Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-24
2001-12-25
Nguyen, Tan (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
C701S032000, C701S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06334081
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to on-board vehicle controllers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for on-board vehicle controllers to communicate and transfer data.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An area in the auto industry seeing tremendous change from past practices is the area of control and communication in automotive vehicles. The creation of relatively inexpensive microprocessors and the digital. revolution have put the power of advanced electronics and communication into the hands of automotive engineers. Controllers, microprocessors, and other electronic devices control and monitor various systems in a vehicle such as the transmission, the internal combustion engine, braking systems, and other related systems. The information stored on the controllers in the vehicle during some vehicle functions must be communicated between the controllers for operation of the vehicle systems. For example, the transmission controller may need engine speed information from the engine controller or braking information from the brake controller to properly shift a transmission apparatus.
Vehicle controllers typically include software separated into a logic section and a calibration section. The logic section includes the executable control methods of operation, and the calibration section generally includes constants and other variables used in the operation of the logic section, such as a table of shift schedules for a transmission. The calibration section may be modified to operate with different vehicles having different engine types and diverse performance and physical characteristics.
Traditional vehicle controllers are rigidly calibrated or pre-programmed for the types and amount of data that may be transferred for a particular vehicle platform. It would be advantageous to use a single calibration, for a vehicle controller controlling a specific automotive system such as a transmission controller, with multiple vehicle platforms.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an on-board vehicle controller includes a method and apparatus to automatically detect a source controller or source device of data, required for the operation of a vehicle control system(s), via an automotive communication network linking a plurality of vehicle controllers. The control systems may include a vehicle engine, a braking system or a transmission system, but is not limited to such. Information is transmitted between the controllers in a vehicle, via an automotive communication network, such as IES-CAN, GMLAN, J1850, and J1939, but is not limited to such. The vehicle controller of the present invention will monitor the network for vehicle data required to operate the control system and identify the source controller of the required vehicle data. For example, J1939 uses a communication protocol which permits any device on the network to transmit a message when the network is idle. A large portion of the messages transmitted under the J1939 protocol are intended to be broadcast, i.e., the data is transmitted on the network without directing the message to a specific destination. Any device on the network, including the vehicle controller of the present invention, may access the data on the message without requiring a request. Every message includes an identifier which defines the message priority, the device ID or address of the vehicle controller that sent the message, and what data is contained within the message. The vehicle controller will monitor the device IDs or addresses of specific controllers transmitting messages over the automotive communication network and compare those device IDs to a list of device IDs in the vehicle controller calibration.
The vehicle controller of the present invention through polling of the automotive communication network and the identification of device IDs on the network will be able to assess the control system make-up of the vehicle, i.e., what vehicle controllers and control systems are in the vehicle and communicating over the network. Accordingly, the vehicle controller of the present invention will be able to determine the data it will need from the vehicle controllers of the control systems of the vehicle by referencing its calibration and the device IDs found on the network. For example, if the vehicle contains an engine compression brake, the engine controller will broadcast messages over the network containing compression brake data that may be identified by vehicle controller of the present invention. By identifying the types and sources of data in the vehicle, the vehicle controller of the present invention is capable of determining what tables and constants it should use in the calibration data stored in its memory. In this manner, a single calibration may be stored in a vehicle controller for use with a plurality of vehicle platforms.
As discussed previously, the vehicle controller identifies the vehicle and its control systems and then determines the data it will need from each system by using its stored calibration data. The vehicle controller then identifies the source controller of required operation data and stores the device ID code in RAM or nonvolatile memory, depending whether the device ID of the source controller is learned only once or repeatedly. The vehicle controller will then continuously receive the required data from the source controller for operation.
The vehicle controller of the present invention has many potential advantages over present vehicle controllers, including reduced calibration proliferation. One calibration may be used for several different vehicle platforms that communicate a particular piece of information via a communication link, but from different source controllers. Without this invention, different calibrations would have to be used for each vehicle platform.
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Robinson Timothy Alan
Stewart James H.
DeVries Christopher
General Motors Corporation
Nguyen Tan
LandOfFree
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