POWER FEED CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR ON-VEHICLE ELECTRONIC CONTROL APPARATUSES

• US 20080238192A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: HASHIMOTO, Koji, Tsunekazu, Shoso
• Granted Patent: US 7,750,497 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/14 Balancing the load in a network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/46 for ICE-powered road vehicles

Abstract

First and second on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses which communicate with each other through serial communication interface circuits are fed with powers through an output contact of a power source relay from an on-vehicle battery, an electromagnetic coil of the power source relay is energized through a transistor when a power source switch has been closed, first and second microprocessors are activated upon closure of the output contact, a first watchdog timer generates a self-holding command signal and keeps an operating state of the power source relay when intervals of a watchdog signal which is generated by the first microprocessor are normal, and the self-holding command signal is stopped to deenergize the power source relay, when the first and second on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses have completed their save processing steps in accordance with opening of the power source switch.

Claims

1. A power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses to which powers are fed from an on-vehicle battery through an output contact of a power source relay that is operated in response to a power source switch, characterized in:

that the plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses consist of a first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus including a first microprocessor which controls a first group of electric loads in response to operation states of a first group of input sensors and contents of a first nonvolatile program memory, and a second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus including a second microprocessor which controls a second group of electric loads in response to operation states of a second group of input sensors and contents of a second nonvolatile program memory;

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus and said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus include serial communication interface circuits which are connected with each other, respectively;

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes an energization control circuit which drives the power source relay;

that said first nonvolatile program memory contains programs which serve as first input/output control means, and also programs which serve as first save processing means and save completion reception confirmation means;

that said second nonvolatile program memory contains programs which serve as second input/output control means, and also programs which serve as second save processing means and save completion report transmission means;

that, when said power source relay has its electromagnetic coil energized by said energization control circuit, its output contact is closed to close power feed circuits for said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus and said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, thereby to start operations of said first microprocessor and said second microprocessor;

that said energization control circuit is configured of a logical sum product between a drive start command signal, which energizes said electromagnetic coil upon closure of the power source switch, and a self-holding command signal, which responds to a generation output of said first microprocessor having started operating;

that said first save processing means is means for acting in a delay operation period until the operation of said first microprocessor is stopped in accordance with opening of said power source switch, thereby to execute first information save processing in which save information such as learnt data or detected abnormality information, stored in a volatile RAM memory, is stored in a first nonvolatile data memory, or/and first origin return processing in which actuators being some of the electric loads that are driven by said first microprocessor are returned to their initial positions;

that said second save processing means is means for acting in a delay operation period until the operation of said second microprocessor is stopped in accordance with the opening of said power source switch, thereby to execute second information save processing in which save information such as learnt data or detected abnormality information, stored in a volatile RAM memory, is stored in a second nonvolatile data memory, or/and second origin return processing in which actuators being some of the electric loads that are driven by said second microprocessor are returned to their initial positions;

that said save completion report transmission means and said save completion reception confirmation means are means for acting when said second microprocessor has completed its save processing operation by said second save processing means, whereby said second microprocessor reports and transmits a save completion state through said serial communication interface circuits, while said first microprocessor confirms reception of the transmitted state; and

that said energization control circuit stops a self-holding operation for said electromagnetic coil in a case where said first microprocessor has completed its save processing operation by said first save processing means and where it has confirmed the completion state of the second save processing operation by said save completion reception confirmation means, whereby operation states of said power source relay are generally managed by said first microprocessor.

2. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said power feed control circuit comprises a first load relay and a second load relay;

that said first load relay includes an electromagnetic coil which is driven and controlled by a control output of said first microprocessor, and an output contact which is closed upon energization of said electromagnetic coil, thereby to connect for power feed, a first specified electric load within said first group of electric loads to said on-vehicle battery;

that said second load relay includes an electromagnetic coil which is driven and controlled by a control output of said second microprocessor, and an output contact which is closed upon energization of said electromagnetic coil, thereby to connect for power feed, a second specified electric load within said second group of electric loads to said on-vehicle battery; and

that power feed currents to said first specified electric load and said second specified electric load are fed through bypass circuits which does not pass through said output contact of said power source relay.

3. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said power source relay includes a first output contact and a second output contact, and a common electromagnetic coil, or a first electromagnetic coil and a second electromagnetic coil, which serves/serve to close and drive said first output contact and said second output contact;

that said first output contact is disposed in a power feed circuit for said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus;

that said second output contact is disposed in a power feed circuit for said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus; and

that said common electromagnetic coil, or said first electromagnetic coil and said second electromagnetic coil is/are generally controlled by said energization control circuit disposed in said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus.

4. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes a first watchdog timer which monitors runaway of said first microprocessor; and

that, when generation intervals of a watchdog signal being a pulse train which is generated by said first microprocessor are abnormal, said first watchdog timer generates a reset pulse signal, thereby to initialize and reactivate said first microprocessor, whereas when the generation intervals of the watchdog signal are normal, said first watchdog timer generates a self-holding command signal for said energization control circuit, thereby to keep an operating state of said power source relay.

5. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes a first watchdog timer by which, when generation intervals of a watchdog signal being a pulse train which is generated by said first microprocessor are abnormal, a reset pulse signal is generated to initialize and reactivate said first microprocessor;

that said first microprocessor generates a self-holding command signal which is generated when said first microprocessor is normally operating; and

that said energization control circuit performs a self-holding operation for said power source relay when the self-holding command signal is generated.

6. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that at least one input sensor in the first group of input sensors is used in common as at least one input sensor in the second group of input sensors, or is, at least, inputted to said second microprocessor through said serial communication interface circuits; and

that at least one input sensor in the second group of input sensors is used in common as at least one input sensor in the first group of input sensors, or is, at least, inputted to said first microprocessor through said serial communication interface circuits.

7. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said energization control circuit includes a transistor of N-channel field-effect transistor which energizes and controls said electromagnetic coil of said power source relay, an overcurrent protection circuit, and an overvoltage suppression circuit;

that said overcurrent protection circuit is configured of a comparison circuit which acts and restrains a gate application voltage when a conduction current of said transistor is excessive;

that said overvoltage suppression circuit is configured of a constant-voltage diode which suppresses the drive voltage that is applied to a gate terminal of said transistor; and

that the gate terminal is fed with a drive start command signal through said power source switch and a current limiting resistance from said on-vehicle battery.

8. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 1, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus is an engine control apparatus; and

that said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus is a transmission control apparatus.

9. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 8, characterized in:

that opening/closure signals of said power source switch are directly inputted to said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus and said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, while said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes opposite-apparatus operation confirmation means; and

that said opposite-apparatus operation confirmation means is means for confirming feed of the power source switch closure signal to said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, through said serial communication interface circuits, whereupon said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus starts its normal running operation.

10. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 8, characterized in:

that opening/closure signals of said power source switch are directly inputted to only said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, while said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes running start command means and running stop command means;

that said running start command means and said running stop command means are command means for transmitting signals to said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus through said serial communication interface circuits in response to closure and opening of said power source switch, respectively; and

that said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus starts its running operation upon receiving a running start command based on said running start command means.

11. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 9, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes save grant command means, while said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes elapsed time decision means and save delay means;

that said save grant command means is means for granting execution of a save operation by said second save processing means, from said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus to said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus when said power source switch connected to said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus has been opened;

that said elapsed time decision means is means for rendering a normality decision when a time period expended till reception of the save grant signal based on said save grant command means, since a point of time at which said power source switch connected to said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus has been opened or a point of time at which said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus has received the running stop command transmitted from said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, is within a predetermined time, and for rendering an abnormality decision when the time period exceeds the predetermined time; and

that said save delay means is means for stopping execution of said second save processing means until the save grant based on said save grant command means is obtained, wherein the execution of, at least, the second information save processing in the second save processing means is stopped when said elapsed time decision means has rendered the abnormality decision.

12. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 11, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes first vehicle stop decision means and first coasting running means;

that said first vehicle stop decision means is means for deciding a vehicle stop state when a pulse cycle of a vehicle sensor which generates pulse of a frequency proportional to a vehicle speed has exceeded a predetermined value, said first save processing means and said save grant command means being executed when both the opening of said power source switch connected to said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus and the vehicle stop decision of said first vehicle stop decision means have held true; and

that said first coasting running means is means for acting in a period since the opening of said power source switch till detection of the vehicle stop state by said first vehicle stop decision means, thereby to keep, at least, an operating state of said power source relay in a condition where an operation of an engine driving device such as an ignition coil or a fuel injecting solenoid valve of an engine is stopped.

13. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 11, characterized in:

that said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes second vehicle stop decision means, second coasting running means and limited save means;

that said second vehicle stop decision means is means for deciding a vehicle stop state when a pulse cycle of a vehicle sensor which generates pulse of a frequency proportional to a vehicle speed has exceeded a predetermined value;

that said second coasting running means is means for acting in a period until said second vehicle stop decision means renders the vehicle stop decision in a condition where said elapsed time decision means has rendered the abnormality decision, thereby to inhibit, at least, the execution of said second save processing means and the transmission of the save completion report; and

that said limited save means is means for acting when said second vehicle stop decision means has rendered the vehicle stop decision in a condition where said elapsed time decision means has rendered the abnormality decision, thereby to grant the execution of the second origin return processing in said second save processing means.

14. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 11, characterized in:

that said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes first forcible stop means, and a first watchdog timer which monitors runaway of said first microprocessor;

that, when generation intervals of a watchdog signal being a pulse train which is generated by said first microprocessor are abnormal, said first watchdog timer generates a reset pulse signal, thereby to initialize and reactivate said first microprocessor; and

that said first forcible stop means is means for acting when said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus cannot receive a save completion confirmation signal replied from said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, in spite of lapse of a predetermined time since said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus has transmitted the save grant command to said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, thereby to stop control outputs of said first microprocessor and to stop the generation of the watchdog signal which is fed to said first watchdog timer, so as to deenergize said power source relay.

15. The power feed control circuit for a plurality of on-vehicle electronic control apparatuses as defined in claim 11, characterized in:

that said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus includes second forcible stop means, and a second watchdog timer which monitors runaway of said second microprocessor;

that, when generation intervals of a watchdog signal being a pulse train which is generated by said second microprocessor are abnormal, said second watchdog timer generates a reset pulse signal, thereby to initialize and reactivate said second microprocessor;

that said second forcible stop means is means for acting when said power source relay is not deenergized by said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, in spite of lapse of a predetermined time since said second on-vehicle electronic control apparatus has transmitted the save completion report to said first on-vehicle electronic control apparatus, thereby to stop other control outputs of said second microprocessor while the watchdog signal which is generated by said second microprocessor is being generated; and

that said second watchdog timer does not generate the reset pulse signal for said second microprocessor after the forcible stop.