Control system for an automotive vehicle

• US 9,694,765 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2015
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: McCune, Donald J., Phatak, Sujit, Chen, Heming, Xiao, Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US14/690,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20160304038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems

Abstract

A control system for a vehicle having a plurality of subsystems in which each subsystem includes a sensor and/or actuator. A general purpose processor is programmed with a plurality of software applications in which each software application is associated with one of the vehicle subsystems. The subsystems and processor communicate with each other through an electrical bus and each subsystem includes a communication interface to receive commands from the processor as well as to send task signals to the processor. A task arbitrator prioritizes the order of execution of multiple task signals received by the processor during a preset time period. The general purpose processor then initiates execution of the software application associated with the subsystem of the sensor signal received from the task arbitrator and thereafter transmits a control signal to one or more of the subsystems via the bus as a result of execution of the associated software application.

Claims

1. For use in conjunction with an automotive vehicle, a control system for the vehicle comprising:

a plurality of subsystems, each subsystem having a sensor which detects a vehicle condition and/or an actuator which, when actuated, performs a vehicle function, wherein a safety level is assigned to each subsystem, wherein there are at least three safety levels;

a general purpose processor programmed to execute a plurality of software applications, each software application associated with operation of an associated subsystem of the plurality of subsystems, the general purpose processor comprising a plurality of processing units;

a bus electrically connected to the general purpose processor and the subsystems which provides communication between the processing units and the subsystems,

wherein each subsystem includes a communication interface to receive commands from the general purpose processor and/or to send respective subsystem tasks to the general purpose processor via the bus; and

a task arbitrator which continually receives subsystem tasks and groups the received subsystem tasks according to a preset time period within which each subsystem task is received, wherein for each preset time period of a plurality of preset time periods, the task arbitrator prioritizes an order of execution of multiple subsystem tasks within the group of subsystem tasks received by the general purpose processor during the preset time period, wherein for each group, the task arbitrator prioritizes the order of execution of the multiple subsystem tasks within that group based on the safety level assigned to each subsystem,

wherein the general purpose processor initiates execution of the software application associated with the subsystem of the subsystem task received from the task arbitrator and thereafter transmits a control signal to one or more subsystems via the bus as a result of the execution of the associated software application,

wherein the general purpose processor performs data computations on data received from or sent to the subsystems.

2. The control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the general purpose processor comprises a plurality of general purpose processors, each having a plurality of processing units.

3. The control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of processing units comprise at least one multiple core processor.

4. The control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the task arbitrator arranges each group of subsystem tasks received over the respective time period into a respective queue for the respective time period, wherein the subsystem tasks are arranged in the respective queue in an order based on the safety level associated with each of the subsystem tasks received in the time period.

5. The control system as defined in claim 4, wherein the general purpose processor comprises a task distributor which receives the subsystem tasks from the task arbitrator and forwards each of the subsystem tasks from the respective queue to a selected processing unit.

6. The control system as defined in claim 5, wherein the task distributor assigns respective ones of the subsystem tasks from the respective queue to respective ones of the processing units as a function of a respective computational load of the respective processing units.

7. The control system as defined in claim 5, wherein:

individual ones of the processing units are assigned to processing subsystem tasks corresponding to a particular one of the safety levels, and

the task distributor assigns respective ones of the subsystem tasks to respective individual processing units as a function of the safety level of the subsystem tasks.

8. The control system as defined in claim 1, further comprising memory accessible by the general purpose processor, wherein at least some of the software applications are maintained in respective different memory partitions based on the safety level associated the subsystem associated with each respective software application.

