Method for controlling the load level of a bus system for a vehicle, bus system, and vehicle

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, a bus system (30), and a vehicle (80) for controlling the load level of a bus system (30) of a vehicle (80). The method comprises the following steps: determining first information representative of the current and / or future load level of the bus system (30), determining second information representative of respective data transmission time periods for a plurality of bus participants (50, 55) based on the first information, the bus participants transmitting data by means of the bus system (30), transmitting the second information to the plurality of bus participants (50, 55), and adapting, by each of the bus participants (50, 55), the respective data transmission time periods for the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) based on the second information, and transmitting data by means of the bus system (30) by the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) within their respective adapted data transmission time periods.

Description

Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a method, a bus system, and a vehicle for controlling the load level of a bus system of a vehicle. Background Art

[0002] Modern vehicles typically have a large number of different controllers, and each of the controllers is usually interconnected in terms of information technology by means of bus systems known from the prior art, such as CAN bus systems, MOST bus systems, LIN bus systems, FlexRay bus systems, Ethernet bus systems, etc. In addition, in modern vehicles, multiple individual sub-buses or subnets are often used to, for example, limit data communication to a logical group of controllers (e.g., controllers that satisfy the same function, such as controllers of a vehicle's powertrain or comfort system), and are basically limited to the corresponding logical group. Alternatively or additionally, by using sub-buses, different bus technologies can also be applied to the corresponding sub-buses based on different requirements for the sub-buses (regarding the required data transfer rate, maximum cost, etc.). To ensure cross-sub-bus data communication between the controllers of different sub-buses, in the prior art, for example, a gateway controller is used, which is configured to interconnect multiple sub-buses according to predefined data transfer rules.

[0003] The bus systems that can be used in a vehicle may each have different technology-determined limitations in terms of their maximum transmission bandwidth. The quality of service (QoS) of these bus systems is particularly affected by the corresponding load level (bus load) of the bus system. Therefore, in an adverse bus load situation, adverse effects may occur in terms of transmission quality, and the adverse effects can be particularly manifested in fluctuations (jitter) in the accuracy of the transmission beats of periodic data communication or the complete exclusion of the transmission attempts of the controller (i.e., the loss of bus messages). The guarantee of the desired transmission quality of the corresponding bus system is usually achieved by means of different modeling measures. In the case of a CAN bus system, a widely used modeling measure is, for example, to determine an upper bus load limit of, for example, 50%. This bus load limit can be determined, in particular, based on a theoretically or empirically determined "worst case". The resulting model construction often leads to a conservative, i.e., inefficient, utilization of the corresponding bus system. In addition, based on this conservative model construction during the design phase of the bus system and the later measurement of the load level during the actual use of the bus system, very different results may occur in terms of the load level of the bus system. However, during the development process of a vehicle, more accurate model construction can usually only be achieved to a limited extent in the early design phase of the bus system. Summary of the Invention

[0004] For this reason, the object of the present invention is to mitigate this and other drawbacks of the prior art by means of a method, a bus system and a vehicle for controlling the load level of a bus system of a vehicle.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling the load level of a bus system of a vehicle is proposed. The vehicle can be, for example, a road vehicle (such as a motorcycle, a passenger car, a transport aircraft, a truck) or a rail vehicle or an aircraft / plane or a watercraft. In a first step of the method according to the present invention, first information representative of the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system is determined. For this purpose, the vehicle preferably has a bus load manager, which can be part of an existing controller of the vehicle or an independent controller, and which can be connected in terms of information technology to one or more bus systems of the in-vehicle network of the vehicle. The controller of the vehicle including the bus load manager is preferably a gateway controller. The bus system can be an automotive bus system, in particular an Ethernet bus system and preferably a CAN bus system. In addition, the bus system can also be a MOST bus system, a LIN bus system, a FlexRay bus system or other bus systems suitable for use in a vehicle. In addition, the vehicle can have a plurality of bus systems or sub-buses, which are preferably connected to one another in terms of information technology via one or more gateway controllers. In addition, each sub-bus can be based on the same bus technology and / or based on different bus technologies. For the sake of a simplified explanation, in the following, unless otherwise mentioned, the method according to the present invention should be representatively illustrated by means of a CAN bus system, but the method according to the present invention is not limited to this specific bus system for this reason.

