Vehicle-mounted control device for instrument display, vehicle-mounted electronic system, and vehicle

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an in-vehicle control device, an in-vehicle electronic system and a vehicle for instrument display. The in-vehicle control device comprises: a first control unit comprising an instrument application and a cockpit application in the same operating system, and configured to allocate processor and memory resources to the instrument application with higher priority than the cockpit application; and a second control unit communicatively coupled to the first control unit, and configured to forward an instrument signal from an external device to the first control unit in response to receiving a first detection signal indicating that the first control unit is normal, the instrument signal being associated with a driving state of the vehicle, and the instrument application being configured to generate a first display signal based on the instrument signal. The present disclosure can effectively improve the reliability of the vehicle instrument display, and has the advantages of no loss of operating system performance and wide application range of chip platform.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of this disclosure relate to the field of display technology, and more specifically, to an in-vehicle control device for instrument display, an in-vehicle electronic system, and a vehicle including the in-vehicle electronic system. Background Technology

[0002] As vehicles become increasingly intelligent, more and more vehicles are adopting intelligent cockpits. For example, cockpit domain control technology can integrate instrument display functions and central control functions into the same domain controller. This allows the driver or passengers to view instrument information, information related to the control of in-vehicle facilities (such as air conditioning, audio, and windows), and multimedia content on one or more unified displays. In this way, the number and complexity of controllers inside the vehicle can be reduced, costs can be lowered, and the user experience can be improved.

[0003] The instrument display provides the driver with real-time vehicle status information during vehicle use, such as vehicle speed, fuel level (for gasoline vehicles), battery charge (for electric or hybrid vehicles), headlight status, and tire pressure. For safety reasons, drivers need to be able to view these real-time statuses at any time while driving. However, with intelligent cockpit technologies such as integrated instrument clusters, the instrument display function is integrated with the central control function. Therefore, if the integrated hardware or software system malfunctions, all related functions, including the instrument display, will be affected. This reduces the reliability of the vehicle's instrument display and may lead to safety hazards.

[0004] To improve the reliability of instrument displays in integrated instruments, several solutions have been proposed. However, these solutions all have many drawbacks, such as significant operating system performance overhead, limited platform support, and poor stability. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Based on the above-mentioned problems, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, an in-vehicle control device for instrument display, an in-vehicle electronic system, and a vehicle including the in-vehicle electronic system are provided.

[0006] In a first aspect of this disclosure, an in-vehicle control device for instrument display is provided, the in-vehicle control device comprising: a first control unit including an instrument application and a cockpit application located in the same operating system, and configured to allocate processor and memory resources to the instrument application with a higher priority than the cockpit application; and a second control unit communicatively coupled to the first control unit, and configured to forward an instrument signal from an external device to the first control unit in response to receiving a first detection signal indicating that the first control unit is functioning normally, the instrument signal being associated with the driving state of the vehicle, and the instrument application being configured to generate a first display signal based on the instrument signal.

[0007] In a second aspect of this disclosure, an in-vehicle electronic system for instrument display is provided, the in-vehicle electronic system comprising: an in-vehicle control device according to the first aspect; and a display chip.

[0008] In a third aspect of this disclosure, a vehicle is provided, the vehicle including: an in-vehicle electronic system according to the second aspect; and a display.

[0009] It should be understood that the description in the Summary of the Invention is not intended to limit the key or essential features of the embodiments of this disclosure, nor is it intended to restrict the scope of this disclosure. Other features of this disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0010] The above and other features, advantages, and aspects of the various embodiments of this disclosure will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description. In the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements, wherein:

[0011] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0012] Figure 2 A schematic block diagram of an in-vehicle electronic system, display, and other related devices for instrument display according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0013] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a display according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0014] The embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. While some embodiments of this disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that this disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of this disclosure. It should be understood that the accompanying drawings and embodiments of this disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0015] In the description of embodiments of this disclosure, the term "comprising" and similar terms should be understood as open-ended inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "at least partially based on". The term "one embodiment / implementation" or "this embodiment / implementation" should be understood as "at least one embodiment / implementation". The terms "first", "second", etc., may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0016] As mentioned earlier, intelligent cockpit technologies such as integrated cockpit domain controllers and instrument clusters suffer from poor instrument display reliability, which impacts vehicle safety. Conventional solutions are primarily based on virtual machines, which can be categorized into soft isolation and hard isolation. Soft isolation solutions, for example, involve using virtual machines to build an upper-level operating system within a highly reliable underlying operating system. Instrument applications are then loaded onto the reliable underlying operating system, while other cockpit applications are loaded onto the upper-level operating system. Hard isolation solutions, for example, involve partitioning the processor platform to run two or more operating systems in parallel, thereby loading instrument applications and cockpit applications onto different operating systems.

