On-vehicle network diagnosis system and on-vehicle control apparatus thereof

• US 20070083304A1
• Filed: 10/05/2006
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Yamada, Mitsuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,912,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

In an on-vehicle network diagnosis system, a master data storage stores master data, which includes reference connection information of a plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to an on-vehicle network. Current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network is obtained based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request. A validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network is diagnosed by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

Claims

1. An on-vehicle network diagnosis system for an on-vehicle network, which interconnects a plurality of electronic control apparatuses and forms a distributed control system of a vehicle, the on-vehicle network diagnosis system comprising:

a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a diagnosing means for diagnosing a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

2. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein:

the diagnosing means is provided in at least one of the vehicle and a control center;

the control center is located remote from the vehicle and communicates information relative to the vehicle through radio communication; and

the master data storage means is provided in the vehicle.

3. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein:

the diagnosing means is provided in at least one of the vehicle and a control center;

the control center is located remote from the vehicle and communicates information relative to the vehicle through radio communication; and

the master data storage means is provided in the control center.

4. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, wherein the diagnosing means is provided in the control center to diagnose the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network based on:

the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means in the vehicle and is received from the vehicle through radio communication; and

the current connection information, which is obtained by the connection information obtaining means in the vehicle and is received from the vehicle through radio communication.

5. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, wherein the diagnosing means is provided in the vehicle to diagnose the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network based on:

the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means in the vehicle; and

the current connection information, which is obtained by the connection information obtaining means in the vehicle.

6. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 3, wherein the diagnosing means is provided in the control center to diagnose the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network based on:

the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means in the control center; and

the current connection information, which is obtained by the connection information obtaining means in the vehicle and is communicated from the vehicle to the control center through radio communication.

7. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 3, wherein the diagnosing means is provided in the vehicle to diagnose the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network based on:

the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means in the control center and is communicated from the control center to the vehicle through the radio communication; and

the current connection information, which is obtained by the connection information obtaining means in the vehicle.

8. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein:

the diagnosing means includes;

a vehicle-side diagnosing means that is provided in the vehicle; and

a control center-side diagnosing means that is provided in a control center, which is located remote from the vehicle and communicates information relative to the vehicle through radio communication; and

one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means sends a diagnosis request, which commands execution of the diagnosing to the other one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means.

9. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 8, wherein the diagnosis request, which is sent from the one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means, commands a start timing of the diagnosing to the other one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means.

10. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the diagnosing means includes:

a vehicle-side diagnosing means that is provided in the vehicle such that the vehicle-side diagnosing means processes an assigned work load share of the diagnosing, which is assigned to the vehicle-side diagnosing means; and

a control center-side diagnosing means that is provided in a control center, which is located remote from the vehicle and communicates information relative to the vehicle through radio communication, such that the control center-side diagnosing means processes an assigned work load share of the diagnosing, which is assigned to the control center-side diagnosing means.

11. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 10, wherein information, which is required by the vehicle-side diagnosing means to process the assigned work load share of the diagnosing assigned thereto, and information, which is required by the control center-side diagnosing means to process the assigned work load share of the diagnosing assigned thereto, are determined based on the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the control center-side diagnosing means.

12. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 10, the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the control center-side diagnosing means are determined based on at least one of a current processing load of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and a current processing load of the control center-side diagnosing means.

13. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 3, wherein:

the master data storage means is provided only in the control center;

the diagnosing means includes;

a vehicle-side diagnosing means that is provided in a predetermined one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in the vehicle such that the vehicle-side diagnosing means processes an assigned work load share of the diagnosing, which is assigned to the vehicle-side diagnosing means; and

a control center-side diagnosing means that is provided in a control center, which is located remote from the vehicle and communicates with the vehicle, such that the control center-side diagnosing means processes an assigned work load share of the diagnosing, which is assigned to the control center-side diagnosing means;

the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the control center-side diagnosing means are determined based on address data, which is stored in the predetermined one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses of the vehicle as connection information used in distributed control executed through the on-vehicle network; and

the vehicle-side diagnosing means uses the address data in place of the reference connection information of the master data to process the assigned work load share of the diagnosing of the vehicle-side diagnosing means by comparing the current connection information with the address data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the address data.

14. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, wherein the connection information obtaining means is provided in a preselected one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, which obtains the current connection information from the rest of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses.

15. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, wherein the connection information obtaining means is provided in a preselected one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, which obtains the current connection information based on the response, which is transmitted from the rest of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to the response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the rest of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses.

16. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, further comprising a diagnosis information processing means, which is provided in at least one of the vehicle and the control center, wherein when the diagnosing means determines that a diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses has an invalid connecting state relative to the on-vehicle network, the diagnosis information processing means obtains and stores an identifier and diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in a storage means provided in the vehicle.

17. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 16, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses serves as a storage location, which stores diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses when the diagnosing means determines that the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses has the invalid connecting state;

besides the reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses connected to the on-vehicle network, the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses is registered in the master data of the master data storage means in correlation with an identifier of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

the diagnosis information processing means commands the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses to store the diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in a storage means of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses along with the identifier of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses when the diagnosing means determines that the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses has the invalid connecting state.

18. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 17, further comprising a fail-safe processing means for executing a predetermined fail-safe measure, which is predetermined for the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, when the diagnosing means determines that the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses has the invalid connecting state, wherein the fail-safe processing means is provided in the vehicle.

19. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, further comprising:

a communication abnormality history storage means for storing a communication abnormality history when a communication abnormality occurs at a time of communicating the information between the vehicle and the control center through the radio communication, wherein the communication abnormality history storage means is provided in at least one of the vehicle and the control center; and

a retry processing means for performing a retry process to retry the communication of the information between the vehicle and the control center at a time of reestablishing the radio communication between the vehicle and the control center based on the communication abnormality history stored in the communication abnormality history storage means.

20. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 19, wherein:

the plurality of electronic control apparatuses includes a navigation control apparatus, which forms a part of a navigation system; and

the retry processing means executes the retry process when the navigation control apparatus determines that a communication environment is good to allow the radio communication between the vehicle and the control center.

21. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 19, wherein:

the retry processing means counts and increments an executed number of the retry process every time the retry process is executed; and

when the communication abnormality still exists upon reaching of the executed number to a predetermined number, the retry processing means stops the retry process.

22. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, further comprising a master data renewing means for automatically renewing the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means, when a new electronic control apparatus, which is not listed on the master data, is connected to the on-vehicle network, wherein the master data renewing means is provided in at least one of the vehicle and the control center.

23. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 22, wherein:

connection information of the new electronic control apparatus is supplied to the control center; and

the master data renewing means automatically renews the master data based on the connection information of the new electronic control apparatus supplied to the control center.

24. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 22, wherein:

the master data renewing means obtains connection information of the new electronic control apparatus based on a connecting request, which is transmitted from the new electronic control apparatus through the on-vehicle network and requests to connect the new electronic control apparatus to the on-vehicle network; and

the master data renewing means automatically renews the master data based on the obtained connection information of the new electronic control apparatus.

25. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 2, wherein:

the vehicle is one of a plurality of vehicles, each of which includes the plurality of electronic control apparatuses that are interconnected by the on-vehicle network to form the distributed control system; and

the diagnosing means diagnoses the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses of each of the plurality of vehicles and integrally manages a result of the diagnosing of the plurality of vehicles at the control center.

26. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 25, wherein the master data is integrally managed in the control center.

27. The on-vehicle network diagnosis system according to claim 25, wherein the reference connection information of the master data stored in the master data storage means includes a vehicle identification code of the corresponding vehicle and identifiers of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses of the corresponding vehicle along with connection positions of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, which are hierachized or grouped in response to a structure of the on-vehicle network of the corresponding vehicle.

28. An on-vehicle control apparatus for an on-vehicle network, which interconnects a plurality of electronic control apparatuses and forms a distributed control system of a vehicle, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a diagnosing means for diagnosing a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

29. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication; and

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, wherein;

the communicating means transmits the current connection information to the control center and thereby requests diagnosing of a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network at the control center; and

the control center includes;

a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network; and

a diagnosing means for diagnosing the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

38. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 29, further comprising a diagnosis information processing means, wherein when a diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses is identified as having an invalid connecting state relative to the on-vehicle network, the diagnosis information processing means obtains and stores an identifier and diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in a storage means provided in a corresponding one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses.

39. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 38, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses serves as a storage location, which stores diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses when the diagnosing means determines that the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses has the invalid connecting state;

besides the reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses connected to the on-vehicle network, the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses is registered in the master data of the master data storage means in correlation with an identifier of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

the diagnosis information processing means commands the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses to store the diagnosis information of the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in a storage means of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses along with the identifier of the at least one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses when the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses is identified as having the invalid connecting state.

40. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 39, further comprising a fail-safe processing means for executing a predetermined fail-safe measure, which is predetermined for the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, when the diagnosed one of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses is identified as having the invalid connecting state.

41. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 29, further comprising:

a communication abnormality history storage means for storing a communication abnormality history when a communication abnormality occurs at a time of communicating the information between the vehicle and the control center through the radio communication; and

a retry processing means for performing a retry process to retry the communication of the information between the vehicle and the control center at a time of reestablishing the radio communication between the vehicle and the control center based on the communication abnormality history stored in the communication abnormality history storage means.

42. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 41, wherein:

the plurality of electronic control apparatuses includes a navigation control apparatus, which forms a part of a navigation system; and

the retry processing means executes the retry process when the navigation control apparatus determines that a communication environment is good to allow the radio communication between the vehicle and the control center.

43. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 41, wherein:

the retry processing means counts and increments an executed number of the retry process every time the retry process is executed; and

when the communication abnormality still exists upon reaching of the executed number to a predetermined number, the retry processing means stops the retry process.

44. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 29, further comprising a master data renewing means for automatically renewing the master data, which is stored in the master data storage means, when a new electronic control apparatus, which is not listed on the master data, is connected to the on-vehicle network.

45. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 44, wherein:

connection information of the new electronic control apparatus is supplied to the control center; and

the master data renewing means automatically renews the master data based on the connection information of the new electronic control apparatus transferred from the control center.

46. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 44, wherein:

the master data renewing means obtains connection information of the new electronic control apparatus based on a connecting request, which is transmitted from the new electronic control apparatus through the on-vehicle network and requests to connect the new electronic control apparatus to the on-vehicle network; and

the master data renewing means automatically renews the master data based on the obtained connection information of the new electronic control apparatus.

47. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 29, wherein a result of the diagnosing, which is performed by the diagnosing means, is managed in the control center.

49. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the reference connection information of the master data stored in the master data storage means includes a vehicle identification code of the corresponding vehicle and connection positions of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, which are hierachized or grouped in response to a structure of the on-vehicle network of the corresponding vehicle.

30. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication;

a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network; and

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, wherein;

the communicating means transmits the current connection information and the master data to the control center and thereby requests diagnosing of a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network at the control center; and

the control center includes a diagnosing means for diagnosing the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

31. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a diagnosing means for diagnosing a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network, and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data, wherein;

the control center includes a master data storage means for storing the master data; and

the communicating means receives the master data from the control center and provides the received master data to the diagnosing means, so that the diagnosing means executes the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the received master data.

32. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a vehicle-side diagnosing means for diagnosing the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in view of the current connection information, wherein;

at least one of the on-vehicle control apparatus and the control center includes a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network;

the control center includes a control center-side diagnosing means for diagnosing the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in view of the current connection information; and

one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means sends a diagnosis request to the other one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means to command execution of diagnosing of a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data.

33. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the diagnosis request, which is sent from the one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means, commands a start timing of the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses to the other one of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means.

34. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a vehicle-side diagnosing means for diagnosing the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in view of the current connection information, wherein;

at least one of the on-vehicle control apparatus and the control center includes a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network;

the control center includes a control center-side diagnosing means for diagnosing the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in view of the current connection information; and

the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means diagnose a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data in such a manner that the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means communicate information required in the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses through radio communication therebetween and share a work load of the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses therebetween.

35. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the information, which is communicated between the vehicle-side diagnosing means and the control center-side diagnosing means through the radio communication and is required in the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses, is variable depending on a work load share of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and a work load share of the control center-side diagnosing means in the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses.

36. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 34, wherein a work load share of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and a work load share of the control center-side diagnosing means in the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses are determined based on a current processing load of at least one of the on-vehicle control apparatus and the control center.

37. The on-vehicle control apparatus according to claim 34, wherein:

the master data storage means is provided only in the control center;

a work load share of the vehicle-side diagnosing means and a work load share of the control center-side diagnosing means in the diagnosing of the validity of the connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses are determined based on address data, which is prestored in the on-vehicle control apparatus as connection information used in the distributed control performed through the on-vehicle network; and

when the vehicle-side diagnosing means processes the work load share of the vehicle-side diagnosing means, the vehicle-side diagnosing means uses the address data in place of the master data, so that the vehicle-side diagnosing means compares the current connection information with the address data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the address data.

48. An on-vehicle control apparatus that communicates with a remote control center and is connected to an on-vehicle network, to which a plurality of electronic control apparatuses is connected and which performs distributed control of a plurality of on-vehicle devices, the on-vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a communicating means for communicating information with the control center through radio communication;

a master data storage means for storing master data, which includes reference connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network;

a connection information obtaining means for obtaining current connection information of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses with respect to the on-vehicle network based on a response, which is transmitted from the plurality of electronic control apparatuses in reply to a response request outputted from the connection information obtaining means to the plurality of electronic control apparatuses; and

a diagnosing means for diagnosing a validity of a connecting state of the plurality of electronic control apparatuses relative to the on-vehicle network by comparing the current connection information with the master data and thereby determining whether the current connection information matches with the master data, wherein a result of the diagnosing, which is performed by the diagnosing means, is transmitted to the control center through the communicating means.