[0006] The determination of the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system can be implemented by means of a first evaluation unit according to the present invention. The first evaluation unit is preferably a component of the bus manager. The first evaluation unit can be connected to the CAN bus system in terms of information technology by means of a first CAN bus interface. In addition, the first evaluation unit can be configured to implement the method steps according to the present invention based on a computer program for implementing the method steps. In order to determine the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system, the first evaluation unit can first measure the actual load level of the bus system over a predefined time period. For this purpose, the first evaluation unit can receive all or a suitable partial amount of the data communication occurring on the bus system within a predefined time period and store it in the form of data in an internal and / or external storage unit connected to the first evaluation unit. The data recorded in this way can subsequently be evaluated by the first evaluation unit by means of a suitable algorithm in order to identify the corresponding phases of an increased load level of the bus system. The evaluation by the evaluation unit can be carried out essentially in parallel with the ongoing recording of the data communication or can be carried out after the recording of the data communication. In this way, it is possible to identify, in particular by means of the first evaluation unit, time periods for regularly recurring, i.e., in particular, periodic data transmissions. In addition to such periodic data transmissions, many of the above-mentioned bus technologies are also capable of implementing event-controlled data transmissions, the respective transmission times of which can be associated with corresponding events inside and / or outside the vehicle. An event inside the vehicle can be, for example, the actuation of an operating element in the vehicle by a user of the vehicle, while an event outside the vehicle can be, for example, a predefined threshold below the ambient brightness, which can be detected by a light sensor of the vehicle and subsequently used, for example, to automatically activate the vehicle's headlights. In both cases, the corresponding sensors for detecting the respective events can transmit information representing the respective events to the corresponding receiver controller in the vehicle by means of data communication via the bus system. Since such event-controlled data transmissions can occur very irregularly naturally, in contrast to periodic data transmissions, the prediction of event-controlled data transmissions can only be achieved to a limited extent by the first evaluation unit based on the evaluation of the data communication recorded in a predefined time period. By additionally detecting the corresponding events corresponding to the data transmissions in the first evaluation unit (for example, by evaluating the content of the transmitted data), the first evaluation unit can associate the corresponding events with the corresponding subsequent data transmissions on the bus system. In this way, it is possible to predict the future load level of the bus system at least within a limited range also with regard to event-controlled data transmissions.

[0007] As an alternative to or in addition to determining the current and / or future load level of the bus system based on measurements over a predefined period of time, the first evaluation unit may determine the current and / or future load level of the bus system based on pre-determined statistical data regarding the load level of the bus system. Such statistical data may be determined, for example, during the development phase of the vehicle by means of corresponding test vehicles. The statistical data may subsequently be stored in a storage unit connected to the first evaluation unit during the production process of the vehicle.

[0008] As a further alternative or in addition, the first evaluation unit may also determine the current and / or future load level of the bus system based on a predefined data specification (hereinafter also referred to as bus configuration) for the bus system. The bus configuration preferably includes all information regarding possible data communication on the respective bus system. In the case of a CAN bus system, this may in particular relate to information regarding the structure of the data packets (also referred to as messages) that can be transmitted, regarding the transmitters and receivers of the respective messages, regarding the transmission priority of the respective messages, regarding the respective transmission times (periodically, event-controlled) of the respective messages, regarding the minimum transmission intervals between the individual messages, etc. Such a bus configuration may be provided to the first evaluation unit, for example, in the form of data (such as a database) stored in a storage unit, so that the first evaluation unit can perform a theoretical calculation of the current and / or future load level of the bus system based on this data.

[0009] It should be noted that the method according to the invention focuses on determining the transmission time or transmission period of periodic messages when determining the current and / or future load level of the bus system. As explained above, event-controlled messages can generally only be evaluated to a limited extent in terms of the evaluation of the bus system load level. Instead, the method according to the invention can preferably be used to transmit event-controlled messages on the bus system in a suitable manner in a phase in which there is only a low or even no bus system load level based on periodic messages.

