System and method for using software objects to manage devices connected to a network in a vehicle

• US 7,181,511 B1
• Filed: 04/15/2002
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yazaki North America Incorporated (Yazaki Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yazaki North America Incorporated (Yazaki Corporation)
• Inventors: Motheramgari, Satyanarayana, Schmitt, Kenneth Allen, Grenier, Alain Henri
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): KOROBOV, VITALI A
• Application Number:
  US10/122,475
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/223, 715/700, 719/328, 719/316, 701/36
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

The invention is the use of a software object as an interface between a device and a network. Both the network and device are located in a vehicle. The system uses a connectivity subsystem that includes a device management object for interfacing between a device and a network in the vehicle. A discovery subsystem identifies which devices are connected to the network by the connectivity subsystem. The control subsystem can then use the device management object to manage the use of the device. In the application layer of the system resides the software applications to be used by the devices and occupants in the vehicle. In the object interface layer of the system resides the software object that connects the network with the various software applications. The network resides in the network layer.

Claims

1. A device management system for managing a plurality of devices connected to a network in a vehicle, said system comprising:

a connectivity subsystem including a device management object, said connectivity subsystem connecting said device management object to said network and said device management object to said plurality of devices;

a discovery subsystem including an identification of said plurality of devices, said discovery subsystem generating said identification from said connectivity subsystem; and

a control subsystem, said control subsystem communicating between said plurality of devices and said network with said connectivity subsystem;

wherein said device management object includes a plurality of surrogate device objects, said device management objects being configured to interact with said plurality of devices through said plurality of surrogate device objects, said plurality of surrogate device objects being associated with and implemented externally of said plurality of devices, and said plurality of surrogate device objects are distinct from respective device drivers of said plurality of devices, and

wherein said network in a vehicle is an embedded network.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein said device management object comprising a device loading module;

wherein said device loading module supports more than one of said plurality of devices.

3. The system of claim 1, said system including a software application, at least one of said plurality of devices interacting with said device management object through said software application.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said software application is developed transparently of said network.

5. The system of claim 3, said system further including a plurality of software applications, wherein said plurality of software applications can run on said network at the same time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said discovery subsystem automatically generates said identification by analyzing a device characteristic relating to each of said devices in said plurality of devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said discovery subsystem selects one of said surrogate device objects in said plurality of surrogate device objects that corresponds to one of said devices in said plurality of devices, from said plurality of surrogate device objects.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each said device in said plurality of devices is controlled by a corresponding surrogate device object in said plurality of said surrogate device objects.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said plurality of surrogate device objects interact with said network through said device management object in at least a substantially simultaneous manner.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said system can automatically perform a network recovery strategy.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said network recovery strategy is a passive network recovery strategy.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said network recovery strategy is an active network recovery strategy.

13. The system of claim 1, said system further comprising a mode selected from the group comprising a startup mode, a normal mode, a shutdown mode, or a degraded mode, wherein said mode is attributed to said device management object.

14. The system of claim 1, said device management object including a dynamic link library, said dynamic link library including:

an initialization function;

a get status function;

a get device list function;

a set callback function;

a send message function;

a get response function;

a get device data function;

a set device data function;

a check network status function; and

a shutdown function.

15. A method of using a device management object to interface between a plurality of devices and an embedded network located on a vehicle, the method comprising the steps:

connecting the device management object to the embedded network and to said plurality of devices through a connectivity subsystem;

identifying the plurality of devices connected to the network with the device management object, wherein device identification is generated by a discovery subsystem from said connectivity subsystem; and

controlling the plurality of devices through the device management object through a control subsystem, said control subsystem communicating between said plurality of devices and said network with said connectivity subsystem;

wherein said device management object includes a Plurality of surrogate device objects, said device management objects being configured to interact with said plurality of devices through said plurality of surrogate device objects, said plurality of surrogate device objects being associated with and implemented externally of said plurality of devices, and said plurality of surrogate device objects are distinct from respective device drivers of said plurality of devices.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

instantiating the device management object; and

destroying the instantiated device management object.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

creating a distinct surrogate object for each said device in said plurality of devices,

wherein each surrogate object is part of said device management object, and wherein said device management object communicates with the plurality of devices through the surrogate objects corresponding to the devices; and

deleting all surrogate objects.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

detecting the presence of a new device that is added to the network; and

creating a surrogate object for the new device.