Relay device

• US 9,081,699 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tsuboi, Michitaka, Matsuura, Masanori
• Primary Examiner(s): SNYDER, STEVEN G
• Application Number:
  US14/279,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/656 while running
• 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 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• 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

While software in a relay device is being rewritten by an external diagnosis device, a processing unit of the relay device prohibits transfer processing of data from each ECU connected to CAN bus and allows transfer processing of data, which is transmitted from the external diagnosis device and which indicates at least either one of transmission prohibition of periodic transmission data and storage prohibition of a failure code into each ECU by not receiving the periodic transmission data in each ECU, to the CAN buses.

Claims

1. A relay device including a processing unit and being located between network buses to which a plurality of electronic control devices are communicably connected, wherein

while software in the relay device is being rewritten by an external device, the processing unit is configured to:

prohibit transfer processing of data from each electronic control device connected to the network bus; and

allow transfer processing of a maintenance command from the external device to the network buses, the maintenance command indicating at least either one of maintaining the prohibit transfer processing in each electronic control device and maintaining storage prohibition of a failure code in each electronic control device,

wherein

the maintenance command is valid only for a predetermined period of time from when each electronic control device receives the maintenance command,

each electronic control device is configured to return to an operational state prior to receiving another instance of the maintenance command after the predetermined period of time, which is a valid period of the maintenance command, elapses from when the maintenance command is received, and

the processing unit is configured to receive the maintenance command from the external device at a cycle shorter than or equal to the predetermined period of time while the software is being rewritten.

2. A relay device including a processing unit and being located between network buses to which a plurality of electronic control devices are communicably connected, wherein

while software in the relay device is being rewritten, the processing unit is configured to:

prohibit transfer processing of data from each electronic control device connected to the network bus; and

transmit a maintenance command to the network buses, the maintenance command indicating at least either one of maintaining the prohibit transfer processing in each electronic control device and maintaining storage prohibition of a failure code in each electronic control device,

wherein

the maintenance command is valid only for a predetermined period of time from when each electronic control device receives the maintenance command,

each electronic control device is configured to return to an operational state prior to receiving another instance of the maintenance command after the predetermined period of time, which is a valid period of the maintenance command, elapses from when the maintenance command is received, and

the processing unit is configured to transmit the maintenance command to the network buses at a cycle shorter than or equal to the predetermined period of time while the software is being rewritten.