[0010] In a second step of the method according to the invention, second information representative of respective data transmission time periods for a plurality of bus participants, by means of which data is transmitted via a bus system, is determined based on first information. The process, which has already been partly described in the first method step, provides for the first information representative of the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system, determined by means of a suitable algorithm by a first evaluation unit, to be evaluated in such a way that suitable time periods are determined during which only a low bus system load level exists or is to be expected. For this purpose, for example, predefined thresholds for the bus system load level can be stored in a storage unit connected to the first evaluation unit. Based on the predefined thresholds for the bus system load level, the first evaluation unit can determine corresponding time periods during which the value of the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system is below the predefined thresholds for the bus system load level. The suitable data transmission time periods determined in this way for the plurality of bus participants can in turn be stored in a storage unit connected to the first evaluation unit in the form of data representative of the second information. In this context, it should be noted that the bus load manager and the plurality of bus participants can each have similar and / or identical electronic or electrical components and that the bus load manager in principle constitutes another bus participant. In the sense of simplifying the distinction between the special function of the bus load manager and the functions of the other bus participants, the differences in the terminology chosen here are correspondingly used in this specification.

[0011] The second information can alternatively or additionally also be transmitted from the bus load manager to the plurality of bus participants in the case of using an alternative transmission path. That is, according to the method according to the invention, it is not necessary to compulsorily use such a bus system for transmitting the second information, the load level of which is to be controlled based on the second information. Instead, the second information can be transmitted between the bus load manager and the bus participants via any other information technology communication connection (wired and / or wirelessly). This in particular offers the advantage that the load level of the bus to be controlled is not affected by additional data communication based on the method according to the invention.

[0012] In the third step of the method according to the invention, the second information is transmitted to the plurality of bus participants by means of a bus system. Taking the CAN bus system as an example, this can be achieved as follows: the first evaluation unit transmits one or more messages which are specified for the transmission of the second information and which include the second information to the plurality of bus participants by means of a first bus interface. This can be achieved in the form of a directed transmission, in which the first evaluation unit transmits the individual messages including the second information separately to each relevant bus participant. Alternatively or additionally, this can also be achieved in the form of a so-called broadcast transmission, in which the first evaluation unit transmits the second information on the basis of a broadcast message addressed to all relevant bus participants. In this context, it should be noted that neither the directed transmission nor the broadcast transmission is restricted to the use of a single message for the transmission of the second information. In particular, when the amount of data representing the second information is greater than the payload that can be transmitted by a single message, it may be meaningful or necessary to distribute the second information over a plurality of individual messages (preferably by applying a suitable transport protocol) for transmission. The manner of transmitting the second information described here for the CAN bus system can be transferred to other bus systems that can be used in a vehicle in a similar or at least analogous manner, taking into account the characteristics of the respective bus system.

[0013] Furthermore, it is also conceivable that the first evaluation unit determines a plurality of second information in the previous second method step, wherein the individual second information in the plurality of second information can be completely distinguishable from one another or at least partially distinguishable from one another. Such a manner can advantageously be used to provide the respective bus participants and / or groups of bus participants with correspondingly differently adapted second information. In this way, the control according to the invention of the bus system load can be permanently or temporarily restricted to the individual bus participants. Alternatively or additionally, different data transmission time periods can also be determined in this way for the individual bus participants and / or groups of bus participants. Furthermore, the groups of bus participants themselves can also be determined by using different second information, wherein the respective group membership of the bus participants can also be changed dynamically in this way. In addition, a large number of other advantages (in particular individually specified maximum data transmission rates, etc.) can be achieved by using individually adapted second information.

[0014] In the fourth step of the method according to the invention, each bus participant adapts the respective data transmission time periods for the plurality of bus participants in accordance with the second information. That is, specifically, the same or different second information received in each bus participant can be evaluated by the second evaluation unit of each bus participant. Here, the evaluation units representing all data communications participating in the bus system (the evaluation units do not constitute the evaluation unit of the bus manager) use the term "second evaluation unit". However, the uniform use of the term should not imply that all second evaluation units must be identical in their technical design and / or must implement the same computer program. Based on the second information present in each bus participant, each second evaluation unit can correspondingly determine or adapt, via its respective bus participant, a suitable data transmission time period for future data transmission. As described above, this particularly relates to the adaptation of the data transmission time periods for the transmission of event-controlled messages, but can also be used for the adaptation of adaptation messages or other messages (e.g., "mixed mode" messages, which can be transmitted not only periodically but also event-controlledly).

