SYSTEM, CONTROLLER AND METHOD FOR SYNCHRONIZED CAPTURE AND SYNCHRONIZED PLAYBACK OF DATA

• US 20110054823A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Inventors: Long, David, Hayford, Paul, Loschner, Gerhard, Moulden, Andrew, Jung, Gerald
• Granted Patent: US 9,323,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/108
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23446 HIL hardware in the loop, simulates equipment to which a control module is fixed
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25367 Control of periodic, synchronous and asynchronous, event driven tasks together
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0256 injecting test signals and analyzing monitored process response, e.g. injecting the test signal while interrupting the normal operation of the monitored system; superimposing the test signal onto a control signal during normal operation of the monitored system

Abstract

Provided are a method, a test system and a microcontroller (40), for use in a test system for testing vehicles and automotive components. Control signals that are generated by active components within a vehicle during a test drive are sampled and played back to a specimen vehicle within a laboratory test environment, and the control signals are played back synchronously with data representing conditions and events such as loads, acceleration and displacements that are experienced during the test drive. A microcontroller (40) is provided to buffer control signal data and to synchronize playback of the control signals via a CAN (60) bus within the specimen test vehicle in response to trigger signals.

Claims

1. A method of testing specimen vehicle components, comprising the steps of:

storing first data representative of conditions experienced by a vehicle, and/or representative of the action of components of a vehicle during a test drive of the vehicle;

storing second data representative of control signals on a data bus of the vehicle during the test drive;

replaying the first data and applying the first data to equipment to simulate a test drive for a vehicle under test;

replaying the second data and applying the second data to the data bus of the vehicle under lest; and

synchronizing the replaying of the first and second data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

buffering data representing monitored control signals that are associated with respective monitored conditions or component actions;

generating data bus signals from the buffered data, and saving the generated data bus signals to await a trigger signal;

in response to a trigger signal, associated with playback to the test system of data representing monitored conditions or component actions, initiating playback to the test system of said generated data bus signals synchronously with the playback of data representing associated conditions or component actions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the trigger signal comprises an interrupt signal that is sent via a high speed communication mechanism from a test-controlling application program to a controller that implements replay of generated data bus signals, the interrupt signal being sent simultaneously via a high speed communication mechanism to a data processing system holding the data representing conditions or component actions, to trigger synchronous replay of said data representing respective associated conditions or component actions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the high speed communication mechanisms comprise fiber optic links.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising repeatedly resynchronising clocks within the controller and within the data processing system holding data representing conditions or component actions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the replaying of data representing monitored data bus signals comprises transmitting CAN messages onto a CAN bus within a specimen automotive apparatus.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of generating data bus signals comprises combining into a single CAN message the input data representing monitored data bus signals that are sampled in the same clock cycle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of saving the generated data bus signals further comprises scheduling and prioritisation of CAN messages.

11. The method of claim 4, further comprising repeatedly resynchronising clocks within the controller and within the data processing system holding data representing conditions or component actions.

9. A controller device for an automotive test system, comprising:

at least one buffer memory into which data representing previously-monitored data bus control signals can be loaded;

means, responsive to a trigger signal, to initiate playback onto a data bus within the test system of the previously-monitored data bus control signals; and

means for synchronizing the playback of data bus control signals with playback of other data that was previously monitored synchronously with the data bus signals.

10. An automotive test system comprising:

a test rig comprising means for supporting a test specimen apparatus and a set of actuators for applying a set of physical conditions to the test specimen apparatus;

means for replaying data representing previously monitored physical conditions to the set of actuators, to cause the actuators to reproduce the previously monitored conditions; and

a controller device comprising;

at least one buffer memory into which data representing previously-monitored control bus signals can be loaded;

means, responsive to a trigger signal, to initiate playback onto a control bus within the test system of the previously-monitored control bus signals; and

means for synchronizing the playback of control bus signals with playback of other data that was previously captured synchronously with the data bus signals.