Short circuit detection device for a resonant antenna network and method thereof

Abstract

Shorted detection apparatus for a resonant antenna network and methods thereof are disclosed. A vehicle communication system is also disclosed. In some embodiments, the vehicle communication system includes a vehicle access module, a plurality of cables coupled to the vehicle access module, and an antenna coupled to the plurality of cables, wherein the plurality of cables are decoupled from the vehicle access module based on a shorted analysis of the plurality of cables through the vehicle access module. To determine that a short exists in the plurality of cables, the shorted analysis includes determining whether a maximum of an antenna current sample taken from the antenna is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average of the antenna current sample.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle communication system. BACKGROUND

[0002] Vehicle communication systems typically utilize a low frequency (LF) based access system to communicate with wireless devices associated with a vehicle. Vehicle communication systems are generally used for communication between a passive keyless car entry system and other wireless communication devices that are part of the vehicle communication system. Due to the presence of metal components and wiring within the vehicle, vehicle communication systems often suffer from short circuits that can damage processing components within the vehicle communication system, especially if appropriate corrective action is not taken to remedy the short circuit. Therefore, there is a need to provide a vehicle communication system that is able to prevent short circuit damage to the vehicle communication system. SUMMARY

[0003] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided, comprising:

[0004] receiving an antenna current sample at a diagnostic monitoring block;

[0005] receiving a diagnostic parameter at the diagnostic monitoring block, the diagnostic parameter indicative of a sufficient shape of the antenna current sample;

[0006] using the diagnostic parameter to generate a diagnostic error indicator; and

[0007] determining whether to disable a driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator.

[0008] According to one or more embodiments, determining whether to disable the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator comprises determining whether a maximum value of the antenna current sample is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average value of the antenna current sample.

[0009] According to one or more embodiments, when the maximum value of the antenna current sample is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current sample, the driver circuit is disabled; and when the maximum value of the antenna current sample is not greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current sample, the driver circuit is not disabled.

[0010] According to one or more embodiments, determining whether to disable the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator comprises generating antenna current sample steps based on the antenna current sample; determining whether a maximum value of the antenna current sample steps is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average value of the antenna current sample steps.

[0011] According to one or more embodiments, the disabling the driver circuit comprises opening a set of switches in the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator when the driver circuit is disabled.

[0012] According to one or more embodiments, the disabling the driver circuit comprises opening a set of switches in the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator when the driver circuit is disabled.

[0013] According to one or more embodiments, opening the set of switches based on the diagnostic error indicator decouples the driver circuit from a vehicle communication system when the driver circuit is disabled.

[0014] According to one or more embodiments, wherein the diagnostic parameter is a ratio indicative of a diagnostic threshold.

[0015] According to one or more embodiments, the diagnostic threshold is

[0016] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processor comprising:

[0017] an antenna current control unit;

[0018] a driver circuit coupled to the antenna current control unit; and

[0019] an antenna coupled to the driver circuit, wherein the antenna current control unit determines whether to decouple the driver circuit from the antenna current control unit based on a short circuit analysis of antenna current samples.

[0020] According to one or more embodiments, the short circuit analysis comprises determining whether a short circuit exists in a vehicle communication system coupled to the processor.

[0021] According to one or more embodiments, the determining whether the short circuit exists in the vehicle communication system comprises determining whether to disable the driver circuit based on a diagnostic error indicator.

[0022] According to one or more embodiments, the determining whether the short circuit exists in the vehicle communication system comprises determining whether a maximum of the antenna current samples is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average of the antenna current samples.

[0023] According to one or more embodiments, the driver circuit is disabled when the maximum value of the antenna current samples is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current samples, and the driver circuit is not disabled when the maximum value of the antenna current samples is not greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current samples.

[0024] According to one or more embodiments, the determining whether the short circuit exists in the vehicle communication system includes generating antenna current sample steps based on the antenna current samples; and determining whether a maximum value of the antenna current sample steps is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average value of the antenna current sample steps.

[0025] According to one or more embodiments, the driver circuit is disabled when the maximum value of the antenna current sample steps is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current sample steps, and the driver circuit is not disabled when the maximum value of the antenna current sample steps is not greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the antenna current sample steps.