[0015] In the fifth step of the method according to the invention, the plurality of bus participants transmit data via the bus system within their respective adapted data transmission time periods. As described above, the respective adapted data transmission time periods can be differentiated between the plurality of bus participants, provided that different second information is transmitted to each bus participant. If the same second information is provided for each bus participant, the respective data transmissions of the plurality of bus participants can also occur within the same transmission time period. In addition, a hybrid solution can also be applied, which sets common data transmission time periods for the plurality of bus participants and / or for groups of bus participants and additionally sets individual data transmission time periods for each bus participant.

[0016] In an advantageous design of the present invention, the second information includes information about the start time and / or end time of a data transmission time period and / or includes the start time and / or end time of a time period without data transmission. Each start time or end time can be a relative time, where the relative time relates, for example, to the reception time of the second information among the plurality of bus participants. Alternatively, the start time or end time can also represent an absolute time, where the absolute time relates, for example, to the system time commonly used by all bus participants. Alternatively or additionally, the second information can include information about the category of the data transmitted within an adapted data transmission time period. As a category, in particular, the transmission priority and the transmission type (e.g., periodic, event-controlled, segmented, etc.) for the respective data are considered here. Further alternatively or additionally, the second information can include information about the identification of the bus participants and / or bus participant groups so that the bus participants and / or bus participant groups can be addressed, for example, individually in the sense of the method according to the invention. Further alternatively or additionally, the second information can include information about the maximum allowable data volume for data transmission and / or the mandatory or selective implementation of data transmission within a suitable data transmission time period.

[0017] In another advantageous design of the present invention, the second information is determined based on the future bus utilization time periods of the respective bus participants. The respective bus utilization time periods can be generated, for example, by activating the respective bus participants only on demand or by having the respective bus participants participate in the bus communication only on demand. If the first evaluation unit of the bus load manager has corresponding information about the bus utilization time periods of the respective bus participants, especially regularly recurring ones, the first evaluation unit can advantageously take into account this corresponding information when determining a suitable future data transmission time period. Alternatively or additionally, the second information can also be determined based on the future driving situation of the vehicle and / or based on the current route of the vehicle and / or based on the future environmental conditions related to the vehicle. The future driving situation can be, for example, the parking process of the vehicle, during which multiple environmental sensors of the parking assistance system (such as ultrasonic sensors) are activated during a manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically implemented parking process. During this time period, the corresponding higher load level of the bus system can be taken into account by the multiple environmental sensors. The time period for such a future parking process can be estimated, for example, with the aid of the current route guidance for the vehicle. In addition, the first evaluation unit can determine other predicted events that will occur and affect the bus system load level based on route information, which can be provided to the first evaluation unit by the vehicle's navigation system, for example. In addition, adverse environmental conditions in the vehicle's environment, such as heavy rain, dust, fog, smoke, etc., can cause additional auxiliary systems of the vehicle to be activated manually and / or automatically, thereby also increasing the bus system load level. Alternatively or additionally, the second information can also be realized according to the future data transmission requirements of the respective bus participants. Such data transmission requirements can occur, for example, when the vehicle's in-vehicle network is activated and the multiple bus participants exchange initialization data and / or configuration data with each other. In this regard, the predictable high load level of the bus system can be balanced at the corresponding time by means of the method according to the present invention.

[0018] In another advantageous design of the present invention, the second information can be determined based on a self-learning system. That is, the first evaluation unit can independently determine or adapt the second information to be determined for controlling the bus system load level during one or more training drives and / or during the normal use of the vehicle. The self-learning system can be implemented, for example, based on an artificial neural network known from the prior art.

[0019] In another advantageous design of the present invention, the data packets to be transmitted according to the second information are divided into suitable sub - data packets, and each sub - data packet is sequentially transmitted via the bus system in accordance with the adapted data transmission time periods. This means that, in particular, data packets whose data volume exceeds the user data volume of a single message of the corresponding bus system (for example, 8 bytes in a CAN bus system) must be split into correspondingly smaller sub - data packets before being transmitted via the bus system. By using transmission protocols known from the prior art, such as ISO - TP, etc., each individual sub - data packet can be recombined into a complete data packet in the corresponding receiver. Especially when a very large data volume should be transmitted by means of such segmented data transmission, the transmission pauses caused or forced by the method according to the invention can lead to the situation during the transmission of such data packets that each individual sub - data packet cannot be completely sent and / or received (for example, due to handshake timeouts, overwritten transmit buffers and / or receive buffers, etc.). The method according to the invention thus proposes a transmission protocol extended compared to the prior art, which enables frequent and / or long - term interruptions of the segmented data transmission. For this purpose, a completely newly developed transmission protocol or a correspondingly extended transmission protocol from the prior art can be used. In this way, it can be ensured that, in the sense of the method according to the invention, the transmission of large to very large data packets via the bus system can be balanced without loss of messages, so that the peak load level of the bus system can be reduced or completely avoided. The resulting more uniform load level of the bus system can be advantageously used to increase the maximum value for the average load level of the bus system during the model building of the bus system, whereby a generally higher transmission volume can be achieved with the bus system according to the invention.

[0020] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a bus system for controlling the load level of a bus system of a vehicle is proposed. The bus system includes a bus load manager, which can be a component of an existing controller (such as a gateway controller) or an independent controller of the vehicle, and the bus load manager includes a first evaluation unit and a first bus interface of the bus system. The first evaluation unit can be designed, for example, as an ASIC, FPGA, processor, digital signal processor, microcontroller or the like and is connected in terms of information technology to an internal and / or external storage unit, in which data received and / or calculated by the first evaluation unit can be stored for subsequent processing. In addition, the first evaluation unit can be configured to implement the method steps based on a computer program for implementing the method steps of the present invention as described above. The first bus interface can be, for example, an interface for a CAN bus system, MOST bus system, LIN bus system, FlexRay bus system or Ethernet bus system. The bus load manager can be connected in terms of information technology to a plurality of bus participants of the bus system via the bus system. Each of the plurality of bus participants includes a second evaluation unit and a second bus interface of the bus system. The second evaluation unit and the second bus interface can preferably be designed similarly to the first evaluation unit and the first bus interface of the bus load manager. The first evaluation unit is furthermore configured to determine, in combination with the first bus interface, a first information representing the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system. The first evaluation unit is additionally configured to determine, based on the first information, a second information representing the respective data transmission time periods for the plurality of bus participants, which transmit data via the bus system. In addition, the first evaluation unit, in combination with the first bus interface, is configured to transmit the second information to the plurality of bus participants. The respective second evaluation units of the plurality of bus participants are each configured to adapt their respective data transmission time periods according to the second information and to transmit data via the bus system within their respective adapted data transmission time periods in combination with their respective second bus interfaces.

[0021] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is proposed, which includes the bus system according to the second-mentioned aspect of the invention. The features, feature combinations and advantages resulting therefrom clearly correspond to the features, feature combinations and advantages detailed in connection with the first-mentioned and second-mentioned aspects of the invention, and thus reference is made to the above-described embodiments in order to avoid repetition. Description of the Drawings

[0022] Other details, features and advantages of the present invention result from the following description and the drawings. Among them:

[0023] Figure 1A flowchart showing the steps of an embodiment of the method according to the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the components of a CAN bus system according to the present invention in accordance with a first embodiment in combination with a vehicle;

[0025] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing the components of a CAN bus system according to the present invention in accordance with a second embodiment; and

[0026] Figure 4 An example showing multiple data transmissions by means of the CAN bus system according to the present invention. Detailed implementation

