Gateway, nodes, and method for a vehicle

• US 9,756,590 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2014
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Koenigseder, Thomas, Haase, Daniel, Kicherer, Max
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US14/491,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20150003443A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0655 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0667 Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40208 characterized by the use of a particular bus standard
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40241 Flexray
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0025 synchronizing potentially movable access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0045 compensating for timing error by altering transmission time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A gateway for a vehicle communication system is configured to forward a payload message from a first node of a first fieldbus system to a second node of a second fieldbus system, wherein the first and the second fieldbus systems are different. The gateway is configured to synchronize a first clock in the first node with a second clock in the second node.

Claims

1. A component of a communication system in a vehicle having two or more fieldbus systems, comprising:

a gateway coupled to the two or more fieldbus systems, wherein the gateway is programmed to;

forward a payload message from a first node of a first fieldbus system to a second node of a second fieldbus system, the first and second fieldbus systems being different types of bus systems;

synchronize a first clock in the first node of the first fieldbus system with a second clock in the second node of the second fieldbus system;

generate a timestamp on a basis of a reference time, wherein the timestamp corresponds to a generation time of the timestamp;

transmit the timestamp in a first message according to a first protocol of the first fieldbus system to the first node of the first fieldbus system; and

transmit the timestamp in a second message according to a second protocol of the second fieldbus system to the second node, wherein the first and second protocols are different.

2. The component according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is coupled to a serial asynchronous fieldbus system as the first fieldbus system and a serial synchronous fieldbus system as the second fieldbus system.

3. The component according to claim 2, wherein the first fieldbus system is a CAN fieldbus system and the second fieldbus system is a FlexRay fieldbus system.

4. The component according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

generate the timestamp as a segment from a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) timestamp.

5. The component according to claim 4, wherein the timestamp is generated from a nanosecondsField of the PTP timestamp.

6. The component according to claim 5, wherein:

the timestamp has a maximum measurable time period; and

the maximum measurable time period corresponds to or exceeds a transit time of payload messages from the first node to the second node.

7. The component according to claim 6, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

transmit the second message in a predefined time window of the second bus system; and

determine the timestamp such that the timestamp corresponds to a time of the predefined time window.

8. The component according to claim 7, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

receive the reference time from a GPS receiver or an instrument cluster of the vehicle.

9. The component according to claim 1, wherein:

the timestamp has a maximum measurable time period; and

the maximum measurable time period corresponds to or exceeds a transit time of payload messages from the first node to the second node.

10. The component according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

transmit the second message in a predefined time window of the second bus system; and

generate the timestamp such that the timestamp corresponds to a time within the predefined time window within which the second message is to be transmitted.

11. The component according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

receive the reference time from a GPS receiver or an instrument cluster of the vehicle.

12. The component according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is further programmed to:

synchronize the first clock in the first node with the second clock in the second node using a Precision Time Protocol method.

13. A node of a CAN bus system in a vehicle, the node comprising:

a clock that generates a timestamp with a predefined measurable time period and a predefined time resolution; and

a control unit coupled with the clock that provides a payload to be transmitted over the CAN bus system with a payload timestamp.

14. The node according to claim 13, wherein the payload timestamp has a shortened measurable time period as the predefined measurable time period and/or has an increased time resolution as the predefined time resolution.

15. A method for synchronizing a synchronous bus system of a vehicle with an asynchronous bus system of the vehicle, the method comprising the acts of:

generating a timestamp on a basis of a reference time, wherein the timestamp corresponds to a generation time of the timestamp;

determining a time interval between said timestamp and a transit time window of the synchronous bus system;

correcting the timestamp using the determined time interval; and

transmitting a message over the synchronous bus system with the corrected time stamp within the transit time window.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the method synchronizes the time in an asynchronous bus system by transmitting a further message with the timestamp and the time interval in the asynchronous bus system, the asynchronous bus system being different from the synchronous bus system.