[0026] According to one or more embodiments, the driver circuit includes a first set of switches and a second set of switches, wherein both the first set of switches and the second set of switches are open or closed based on a diagnostic error indicator provided from the antenna current control unit.

[0027] According to one or more embodiments, the driver circuit is an H-bridge driver.

[0028] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle communication system, comprising:

[0029] a vehicle access module;

[0030] a plurality of cables coupled to the vehicle access module; and

[0031] an antenna coupled to the plurality of cables, wherein the plurality of cables are decoupled from the vehicle access module based on a short circuit analysis of the plurality of cables through the vehicle access module.

[0032] According to one or more embodiments, to determine that a short circuit exists in the plurality of cables, the short circuit analysis includes determining whether a maximum value of antenna current samples taken from the antenna is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by an average value of the antenna current samples. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0033] The present invention can be better understood, and its numerous features and advantages can be appreciated, by reference to the following drawing figures in which: the use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.

[0034] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0035] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a diagnostic monitor of a vehicle communication system in accordance with some embodiments. Figure 1 is a circuit of a diagnostic monitor of a vehicle communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0036] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method of short circuit analysis of a vehicle communication system in accordance with some embodiments. Figure 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Figures 1 to 3 Systems and techniques for detecting short circuits in a vehicle communication system are shown, allowing a user of the vehicle to be informed of the existence of a short circuit and the need to make a correction. To facilitate detection of a short circuit in a vehicle communication system, a vehicle access module is configured to use a diagnostic monitor to continuously analyze samples of antenna current flow from an antenna to ensure that the antenna current is within a diagnostic threshold associated with a sinusoidal wave. That is, when the vehicle access module determines that the antenna current does not resemble a sinusoidal wave, the module determines that a short circuit exists in the vehicle communication system and that a cable having the short circuit is decoupled from the vehicle access module of the vehicle communication system. An operator of the vehicle is then informed of the short circuit and advised that a corrective action should be taken to correct the short circuit, thereby preventing damage to the vehicle communication system.

[0038] Figure 1 ​A vehicle communication system 100 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The vehicle communication system 100 includes a vehicle access module 105, a cable 170, and an antenna 180. The vehicle access module 105 includes an antenna current control unit 110, a driver control unit 120, a driver circuit 130, an analog front-end 160, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 162. In various embodiments, the antenna current control unit 110 is coupled to the driver control unit 120 and the ADC 162. The driver control unit 120 is coupled to the antenna current control unit 110 and the driver circuit 130. The driver circuit 130 is coupled to the driver control unit 120, the analog front-end 160, and the cable 170. The cable 170 includes multiple cables coupled to the antenna 180 and the driver circuit 130 of the vehicle access module 105. In various embodiments, the driver circuit 130 is an antenna driver, which can be considered as an adapted low-frequency power stage connected to an LC network. In various embodiments, the driver circuit 130 can be, for example, a Class D driver using, for example, a full-bridge (H-bridge) or half-bridge topology. A specific example of driver circuit 130 could be, for example, a basic four-switch Class D driver (or amplifier) ​​design with output amplitude control clamping circuitry in the form of regulators and diodes. In such driver circuit designs, the four switches, switches 141, 142, 143, and 144, are implemented as common-mode driven field-effect transistors (FETs) with opposite phase signals driving a pair of high-side FETs and a pair of low-side FETs. For some specific LF vehicle communication system 100, a passive keyless vehicle entry system is used for vehicle communication within the vehicle communication system 100.

[0039] During operation of the vehicle communication system 100, the diagnostic monitor 112 of the antenna current control unit 110 receives an antenna current sample 114 from an ADC 162. The antenna current sample 114 is a digital sample of the analog antenna current derived from, for example, antenna 180, which is converted into digital form by the ADC 162. The ADC 162 is an analog-to-digital converter, as well as is well known in the art, for converting the analog current signal 119 into the digital antenna current sample 114. The diagnostic monitor 112 receives the antenna current sample 114 and uses it to perform a short-circuit analysis of the vehicle communication system 100 to determine if a short circuit exists, for example, in the cable 170 of the vehicle communication system 100. Detection of a short circuit in the cable 170 prevents the cable 170 from providing a surge in current to the vehicle access module 105, which could damage the processing components of the vehicle access module 105. Diagnostic monitor 112 analyzes antenna current sample 114 to determine whether the shape of the digitized antenna current (antenna current sample 114) deviates from the expected sinusoidal shape of the antenna current within an acceptable diagnostic threshold. The determination of the amount of deviation of antenna current sample 114 from the expected sinusoidal shape is an indication of the presence of a short circuit in cable 170, as described below relative to... Figure 2 Further description.

[0040] After performing a short-circuit analysis on the diagnostic monitor 112 of the antenna current control unit 110, the diagnostic monitor 112 provides a diagnostic error indicator 115 to the driver control unit 120. This diagnostic error indicator 115 indicates whether the vehicle communication system 100 has a short circuit. Specifically, when the diagnostic monitor determines that a short circuit exists in the vehicle communication system 100, the diagnostic monitor 112 provides the driver control unit 120 with a diagnostic error indicator 115 indicating that a short circuit exists in the cable 170. When the diagnostic monitor determines that a short circuit does not exist in the vehicle communication system 100, the diagnostic monitor 112 provides the driver control unit 120 with a diagnostic error indicator 115 indicating that a short circuit does not exist in the cable 170. The driver control unit 120 uses the diagnostic error indicator 115 to generate a switch configuration signal 116, which is used by the driver circuitry 130 to decouple the short circuit from the vehicle access module 105 or to allow the cable 170 to remain driven by the driver circuitry 130. Switch configuration signal 116 is a signal provided to driver circuit 130 to indicate the switch configuration of switches 140 and 150. That is, when diagnostic error indicator 115 indicates a short circuit in cable 170, switch configuration signal 116 is used by driver circuit 130 to open switches 141, 142, 143, and 144 of driver circuit 130 to disable driver circuit 130 and decouple the short circuit present in cable 170 from vehicle access module 105. When diagnostic error indicator 115 indicates no short circuit in cable 170, switch configuration signal 116 allows normal Class D drive sequence control of switches 141, 142, 143, and 144 to drive cable 170 and associated antenna 180. Therefore, using switch configuration signal 116 generated based on diagnostic error indicator 115, driver circuit 130 can be disabled such that no current or voltage is present on the antenna row of antenna 180, and damage to driver circuit 130 is prevented. When a short circuit is detected by the diagnostic monitor 112, a notification can be provided to the vehicle user via the vehicle access module 105 to perform maintenance on the system to repair the short circuit.

[0041] Figure 2 The following are illustrations of various embodiments of the vehicle communication system 100 used to detect the presence of a short circuit. Figure 1 The diagnostic monitor 112 is located in cable 170. Diagnostic monitor 112 includes diagnostic monitoring block 291, diagnostic monitoring block 292, OR block 260, and filter 270. Diagnostic monitoring block 291 includes an average calculation block 230, an absolute maximum block 233, a multiplier block 240, a diagnostic parameter block 293, and a comparator 250. Diagnostic monitoring block 292 includes an adder block 210, an average calculation block 231, an absolute maximum block 234, a multiplier block 241, a diagnostic parameter block 293, and a comparator 251.

[0042] During the operation of the diagnostic monitor 112, the diagnostic monitor 112 from Figure 1 The ADC 162 receives antenna current samples 114A and 114B. The number N of antenna current samples 114A and 114B received by the diagnostic monitor 112 depends on the sampling cycle of the ADC 162 used by the vehicle access module 105 of the vehicle communication system 100. For example, for Figure 1 The vehicle access module 105 depicted in the diagram samples the antenna current at a rate of N equal to 32 samples per 125 kHz period; however, the ADC 162 can also use other sampling rates.

[0043] Antenna current sample 114 ( Figure 1 The antenna current samples (described herein) are categorized into unique sets, antenna current sample 114A and antenna current sample 114B, representing samples for N and N-1, respectively. The purpose of using antenna current sample 114B for sample N-1 is to enable the determination of the presence of a short circuit in cable 170 using the derivative of antenna current 114, as further described below. A first set of antenna current samples 114A is provided to the average value calculation block 230 and absolute maximum value block 233 of the diagnostic monitoring block 291 to initiate the process of monitoring multiple cables 170 for short circuits. The average value calculation block 230 receives antenna current samples 114A and calculates the average value of the received antenna current samples 114A, generating an antenna sample average value output 213. In various embodiments, the average value of the received antenna current samples 114A is calculated using the following equation, i.e., the antenna sample average value output 213:

[0044] Ant..SampleCorr[N]=ADCresult[N] [Equation 1]

[0045]

[0046] Where N is the number of samples, and ADCresult is the output of ADC 162 and is equivalent to... Figure 2 The antenna current sample is 114A, and Ant..SampleCorr is equal to the ADCresult for the number of samples N.

[0047] After calculating the average value of the antenna current sample 114A, i.e., the antenna sample average value output 213 (which is the output of the average value calculation block 230), it is multiplied by the diagnostic parameter 219 at the multiplier block 240 to produce the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217. The diagnostic parameter 219 is a short-circuit parameter indicating whether the antenna current sample 114 is sufficiently sinusoidal in shape, and allows the diagnostic monitor 112 to adjust the diagnostic threshold of the diagnostic comparison to optimize the balance between the antenna current step size and the antenna current behavior under short-circuit conditions. In various embodiments, the diagnostic parameter 219 is defined as follows: It is the typical expected ratio between the peak and average values ​​of the sinusoidal waveform of the antenna current. In various embodiments, diagnostic parameter 219 may be other values ​​indicating the sinusoidal antenna current.

[0048] In addition to the antenna current sample 114A being provided to the average value calculation block 230, the antenna current sample 114A is also provided to the absolute maximum value block 233. The absolute maximum value block 233 receives the antenna current sample 114A and calculates the peak value of the antenna current sample 114A using the following equation, i.e., the antenna sample maximum value output 215:

[0049] Ant..SampleMax =

[0050] max(abs(Ant..SampleCorr[1]), ..., abs(Ant..SampleCorr

[32] )) [Equation 3]

[0051] The max() function determines the maximum value of its input parameters, such as abs(Ant..SampleCorr[1]) to abs(Ant..SampleCorr

[32] ), where, for the illustrated embodiment, 32 is the number of samples sampled by the ADC 162.

[0052] After calculating the peak value of the antenna current sample 114A (i.e., the antenna sample maximum value output 215), the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217 and the antenna sample maximum value output 215 are compared at comparator 250. Comparator 250 compares the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217 and the antenna sample maximum value output 215 to determine whether the antenna sample maximum value output 215 is greater than the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217. When the antenna sample maximum value output 215 is greater than the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217, a diagnostic error indicator 222 indicating a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100 is output by comparator 250. In various embodiments, a value of "1" can indicate a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. In various embodiments, for example, other values ​​of "0" can be used by the diagnostic monitor 112 to indicate a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. When the antenna sample maximum value output 215 is not greater than the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217, a diagnostic error indicator 222 indicating that a short circuit does not exist in the vehicle communication system 100 is output by comparator 250. In various embodiments, a value of "0" can indicate that there is no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. In various embodiments, for example, other values ​​of "1" can be used by the diagnostic monitor 112 to indicate that there is no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. A diagnostic error indicator 222 is then provided to the OR block 260.

[0053] Referring now to diagnostic monitoring block 292, which performs a short-circuit analysis similar to that of diagnostic monitoring block 291, diagnostic monitoring block 292 replaces the original antenna current sample 114B with a diagnostic error indicator 223 based on the derivative of the received antenna current sample 114B. Adder block 210 of diagnostic monitoring block 292 receives antenna current samples 114A and 114B to calculate the difference between them, which correspond to ADCresult[N] and ADCresult[N-1] in Equation 1. The difference between antenna current samples 114A and 114B is considered as the first derivative of antenna current sample 114A, and similar to the sinusoidal shape expected of antenna current sample 114A, the difference is expected to have a cosine shape. Adder block 210 subtracts antenna current sample 114B from antenna current sample 114A to generate antenna current sample step size 212, as explained in Equation 4.

[0054] Ant..SampleStep[N]=ADCresult[N]-ADCresult[N-1] [Equation 4]

[0055] Where ADCresult[N] refers to the antenna current sample of 114A and ADCresult[N-1] refers to...Figure 2 Antenna current sample 114B.

[0056] The antenna current sample step size 212 is then provided to the average value calculation block 231 and the absolute maximum value block 234. The average value calculation block 231 receives the antenna current sample step size 212 and calculates the average value of the received antenna current sample step size 212 to produce an average antenna sample step size average value output 214. In various embodiments, the average value of the received antenna current sample step size 212 is calculated using the following equation, i.e., the antenna sample step size average value output 214:

[0057]

[0058] Similar to equations 1 and 2 above, N is the number of samples, and ADCresult is the output of the ADC162 and is equivalent to... Figure 2 The antenna current sample is 114A, and Ant..SampleStep is equal to ADCresult[N] minus ADCresult[N-1].

[0059] After calculating the average value of the antenna current sample step size 212, i.e., the antenna sample step size average value output 214 (which is the output of the average value calculation block 230), it is multiplied by the diagnostic parameter 220 at the multiplier block 240 to produce the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217. In various embodiments, the diagnostic parameter 220 is equivalent to the diagnostic parameter 219, and similarly is a diagnostic parameter that allows the diagnostic monitor 112 to adjust the threshold of the diagnostic comparison to optimize the balance between the antenna current step size and the antenna current behavior under short-circuit conditions. In various embodiments, the diagnostic parameter 220 is defined as follows: As previously stated, it can be other values, but it is the typical expected ratio between the peak value and the average value of a sinusoidal waveform.

[0060] Now, referring to the absolute maximum value block 234, the antenna current sample step size 212 is provided to the absolute maximum value block 234. The absolute maximum value block 234 receives the antenna current sample step size 212 and calculates the peak value of the antenna current sample step size 212 using the following equation, that is, the maximum value of the antenna sample step size is output as 216:

[0061] Ant..SampleStepMax =

[0062] max(abs(Ant..SampleStep[2]), ..., abs(Ant..SampleStep

[32] )) [Equation 6]

[0063] In this context, similar to Equation 3, max() is a function that determines the maximum value of the input parameters abs(Ant..SampleStep[2]) to abs(Ant..SampleStep

[32] ), where, for the embodiment shown, 32 is the number of samples sampled by ADC 162.

[0064] After calculating the peak value of the antenna current sample step 212, i.e., after calculating the maximum output 216 of the antenna sample step, the diagnostic antenna sample step average 218 and the maximum output 216 of the antenna sample step are compared at comparator 251. Comparator 251 compares the diagnostic antenna sample step average 218 and the maximum output 216 of the antenna sample step to determine whether the maximum output 216 of the antenna sample step is greater than the diagnostic antenna sample step average 218. When the maximum output 216 of the antenna sample step is greater than the diagnostic antenna sample step average 218, a diagnostic error indicator 223 indicating a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100 is output by comparator 251. In various embodiments, a value of "1" can indicate a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. In various embodiments, for example, other values ​​of "0" can be used by the diagnostic monitor 112 to indicate a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. When the maximum output of the antenna sample step size 216 is not greater than the average output of the diagnostic antenna sample step size 218, a diagnostic error indicator 223 indicating that there is no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100 is output by comparator 251. In various embodiments, a value of "0" can indicate that there is no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. In various embodiments, for example, other values ​​such as "1" can be used by the diagnostic monitor 112 to indicate that there is no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. The diagnostic error indicator 223 is then provided to the OR block 260.

[0065] OR block 260 receives diagnostic error indicator 222 and diagnostic error indicator 223, and determines whether either diagnostic error indicator indicates a short circuit in cable 170 (e.g., whether diagnostic error indicator 222 or diagnostic error indicator 223 has a logic value of 1). When either diagnostic error indicator (diagnostic error indicator 222 or diagnostic error indicator 223) indicates a short circuit in cable 170, OR block 260 outputs diagnostic error indicator 225 indicating that a short circuit exists in cable 170. When both diagnostic error indicators (diagnostic error indicator 222 and diagnostic error indicator 223) indicate that a short circuit does not exist in cable 170, OR block 260 outputs diagnostic error indicator 225 indicating that a short circuit does not exist in cable 170. Similar to the outputs of comparators 250 and 251, the diagnostic error indicator 225, output through the diagnostic monitor 112 and subsequently filtered by filter 270 to produce a filtered diagnostic error indicator 227, can be, for example, 0 or 1, where "1" indicates the presence of a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100, or "0" indicates the absence of a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. Optionally, the diagnostic error indicator 225 can be provided to filter 270 for further filtering, as known in the art.

[0066] In various embodiments, the decision made by the diagnostic monitor 112 regarding the presence of a short circuit in, for example, the cable 170 of the vehicle communication system 100 is based on the following pseudocode (refer to equations 1 to 6 above):

[0067] If ((Ant..SampleMax>DiagRatio*Ant..SampleAve)||

[0068] (Ant..SampleStepMax>DiagRatio*Ant..SampleStepAve))

[0069] Ant..DiagError = 1

[0070] otherwise

[0071] Ant..DiagError = 0

[0072] Where ant..DiagError corresponds to Figure 2The diagnostic error indicator 225 has a logical value that depends on diagnostic error indicators 222 and 223. Therefore, the diagnostic error indicator 225, output by the diagnostic monitor 112 and subsequently filtered by filter 270, can be, for example, 0 or 1, where "1" indicates a short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100, or "0" indicates no short circuit in the vehicle communication system 100. The filtered diagnostic error indicator 227 is then provided to the drive control unit 120 to disable or not disable the drive circuit 130, as previously referenced. Figure 1 As described by switches 140 and 150.

[0073] Figure 3 Various embodiments are shown for detection. Figure 1 Method 300 for short-circuiting in vehicle communication system 100. (See reference) Figure 1 and 2 At block 310, antenna current samples 144A and 114B are received at diagnostic monitor 112 for short-circuit analysis.

[0074] At block 320, the average value of the antenna current sample 114A and the average value of the modified antenna current sample are determined by average value calculation block 230 and average value calculation block 231, that is, the antenna current sample step size 212.

[0075] At block 330, the maximum values ​​of antenna current sample 114A and antenna current sample step size 212 are determined accordingly by absolute maximum value block 233 and absolute maximum value block 234.

[0076] At block 340, diagnostic parameters (diagnostic parameter 219 and diagnostic parameter 220) are provided from diagnostic parameter blocks 293 and 294 to multiplier blocks 240 and 241 respectively.

[0077] At block 350, multiplier blocks 240 and 241 are used to multiply the average value of the antenna current sample 114A (i.e., the antenna sample average value output 213) and the average value of the antenna current sample step size 212 (i.e., the antenna sample step size average value output 214) by diagnostic parameters 219 and 220, respectively.

[0078] At block 360, at comparators 250 and 251, the diagnostic antenna sample average value 217 and the diagnostic antenna sample step size average value 218 are compared with the antenna sample maximum value output 215 and the antenna sample step size maximum value output 216 to generate diagnostic error indicators 222 and 223 respectively, which indicate a short circuit in the cable 170 of the vehicle communication system 100.

[0079] At block 380, diagnostic error indicators 222 and 223 are used to disable or disable driver circuit 130 by, for example, turning on switches 140 and 150 and decoupling cable 170 from vehicle access module 105.

[0080] At block 390, a notification is sent to the vehicle's user via vehicle access module 105 to repair the short circuit in cable 170. In various embodiments, vehicle access module 105 is capable of checking or re-checking cable 170 and / or antenna 180 at regular intervals to find antenna short circuits. At such re-checks, for example, antenna 180 and cable 170 may be driven again by driver circuitry 130, and vehicle communication system 100 continues to use, for example, method 300 to check cable 170 or antenna 180 for short circuits.

[0081] In some embodiments, certain aspects of the techniques described above may be implemented by one or more processors of a processing system executing software. The software includes one or more sets of executable instructions stored or otherwise tangibly implemented on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The software may include instructions and certain data that, when executed by one or more processors, manipulate one or more processors to perform one or more aspects of the techniques described above. For example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may include a solid-state storage device such as flash memory, a cache memory, random access memory (RAM), or other non-volatile memory devices, and the like. Executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be in the form of source code, assembly language code, object code, or other instruction formats that can be interpreted or otherwise executed by one or more processors.

[0082] Computer-readable storage media may include any storage medium or combination of storage media that can be accessed by a computer system during use to provide instructions and / or data to the computer system. Such storage media may include, but are not limited to, optical media (e.g., compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc), magnetic media (e.g., floppy disk, magnetic tape, or magnetic hard disk), volatile memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM) or cache memory), non-volatile memory (e.g., read-only memory (ROM) or flash memory), or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based storage media. Computer-readable storage media may be embedded in a computer system (e.g., system RAM or ROM), permanently attached to a computer system (e.g., magnetic hard disk), removably attached to a computer system (e.g., optical disc or USB-based flash memory), or coupled to a computer system via a wired or wireless network (e.g., network-accessible storage device (NAS)).

