Power and communication architecture for a vehicle
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A power and communication architecture for a vehicle comprising:
- a plurality of hubs disposed at various locations within the vehicle, each of the hubs having a power manager and a controller, each of the hubs having at least one port for coupling of the hub to another hub or to a device;
a plurality of wire harness segments interconnecting the plurality of hubs, each of the wire harness segments having a power conductor, a ground conductor and at least one signal conductor, the power conductor, the ground conductor and the at least one signal conductor being secured at each end thereof to a connector, wherein the at least one port is sized to receive the connector;
a first power source coupled to a hub of the plurality of hubs by a wire harness segment of the plurality of wire harness segments; and
at least one of the plurality of wire harness segments is redundant.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A power, ground and communication architecture (100) utilizes hubs (105, 110, 115). Each hub (105, 110, 115) contains computing, communication and power management elements (135, 140). Hubs (105, 110, 115) may be connected to multiple other hubs (105, 110, 115) to distribute communication and power in a freeform web-type arrangement, specific tree, bus or star arrangements are not required. Standardized wiring harness segments (120) are used to join the hubs (105, 110, 115) and control elements. Each of the strands in the web may be an independent point-to-point bus and isolated power line.
78 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A power and communication architecture for a vehicle comprising:
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a plurality of hubs disposed at various locations within the vehicle, each of the hubs having a power manager and a controller, each of the hubs having at least one port for coupling of the hub to another hub or to a device;
a plurality of wire harness segments interconnecting the plurality of hubs, each of the wire harness segments having a power conductor, a ground conductor and at least one signal conductor, the power conductor, the ground conductor and the at least one signal conductor being secured at each end thereof to a connector, wherein the at least one port is sized to receive the connector;
a first power source coupled to a hub of the plurality of hubs by a wire harness segment of the plurality of wire harness segments; and
at least one of the plurality of wire harness segments is redundant. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A standardized vehicle wire harness segment comprising:
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a power conductor, the power conductor being sized to effectively conduct direct current electricity in the range of voltages from about 12 volts to about 42;
a ground conductor;
a signal conductor;
each of the power conductor, the ground conductor and the signal conductor having a first end and a second end, the first ends being secured to a first connector and the second ends being secured to a second connector. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of configuring a power and communication architecture within a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
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disposing with the vehicle a plurality of hubs;
interconnecting the plurality of hubs in a web-type architecture using a plurality of standardized wire harness segments, the standardized wire harness segments including a power conductor, a ground conductor and a signal conductor; and
interconnecting at least one vehicle device to the web-type architecture using a standardized wire harness segment. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification