Electronic control units for controlling in-vehicle devices using time-dependent data and vehicle control system integrating such units for real-time distributed control

• US 8,010,257 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2007
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirano, Hiroyuki, Ito, Ryo, Noda, Waka, Shidai, Takahiro, Miyamoto, Seiji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Dalena
• Application Number:
  US11/717,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20070213888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/33, 701/36, 701/48, 701/66, 701/93, 340/438, 340/439
• US Class Current: 701/48
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0231 Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0682 by delay compensation, e.g. by compensation of propagation delay or variations thereof, by ranging
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/14 Monitoring arrangements for SDH/SONET rings H04J3/085
• 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

Abstract

An electronic control unit is incorporated as one of a plurality of electronic controllers composing a system for controlling in-vehicle devices on a distributed and mutually-synchronized control manner in a vehicle. The plurality of electronic control units are communicably connected with each other via an in-vehicle network to communicate information including the time-dependent data among the electronic control units. Each electronic control unit comprises a control member, an elapsed-time calculation component, and a validity determination component. The control member performs the control on the basis of time-dependent data acquired in time series relating to the vehicle. The elapsed-time calculation component is configured to calculate an elapsed time elapsing from acquisition of the time-dependent data. The validity determination component is configured to use the calculated elapsed time to determine whether or not the time-dependent data is valid or not for the control in terms of freshness of the time-dependent data.

Claims

1. An electronic control unit incorporated as one of a plurality of electronic controllers composing a system for controlling in-vehicle devices on a distributed and mutually-synchronized control manner in a vehicle, the plurality of electronic control units being communicably connected with each other via an in-vehicle network so as to communicate information including time-dependent data among the electronic control units, the time-dependent data being acquired in time series relating to the vehicle, the electronic control unit comprising:

a control member performing the control on the basis of time-dependent data;

an elapsed-time calculation component configured to calculate an elapsed time elapsing from acquisition of the time-dependent data; and

a validity determination component configured to use the calculated elapsed time to determine whether or not the time-dependent data is valid or not for the control in terms of freshness of the time-dependent data.

2. The electronic control unit of claim 1, wherein the elapsed-time calculation component is configured to calculate the elapsed time by counting up time at intervals whenever the time-dependent data is acquired.

3. The electronic control unit of claim 1, comprising:

a production component producing, as information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data, data showing a time instant at which the time-dependent data is acquired, and

a transmission component transmitting both the time-dependent data and the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition to another electronic control unit via the in-vehicle network.

4. The electronic control unit of claim 3, wherein the production component is configured to:

obtain a current time instant at which the time-dependent data is transmitted and calculate the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition by subtracting the calculated elapsed time from the current time instant of the transmission.

5. The electronic control unit of claim 4, wherein the validity determination component comprises

a current-time determination component determining whether or not the current time instant is normal or not when the transmission is carried out;

and

a setting component setting an invalid value to the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition if it is determined that the current time instant is not normal.

6. The electronic control unit of claim 4, comprising:

a memory device in which the time-dependent data are memorized together with the data showing the time instant at which the time-dependent data is acquired,

wherein the setting component is configured to make reference to the memory device to obtain the time instant of the data acquisition.

7. The electronic control unit of claim 3, wherein the validity determination component is configured to:

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time shows an invalidity thereof,

determine that the time-dependent data is invalid for the control whenever it is determined that the calculated elapsed time shows the invalidity thereof, and

set an invalid value to the calculated elapsed time.

8. The electronic control unit of claim 7, wherein the validity determination component is configured to record the data showing the invalidity when the calculated elapsed time exceeds a limit time thereof which corresponds to a maximum expression of the information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data.

9. The electronic control unit of claim 7, wherein the validity determination component is configured to record the data showing the invalidity when the calculated elapsed time passes over a valid term which is set guarantee the validity of the time-dependent data.

10. The electronic control unit of claim 7, wherein the validity determination component is configured to:

determine whether or not there is set a valid term to the calculated elapsed time;

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time exceeds a limit time thereof which corresponds to a maximum expression of the information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data, when it is determined that the valid term is not set;

record the data showing the invalidity whenever the calculated elapsed time exceeds the limit time;

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time passes over the valid term, when it is determined that the valid term is set; and

record the data showing the invalidity whenever the calculated elapsed time passes over the valid term.

11. The electronic control unit of claim 3, comprising:

a reception component receiving both the time-dependent data and the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition from another electronic control unit via the in-vehicle network; and

a further elapsed-time calculation component is configured to calculate an elapsed time elapsing from acquisition of the received time-dependent data on the basis of both the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition and a current time instant at which the time-dependent data is received by the reception component, the calculated elapsed time being provided to the validity determination component.

12. The electronic control unit of claim 11, wherein the further elapsed-time calculation component is configured to:

obtain the current time instant at which the time-dependent data is received and

calculate the elapsed time elapsing from the acquisition of the received time-dependent data by subtracting the time instant of the acquisition of the received time-dependent data from the current time instant of the reception.

13. The electronic control unit of claim 12, wherein the validity determination component is configured to:

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time shows an invalidity thereof,

determine that the time-dependent data is invalid for the control whenever it is determined that the calculated elapsed time shows the invalidity thereof,

set an invalid value to the calculated elapsed time.

14. The electronic control unit of claim 13, wherein the validity determination component is configured to:

record the data showing the invalidity when the calculated elapsed time exceeds a limit time thereof which corresponds to a maximum expression of the information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data.

15. The electronic control unit of claim 13, wherein the validity determination component is configured to record the data showing the invalidity when the calculated elapsed time passes over a valid term which is set guarantee the validity of the time-dependent data.

16. The electronic control unit of claim 13, wherein the validity determination component is configured to:

determine whether or not there is set a valid term to the calculated elapsed time;

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time exceeds a limit time thereof which corresponds to a maximum expression of the information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data, when it is determined that the valid term is not set;

record the data showing the invalidity whenever the calculated elapsed time exceeds the limit time;

determine whether or not the calculated elapsed time passes over the valid term, when it is determined that the valid term is set; and

record the data showing the invalidity whenever the calculated elapsed time passes over the valid term.

17. The electronic control unit of claim 12, wherein the validity determination component is configured to

determine whether or not the current time instant is normal or not when the reception is carried out;

determine whether or not the received data showing the time instant of the data acquisition shows validity thereof; and

set an invalid value to the calculated elapsed time if it is determined that the current time instant is not normal and/or the time instant of the data acquisition does not validity thereof.

18. A system for controlling in-vehicle devices on a distributed and mutually-synchronized control manner in a vehicle, the system comprising:

a plurality of electronic control units which are in charge of controlling operations of the in-vehicle devices on the basis of time-dependent data acquired in time series relating to the vehicle; and

an in-vehicle network communicably connecting the electronic control units with each other so as to communicate information including the time-dependent data among the electronic control units,

wherein each of the electronic control units comprises

an elapsed-time calculation component configured to calculate an elapsed time elapsing from acquisition of the time-dependent data; and

a validity determination component configured to use the calculated elapsed time to determine whether or not the time-dependent data is valid or not for the control in terms of freshness of the time-dependent data.

19. The electronic control unit of claim 18, wherein the elapsed-time calculation component is configured to calculate the elapsed time by counting up time at intervals whenever the time-dependent data is acquired.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each of the electronic control units comprises

a production component producing, as information indicative of the freshness of the time-dependent data, data showing a time instant at which the time-dependent data is acquired, and

a transmission component transmitting both the time-dependent data and the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition to another electronic control unit via the in-vehicle network.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the production component is configured to obtain a current time instant at which the time-dependent data is transmitted and calculate the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition by subtracting the calculated elapsed time from the current time instant of the transmission.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the validity determination component comprises

a current-time determination component determining whether or not the current time instant is normal or not when the transmission is carried out;

and

a setting component setting an invalid value to the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition if it is determined that the current time instant is not normal.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein each of the electronic control units comprises

a reception component receiving both the time-dependent data and the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition from another electronic control unit via the in-vehicle network;

and

a further elapsed-time calculation component is configured to calculate an elapsed time elapsing from acquisition of the received time-dependent data on the basis of both the data showing the time instant of the data acquisition and a current time instant at which the time-dependent data is received by the reception component, the calculated elapsed time being provided to the validity determination component.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the further elapsed-time calculation component is configured to:

obtain the current time instant at which the time-dependent data is received and

calculate the elapsed time elapsing from the acquisition of the received time-dependent data by subtracting the time instant of the acquisition of the received time-dependent data from the current time instant of the reception.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the validity determination component includes

determine whether or not the current time instant is normal or not when the reception is carried out;

determine whether or not the received data showing the time instant of the data acquisition shows validity thereof; and

set an invalid value to the calculated elapsed time if it is determined that the current time instant is not normal and/or the time instant of the data acquisition does not validity thereof.