[0083] It should be noted that not all of the activities or elements described in the general description above are necessary, and a particular activity or device may not be required as part of the activity or element described. Furthermore, one or more additional activities or elements may be performed in addition to those described. Also, the listed order of activities is not necessarily the order in which the activities are performed. Moreover, the concepts have been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Therefore, this specification and drawings should be viewed in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense, and it is intended that all such modifications be included within the scope of the invention.

[0084] The foregoing description of specific embodiments has described benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems. However, any benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any features that may make any benefit, advantage, or solution appear or become more apparent should not be construed as key, essential, or necessary features of any or all of the claims. Furthermore, the specific embodiments disclosed above are merely illustrative, as the disclosed subject matter can be modified and practiced in different but equivalent ways that will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings herein. No limitation is intended to be made on the details of the constructions or designs shown herein other than those described in the appended claims. Therefore, it will be apparent that the specific embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified, and all such changes are considered to be within the scope of the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for short-circuit detection in resonant antenna networks, characterized in that, include: Receive the first antenna current sample at the first diagnostic monitoring block; Diagnostic parameters are received at the first diagnostic monitoring block, the diagnostic parameters indicating sufficient shape of the first antenna current sample; Use the diagnostic parameters to generate a diagnostic error indicator; as well as Determine whether to disable the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator; Determining whether to disable the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator includes: Determine whether the maximum value of the first antenna current sample is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample; The second antenna current sample is received at the second diagnostic monitoring block, wherein the second diagnostic monitoring block subtracts the second antenna current sample from the first antenna current sample to obtain the antenna current sample step size, and determines whether to disable the driver circuit based on whether the maximum value of the antenna current sample step size is greater than the average value of the first antenna current sample.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the maximum value of the first antenna current sample is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample, the driver circuit is disabled. as well as The driver circuit is not deactivated when the maximum value of the first antenna current sample is not greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining whether to disable the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator includes: The antenna current sample step size is generated based on the first antenna current sample; Determine whether the maximum value of the first antenna current sample step size is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample step size.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: When the maximum value of the first antenna current sample step size is greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample step size, the driver circuit is disabled. as well as The driver circuit is not deactivated when the maximum value of the first antenna current sample step size is not greater than the diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample step size.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the driver circuit is deactivated, deactivating the driver circuit includes turning on a set of switches located in the driver circuit based on the diagnostic error indicator.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that: Based on the diagnostic error indicator, the set of switches is turned on to decouple the driver circuit from the vehicle communication system.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The diagnostic parameter mentioned above is a ratio that indicates the diagnostic threshold.

8. A processor for short-circuit detection in resonant antenna networks, characterized in that, include: Antenna current control unit; A driver circuit coupled to the antenna current control unit; as well as An antenna coupled to the driver circuit, wherein, based on short-circuit analysis of a first antenna current sample, the antenna current control unit determines whether to decouple the driver circuit from the antenna current control unit, wherein determining whether to decouple the driver circuit from the antenna current control unit is based on a diagnostic error indicator and includes determining whether the maximum value of the first antenna current sample is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample; wherein the antenna further determines whether to decouple the driver circuit from the antenna current control unit based on whether the maximum value of the antenna current sample step size is greater than the average value of the first antenna current sample, wherein the antenna current sample step size is a value obtained by subtracting a second antenna current sample from the first antenna current sample.

9. A vehicle communication system, characterized in that, include: Vehicle access module; Multiple cables are coupled to the vehicle access module; as well as An antenna coupled to the plurality of cables, wherein the plurality of cables are decoupled from the vehicle access module based on short-circuit analysis of the plurality of cables through the vehicle access module, wherein the decoupling of the plurality of cables from the vehicle access module is based on a diagnostic error indicator and includes determining whether the maximum value of a first antenna current sample is greater than a diagnostic parameter multiplied by the average value of the first antenna current sample; wherein the antenna further determines whether to decouple the driver circuit from the antenna current control unit based on whether the maximum value of the antenna current sample step size is greater than the average value of the first antenna current sample, wherein the antenna current sample step size is a value obtained by subtracting a second antenna current sample from the first antenna current sample.

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