[0017] Both approaches have several drawbacks. For example, the soft isolation approach requires the upper-layer operating system to be built on top of the lower-layer operating system, thus causing performance degradation for the upper-layer operating system. The hard isolation approach, due to its high requirements for the chip platform, has fewer platforms supporting it, resulting in a narrower range of applications. Furthermore, the stability of both approaches is not ideal.

[0018] This disclosure proposes an improved solution for instrument display. In the improved solution, the instrument application and the cockpit application are housed in the same operating system of the first control unit. When the first control unit is detected to be functioning normally, sufficient processor and memory resources are preferentially allocated to the instrument application within the first control unit to implement the instrument display function. Furthermore, in the event of an anomaly in the first control unit, the second control unit can forward the instrument signals to the display chip for processing. This effectively improves the reliability of instrument display in integrated instrument technology, ensures high-performance and lossless operation of the operating system, and has no limitations on the system platform, making it widely applicable.

[0019] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. (As shown) Figure 1As shown, a vehicle may include an in-vehicle electronic system 1000 and a display 2000. As an example, the display 2000 can be used to provide the driver and passengers with instrument information and other content information, such as the status of cabin facilities (e.g., the on / off and adjustment status of the air conditioning) and audio and video content for entertainment. Furthermore, the display 2000 can also enable human-machine interaction via methods such as touch and buttons, thereby enabling direct adjustment of cabin facilities, such as controlling and adjusting the air conditioning and audio system. It is understood that the number and location of the screens of the display 2000 in this disclosure are not limited. For example, the display 2000 may include one or more screens, and in the case of multiple screens, these screens may be located in the same location in the vehicle cabin or distributed in different locations. The screens of the display 2000 may be located, for example, on the center console to the right of the driver's seat, directly in front of the driver's seat, in front of the passenger seat, behind the driver and passenger seats, and any other suitable location within the cabin. The in-vehicle electronic system 1000 can be communicatively coupled to the display 2000 and other devices or controllers in the vehicle, thereby enabling interaction with and processing of interactive information. For example, the in-vehicle electronic system 1000 can receive and process instrument signals related to the vehicle's driving status from other devices or controllers in the vehicle, or it can receive and process user commands (e.g., via the display 2000 or other human-machine interface devices) to change the state of in-vehicle facilities or to invoke audio or video content. Furthermore, after processing the interactive information, the in-vehicle electronic system 1000 can provide display signals to the display 2000. These display signals include those for instrument displays, as well as other types of display signals, such as audio and video signals for entertainment, and signals related to information about facilities within the cabin. The in-vehicle electronic system 1000 can be located, for example, under the center console cover and close to the display 2000, or at any other suitable location within the vehicle.

[0020] Figure 2 A schematic block diagram of an in-vehicle electronic system 1000, a display 2000, and other related devices for instrument display according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 As shown, the vehicle electronic system 1000 includes a vehicle control device 100 and a display chip 200.

[0021] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle control device 100 includes a first control unit 110, which includes an instrument application 111-1 and a cockpit application 111-2 located in the same operating system, and is configured to allocate processor and memory resources to the instrument application 111-1 with a higher priority than the cockpit application 111-2.

[0022] As an example, the first control unit 110 can be a System on Chip (SoC) and only a single operating system, such as Android, is configured, without the need for two or more operating systems. As just an example, the Android system may include an application layer 111, a framework layer 112, a hardware abstraction layer 113, and a kernel layer 114. The application layer 111 includes an instrument application 111-1 and a cockpit application 111-2, where the instrument application 111-1 is used to implement instrument display functions, and the cockpit application 111-2 can be used to implement other cockpit functions, such as calling multimedia content like video for entertainment. Furthermore, the kernel layer 114 of the system may include a resource allocation module or mechanism 114-1, such as Cgroups. The resource allocation module or mechanism 114-1 can prioritize allocating sufficient processor and memory resources to the instrument application 111-1 under any circumstances to ensure that the instrument application 111-1 can always run reliably in a single operating system. Thus, the operation of the instrument application can always be prioritized in a single operating system environment, thereby effectively improving the reliability of the instrument display.

