Vehicular control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9914474-B2
Application number	US-201615149622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2016
Priority date	May 21, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A vehicular control apparatus that functions more reliably is provided. A quasi-abnormality control circuit brings one of a clock signal, an internal watchdog signal, and an answer signal into a quasi-abnormal state when an ignition is switched on. A clock determining circuit, an internal watchdog signal determining circuit, and a Q&A watchdog circuit output determination signals, respectively. One of the determination signals corresponds to a monitoring target signal brought into the quasi-abnormal state and indicates an abnormality. A reset signal determining circuit receives the determination signals, and generates a reset signal in accordance with determination results in the determination signals. A quasi-abnormality control circuit switches the monitoring target signal to be brought into the quasi-abnormal state each time the ignition is switched on.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicular control apparatus comprising:
a control circuit that controls an operation of a vehicle to generate a plurality of signals;
a monitoring circuit that monitors the signals to monitor an operation of the control circuit;
an abnormality causing circuit that selects one of the signals directly from the control circuit and that causes a quasi-abnormality in the selected signal; and
a reset determining circuit that resets the control circuit when the selected signal is determined to be abnormal, wherein
the abnormality causing circuit switches the signal to be brought into a quasi-abnormal state from the selected signal to another signal each time the vehicle is powered on.

2. The vehicular control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the reset determining circuit is provided in the monitoring circuit.

3. The vehicular control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the monitoring circuit generates signals similar to the signals generated by the control circuit, and an abnormality determining circuit is provided which determines whether each of the signals generated by the control circuit is abnormal by comparing the signal generated by the control circuit with corresponding one of the signals generated by the monitoring circuit.

4. The vehicular control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the control circuit has a plurality of signal generating circuits each generating one of the signals in the control circuit, and
the reset determining circuit resets one of the signal generating circuits that generates the selected signal when the selected signal is determined to be abnormal.

5. The vehicular control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein,
the control circuit has a clock generating circuit that generates a clock signal and an arithmetic circuit that calculates an controlled variable of the vehicle,
the arithmetic circuit has an internal watchdog circuit that generates an internal watchdog signal for monitoring an operation of the arithmetic circuit and an external monitoring circuit for monitoring an arithmetic function of the arithmetic circuit based on a request from the monitoring circuit, and
the signals monitored by the monitoring circuit are the clock signal generated by the clock generating circuit, the internal watchdog signal generated by the internal watchdog circuit, and an external monitoring signal generated by the external monitoring circuit.

Assignees

• Jtekt Corp

Inventors

• Kozuka Kenichi

Classifications

• B62D5/0493 Primary

  detecting processor errors, e.g. plausibility of steering direction · CPC title

• B62D5/0481 Primary

  monitoring the steering system, e.g. failures · CPC title

• G06F11/2236

  to test CPU or processors · CPC title

• G05B19/048

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• B62D5/0409

  Electric motor acting on the steering column · CPC title