Information transmission and reception system for a vehicle

• US 4,926,417 A
• Filed: 05/11/1989
• Issued: 05/15/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Suzuki, Tadashi, Futami, Toru, Sakagami, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Orsino, Joseph A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/351,299
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: 370/58, 370/86, 370/100, 370/85, 370/85.1, 370/85.7, 370/85.5, 370/85.15, 370/58.1, 370/100.1, 340/825.5, 340/825.05, 307/10.1, 307/10.8
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 15/12 the signals being represented by pulse characteristics in transmission link

Abstract

An information transmitting and reception system applicable to a vehicle. The system comprises: (a) a plurality of information elements, some of which generating information for use by the remainder thereof, grouped into information sources and information receivers, the number of the information elements in the information sources and in the information receivers being limited to no more than a given number, (b) a plurality of information transmission units, each connected electrically to corresponding one of the information sources, (c) a plurality of information reception units, each connected electrically to corresponding one of the information receivers, and (d) means for connecting electrically each of the information transmission units to at least a corresponding one of the information reception units.

Claims

1. An information transmission and reception system, comprising:

(a) a plurality of information elements including information generating elements and information using elements grouped into information sources and information receivers, respectively;

(b) a plurality of information transmission units, each connected to a corresponding one of the information sources, each of said information transmission units including parallel-to-serial converting means for converting information in a parallel form from a corresponding information source into an electrical signal in a serial form;

(c) a plurality of information reception units, each connected to a corresponding one of the information receivers, each information reception unit including serial-to-parallel converting means for converting an electrical signal in serial form from a corresponding information transmission unit into information in a parallel form, a maximum number of information elements in an information source and in an information receiver limited to a bit-capacity of each of said parallel-to-serial and serial-to-parallel converting means; and

(d) means for connecting each of the information transmission units to a corresponding one of the information reception units, said connecting means including a plurality of electrical lines extended between respective ones of the information transmission units and the corresponding one of the information reception units for transmitting the information in a serial form from the information transmission unit to the corresponding information reception unit.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said connecting means comprises an electrical common line extended between the plurality of both information transmission and reception units for transmitting the information in a serial form from each of the information transmission units to the corresponding one of the information reception units in a time division mode.

3. An information transmission and reception system for a vehicle, comprising:

(a) a plurality of vehicle component information elements on related vehicle components including information generating elements and information using elements grouped into information sources and information receivers, respectively, a predetermined maximum number of information elements being grouped into each of said information sources and each of said information receivers;

(b) a plurality of information transmission units, each connected to a corresponding one of the information sources;

(c) a plurality of information reception units, each connected to a corresponding one of the information receivers; and

(d) means for connecting each of the information transmission units to a corresponding one of the information reception units, wherein each of the information transmission and reception units includes a shift register for converting the information in a bit parallel form from the corresponding information source into an electrical signal in a bit serial form to transmit the information from the information source when installed in each information transmission unit and for converting the information in the bit serial form from the corresponding transmission unit into the information in the bit parallel form to send it to the corresponding information receiver when installed in each information reception unit, so that the maximum number of information elements per group is equal to a bit capacity of said register.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said register has the bit capacity of eight bits.

5. A system for transmitting and receiving a vehicular information in a vehicle, comprising:

(a) a vehicular information movement space defined by a vehicle body and divided into an appropriate number of unit information movement spaces, each unit information movement space having at least one of an information supplying portion and an information receiving portion;

(b) at least one information transmitting unit connected to the information supplying portion for transmitting the information generated by the information supplying portion to the information receiving portion in any of the unit information movement spaces which requires the information from the information supplying portion; and

(c) at least one information receiving unit for receiving and supplying the information transmitted by an associated information transmitting unit to the information receiving portion.

6. A system as set forth in claim 5, which further comprises:

(d) means for connecting the information transmitting unit and the information receiving unit so that the information can be moved from the information transmitting unit to the information receiving unit to which the information receiving portion requiring the information is connected.

7. A system as set forth in claim 5, which further comprises a plurality of said information transmitting units and a plurality of said information receiving units including

(d) dedicated connecting means associated with each of said plurality of information transmitting units for individually connecting each said information transmitting units to each said information receiving units to which the information receiving portion requiring the information is connected.

8. A system as set forth in claim 6, wherein the connecting means comprises a signal transmission line connected between the information transmitting unit and information receiving unit requiring the information from the information transmitting unit.

9. A system as set forth in claim 8, wherein the information supplying portion comprises at least one information source and the information receiving portion comprises at least one information responsive device.

10. A system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the vehicular information movement space is divided into four unit information movement spaces comprising engine compartment space, dashboard space, instrument panel space, and trunk room space.

11. A system for transmitting and receiving a vehicular information in a vehicle, comprising:

(a) a vehicular information movement space defined by a vehicle body and divided into an appropriate number of unit information space having at least one of an information supplying portion and an information receiving portion;

(b) at least one information transmitting unit connected to the information supplying portion for transmitting the information generated by the information supplying portion to the information receiving portion in any of the unit information movement spaces which requires the information from the information supplying portion; and

(c) at least one information receiving unit connected to the information receiving portion for receiving and supplying the information transmitted by the information transmitting unit to the information receiving portion and

(d) means for connecting the information transmitting unit and the information receiving unit so that the information can be moved from the information transmitting unit to the information receiving unit to which the information receiving portion requiring the information is connected, the connecting means including;

(a) a signal transmission line connected between all of the information transmitting and receiving units in the vehicular information movement space, and (b) means for generating a predetermined address clock signal and transmitting the predetermined address clock signal to all information transmitting and receiving units so that the information can be moved from the information transmitting unit to the address corresponding information receiving unit in a time division mode.

12. A system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the information supplying portion comprises a plurality of information sources and the information receiving portion comprises a plurality of information responsive devices, each device requiring the information on the corresponding information source and wherein the information transmitting unit includes parallel-to-serial converting means for converting inputted information on the information sources in a belt parallel form into a signal in a bit serial form and the information receiving unit includes serial-to-parallel converting means for converting the signal in the bit serial form received from the signal transmission line into the signal in the bit parallel form, so that the information responsive devices receive the information of the corresponding information sources, respectively.

13. A system as set forth in claim 12, wherein each of the parallel-to-serial converting means and serial-to-parallel converting means comprises a shift register.