[0027] Figure 1 A flowchart is shown, which illustrates the steps of an embodiment of a method for controlling the load level of a CAN bus system of a vehicle according to the present invention. In step 100, a first piece of information representing the future load level of the CAN bus system is determined by means of a first evaluation unit (here a microcontroller) of a bus load manager of the CAN bus system. For this purpose, a predefined CAN bus configuration in the form of a database representing the CAN bus configuration is read from a storage unit that is information technology-connected to the first evaluation unit by means of the first evaluation unit. In step 200, the first evaluation unit determines a second piece of information representing respective suitable data transmission time periods for a plurality of bus participants, which transmit data by means of the CAN bus system. In step 300, the first evaluation unit simultaneously transmits the second piece of information to the plurality of bus participants by means of the CAN bus system using a CAN broadcast message. The plurality of bus participants and the bus load manager are in this embodiment part of a partial vehicle network of the vehicle, which partial vehicle network includes a controller for the drive train of the vehicle. In a fourth step 400, the plurality of bus participants individually adapt the respective data transmission time periods for future event-controlled data transmission according to the second piece of information by means of their respective bus participants. In this way, it is ensured that the event-controlled data transmission of the respective bus participants takes place in a time period in which only a small fraction of the periodic messages of the respective bus participants are transmitted on the CAN bus system. In step 500, the plurality of bus participants transmit event-controlled data by means of the CAN bus system within their individually adapted data transmission time periods.

[0028] Figure 2Schematic diagram showing the components of the CAN bus system 30 according to the invention in accordance with a first embodiment in combination with a vehicle 80. The CAN bus system 30 of the first embodiment includes a bus load manager 40, a first bus participant 50, and a second bus participant 55. The bus load manager 40 includes a first evaluation unit 10 in the form of a microcontroller, which is connected to the CAN bus system 30 information-technology via a first CAN bus interface 12. The first bus participant 50 and the second bus participant 55 each have a second evaluation unit 20, which is also designed in the form of a microcontroller respectively. Each of the second evaluation units 20 is connected to the CAN bus system 30 information-technology via its respective second CAN bus interface 22. The bus load manager 40, the first bus participant 50, and the second bus participant 55 are configured to implement the method steps according to the invention described above based on their respective computer programs.

[0029] Figure 3 Schematic diagram showing the components of the CAN bus system 30 according to the invention in accordance with a second embodiment. The components of the CAN bus system 30 shown in the second embodiment basically correspond to the components described in the first embodiment (the vehicle 80 is not shown), so only the differences from the first embodiment will be described here. The bus load manager 40 is a part of the gateway controller of the vehicle 80 in this second embodiment, which is configured to connect the first CAN sub-bus 32 and the second CAN sub-bus 34 information-technology to each other. The first bus participant 50 is configured here for the first CAN sub-bus 32, while the second bus participant 55 is configured for the second CAN sub-bus 34. In addition to the first CAN bus interface 12 connected to the first CAN sub-bus 32 information-technology, the first evaluation unit 10 has an additional third CAN bus interface 14 connected to the second CAN sub-bus 34 information-technology. In this way, the evaluation unit 10 of the bus load manager 40 can independently determine the respective first information about the load levels of the first CAN sub-bus 32 and the second CAN sub-bus 34, so as to be able to independently control the future load levels of the respective CAN sub-buses 32, 34 based on the respective first information.

[0030] Figure 4 Shows an example of a plurality of data transmissions by means of the CAN bus system according to the invention. Along Figure 4In the time axis t, multiple data transmissions are shown in the form of vertical lines, and the vertical lines represent the transmission times for respective CAN messages 70, 75. The multiple data transmissions include, on the one hand, periodic CAN messages 70 and, on the other hand, event-controlled CAN messages 75. Based on the method according to the invention, a first evaluation unit of a bus load manager of the CAN bus system determines, based on the measurement of bus communication, the following time periods in which there are respectively high and respectively low load levels of the CAN bus system. The determined respective time periods are combined in a second message in the form of recommended time periods 60 for data transmission and in the form of recommended time periods 65 without data transmission. The respective time periods 60, 65 represented by the second message are subsequently used to implement or to block the data transmissions of multiple CAN bus participants.

