Concurrent Flashing of Processing Units by Means of Network Restructuring

• US 20080183900A1
• Filed: 07/18/2005
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Staiger, Dieter
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/249
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17375 One dimensional, e.g. linear array, ring

Abstract

A network of processing units having at least one switch that allows to disrupt the network between a first and a second processing units is provided. Disruption of the network by means of the switch effectively disconnects the first processing unit from the network and couples the first processing unit to a controller of the network. The controller is adapted to exchange data with the disconnected processing unit and thereby allows to selectively and directly exchange data with a selected processing unit. In particular in the framework of heterogeneous and hierarchical networks of processing units, the invention provides direct access to processing units and sub-networks and allows for an efficient and fast performance of diagnostic and maintenance procedures of sub-networks and the their corresponding processing units, such as e.g. performing a flashing procedure.

Claims

1. A network (200) of processing units comprising:

at least one switch (204, . . . , 220) being adapted to disrupt the network for establishing at least a first sub-network of processing units,

a controller (202) being coupled to any of the at least one switch, the controller being adapted for data exchange with any of the processing units (122, . . . , 136, 142, . . . , 148) of the at least first sub-network.

2. The network (200) according to claim 1, wherein the controller (202) is further adapted to control the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220).

3. The network (200) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controller (202) is adapted to control any of the processing units (122, . . . , 136, 142, . . . , 148) of the at least first sub-network.

4. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the controller (202) is adapted to dynamically reconfigure the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220) and to dynamically restructure the at least first sub-network.

5. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220) further comprises at least one transmission gate (252, 254).

6. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220) comprises a first and a second transmission gate (252, 254), the first transmission gate provides disruption of the network between a first and a second processing unit and the second transmission gate provides coupling of the first processing unit to the controller.

7. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the controller (202) is adapted to flash the processing units of the at least first sub-network simultaneously or to flash said processing units within partially overlapping time intervals.

8. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the processing units (122, . . . , 136, 142, . . . , 148) are arranged in sub-networks (114, . . . , 120) making use of different communication bus protocols.

9. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the controller (202) is adapted to replace the functionality of an at least first gateway controller (102, . . . , 110) of a sub-network (114, . . . , 120) if the at least first gateway controller fails.

10. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the processing units are implemented as electronic control units of a vehicle.

11. The network (200) according to any one of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the sub-networks (114, . . . , 120) feature a straight bus and/or a star network and/or a ring-bus network topology and make use of a CAN C and/or CAN B and/or LIN and/or FlexRay and/or MOST and/or FireWire data transmission standards.

12. A controller (202) for establishing at least a first sub-network of a network (200) of processing units (122, . . . , 136, 142, . . . , 148), the controller comprising:

a switching module (240) for disrupting the network by means of at least one switch and for establishing an at least first sub-network,

a data transmission module (242) for transmitting data between the at least first sub-network and the controller.

13. The controller (202) according to claim 12, further being adapted to control the at least first sub-network and to control the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220).

14. The controller (202) according to claim 12 or 13, further being adapted to dynamically restructure the at least first sub-network and to flash the processing units of the at least first sub-network simultaneously or to flash said processing units within partially overlapping time intervals.

15. A switch (204, . . . , 220) for establishing at least a first sub-network of a network (200) of processing units, the switch being adapted to be implemented between a first and a second processing unit of the network, the switch comprising:

a first transmission gate (252) providing disruption of the network between the first and the second processing unit,

a second transmission gate (254) providing coupling of the first processing unit to a controller (202), the first and second transmission gates being complementary coupled.

16. A method of flashing processing units (122, . . . , 136, 142, . . . , 148) of a network (200) of processing units comprising the steps of:

disrupting the network between at least a first and a second processing unit by means of at least one switch (204, . . . , 220),

establishing at least a first sub-network on the basis of the at least one disruption,

coupling of the at least first sub-network to a controller (202) being adapted to flash the processing units of the at least first sub-network.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising dynamically reconfiguring the at least one switch (204, . . . , 220) and dynamically restructuring the at least first sub-network.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, further comprising flashing of the processing units of the at least first sub-network simultaneously or flashing said processing units within partially overlapping time intervals.

19. A computer program product for a controller (202) of a network (200) of processing units, the computer program product being operable to:

disrupt the network between at least a first and a second processing unit by means of at least one switch (204, . . . , 220),

establish at least a first sub-network on the basis of the at least one disruption,

couple the at least first sub-network to the controller and to flash the processing units of the at least first sub-network.