Communication network for an automobile
First Claim
1. A system for controlling a plurality of electronic devices in an automobile, the system comprising:
- a processor;
a communication medium in communication with the processor, the communications medium being divided into a plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments is connected to the processor; and
a plurality of interface modules, each of the plurality of interface modules connected to the central processor by at least one of the plurality of segments, and wherein the plurality of interface modules communicate control messages to the plurality of electronic devices.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A “segmented” CAN bus is disclosed. The “segmented” CAN bus extends the cabling scheme of a CAN network to permit isolation of individual nodes of identical type when needed and the ability for a host to determine the network topology. In addition, the CAN bus cabling scheme automatically assigns unique addresses to nodes and guarantees that the network will always be properly terminated. This eliminates the need for jumpers, DIP switches, pre-installation programming, or other hardware means requiring human intervention to uniquely identify the nodes on the network. Furthermore, because the physical node topology is determinable, equipment installation and anomaly diagnostics are facilitated. The present invention contemplates that this technique can be applied to various local area networking schemes.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A system for controlling a plurality of electronic devices in an automobile, the system comprising:
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a processor;
a communication medium in communication with the processor, the communications medium being divided into a plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments is connected to the processor; and
a plurality of interface modules, each of the plurality of interface modules connected to the central processor by at least one of the plurality of segments, and wherein the plurality of interface modules communicate control messages to the plurality of electronic devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for controlling a plurality of electronic devices in an automobile, the method comprising:
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generating control signals using a processor;
transmitting the control signals over a communications medium in communication with the processor;
receiving the control signals with a plurality of interface modules in communication with the communications medium, the communications medium being divided into a plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments is connected to the processor and each of the plurality of interface modules is connected to the central processor by at least one of the plurality of segments; and
controlling the plurality of electronic devices by communicating the control signals through the plurality of interface modules in communicate with each of the plurality of electronic devices. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for controlling a plurality of electronic devices in an automobile, the system comprising:
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a processor;
a communications means in communication with the processor, the communications means being divided into a plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments is connected to the processor; and
a plurality of interface modules, each of the plurality of interface modules connected to the central processor by at least one of the plurality of segments, and wherein the plurality of interface modules communicate control messages to the plurality of electronic devices. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification