Control unit for controlling and/or regulating at least one vehicle function

• US 20060100759A1
• Filed: 10/21/2005
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Horbelt, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40032 Details regarding a bus interface enhancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/403 with centralised control, e.g. polling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40234 Local Interconnect Network LIN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A control unit for controlling and/or regulating at least one vehicle function, including at least one computing element and one transceiver for connecting the control unit to at least one data line of a data bus of a client-server network. Using at least one transmitted signal and at least one received signal, the at least one computing element determines if the transceiver is transmitting or receiving data via the at least one data line. In order to provide the option of being able to ascertain the transmitted and received signals without having to pick them off in the interior of the control unit and to direct them outwards, the control unit is connected to the data line via a measurement set-up, the measurement set-up having an arrangement for determining if a change in the state of a data signal applied to the data line originates at the control unit or at the rest of the client-server network.

Claims

1. A control unit for controlling and/or regulating at least one vehicle function, comprising:

at least one computing element and one transceiver that connect the control unit to at least one data line of a client-server network, the at least one computing element configured to determine if the transceiver is transmitting or receiving data via the at least one data line of the client-server network using at least one transmitted signal and at least one received signal; and

at least one measurement device, the control unit being connected to the at least one data line of the client-server network via the at least one measurement device, the measurement device including a detector configured to determine if a change in a state of a data signal applied to the at least one data line originates at the control unit or at the client-server network.

2. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one transmitted signal and the at least one received signal are not directed outwards to terminals of the control unit.

3. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the client-server network includes exactly one data line.

4. The control unit as recited in claim 3, wherein the client-server network is a local interconnect network (LIN).

5. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the computing element is a microcontroller.

6. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the computing element is a finite-state machine.

7. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the computing element and the transceiver are formed on a common, large-scale integrated semiconductor chip.

8. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the measurement device includes two resistor elements connected in series, one of the resistor elements being connected to the transceiver of the control unit and the other resistor element being connected to the data line of the client-server network, a reference signal being applied between the two resistor elements, and wherein the detector further includes a measurement arrangement configured to measure a voltage drop across each of the resistor elements, the detector determining, if the change in the state of the data signal applied to the at least one data line originates at the control unit or at the rest of the client-server network as a function of the measured voltage drop.

9. The control unit as recited in claim 8, wherein the detector includes a comparator to compare the two measured voltages to each other, the detector determining if the change in the state of the data signal applied to the at least one data line originates at the control unit or at the rest of the client-server network based on a result of the comparison.

10. The control unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the measurement device includes a logic circuit configured to ascertain the at least one transmitted signal and the at least one received signal of the control unit on the basis of the information as to whether a change in the state of the data signal applied to the at least one data line originates at the control unit or at the client-server network based on the state of the data signal.

11. The control unit as recited in claim 8, wherein the reference signal is drawn from a battery voltage of a vehicle battery.

12. A client-server network, comprising:

at least one data line; and

at least one control unit for controlling and/or regulating at least one vehicle function connected to the at least one data line, at least one of the control units including at least one computing element and one transceiver, via which the at least one computing element is connected to the at least one data line, the at least one computing element configured to determine if the transceiver is transmitting or receiving data via the at least one data line of the client-server network using at least one transmitted signal and at least one received signal;

wherein the at least one of the control units of the client-server network is connected to the at least one data line of the client-server network via at least one measurement device, the measurement device including a detector configured to determine if a change in a state of a data signal applied to the at least one data line originates at the at least one control unit that is connected to the client-server network via the at least one measurement device, or at the rest of the client-server network.

13. A measurement device connected to a data line of a client-server network, via which a control unit for controlling and/or regulating at least one vehicle function is connected to the client-server network, the measurement device including a detector configured to determine if a change in a state of a data signal applied to the data line originates at the control unit or at the rest of the client-server network.