[0023] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle control device 100 further includes a second control unit 120, which is communicatively coupled to the first control unit 110 and configured to forward an instrument signal from an external device 3000 to the first control unit 110 in response to receiving a first detection signal indicating that the first control unit 110 is normal. The instrument signal is associated with the driving state of the vehicle, and the instrument application 111 is configured to generate a first display signal based on the instrument signal.

[0024] As an example, when the first controller 110 serves as the main controller of the vehicle control device 100, the second controller 120 can serve as an auxiliary controller. The second controller 120 can be implemented using a simpler control chip such as a microcontroller (MCU), thereby achieving higher operational reliability compared to the first controller 110. The second controller 120 can be coupled to the first controller 110 via, for example, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or a Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (UART). Furthermore, the second controller 120 can also be coupled to an external device 3000, such as other domain controllers or other electronic control units (ECUs) of the vehicle, via a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, and interact with the external device 300. Thus, the second controller 120 can acquire instrument signals related to the vehicle's driving status via the CAN bus.

[0025] Furthermore, the second controller 120 may include a monitoring and reset program module 121. The second controller 120 can receive a detection signal indicating whether the first controller 110 is malfunctioning, and this signal is processed by the monitoring and reset program module 121. This detection signal may, for example, come from the display chip 200, which can receive and detect display signals emitted by the first controller 110 to determine whether the first controller 110 is operating normally. It is understood that the second control unit 120 can also acquire detection signals indicating the operating state of the first controller 110 in other suitable ways. For example, the second controller 120 can receive periodic signals from the first controller 110, and determine that the first controller 110 is normal when the signal is received within a predetermined time period, and determine that the first controller 110 is malfunctioning when the signal is not received within the predetermined time period. If the second controller 120 determines that the first controller 110 is normal, it can forward the instrument signals from the CAN bus to the first controller 110 for processing, and the instrument application 111-1 can generate a first display signal based on the received instrument signals to provide to the display 2000 for display.

[0026] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the instrument application 111-1 is also configured to generate the first display signal via a dedicated virtual display device 114-2. As an example, a layer-based virtual display device or driver component DRM1 can be virtually established in the kernel layer 114 of the Android system of the first controller 110 for the instrument application's sole use. That is, a dedicated virtual display device or display can be established for the instrument display. Thus, regardless of whether the display 2000 has one or more screens and regardless of the amount of content to be displayed on the display 2000, sufficient display resources can be provided for the instrument display. In this way, dedicated display device resources can always be ensured for the instrument display, which further improves the reliability of the instrument display in the integrated instrument solution and avoids resource contention with other applications.

[0027] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the instrument application 111-1 includes a first computer language, and the cockpit application 111-2 includes a second computer language, wherein the second computer language needs to be converted into the first computer language before being executed by the processor. As an example, the framework layer 112 in the first controller 110 can provide a Native UI framework 112-1. Thus, the instrument application 111-1 can be built using a different underlying computer language than the cockpit application and run within the Native UI framework 112-1 dedicated to instrument display. The Native UI framework 112-1 can directly access the DRM1 in the core layer 140 to generate the first display signal for the instrument display. In contrast, the cockpit application 111-2 is built using an easy-to-develop language (e.g., JAVA) suitable for the operating system (e.g., Android) of the first control unit 110. The cockpit application 111-2 will run within the Android framework layer 112-2 and will not have access to the DRM1114-2. In this way, the operation of the instrument application can be optimized and improved within a single operating system, and the stability and reliability of the instrument display are ensured.

[0028] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the second control unit 120 is further configured to forward instrument signals to the display chip 200 in response to receiving a second detection signal indicating an abnormality in the first control unit 110. For example, if the second control unit 120 receives a detection signal indicating an abnormality in the first control unit 110, it indicates a problem with the operation of the software or hardware system of the first control unit 110, and it may be unable to process and provide signals for instrument display. Therefore, the second control unit 120 can forward the instrument signals from the CAN bus to the display chip 200 instead of forwarding them to the first control unit 110.

