Vehicle communication network including wireless communications

• US 8,976,744 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yousefi, Nariman, Kim, Yongbum, Walley, John, Chen, Sherman (Xuemin), Diab, Wael W., Ilyadis, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivas, Raul
• Application Number:
  US13/171,613
• Publication Number:
  US 20120106469A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 455/426.1, 455/457
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/00 Electric propulsion with power supplied within the vehicle with power supply from force of nature, e.g. sun or wind, B60L8/00; for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• 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: B60R 19/03 characterised by material, e.g. composite B60R19/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/76 Arrangements for rearranging, permuting or selecting data according to predetermined rules, independently of the content of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/46 Interconnection of networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 : based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/76 : using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 : Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• 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 69/08 : Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/102 : characterised by the element, parameter or selection affected or controlled by the adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 : for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 : Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 : for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 : Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 : based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A wired and wireless vehicle communication network includes network node modules, switch modules, bridge-routing modules, and a network manager. The network manager is operable to determine a wired packet communication mode and/or a wireless packet communication mode. When the network is in the wireless packet communication mode, the network manager coordinates wireless communication of packets among the network node modules, the switch modules, and the bridge-routing modules based on individual content of the packets and wireless channel mapping. When the network is in the wired packet communication mode, the network manager coordinates wired communication of packets among the network node modules, the switch modules, and the bridge-routing modules based on the individual content of the packets and in accordance with a global vehicle network communication protocol.

Claims

1. A wireless vehicle communication network operable in an automotive vehicle comprises:

a plurality of wireless network node modules in the automotive vehicle;

a plurality of wireless switch modules in the automotive vehicle;

a plurality of wireless bridge-routing modules in the automotive vehicle; and

a network manager operable to coordinate wireless communication of packets among the plurality of wireless network node modules, the plurality of wireless switch modules, and the plurality of wireless bridge-routing modules based on individual content of the packets and wireless channel mapping, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises;

a permanent allocation of a channel when the source or the destination is a safety critical automotive vehicle device; and

a non-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is a non-safety critical automotive vehicle device.

2. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating a channel of a set of channels within a frequency band for at least a portion of conveyance of one of the packets from a source to a destination via at least one of;

one of the plurality of wireless network node modules, one of the plurality of wireless switch modules, and one of the plurality of wireless bridge-routing modules.

3. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the wireless channel mapping further comprises at least one of:

a permanent allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a first content type, wherein the first content type includes at least vehicle safety critical content;

a semi-permanent allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a second content type, wherein the second content type includes at least one of;

network data content and non-critical vehicle operation content; and

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a third content type, wherein the third content type includes at least one of;

non-critical vehicle operation content and multimedia content.

4. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the non-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is the non-mission critical automotive vehicle device comprises:

a semi-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is a second type of device including at least one of;

a non-critical automotive vehicle operation device and an automotive vehicle network manager;

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is a third type of device including at least one of;

a multimedia automotive processing device and a non-critical sensor automotive device.

5. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 2, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating a second channel of a set of channels within a frequency band for a second portion of the conveyance of the one of the packets from the source to the destination.

6. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating channels within a frequency band in cellular pattern among a plurality of regions within the wireless vehicle communication network to reduce channel interference from overlapping channel use in different ones of the plurality of regions.

7. A wireless vehicle communication network comprises:

a plurality of wireless network node modules in the automotive vehicle;

a network manager in the automotive vehicle operable to;

coordinate wireless communication of packets among the plurality of wireless network node modules based on a content type of the packets and wireless channel mapping, wherein at least one content type of the packets includes a vehicle safety critical content and wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises;

a permanent allocation of a channel when the source or the destination is a safety critical automotive vehicle device; and

a non-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is a non-safety critical automotive vehicle device.

8. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 7, wherein the network manager is operable to coordinate wireless communication of packets among the plurality of wireless network node modules in accordance with a global vehicle network communication protocol, wherein the global vehicle network communication protocol comprises at least one of:

information regarding a network fabric formatting of the packets;

information regarding packet transmission prioritization schemes;

information regarding network management processing; and

information regarding vehicle network operation parameters.

9. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 7, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating a channel of a set of channels within a frequency band for at least a portion of conveyance of one of the packets from a source to a destination via at least one of the plurality of wireless network node modules.

10. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 9, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises at least one of:

a permanent allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a first content type, wherein the first content type includes at least the vehicle safety critical content;

a semi-permanent allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a second content type, wherein the second content type includes at least one of;

network data content and non-critical vehicle operation content; and

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the one of the plurality of packets is of a third content type, wherein the third content type includes at least one of;

non-critical vehicle operation content and multimedia content.

11. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 7, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the source or the destination is a third type of device, wherein the third type of device includes at least one of;

a multimedia processing device and a non-critical sensor device.

12. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 9, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating a second channel of a set of channels within a frequency band for a second portion of the conveyance of the one of the packets from the source to the destination.

13. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 7, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating channels within a frequency band in cellular pattern among a plurality of regions within the wireless vehicle communication network to reduce channel interference from overlapping channel use in different ones of the plurality of regions.

14. A vehicle network module comprises:

a wireless network interface in the automotive vehicle; and

a processing module in the automotive vehicle operable to;

utilize the wireless network interface to wirelessly communicate packets with one or more elements of a vehicle communication network based on content type of the packets and wireless channel mapping, wherein at least one content type of the packets includes a vehicle safety critical operation content and wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises;

a permanent allocation of a channel when the source or the destination of the packets is a safety critical automotive vehicle device; and

a non-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination of the packets is a non-safety critical automotive vehicle device.

15. The vehicle network module of claim 14, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

utilize the wireless network interface to wirelessly communicate packets including network configuration and system level data.

16. The vehicle network module of claim 14, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

utilize the wireless network interface to wirelessly communicate packets having a first priority; and

utilize a wired network interface to communicate packets having a second differing priority.

17. The vehicle network module of claim 14, wherein the wireless channel mapping further comprises at least one of:

the permanent allocation of the channel when the content type of the packets includes the vehicle safety critical operation content;

a semi-permanent allocation of the channel when the content type of the packets includes at least one of;

network data content and non-critical vehicle operation content; and

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the content type of the packets includes at least one of;

non-critical vehicle operation content and multimedia content.

18. The vehicle network module of claim 14, wherein the non-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination of the packets is the non-safety critical automotive vehicle device comprises:

a semi-permanent allocation of the channel when the source or the destination of the packets is a second type of device including at least one of;

a non-critical automotive vehicle operation device and an automotive vehicle network manager;

a dynamic allocation of the channel when the source or the destination of the packets is a third type of device including at least one of;

a multimedia automotive processing device and a non-critical sensor automotive device.

19. The vehicle network module of claim 14, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating a channel of a set of channels within a frequency band for the permanent allocation of the channel.

20. The wireless vehicle communication network of claim 19, wherein the wireless channel mapping comprises:

allocating the channel from the set of channels within the frequency band to reduce channel interference from overlapping channel use by different vehicle network modules.