Central communication unit of a motor vehicle

• US 10,708,359 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2016
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Lim, Hyung-Taek, Lottermann, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Dung B
• Application Number:
  US15/205,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20160374122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/62 for transportation systems, e.g. in vehicles
• 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: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A central communication unit of a motor vehicle and to a method for controlling the communication between a plurality of applications by way of such a central communication unit are provided. The central communication unit has a communication organization module, which can actively distribute the available external radio connection capacities between the central communication unit and at least one transmitting/receiving device to individual active data connections of the applications in accordance with predetermined criteria. In the central communication unit, the available external radio connection capacities are distributed among the individual data connections of the individual applications in a specific, controlled manner. The criteria for this are the demand for connection capacity and/or the priorities of the different data connections.

Claims

1. A central communication unit of a motor vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of connection modules that establish wireless data links between a transceiver of the motor vehicle and at least one transmitting/receiving device located outside the motor vehicle;

a connection module manager that controls the connection modules to establish the wireless data links;

a communication organization module that, in accordance with predetermined criteria, distributes available external connection capacities of the wireless data links among a plurality of software applications executed by devices located inside the motor vehicle and communicatively coupled to the central communication unit via a data network,

wherein the distribution is based on whether the software applications are respectively determined to be dynamic applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include different values for maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data, or static applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include a single value for both maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data.

2. The central communication unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distribution of the external connection capacities is in accordance with one or more of the following predetermined criteria:

a requirement for a particular connection capacity, an efficient distribution of the wireless data links among the software applications, a priority of the application, a bandwidth, a latency and/or an error rate.

3. The central communication unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication organization module includes a connection register in which each wireless data link is registered with one or more of the following parameters:

identification designator of the data link,

allocation of a radio channel to the respective data link,

bandwidth allocated to the data link or data rate of the radio channel, respectively,

current bandwidth or data rate of the radio channel,

current error rate of the radio channel,

current latency of the radio channel,

data transmission costs of the radio channel.

4. The central communication unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication organization module includes an application profile register in which requirements of each software application are registered with one or more of the following parameters:

identification designator of the software application,

wireless data links allocated to the software application,

bandwidth or data rate granted to the software application,

software application class,

wireless data link via a particular radio channel priority,

software application minimum data rate,

software application maximum data rate,

wireless data link error rate requirements,

wireless data link latency requirements.

5. The central communication unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the connection modules establish radio channels according to different standards, and

the connection module manager controls the radio channels in accordance with the predetermined criteria of;

availability, bandwidth, costs, latency, and error rate.

6. The central communication unit as claimed in claim 5, wherein the different standards include:

wireless local area network (WLAN), global system for mobile communication (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), universal mobile telecommunications system (3G/UMTS), high speed packet access (HSPA), long term evolution (4G/LTE), and automotive intelligent transport systems (ETSI-ITS-G5).

7. A method for controlling communication between a plurality of software applications and at least one transmitting/receiving device located outside of a motor vehicle, the software applications being executed on devices of the motor vehicle, which devices are connected, via a data network, to a central communication unit of the motor vehicle, the method comprising:

establishing wireless data links used by the plurality of software applications to communicate with the transmitting/receiving device; and

distributing, by a communication organization module and in accordance with predetermined criteria, available external connection capacities of the wireless data links among the plurality of software applications,

wherein the distribution is based on whether the software applications are respectively determined to be dynamic applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include different values for maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data, or static applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include a single value for both maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

the central communication unit communicates with the at least one transmitting/receiving device via a radio channel, the method further comprising;

establishing a plurality of radio channels in accordance with different standards simultaneously or successively; and

controlling the plurality of radio channels in accordance with predetermined criteria, including;

availability, bandwidth, costs, latency, and error rate.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the different standards include:

wireless local area network (WLAN), global system for mobile communication (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), universal mobile telecommunications system (3G/UMTS), high speed packet access (HSPA), long term evolution (4G/LTE), and automotive intelligent transport systems (ETSI-ITS-G5).

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the central communication unit communicates with the devices of the motor vehicle via a cable-connected network.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the communication organization module monitors a data flow of the individual data links.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:

setting up a wireless data link via sending a connection request to the communication organization module with which predetermined parameters of the wireless data link are transmitted.

13. A motor vehicle, comprising:

a central communication unit;

a plurality of devices, each device executing at least one software application;

a data network connecting the devices and the central communication unit,

wherein the central communication unit comprises;

a plurality of connection modules that establish wireless data links between the motor vehicle and at least one transmitting/receiving device located outside the motor vehicle;

a connection module manager that controls the connection modules to establish the wireless data links;

a communication organization module that, in accordance with predetermined criteria, distributes available external connection capacities of the wireless data links among the software applications,

wherein the distribution is based on whether the software applications are respectively determined to be dynamic applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include different values for maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data, or static applications, for which requests for wireless data links by the software application include a single value for both maximum and minimum data rates at which the software application transmits data.