[0029] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the second control unit 120 is further configured to send a reset signal to the first control unit 110 in response to receiving a second detection signal. For example, if the first controller 110 malfunctions, the monitoring and reset program module 121 of the second control unit 120 can send a reset signal to the first control unit 110 to reset the first control unit 110 and restart the Android system. In this way, the malfunction of the first control unit 110 can be eliminated as quickly as possible, so that it can regain control of the instrument display function after the first control unit returns to normal.

[0030] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a display 2000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the instrument application 111-1 is further configured to generate a second display signal for a predetermined area PA in the display 2000, updated at a predetermined period, the predetermined area PA including an area in the display 2000 that does not affect the display effect. As an example, the instrument application 111-1 in the first control unit 110 can send the second display signal to the display 200 to update the predetermined area PA of the display 200 at a predetermined period, which helps to determine whether the first control unit 110 is malfunctioning. For example, when the first control unit 110 malfunctions, the second display signal will not be sent to the display 2000 according to the predetermined period, so the predetermined area PA of the display will be stuck on the same frame image for a long time. Thus, by detecting whether the image of the predetermined area PA of the display 2000 is updated, the malfunction of the first controller 110 can be determined. It should be noted that the predetermined area PA is an area that does not affect the display effect of the display 2000. For example, the predetermined area PA can be a small area at the edge or corner of the display 200 screen, such as the [0,0] to [1,1] area of ​​the screen. In this way, the second display signal used for detection can be prevented from affecting the instrument display or other content display on the screen.

[0031] The display chip 200 of the vehicle electronic system 1000 will now be described in further detail. According to embodiments of this disclosure, the display chip 200 is communicatively coupled to a first control unit 110 and a second control unit 120 of the vehicle control device 100. As an example, the display chip 200 may be an OSD (On-Screen Display) chip or another type of chip that is simpler and more reliable than an MCU. The display chip 200 facilitates the provision of display signals to the display 2000 to achieve display functions. For example, the display chip 200 can convert parallel signals from the first control unit 110 (e.g., a SoC) into serial signals, such as converting LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) signals into GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Links) signals, which helps to increase the signal transmission distance.

[0032] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the display chip 200 is configured to output a second detection signal to the second control unit 120 based on at least one of the following: no input of the first display signal and / or the second display signal is detected within a first predetermined time period; and no update of a predetermined area PA in the display 2000 is detected within a second predetermined time period. As an example, the display chip 200 can determine whether a display signal has not been received from the first control unit 110 for an extended period, and detect whether the predetermined area PA of the display 2000 has not been updated for an extended period. If the display chip 200 fails to receive any display signal within the predetermined time period, it indicates that the first controller 110 has not issued a display signal for an extended period. Furthermore, if the predetermined area PA of the display 2000 fails to update within the predetermined time period, it indicates that the periodically issued second display signal has failed to be issued on time. An anomaly can be determined by at least one of the above two conditions. In the event that an anomaly is determined in the first control unit 110, the display chip 200 can (e.g., via SPI) send a second detection signal indicating an anomaly in the first control unit 110 to the second control unit 120. After receiving the second detection signal, the second control unit 120 will forward the instrument signal to the display chip 200 instead of forwarding it to the first control unit 110 which is malfunctioning.

[0033] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the display chip 200 is configured to output a third display signal to the display 2000 in response to receiving an instrument signal. For example, if the first control unit 110 malfunctions and cannot process the instrument signal, the display chip 200 can process the received instrument signal and output the third display signal to display the instrument information on the display 2000. In this way, if the first control unit 110, which acts as the main controller, malfunctions, the display chip 200 can temporarily handle the processing and provide the instrument display function, thereby avoiding a dangerous situation where the driver cannot view the vehicle status.

[0034] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the display chip 200 includes an image library 210 and is configured to generate a third display signal by acquiring image information from the image library 210 based on instrument signals. As an example, the display chip 200 may have a relatively simple memory or register, and the image library 200 may be pre-stored. In one embodiment, the second control unit 120 may initialize the display chip 200, for example, by pre-storing the image library in the memory or register of the display chip 200 during initialization. If the display chip 200 needs to process the instrument signals, it can retrieve and acquire corresponding image information based on the received instrument signals. For example, when the display chip 200 receives a left-turn instrument signal, it can retrieve and find the image corresponding to the left turn from the image library and provide the image to the display 2000 for display. In this way, the instrument display can be implemented in a simple, low-cost, and efficient manner, replacing the first control unit 110 that malfunctions.

