METHOD FOR MANAGING MESSAGES ACROSS A CONTROLLER AREA NETWORK

• US 20170034277A1
• Filed: 07/30/2015
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Ramey, Sean, Jackson, Timothy E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,888,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/46 Interconnection of networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/4028 the transportation system being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9089 replacing packets in a storage arrangement, e.g. pushout
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A controller area network has a plurality of nodes in communication through a bus. The nodes have controllers and computer readable instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of: receiving a new message; inserting the new message into the queue in order of priority if the queue is not full; refusing the new message if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is lower than the priorities of current messages in the queue; inserting the new message into the queue in order of priority if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is higher than a priority of at least one of the current messages; removing the new message from the queue if the current time exceeds an expiration indicator; sending the new message to the controller for transmission and holding the new message in the queue during transmission; and removing the new message from the queue after successful transmission.

Claims

1. An aircraft comprising a controller area network, the controller area network comprising:

a plurality of nodes in communication through a bus, at least one of the plurality of nodes comprising a controller and a queue manager module including computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform the steps of;

receiving a new message to be inserted into a queue of the node, the new message having a priority and an expiration indicator;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is not full;

refusing the new message if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is lower than priorities of current messages in the queue;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is higher than a priority of at least one of the current messages in the queue and removing the at least one of the current messages from the queue;

removing the new message from the queue if a current time exceeds the expiration indicator of the new message;

sending the new message to the controller for transmission when the new message is first in the queue;

holding the new message in the queue during transmission; and

removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of successful transmission from the controller.

2. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions further perform the steps of:

sending an abort command to the controller and maintaining the new message in the queue if a newer message is received by the node during the transmission of the new message and the newer message has a priority that is higher than the new message; and

sending an abort command to the controller and removing the new message from the queue if the new message exceeds the expiration indicator during transmission of the new message.

3. The aircraft of claim 2, wherein the computer readable instructions further perform the step of removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of transmission abort success from the controller.

4. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the node is a line replaceable unit.

5. The aircraft of claim 4, wherein the line replaceable unit is one of a proximity detector, and ice detector, a control panel, a sensor, a motor controller, or a smart sensor.

6. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the current message in the queue closest to the expiration indicator and having the lowest priority.

7. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the oldest current message in the queue having the lowest priority.

8. A method for managing messages on a controller area network comprising a plurality of nodes in communication through a bus, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a new message to be inserted into a queue of one of the plurality of nodes, the new message having a priority and an expiration indicator;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is not full;

refusing the new message if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is lower than priorities of current messages in the queue;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is higher than a priority of at least one of the current messages in the queue and removing the at least one of the current messages from the queue;

removing the new message from the queue if a current time exceeds the expiration indicator of the new message;

sending the new message to a controller of the one of the plurality of nodes for transmission when the new message is first in the queue;

holding the new message in the queue during transmission; and

removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of successful transmission from the controller.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

sending an abort command to the controller and maintaining the new message in the queue if a newer message is received by the node during the transmission of the new message and the newer message has a priority that is higher than the new message; and

sending an abort command to the controller and removing the new message from the queue if the new message exceeds the expiration indicator during transmission of the new message.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of transmission abort success from the controller.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the node comprises one of a proximity detector, and ice detector, a control panel, a sensor, a motor controller, or a smart sensor.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the current message in the queue closest to the expiration indicator and having the lowest priority.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the oldest current message in the queue having the lowest priority.

14. A controller area network comprising:

at least one node in communication with other nodes through a bus, the at least one node comprising a controller and a queue manager module including computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform the steps of;

receiving a new message to be inserted into a queue of the node, the new message having a priority and an expiration indicator;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is not full;

refusing the new message if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is lower than priorities of current messages in the queue;

inserting the new message into a position in the queue in order of priority if the queue is full and the priority of the new message is higher than a priority of at least one of the current messages in the queue and removing the at least one of the current messages from the queue;

removing the new message from the queue if a current time exceeds the expiration indicator of the new message;

sending the new message to the controller for transmission when the new message is first in the queue;

holding the new message in the queue during transmission; and

removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of successful transmission from the controller.

15. The controller area network of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions further perform the steps of:

sending an abort command to the controller and maintaining the new message in the queue if a newer message is received by the node during the transmission of the new message and the newer message has a priority that is higher than the new message; and

sending an abort command to the controller and removing the new message from the queue if the new message exceeds the expiration indicator during transmission of the new message.

16. The controller area network of claim 15, wherein the computer readable instructions further perform the step of removing the new message from the queue after receipt of an indication of transmission abort success from the controller.

17. The controller area network of claim 14, wherein the node is a line replaceable unit of an aircraft.

18. The controller area network of claim 17, wherein the line replaceable unit is one of a proximity detector, and ice detector, a control panel, a sensor, a motor controller, or a smart sensor.

19. The controller area network of claim 14, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the current message in the queue closest to the expiration indicator and having the lowest priority.

20. The controller area network of claim 14, wherein the at least one of the current messages returned from the queue is the oldest current message in the queue having the lowest priority.