Integrated circuit vehicle diagnostics interface adapter apparatus and method
First Claim
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1. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
a first gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;
a plurality of solid-state switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, including a first group wherein each of the switching devices of the first group is coupled to the first gateway conductor; and
a plurality of bidirectional contacts, each coupled to one of the plurality of switching devices, including a first set and a vehicle set, wherein each of the contacts of the first set is coupled to one of the switching devices of the first group, and wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set correlates to one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins;
wherein any one of the first set of contacts can be linked to any other one of the first set of contacts by closing a first corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor and closing a second corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any other one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor;
thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins that correlates to any one of the first set of contacts to any other one of the first set of contacts.
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Abstract
An integrated circuit vehicle diagnostics interface adapter includes a semiconductor substrate with two integral gateway conductors. A set of paired switches on the substrate link any two of a first set of contacts to the gateway conductors, and another set of paired switches on the substrate link the two gateway conductors to any pair of a second set of contacts corresponding to a particular vehicle network communications protocol circuit in a vehicle diagnostics device. Both sets of switches are controlled by an integrated switch control module.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:
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a semiconductor substrate;
a first gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;
a plurality of solid-state switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, including a first group wherein each of the switching devices of the first group is coupled to the first gateway conductor; and
a plurality of bidirectional contacts, each coupled to one of the plurality of switching devices, including a first set and a vehicle set, wherein each of the contacts of the first set is coupled to one of the switching devices of the first group, and wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set correlates to one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins;
wherein any one of the first set of contacts can be linked to any other one of the first set of contacts by closing a first corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor and closing a second corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any other one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor;
thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins that correlates to any one of the first set of contacts to any other one of the first set of contacts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:
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a semiconductor substrate;
a first gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;
a second gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;
a plurality of pairs of solid-state vehicle-side switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, each such pair consisting of a first vehicle-side switching device coupled to the first gateway conductor and a second vehicle-side switching device coupled to the second gateway conductor;
a plurality of pairs of solid-state tool-side switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, each such pair consisting of a first tool-side switching device coupled to the first gateway conductor and a second tool-side switching device coupled to the second gateway conductor;
a switch control module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the switch control module being coupled to the vehicle-side switching devices and to the tool-side switching devices to control the vehicle-side switching devices and the tool-side switching devices;
a bus interface module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the bus interface module being coupled to the switch control module to provide a communications interface between the switch control module and at least an interconnect bus;
a plurality of bidirectional vehicle-side contacts, each correlating to one and only one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins and each being coupled to the first and second vehicle-side switching devices of one of the plurality of pairs of vehicle-side switching devices; and
a plurality of pairs of bidirectional tool-side contacts, each tool-side contact being coupled to one and only one of the tool-side switching devices, and each pair of tool-side contacts correlating to a first transmission line and to a second transmission line, the first and second transmission lines being coupled to one of a plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in a vehicle diagnostics tool;
wherein any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts can be linked to any one of the plurality of pairs of tool-side contacts by closing the first and second tool-side switching devices coupled to the any one of the plurality of pairs of tool-side contacts, closing the first vehicle-side switching device coupled to one of the any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts and closing the second vehicle-side switching device coupled to another of the any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts;
thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any two of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins to the first transmission line and to the second transmission line of any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool.
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17. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:
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first means for receiving a first electrical signal, the first means for receiving correlating to a first vehicle interface connector pin;
second means for receiving a second electrical signal, the second means for receiving correlating to a second vehicle interface connector pin;
integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the first means for receiving either to a first gateway conductor or to a second gateway conductor;
integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the second means for receiving either to the first gateway conductor or to the second gateway conductor;
first means for sending the first electrical signal, the first means for sending correlating to a first transmission line coupled to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool;
second means for sending the second electrical signal, the second means for sending correlating to a second transmission line coupled to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool;
integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the first gateway conductor to the first means for sending; and
integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the second gateway conductor to the second means for sending;
thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of the first and second vehicle interface connector pins to the first and second transmission lines of the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method of adapting a vehicle diagnostics tool interface, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a first electrical signal, correlating to a first vehicle interface connector pin;
receiving a second electrical signal, correlating to a second vehicle interface connector pin;
selectively switching the first electrical signal to a first gateway conductor;
selectively switching the second electrical signal to a second gateway conductor;
selectively switching the first gateway conductor to a first transmission interface contact correlating to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool; and
selectively switching the second gateway conductor to a second transmission interface contact correlating to the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool;
thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of the first and second vehicle interface connector pins to the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification