Informed memory access for vehicle electronic modules

• US 20060041350A1
• Filed: 08/20/2004
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hoshaw, Steven E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00

Abstract

A vehicle electronic module receives vehicle bus messages from a vehicle communication bus interface. The vehicle bus messages may include vehicle status data. The electronic module may determine whether a memory safety condition has been met based on the vehicle status data. The electronic module may delay reading or writing data, such as diagnostic data, into a non-volatile memory until the memory safety condition is reached. The data is read from or stored in the non-volatile memory with reduce risk of corrupted data.

Claims

1. A vehicle electronic module comprising:

a vehicle communication bus interface;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the vehicle communication bus interface and the memory, the processor operable to;

receive vehicle status data transmitted to the vehicle bus interface;

determine from at least a portion of the vehicle status data that a memory safety condition is met; and

delay access to the memory until the memory safety condition is met.

2. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the vehicle status data comprises Revolutions per Minute (RPM) data and where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold.

3. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the vehicle status data comprises vehicle speed data and where the memory safety condition comprises a vehicle speed threshold.

4. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the access to the memory comprise a memory write access.

5. The vehicle electronic module of claim 4, where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold and an RPM duration threshold.

6. The vehicle electronic module of claim 4, where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold and a vehicle speed threshold.

7. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the memory comprises a non-volatile memory.

8. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the vehicle status data is present in a vehicle bus message received by the processor.

9. The vehicle electronic module of claim 1, where the vehicle status data comprises a timestamp.

10. A machine readable medium encoded with instructions that cause a vehicle electronic module processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a vehicle bus message;

obtaining vehicle status data from the vehicle bus message;

comparing the vehicle status data to a memory safety condition; and

delaying a memory access until the memory safety condition is met.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 10, where the vehicle status data comprises Revolutions per Minute (RPM) data and where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 10, where the vehicle status data comprises vehicle speed data and where the memory safety condition comprises a vehicle speed threshold.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 10, where the vehicle status data comprises time data, and further comprising the act of determining a duration during which RPMs are above an RPM threshold.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 10, further comprising the act of determining RPMs and vehicle speed from the vehicle status data.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 10, where the act of delaying a data write into a memory comprises delaying the data write into a non-volatile memory.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 10, where the memory access comprises a data write comprising diagnostic data.

17. The vehicle electronic module of claim 10, where the memory access comprises a data write comprising vehicle operator preference settings.

18. A method in a vehicle electronic module for safely writing data to memory, the method comprising:

receiving a vehicle bus message comprising vehicle status data transmitted to a vehicle bus interface of a vehicle electronic module;

maintaining a current vehicle status based on the vehicle status data; and

delaying a memory access until a memory safety condition is met, based on the current vehicle status.

19. The method of claim 18, where the act of maintaining a current vehicle status comprises determining a duration for which RPMs have exceeded an RPM threshold.

20. The method of claim 18, where the act of maintaining a current vehicle status comprises tracking vehicle speed.

21. The method of claim 18, where the memory safety condition is a vehicle speed threshold.

22. The method of claim 18, where the memory access comprises a diagnostic data memory write.

23. The method of claim 18, where the act of delaying a memory access comprises delaying a memory data write to a non-volatile memory.

24. A processing system for a vehicle electronic module, the processing system comprising:

a non-volatile memory;

a processor coupled to the non-volatile writable memory; and

a general purpose memory coupled to the processor, the program memory encoded with instructions that cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

monitoring a vehicle communication bus interface for vehicle bus messages arriving at the vehicle communication bus interface;

receiving a vehicle bus message;

obtaining vehicle status data from the vehicle bus messages;

maintaining a vehicle status over time based on the vehicle status data received in the vehicle bus messages;

comparing the vehicle status to a memory safety condition; and

delaying a memory access by the processor into the non-volatile writable memory until the vehicle status meets the memory safety condition.

25. The processing system of claim 24, where the vehicle status data comprises Revolutions per Minute (RPM) data and where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold.

26. The processing system of claim 24, where the vehicle status data comprises vehicle speed data and where the memory safety condition comprises a vehicle speed threshold.

27. The processing system of claim 24, where the memory safety condition comprises an RPM threshold and an RPM duration threshold.

28. The processing system of claim 24, where the vehicle status data comprises a timestamp.

29. The processing system of claim 24, where the memory access comprises a diagnostic data memory write.

30. A vehicle electronic module comprising:

means for receiving vehicle status data transmitted on a communication bus;

means for comparing the vehicle status against a memory safety condition; and

means for delaying a memory access until the memory safety condition is met.

31. The vehicle electronic module of claim 30, further comprising:

means for storing data responsive to the memory access.

32. The vehicle electronic module of claim 31, further comprising:

means for non-volatilely storing data responsive to the memory access.

33. The vehicle electronic module of claim 31, further comprising:

means for interfacing to the communication bus.

34. A product comprising:

a machine readable medium;

instructions contained on the machine readable medium that receive vehicle status data transmitted to a vehicle bus interface;

instructions contained on the machine readable medium that maintain a current vehicle status based on the vehicle status data; and

instructions contained on the machine readable medium that delay a memory access until a memory safety condition is met, based on the current vehicle status.

35. The product of claim 34, where the instructions that maintain the current vehicle status comprise instructions that determine a duration for which RPMs have exceeded an RPM threshold.

36. The product of claim 34, where the instructions that maintain the current vehicle status comprise instructions that determine a duration for which speed has exceeded a vehicle speed threshold.

37. The product of claim 34, where the memory access comprises a diagnostic data memory write.