Control apparatus and control method of performing operation control of actuators

• US 9,020,616 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2010
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Autonetworks Technologies, Ltd. (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Wiring Systems Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Autonetworks Technologies, Ltd. (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Wiring Systems Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Inventors: Kishita, Yuri, Fujita, Kazuhito
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US12/719,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20100249953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,877 Days
• Field of Search: 700/12, 700/23, 700/25, 710 1- 7, 386/230, 701/1, 701/29.1, 701/33.4, 701/34.4, 719/328, 719/329
• US Class Current: 700/25
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23236 Table lookup driven system

Abstract

In a microcomputer, by virtue of the function of one input signal judgment module in the application layer, with respect to whether the situation is such that operation is to be requested to a controlled object from each of a plurality of applications, judgment processing onto input signals representing status information of controlled objects or detection information from sensors or the like is made common. The object-oriented architecture is introduced into an embedded computer program so that the memory is saved and the apparatus is simplified.

Claims

1. A vehicle control apparatus, comprising:

a storage that stores instructions, and

a microcomputer that is configured to;

receive a plurality of input signals representing status information of a plurality of controlled objects or detection information from a plurality of sensors; and

execute the instructions stored in the storage to;

extract one or a plurality of input signals from the plurality of input signals;

judge whether at least one of a door, a lamp, a wiper and a head light is to be controlled, based on the input signals and judgment conditions, which are used commonly for the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light, and obtaining judgment results;

in accordance with each of the judgment results, determine whether a situation is such that instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light is to be issued, and obtaining a determination result;

issue the instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light based on the determination result, and

select and extract branch condition information indicating input signals and judgment conditions to be provided next in accordance with the judgment results,

wherein the storage further stores a table that describes conditions for each input signal, and

the branch condition information contains a reference address to the judgment conditions for input signals to be provided next.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in a case a last judgment result obtained based on input signals and judgment conditions, which are provided sequentially on the basis of the branch condition information, is satisfactory, the microcomputer determines that the situation is such that the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light is to be controlled.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the storage further stores a table that describes input signals corresponding to each instruction and judgment conditions, and

the microcomputer extracts input signals on the basis of the table.

4. A method of controlling a vehicle, the method being performed by a microcomputer, the method comprising;

receiving a plurality of input signals representing status information of a plurality of controlled objects or detection information from a plurality of sensors;

extracting one or a plurality of input signals from the plurality of input signals;

judging whether at least one of a door, a lamp, a wiper and a head light is to be controlled, based on the input signals and judgment conditions, which are used commonly for the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light, and obtaining judgment results;

in accordance with each of the judgment results, determining whether a situation is such that instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light is to be issued, and obtaining a determination result;

issuing the instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light based on the determination result, and

selecting and extracting branch condition information indicating input signals and judgment conditions to be provided next in accordance with the judgment results, the branch condition information containing a reference address to the judgment conditions for input signals to be provided next.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a computer-executable program to control a vehicle, the program being performed by a microcomputer, the computer-executable program comprising instructions for:

receiving a plurality of input signals representing status information of a plurality of controlled objects or detection information from plurality of sensors;

extracting one or a plurality of input signals from the plurality of input signals;

judging whether at least one of a door, a lamp, a wiper and a head light is to be controlled, based on the input signals and judgment conditions which are used commonly for the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light, and obtaining judgment results;

in accordance with each of the judgment results, determining whether a situation is such that instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light is to be issued, and obtaining a determination result;

issuing the instruction to control the at least one of the door, the lamp, the wiper and the head light based on the determination result, and

selecting and extracting branch condition information indicating input signals and judgment conditions to be provided next in accordance with the judgment results, the branch condition information containing a reference address to the judgment conditions for input signals to be provided next.