network (LIN) bus, and
the messages are LIN messages.

14. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the switch-over device is designed to switch back to the operating schedule based on a further control signal.

15. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the operating schedule and the maintenance schedule each specify a respective transmitting time for each message.

16. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the operating schedule is configured for normal operation of the motor vehicle,
in the normal operation, a driver uses the motor vehicle, and
the operating schedule at least predominantly comprises messages relating to the operation of the motor vehicle during the normal operation.

17. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the maintenance schedule is configured for a maintenance operation of the motor vehicle,
in the maintenance operation, at least one maintenance slave bus device is modified for maintenance or further development or manufacture, and
the maintenance schedule at least predominantly comprises maintenance messages, and
the maintenance messages transfer data selected from the group consisting of diagnosis data, configuration data and operating software for the at least one maintenance slave bus device.

18. The master bus device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the master bus device is configured to receive a record via a data input of the master bus device from the external device, and
the maintenance

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Hasse Andre

Classifications

• G06F13/4022 Primary

  using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network (G06F13/4009 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F13/364

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

• H04L2012/40234

  Local Interconnect Network LIN · CPC title

• H04L2012/40273

  the transportation system being a vehicle · CPC title

• H04L12/40019

  Details regarding a bus master · CPC title