Automotive switch fabric with improved resource reservation

• US 7,599,772 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2004
• Issued: 10/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Temic Automotive of North America, Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Jordan, Patrick, Remboski, Donald, Levenson, Samuel M., Fehr, Walton L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOUIE, WAE LENNY
• Application Number:
  US10/865,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20050038583A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,944 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 370/225, 370/389, 370/351, 370/395.21, 370241-242, 713/153, 709/200
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40169 Flexible bus arrangements arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/413 with random access, e.g. carrier-sense multiple-access with collision detection [CSMA-CD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/433 with asynchronous transmission, e.g. token ring, register insertion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40208 characterized by the use of a particular bus standard
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/247 using M:N active or standby paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/34 Source routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 : Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 : QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/908 : Local area network

Abstract

A vehicle communication network (200) includes a plurality of network elements (208-212) and a plurality of communication links (214-230) communicatively coupling the network elements in a point-to-point configuration. A portion of the communication capability is reserved according to a class of message traffic.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a plurality of network nodes;

the network nodes being interconnected by connection media for point-to-point communication, the connection media being operable in accordance with one or more communication protocols; and

the connection media having a reserved communication capability, the reserved communication capability being associated with a class of message traffic and an associated buffer for queuing messages disassociated with the class of message traffic, the reserved communication capability being a fraction F of the available time averaged over a time period W, wherein F and W vary by message traffic class and an associated network node, the class of message traffic including at least a message class defined for mission critical traffic comprising at least one of vehicle safety related data, powertrain data, steering data, and braking data.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, the buffer being associated with one or more of the network nodes.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, a network node of the plurality network nodes, the network node having a port, the reserved portion being allocated to the port.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, the buffer being shared between at least a first network node and a second network node of the plurality of nodes.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, the buffer being operable in accordance with a queuing algorithm.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, the buffer being operable in accordance with either a first-in-first-out (FIFO) or a last-in-first-out (LIFO) protocol.

7. The vehicle of claim 6, wherein the selection of the FIFO or LIFO protocol is based upon the class of message traffic.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the buffer has a capacity, the buffer capacity being allocated based upon the class of message traffic.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, the reserved communication capability being dynamically determined.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the values F and W are either preconfigured or configurable by a system management function.