9. A method for controlling an automotive vehicle, the vehicle having a plurality of subsystems, each subsystem with a sensor to detect an engine condition and/or an actuator to perform a vehicle function comprising the steps of:

providing a general purpose processor programmed to execute a plurality of software applications, each software application associated with the operation of an associated subsystem of the plurality of subsystems, wherein a safety level is assigned to each subsystem, wherein there are at least three safety levels;

providing a bus electrically connected to the general purpose processor and the vehicle subsystems which provides communication between a plurality of processing units of the general purpose processor and the subsystems,

wherein each subsystem includes a communication interface to receive commands from the general purpose processor and/or to send respective subsystem tasks to the general purpose processor via the bus; and

for each preset time period of a plurality of present time periods, prioritizing an order of execution of multiple subsystem tasks received by the general purpose processor during the preset time period with a task arbitrator,

wherein the task arbitrator continually receives subsystem tasks and groups the received subsystem tasks according to the preset time period within which each subsystem task is received, wherein for each group, the task arbitrator prioritizes the order of execution of the multiple subsystem tasks within that group based on the safety level assigned to each subsystem;

initiating execution the software application associated with the subsystem of the subsystem task received from the task arbitrator; and

thereafter transmitting a control signal to one or more subsystems via the bus as a result of the execution of the associated software application,

wherein the general purpose processor performs data computations on data received from or sent to the subsystems.

10. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein the general purpose processor comprises a plurality of general purpose processors, each having a plurality of processing units.

11. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein the plurality of processing units comprise at least one multiple core processor.

12. The method as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

arranging, by the task arbitrator, each group of subsystem tasks received over the respective time period into a respective queue for the respective time period, wherein the subsystem tasks are arranged in the respective queue in an order based on the safety level associated with each of the subsystem tasks received in the time period.

13. The method as defined in claim 12 wherein the general purpose processor comprises a task distributor which receives the subsystem tasks from the task arbitrator and forwards each the subsystem tasks from the respective queue to a selected processing unit.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, further comprising assigning execution of respective ones of the subsystem tasks to respective ones of the processing units as a function of a respective computational load of the respective processing units.

15. The method as defined in claim 13, further comprising assigning a safety level to individual ones of the processing units wherein the task distributor assigns respective ones of the subsystem task to the individual processing units based on the safety level of the subsystem tasks.

16. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein a memory is accessible by the general purpose processor, the method further comprising maintaining at least some of the software applications in respective different memory partitions based on the safety level associated the subsystem associated with each respective software application.

17. A control system for the vehicle, the control system comprising:

a plurality of subsystems, each subsystem having a sensor which detects a vehicle condition and/or an actuator which, when actuated, performs a vehicle function, wherein a safety level is assigned to each subsystem;

a general purpose processor programmed to execute a plurality of software applications, each software application associated with operation of an associated subsystem, the general purpose processor comprising a plurality of processing units for performing data computations on data received from or sent to the subsystems;

a bus electrically connected to the general purpose processor and the subsystems which provides communication between the processing units and the subsystems;

a task arbitrator which continually receives subsystem tasks from the subsystems and groups the received subsystem tasks according to a preset time period within which each subsystem task is received, wherein for each preset time period of a plurality of preset time periods, the task arbitrator prioritizes an order of execution of multiple subsystem tasks within the group of subsystem tasks received by the general purpose processor during the preset time period, wherein for each group, the task arbitrator prioritizes the order of execution of the multiple subsystem tasks within that group based on the safety level assigned to each subsystem; and

memory accessible by the general purpose processor, wherein at least some of the software applications are maintained in respective different memory partitions based on the safety level associated the subsystem associated with the respective software applications,

wherein the general purpose processor initiates execution of the software application associated with the subsystem of the subsystem task received from the task arbitrator and thereafter transmits a control signal to one or more of the subsystems via the bus as a result of the execution of the associated software application.

18. The control system as defined in claim 17 wherein the general purpose processor comprises a plurality of general purpose processors, each having a plurality of processing units.

19. The control system as defined in claim 17 wherein the plurality of processing units comprise at least one multiple core processor.

20. The control system as defined in claim 17 wherein:

the task arbitrator arranges each group of subsystem tasks received over the respective time period into a respective queue for the respective time period, and

the subsystem tasks are arranged in the respective queue in an order based on the safety level associated with each of the subsystem tasks received in the time period.