Method for Accessing Control Units Arranged in a Vehicle, Control Program and Communication Control Unit

• US 20110022757A1
• Filed: 07/20/2010
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: HIEBER, Detlev
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/241
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2637 Vehicle, car, auto, wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods

Abstract

For control unit access, a vehicle to be checked is identified using an identifier. Control and/or monitoring operations covered by the control unit access are selected. A communication link is set up over a selected vehicle communication interface. Communication devices covered by the selected vehicle communication interface are ascertained. Independent control and/or monitoring operations covered by the control unit access are ascertained, where these operations are associated with available communication means and are not dependent on a superordinate control and/or monitoring operation. A control and/or monitoring operation, which has the greatest number of subordinate dependent control and/or monitoring operations, is selected for execution.

Claims

1. A method for accessing control units arranged in a vehicle using at least one vehicle communication interface, comprising:

determining a combination of possible operations which require access to at least one of a plurality of control units arranged in vehicles, the possible operations including at least one of a control operation and a monitoring operation;

identifying, by an identifier, a vehicle for which access to at least one of said plural control units is sought;

determining the operations that are covered by the access that is sought;

setting up a communication link over a selected vehicle communication interface;

determining available communication devices covered by the selected vehicle communication interface;

determining, from the possible operations covered by the access that is sought, at least one independent operation that is associated with the available communication devices and that is not dependent on a superordinate one of the operations covered by the access that is sought;

for each available communication device, selecting one of the possible operations having a greatest number of subordinate operations for execution; and

granting access to the communication devices and the control units associated with the one of the possible operations selected for execution.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of selecting comprises selecting one of the possible operations having a greatest number of subordinate operations along a path within a tree structure from the at least one independent operation.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining a combination includes combining the possible operations using an engineering tool;

wherein the engineering tool is used to determine dependencies between the determined operations, and

wherein the engineering tool is used to determine associations between the determined operations and at least one of prescribable equipment characteristics and respective required communication devices.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of determining a combination includes combining the possible operations using an engineering tool;

wherein the engineering tool is used to determine dependencies between the determined operations, and

wherein the engineering tool is used to determine associations between the determined operations and at least one of prescribable equipment characteristics and respective required communication devices.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the combination of possible operations, dependencies between the operations and the determined associations of the operations are mapped in a flow control model which takes account of order dependencies.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the dependencies between the operations are mapped in a graph.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the dependencies between the operations are mapped in a graph.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein validity rules, which are evaluated when a control unit access request is processed, are created for describing equipment characteristics.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication link is setup over the selected vehicle communication interface between one of said plural control units, a monitoring unit and each of said plural control units arranged in the vehicle.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one of the operations having a higher associated priority is selected for execution from the determined at least one of the independent operations if a number of subordinate operations is the same.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one of the operations selected for execution is deleted from a list of the operations covering said access by at least one of said plural control units upon expiration, and wherein the operation having a greatest number of at least one of the subordinate operations is reselected for execution.

12. A computer program executing on a processor which, when used on a computer apparatus causes control of access of a plurality of control units arranged in a vehicle using at least one vehicle communication interface, the computer program comprising:

program code for determining a combination of possible operations which require access to at least one of a plurality of control units arranged in vehicles, the possible operations including at least one of a control operation and a monitoring operation;

program code for identifying, by an identifier, a vehicle for which access to at least one of said plural control units is sought;

program code for determining the operations that are covered by the access that is sought;

program code for setting up a communication link over a selected vehicle communication interface;

program code for determining available communication devices covered by the selected vehicle communication interface;

program code for determining, from the possible operations covered by the access that is sought, at least one independent operation that is associated with the available communication devices and that is not dependent on a superordinate one of the operations covered by the access that is sought;

for each available communication device, program code for selecting one of the possible operations having a greatest number of subordinate operations for execution; and

program code for granting access to the communication devices and the control units associated with the one of the possible operations selected for execution.

13. A communication control unit comprising:

means for determining a combination of possible operations which require access to at least one of a plurality of control units arranged in vehicles, the possible operations including at least one of a control operation and a monitoring operation;

means for identifying, by an identifier, a vehicle for which access to at least one of said plural control units is sought;

means for determining the operations that are covered by the access that is sought;

means for setting up a communication link over a selected vehicle communication interface;

means for determining available communication devices covered by the selected vehicle communication interface;

means for determining, from the possible operations covered by the access that is sought, at least one independent operation that is associated with the available communication devices and that is not dependent on a superordinate one of the operations covered by the access that is sought;

for each available communication device, means for selecting one of the possible operations having a greatest number of subordinate operations for execution; and

means for granting access to the communication devices and the control units associated with the one of the possible operations selected for execution.