[0031] List of reference numerals

[0032] 10 First evaluation unit

[0033] 12 First CAN bus interface

[0034] 14 Third CAN bus interface

[0035] 20 Second evaluation unit

[0036] 22 Second CAN bus interface

[0037] 30 CAN bus system

[0038] 32 First CAN sub-bus

[0039] 34 Second CAN sub-bus

[0040] 40 Bus load manager

[0041] 50 First bus participant

[0042] 55 Second bus participant

[0043] 60 Recommended time period for data transmission

[0044] 65 Recommended time period without data transmission

[0045] 70 Periodic CAN message

[0046] 75 Event-controlled CAN message

[0047] 80 Vehicle

Claims

1. A method for controlling the load level of a bus system (30) of a vehicle (80), the method comprising the following steps: • Determining (100) first information representative of the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system (30) by performing a measurement of the actual load level of the bus system over a predefined time period, in such a way that, within the predefined time period, all or a suitable partial amount of the data communication occurring on the bus system is received in order to determine the transmission moment or transmission time period of the periodic messages, • Determining (200) second information representative of the respective data transmission time periods (60) for a plurality of bus participants (50, 55), which transmit data by means of the bus system (30), based on the first information, • Transmitting (300) the second information to the plurality of bus participants (50, 55), • Individually adapting (400) by each bus participant (50, 55) the respective data transmission time periods (60) for event-controlled future data transmission for the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) according to the second information, such that the event-controlled data transmission of the respective bus participant occurs in a time period in which only a small share of the periodic messages of the respective bus participant are transmitted on the bus system, and • Transmitting (500) event-controlled data by the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) within their individually adapted data transmission time periods (60) by means of the bus system (30).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The bus system (30) is an automotive bus system.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The second information includes information on the following: • The start time and / or end time of the data transmission time period (60), and / or • The start time and / or end time of the time period (65) without data transmission, and / or • The category of data to be transmitted within the adapted data transmission time period (60), and / or • The identifier of the bus participant (50, 55) and / or the identifier of a group of bus participants (50, 55), and / or • The maximum permitted data volume for data transmission, and / or • The mandatory or selective implementation of data transmission within the suitable data transmission time period (60).

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The second information for each bus participant (50, 55) of the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) • Is the same, or • Is individually determined and / or individually transmitted to the bus participant.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The first information is determined based on a predefined bus configuration and / or a measurement of the current load level of the bus system (30).

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The second information is determined based on the future bus utilization time periods of the respective bus participants (50, 55), and / or the future driving conditions of the vehicle (80), and / or the current route of the vehicle (80), and / or the future environmental conditions relating to the vehicle (80), and / or the future data transmission requirements of the respective bus participants (50, 55).

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The second information is determined based on a self-learning system.

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The data packets to be transmitted according to the second information are divided into appropriate sub - data packets, and the sub - data packets are sequentially transmitted via the bus system (30) in accordance with the adapted data transmission time periods (60).

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The bus system (30) is an Ethernet bus system.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein The bus system (30) is a CAN bus system.

11. A bus system (30) for controlling the load level of a bus system (30) of a vehicle (80), the bus system comprising: • A bus load manager (40), the bus load manager comprising: - A first evaluation unit (10), and - A first bus interface (12) of the bus system (30), • A plurality of bus participants (50, 55), the plurality of bus participants each comprising: - A second evaluation unit (20), and - A second bus interface (22) of the bus system (30), wherein • The first evaluation unit (10) is configured to: - Determine, in combination with the first bus interface (12), first information representing the current load level and / or future load level of the bus system (30) by measuring the actual load level of the bus system over a predefined time period, in such a way that all or an appropriate partial amount of the data communication occurring on the bus system is received within the predefined time period in order to determine the transmission moment or transmission time period of periodic messages, - Determine, based on the first information, second information representing respective data transmission time periods (60) for the plurality of bus participants (50, 55), the plurality of bus participants transmitting data via the bus system (30), and - Transmit the second information to the plurality of bus participants (50, 55) in combination with the first bus interface (12), • Each second evaluation unit (20) is configured to: - Individually adapt its respective data transmission time period (60) for event - controlled future data transmission according to the second information, such that the event - controlled data transmission of the corresponding bus participant occurs during a time period in which only a small share of the periodic messages of the corresponding bus participant are transmitted on the bus system, and - Transmit event - controlled data via the bus system (30) within its individually adapted data transmission time period (60) in combination with its respective second bus interface (22).

12. A vehicle (80) comprising the bus system (30) according to claim 11.

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