[0035] In the embodiments of this disclosure, by setting the instrument cluster application and the cockpit application in the same operating system, prioritizing the allocation of resources for the instrument cluster application, and optimizing the operation of the instrument cluster application, the reliability of the instrument display function in a single operating system is greatly improved. Furthermore, the use of a single operating system avoids the performance degradation of the operating system and is applicable to various chip platforms. In addition, in the event of an anomaly in the first control unit of the single operating system, a second control unit and a display chip can replace the first control unit in processing the instrument signals, which further enhances the reliability of the instrument display and eliminates potential vehicle driving safety hazards.

[0036] From the teachings given in the foregoing description and related drawings, many modifications and other embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is to be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, although the foregoing description and related drawings have described exemplary embodiments in the context of certain example combinations of components and / or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of components and / or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. In this regard, for example, other combinations of components and / or functions that differ from those explicitly described above are also contemplated within the scope of this disclosure. Although specific terms are used herein, they are used in a general and descriptive sense only and are not intended to be limiting.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle control device (100) for instrument display, comprising: The first control unit (110) includes an instrument application (111-1) and a cockpit application (111-2) located in the same operating system, and is configured to allocate processor and memory resources to the instrument application (111-1) with a higher priority than the cockpit application (111-2); as well as A second control unit (120) is communicatively coupled to the first control unit (110) and configured to forward an instrument signal from an external device (3000) to the first control unit (110) in response to receiving a first detection signal indicating that the first control unit (110) is normal, the instrument signal being associated with the driving state of the vehicle, and the instrument application (111-1) being configured to generate a first display signal based on the instrument signal; The second control unit (120) receives a detection signal indicating whether the first control unit (110) is abnormal; the detection signal comes from the display chip (200), and the display chip (200) receives and detects the display signal sent by the first control unit (110) to determine whether the first control unit (110) is working normally; or, the second control unit (120) receives a periodic signal from the first control unit (110), and determines that the first control unit (110) is normal when a signal is received within a predetermined time period, and determines that the first control unit (110) is abnormal when no signal is received within the predetermined time period; The instrument application (111-1) is further configured to generate a second display signal for a predetermined area (PA) in a display (2000) that is updated at a predetermined period, the predetermined area (PA) including an area in the display (2000) that has no effect on the display effect, so that the predetermined area (PA) of the display (2000) is updated at a predetermined period to determine whether the first control unit (110) is abnormal.

2. The vehicle control device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the second control unit (120) is further configured to forward the instrument signal to the display chip (200) in response to receiving a second detection signal indicating an abnormality of the first control unit (110).

3. The vehicle control device (100) according to claim 2, wherein the second control unit (120) is further configured to send a reset signal to the first control unit (110) in response to receiving the second detection signal.

4. The vehicle control device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the instrument application (111-1) is further configured to generate the first display signal via a dedicated virtual display device (114-2).

5. The vehicle control device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the instrument application (111-1) includes a first computer language, and the cockpit application (111-2) includes a second computer language, wherein the second computer language needs to be converted into the first computer language before being executed by the processor.

6. An in-vehicle electronic system (1000) for instrument display, comprising: The vehicle control device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 5. as well as The display chip (200) is communicatively coupled to the first control unit (110) and the second control unit (120) of the vehicle control device (100).

7. The vehicle electronic system (1000) according to claim 6, wherein the display chip (200) is configured to output the second detection signal to the second control unit (120) based on at least one of the following: no input of the first display signal and / or the second display signal is detected during a first predetermined time period; and no update of a predetermined area (PA) in the display (2000) is detected during a second predetermined time period.

8. The vehicle electronic system (1000) according to claim 6, wherein the display chip (200) is configured to output a third display signal to the display (2000) in response to receiving the instrument signal.

9. The vehicle electronic system (1000) according to claim 8, wherein the display chip (200) includes an image library (210) and is configured to generate the third display signal by acquiring image information from the image library (210) based on the instrument signal.

10. A vehicle comprising: The vehicle electronic system (1000) according to any one of claims 6 to 9. as well as Monitor (2000).

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