In-vehicle electronic control unit, diagnosis tool and diagnosis system

• US 9,008,898 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2012
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Teramura, Mikio, Umesaka, Takeo
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, John Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, AARON C
• Application Number:
  US13/450,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20120271507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 701/31.9, 701/33.2, 701/33.4, 701/35
• US Class Current: 701/33.2
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

An in-vehicle electronic control unit (ECU), stores behavior information, when a specific vehicle behavior (i.e. a vehicle behavior that does not correspond to the driver'"'"'s driving operation) is detected. The in-vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) stores, as the behavior information, vehicle travel information, a storage time of the vehicle travel information, and storage execution information that indicates that the vehicle travel information is stored. When the engine of the vehicle stops, the ECU first executes an abnormality check of a CPU operation, when, based on the storage execution information of the behavior information, the vehicle travel information is stored. The ECU stores, as abnormality check information, an abnormality check result, an execution time of the abnormality check, and check execution information indicating that the abnormality check has been executed, and after the storage of the abnormality check information, the ECU stops power supply to the CPU.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle electronic control unit installed in a vehicle comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU) executing a vehicle control process;

a behavior check unit determining whether a specific vehicle behavior is detected;

a behavior information storage unit storing in a memory unit, which retains data during a drive stop time of the vehicle, vehicle travel information as a behavior information of the vehicle when the behavior check unit determines a specific vehicle behavior is detected, the drive stop time being defined as a time at which an engine of the vehicle is shutdown and the engine has an engine speed of zero;

an abnormality check unit executing an abnormality check to determine whether an operation of the CPU is abnormal during a time period after the storage of the vehicle travel information in the memory unit by the behavior information storage unit and between the drive stop time of the vehicle and a shutting off of a power supply to the CPU; and

a check result storage unit storing in the memory unit an abnormality check result of the abnormality check unit as an abnormality check information.

2. The in-vehicle electronic control unit of claim 1, wherein the abnormality check unit evaluates a part of a memory area that is used by the CPU for executing the abnormality check of the operation of the CPU.

3. The in-vehicle electronic control unit of claim 1 further comprising:

an execution condition check unit determining whether an execution condition of the abnormality check is satisfied when the behavior information storage unit stores in the memory unit the vehicle travel information, wherein, upon receiving a determination by the execution condition check unit that the execution condition of the abnormality check is satisfied, the abnormality check unit executes the abnormality check.

4. The in-vehicle electronic control unit of claim 1, wherein

the behavior information storage unit stores in the memory unit, as part of the behavior information, a time of storing the vehicle travel information, and

the check result storage unit stores in the memory unit, as part of the abnormality check information, a time of executing the abnormality check by the abnormality check unit.

5. The in-vehicle electronic control unit of claim 1, wherein the check result storage unit stores in the memory unit, as part of the abnormality check information, check execution information that indicates whether the abnormality check unit has executed the abnormality check.

6. The in-vehicle electronic control unit of claim 1, wherein the abnormality check unit executes the abnormality check at an earliest-possible timing after the storage of the vehicle travel information in the memory unit.

7. A diagnosis tool coupled to an in-vehicle electronic control unit installed in a vehicle, wherein the in-vehicle electronic control unit includes a behavior information storage unit that stores a vehicle travel information as a behavior information of the vehicle when a specific vehicle behavior is detected, an abnormality check unit that determines whether an operation of a central processing unit (CPU) is abnormal during a time period after the storage of the vehicle travel information in the memory unit by the behavior information storage unit and between a drive stop time of the vehicle and a shutting off of a power supply to the CPU, the drive stop time being defined as a time at which an engine of the vehicle is shutdown and the engine has an engine speed of zero, and a check result storage unit that stores in the memory unit an abnormality check result of the abnormality check unit as an abnormality check information, the diagnosis tool comprising:

a read unit reading the behavior information and the abnormality check information from the in-vehicle electronic control unit; and

an output unit,

wherein based on the behavior information read by the read unit,

when the vehicle information is stored in the memory unit and when the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is normal, the output unit outputs the behavior information and the abnormality check information, and

when the vehicle information is stored in the memory unit and when the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is abnormal, the output unit outputs a CPU operation abnormality warning.

8. The diagnosis tool of claim 7, wherein the output unit outputs, in addition to the CPU operation abnormality warning, at least one of the behavior information and the abnormality check information, when the vehicle information is stored in the memory unit and when the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is abnormal.

9. The diagnosis tool of claim 7, wherein

the abnormality check information read by the read unit indicates whether the abnormality check unit has executed the abnormality check,

the output unit outputs the behavior information and the abnormality check information, when the abnormality check information indicates that the abnormality check has been executed and when the behavior information read by the read unit indicates that the vehicle travel information is stored in the memory unit, and

the output unit outputs the behavior information, the abnormality check information, and a warning that indicates that the abnormality check has not been executed, when the abnormality check information indicates that the abnormality check has not been executed.

10. A diagnosis system comprising:

an in-vehicle electronic control unit installed in a vehicle, the in-vehicle electronic control unit including,

a central processing unit (CPU) executing a vehicle control process,

a behavior check unit determining whether a specific vehicle behavior is detected,

a behavior information storage unit storing in a memory unit, which retains data during a drive stop time of the vehicle, vehicle travel information as behavior information of the vehicle when the behavior check unit determines a specific vehicle behavior is detected, the drive stop time being defined as a time at which an engine of the vehicle is shutdown and the engine has an engine speed of zero,

an abnormality check unit executing an abnormality check to determine whether an operation of the CPU is abnormal during a time period after the storage of the vehicle travel information in the memory unit by the behavior information storage unit and between the drive stop time of the vehicle and a shutting off of a power supply to the CPU, and

a check result storage unit storing in the memory unit an abnormality check result of the abnormality check unit as abnormality check information; and

a diagnosis tool including a read unit reading the behavior information and the abnormality check information from the in-vehicle electronic control unit; and

an output unit outputting information, when, based on the behavior information read by the read unit, the vehicle travel information is stored in the memory unit.

11. The diagnosis system of claim 10, wherein

when the abnormality check result of the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is normal, the output unit outputs the behavior information and the abnormality check information, and

when the abnormality check result of the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is abnormal, the output unit outputs a CPU operation abnormality warning.

12. The diagnosis system of claim 11, wherein the output unit outputs, in addition to the CPU operation abnormality warning, at least one of the behavior information and the abnormality check information, when the abnormality check information indicates that the CPU operation is abnormal.

13. The diagnosis system of claim 10, wherein

the check result storage unit of the in-vehicle electronic control unit stores in the memory unit, as a part of the abnormality check information, check execution information that indicates whether the abnormality check unit executed the abnormality check,

when the check execution information indicates that the abnormality check has been executed while the vehicle travel information is stored in the memory unit, the output unit outputs the behavior information and the abnormality check information, and

when the check execution information indicates that the abnormality check has not been executed, the output unit outputs, in addition to the behavior information and the abnormality check information, a warning that indicates that the abnormality check has not been executed.