Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-19
2001-09-18
Nguyen, Tan (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
C340S870030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292718
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic control system for controlling the function of a processing system. In particular the invention relates to such a control system that can be used in an automotive vehicle.
1. Background of the Invention
The appearence of electronically controlled vehicles controlled by so-called Electronic Control Units (ECUs) comprising a microcomputer has increased drastically in recent years. In addition to control of the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine, control of gear changeover in a transmission and control of a clutch, these vehicles also have various accessories controlled by the ECU. Based on signals from various sensors provided on a variety of actuators, which drive devices to be controlled, the ECU calculates control variables for the various actuators that are controlled and then outputs the corresponding signals to these actuators to control the operation of each device.
Control systems of this type are used, for example, in motor vehicles for performing control functions which are typically found in vehicles. In conventional systems, the control units are each specifically designed for one or several application functions. The implementation of a new vehicle function requires the design of a new respective control unit. Together with a new sensor and actuator configuration, this new control unit must then be installed in the vehicle.
Although the control units in modern configurations are networked, for example, via a CAN bus, no explicit interface exists for access to individual function components. As a result, the entire respective application function appears to the control unit. For implementing new so-called recombined functions, which are built from existing functions, the explicit interface must therefore be manually connected to existing functions, at a resulting high cost. This is accomplished, for example, by defining or changing corresponding CAN messages. Further disadvantageously, in order to add a single new function, this sometimes requires the changing of all of the other control units.
Together with the trend toward increasingly electronically implemented functions in motor vehicles and their increasing mutual coupling, a significant rise in complexity occurs, along with a corresponding difficulty in the development and mastery of the entire electronic system of the vehicle. Additionally, this leads to a rising demand for computing power and memory capacity. Moreover, as a result of the increasing complexity while there are simultaneously more and more series and shorter development times for these series, it is required that components should increasingly be capable of being used again in a series-spanning manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic Control Units (ECU) using embedded controllers and processing systems typically display a distributed HW layout. This means, the system topology of the majority of the embedded ECUs,—and resulting functional HW layout and required components—is defined ‘application specific’.
That means that standard processing system implementations as used in the majority of embedded systems, display a typical system architecture with a topology featuring a centralized processing unit (CPU) connected to the various subsystems defined by the target application of the overall system. The individual subsystems are build to support ‘specialized’ applications slices, all together performing the overall system target application(s).
Given these facts, implementations according to the ground rules of the typical standard System-Architecture will reflect in widely differing HW-realizations using individual HW assemblies for the various subsystem.
FIG. 1
shows a block diagram of such typical system layout, as used and implemented for a wide range of embedded systems to the state of the art. It can be seen, that ECU functionality is spread over the whole system, thereby creating redundancies and a lot of individual communication paths. Thus, the functions are not fault tolerant, because the connected parts present cannot be used to full advantage due to the actual topography. In addition, these systems are not cost efficient, because they need a hardware overhead to realize the respective functions. The multiple implementation of identical functionality on the diverse sub-systems—to mention ‘power management’ for example—is leading to increased physical size of the unit and as further negative consequences, is increasing the overall system power consumption and has a detrimental effect to the system reliability (a higher count of involved electronic parts is reducing the system MTBF).
Typical cooperating elements connected to the CPU, are units like: a Real Time Clock (RTC), power-up-reset and boot control circuits, system environmental sensors (for example temperature sensors, humidity sensor, etc.), and CPU independent system-watchdog functions and -timers.
Major functional application/solution areas are usually represented by entire sub-Systems:
Power-Subsystem (covering on ECU power devices as well as external, general power systems)
Storage sub-System (silicon storage devices and potential external mass storage devices like hard drives and optical devices)
Real-time sub-System(s) covering direct connected real-time devices (DIO) and covering real-time bus interfaces tying into external real-time devices
Telematic sub-System(s) like radio transmitters and receivers, radar sensors, Modem and Phone and other devices allowing wireless communications and access to Wide Area Networks (WAN).
Human Interface System (or ‘Man Machine Interface’, MMI)—Mechanical I/O devices like switches, rotary knobs, joy-sticks; Graphical interfaces like simple indicators, alpha numeric displays, LCD displays etc.; Audio devices like undemanding signaling devices like beepers, horns or record players,—leading to complex voice control systems featuring voice recognition and voice output.
In addition to the domain-function of the respective sub-System, each of the indicated sub-Systems is typically covering functionality of power management, initialization routines, storage management, specific CPU and sub-System intercommunication and fault management—functionality covered redundantly—a fact given by the standard system architecture.
As a tribute to the distributed HW layout and the different individual internal sub-system solutions, there is no beneficial hardware/software (HW/SW) communality among the diverse ECU apparatus—even though following ‘similar’ standard architecture implementation.
A further consequence, the basic system control functions, the power management, the system support functions and system interface functions as well as the system internal specific communication links are repeatedly represented by identical hardware devices located on the sub-Systems, as well as integrated within the main CPU or supporting chip-set.
Characteristic to the standard HW-architecture and systems in consideration, is the entirely different nature of ECU-and corresponding sub-System intercommunication.
FIG. 1
is representative for a wide range of embedded systems, as for example, beginning with simple controllers likely used in consumer products like dish-washers, micro-wave ovens, washing machines,—reaching out to more complex systems as for example used the wide range of products covered by the world of ‘pervasive computing’, such as set-top boxes and multimedia devices. An entirely new playground of pervasive computing is invoked by the massive entry of multiple processing system into today's automobiles. Not only concentrating on vehicle domain functions, the processing platforms are used in extension to support new applications for client and remote server services. Already introduced and in the near future, modern vehicles will access external networks, allowing to provide services like remote diagnostics and maintenance, intelligent navigation using traffic information, facsimile mail, e-mail and last not least Internet access and services—were this list is n
International Business Machines Corp.
Kaufman Stephen C.
McGuireWoods LLP
Nguyen Tan
Tran Dalena
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