CONTROL APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20200133812A1
• Filed: 05/28/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Inventors: OGAWA, Akihiro, URAYAMA, Hirofumi
• Granted Patent: US 11,288,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/02 electric constitutive elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/40 The network being an on-board power network, i.e. within a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/60 Limiting power consumption in the network or in one section of the network, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0029 with safety or protection devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0031 using battery or load disconnect circuits H02J9/002 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0047 with monitoring or indicating devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4015 by scheduling the transmission of messages at the communication node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication

Abstract

A control apparatus that communicates with a plurality of on-vehicle control devices through in-vehicle communication lines, and includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire electric energy of a battery supplying electric power to the plurality of on-vehicle control devices, and a control unit configured to instruct, in a case where predicted electric energy of the battery at a time when a process by a target device that is one of the plurality of on-vehicle control devices is completed is lower than a first threshold, other on-vehicle control devices to stop respective processes by the other on-vehicle control devices executed in parallel with the process by the target device.

Claims

1. A control apparatus configured to communicate with a plurality of on-vehicle control devices through in-vehicle communication lines, the control apparatus comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire electric energy of a battery supplying electric power to the plurality of on-vehicle control devices; and

a control unit configured to instruct, in a case where predicted electric energy of the battery at a time when a process by a target device that is one of the plurality of on-vehicle control devices is completed is lower than a first threshold, other on-vehicle control devices to stop respective processes by the other on-vehicle control devices executed in parallel with the process by the target device.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the process by the target device is an update process of a control program during stoppage of a vehicle.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where a plurality of processes by the other on-vehicle control devices is executed in parallel, the control unit determines a process to be stopped among the plurality of processes based on priority set for each process.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where a plurality of processes by the other on-vehicle control devices is executed in parallel, the control unit determines a process to be stopped among the plurality of processes based on user operation to select the process to be stopped.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where a reduction speed of the battery is higher than a reference speed described below, the control unit further instructs the other on-vehicle control devices to stop the respective processes, the reference speed being a speed at which the electric energy of the battery is reduced to electric energy corresponding to the first threshold before completion of the process by the target device.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first threshold is a value obtained by imparting a predetermined margin to electric energy necessary for a process to interrupt the process by the target device.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where the electric energy of the battery is lower than a second threshold that is larger than the first threshold, the control unit instructs the other on-vehicle control devices to stop the respective processes.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second threshold is a value obtained by imparting a predetermined margin to electric energy necessary for completion of the process by the target device.

9. A control method for controlling a plurality of on-vehicle control devices by a control apparatus that communicates with the plurality of on-vehicle control devices through in-vehicle communication lines, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring electric energy of a battery supplying electric power to the plurality of on-vehicle control devices; and

instructing, in a case where predicted electric energy of the battery at a time when a process by a target device that is one of the plurality of on-vehicle control devices is completed is lower than a threshold, other on-vehicle control devices to stop respective processes by the other on-vehicle control devices executed in parallel with the process by the target device.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to function as a control apparatus configured to communicate with a plurality of on-vehicle control devices through in-vehicle communication lines, the computer program causing the computer to function as:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire electric energy of a battery supplying electric power to the plurality of on-vehicle control devices; and

a control unit configured to instruct, in a case where predicted electric energy of the battery at a time when a process by a target device that is one of the plurality of on-vehicle control devices is completed is lower than a threshold, other on-vehicle control devices to stop respective processes by the other on-vehicle control devices executed in parallel with the process by the target device.