Method for coordinating network components

• US 7,103,000 B1
• Filed: 11/30/1998
• Issued: 09/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Rode, Detlef, Zurmuehl, Uwe
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hanh
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOANG, THAI D
• Application Number:
  US09/581,101
• Time in Patent Office: 2,836 Days
• Field of Search: 340 522- 527, 340/825.3, 340/825.5, 3405723-5724, 370241-245, 370/248, 370/252
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method to coordinate network components is proposed. At least one first logical component and at least one second logical component are provided. Each of the components corresponds to a specific application and communicate with each other via a network on a communication plane that is substantially independent from an application plane. According to the method, a communications connection is established between the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component at the initiative of one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component, functioning in response to a specific event that concerns at least one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component. Moreover, an information message is transmitted via the established communications connection from the at least one second logical component to the at least one first logical component, the information message including at least information with respect to a current application status of the at least one second logical component. In addition, the information of the transmitted information message in the at least one first logical component is compared with corresponding information stored in a nonvolatile memory.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating network components including at least one first logical component and at least one second logical component, each of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component corresponding to a specific application and communicating with each other via a network on a communication plane, the communication plane being substantially independent from an application plane, the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component standing in a master slave relationship to each other, the method comprising the steps of:

in response to a specific event concerning at least one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component, establishing a communications connection between the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component at an initiative of one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component;

transmitting an information message from the at least one second logical component to the at least one first logical component via the communications connection, the information message including at least information regarding a current application status of the at least one second logical component, the information of the transmitted information message being stored in a first nonvolatile memory of the at least one second logical component, a content of the first nonvolatile memory being actualized every time a change occurs in the application status of the at least one second logical component;

comparing the information of the transmitted information message in the at least one first logical component with information stored in a second nonvolatile memory of the at least one first logical component, the information stored in the second nonvolatile memory concerning at least one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component; and

coordinating the at least one second logical component on the application plane by the at least one first logical component as a function of a result of the comparison, wherein;

the step of coordinating includes causing the at least one first logical component to reconstruct an application state of the at least one first logical component and of the at least one second logical component that was present before the step of establishing by using the information of the transmitted information message and the information stored in the second non-volatile memory of the at least one first logical component.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the information of the transmitted information message in the second nonvolatile memory of the at least one first logical component.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

after a reset of an already started application, transmitting the information message from one of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component to another of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the step of coordinating includes one of the step of resetting on the application plane and the step of configuring on the application plane.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the method is performed in an automotive on-board information system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the method is performed for at least one of network-wide failure location and failure diagnosis of the at least one first logical component and the at least one second logical component.