Upgradable vehicular computing methods and apparatuses

• US 10,606,786 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2019
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Fox, Maik, Benkeser, Christian, Gueltekin, Serdar, Herremans, Kurt, Hall, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Auve, Glenn A.
• Application Number:
  US16/261,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20190155778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 427 Days
• 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 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0026 PCI express
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0042 Universal serial bus [USB]

Abstract

Apparatuses, storage media and methods associated with computer assisted or autonomous driving (CA/AD), are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes an interconnect to mate a pluggable compute module with an in-vehicle compute hub disposed in a vehicle to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle, the interconnect having a fixed section and a configurable section. The fixed section includes a dynamic power delivery interface, and a management channel. The configurable section includes a plurality of configurable input/output (I/O) interfaces. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for upgradable vehicular computing, comprising:

an interconnect to mate a pluggable compute module with an in-vehicle compute hub disposed in a vehicle to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle, the interconnect having a fixed section and a configurable section;

wherein the fixed section includes a dynamic power delivery interface to deliver power from the in-vehicle compute hub to the pluggable compute module, and a management channel to facilitate a system management controller of the in-vehicle compute hub in managing the pluggable compute module; and

wherein the configurable section includes a plurality of configurable input/output (I/O) interfaces to couple and facilitate inputs from one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub to one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module, and outputs from the one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module to the one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management channel comprises a selected one of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter interface or a Universal Serial Bus interface.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of configurable I/O interfaces include one or more serial I/O interfaces.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the one or more serial I/O interfaces include a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface.

5. An apparatus for upgradable vehicular computing, comprising:

a pluggable compute module having a central processing unit (CPU), one or more other compute elements, power input and supply circuitry, a housekeeping controller, and a configurable input/output (CIO) multiplexor, wherein the pluggable compute module is arranged to mate with an in-vehicle compute hub disposed in a vehicle, through an interconnect, to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle;

wherein the power input and supply circuitry is to receive power from the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect;

the housekeeping controller is to communicate with the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect, to enable the in-vehicle compute hub to manage the pluggable compute module; and

the CIO multiplexor is configurable to multiplex inputs from the in-vehicle compute hub or to multiplex outputs to the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect in accordance with one or more I/O protocols.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the housekeeping controller is arranged to negotiate with the in-vehicle compute hub, via the interconnect, during an initial pairing of the pluggable compute module and the in-vehicle compute hub, a power delivery contract.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the power input and supply circuitry includes a power monitor to monitor the power received from the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect, and forward results of the monitoring to the housekeeping controller.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the housekeeping controller is to further regulate delivery of the received power to the CPU and the one or more other compute elements or power consumption by the CPU and the one or more other compute elements, based at least in part on the negotiated power delivery contract and results of monitoring the received power.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the housekeeping controller is to further regulate delivery of the received power to the CPU and the one or more other compute elements or power consumption by the CPU and the one or more other compute elements, based at least in part on an operational context of the vehicle.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the housekeeping controller is to regulate power consumption by the CPU and the one or more other compute elements by selectively initiating sleep states, lowering clock frequencies, or powering off the CPU or the one or more other compute elements.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the housekeeping controller is arranged to abstract power and sleep management related signals of the CPU and the one or more other compute elements, and communicate power and sleep management related information of the CPU and the one or more other compute elements to the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect, in a form independent of the CPU and the one or more other compute elements included with the pluggable compute module.

12. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the housekeeping controller is arranged to channel sideband signals from the CPU or the one or more other compute elements to peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect.

13. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the housekeeping controller is arranged to facilitate authentication of the pluggable compute module and the in-vehicle compute hub to each other, through the interconnect.

14. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the housekeeping controller is arranged to facilitate an implementation of a vehicle functional safety protocol between the pluggable compute module and the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect.

15. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more I/O protocols includes one or more I/O protocols selected from a Universal Serial Bus protocol, a Peripheral Component Interface Express protocol, a High Definition Multi-Media Interface protocol, or a Display Port protocol.

16. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the pluggable compute module further comprises memory, a hardware accelerator, mass storage, or a communication unit.

17. An apparatus for upgradable vehicular computing, comprising:

an in-vehicle compute hub to be disposed in a vehicle, and having a power supply, a system management controller, and a plurality of peripheral components, wherein the in-vehicle compute hub is arranged to mate with a pluggable compute module having one or more processors, through an interconnect, to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle, to execute one or more vehicular applications with the one or more processors in the pluggable compute module;

wherein the power supply is to supply power to the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect;

the system management controller is to communicate with the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect, to manage the pluggable compute module; and

the plurality of peripheral components are to provide inputs to the pluggable compute module or to receive outputs from the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the in-vehicle compute hub further includes reverse polarity protection or spike suppression circuitry to regulate the supply of power to the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the system management controller is arranged to receive communication on power and sleep management related information for compute elements of the pluggable compute module, from the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect, in an abstracted form, independent of the specific compute elements included with the pluggable compute module.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the system management controller is arranged to receive channel sideband signals for the peripheral components, from compute elements of the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the system management controller is arranged to facilitate authentication of the pluggable compute module and the in-vehicle compute hub to each other, through the interconnect.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the system management controller is arranged to facilitate an implementation of a vehicle functional safety protocol between the pluggable compute module and the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the peripheral components include one or more audio amplifiers, cameras, network interfaces, display interfaces, or communication interfaces.

24. A method for upgradeable vehicular computing, comprising:

disposing an in-vehicle compute hub in a vehicle; and

providing an interconnect to the in-vehicle compute hub to removably receive a pluggable compute module to form an upgradeable vehicle compute system for the vehicle, the interconnect having a fixed section and a configurable section;

wherein the fixed section includes a dynamic power delivery interface to deliver power from the in-vehicle compute hub to the pluggable compute module, and a management channel to facilitate a system management controller of the in-vehicle compute hub in managing the pluggable compute module; and

wherein the configurable section includes a plurality of configurable input/output (I/O) interfaces to couple and facilitate inputs from one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub to one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module, and outputs from the one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module to the one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

providing, and mating the pluggable compute module with the in-vehicle compute hub via the interconnect to form the upgradeable vehicle compute system; and

configuring a configurable I/O multiplexor to selectively establish one or more I/O channels of one or more I/O protocols between the one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module and the one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub.