Low-power-consumption LIN frame wake-up system, method and equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a low-power-consumption LIN frame wakeup system, which comprises a control unit and a node chip which are connected with each other, and is characterized in that the control unit is used for realizing a frame wakeup function; the node chip comprises a first layer wake-up detection unit which is used for detecting a frame header of an LIN frame to determine whether the frame header is related to the node chip or not after a frame wake-up function of the node chip is activated; and the second layer awakening detection unit is used for analyzing and detecting the current LIN frame when the current LIN frame is related to the node chip so as to determine whether the node chip is awakened to work or not. Through two-stage awakening, the working power consumption of the LIN system is greatly saved, and timely response and no frame leakage can be realized while ultra-low power consumption of the node is realized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of LIN communication, and in particular relates to a low-power communication method for frame selective awakening, specifically a low-power LIN frame awakening system, method and device. Background Art

[0002] LIN bus is a common network communication protocol, the full name is Local Interconnect Network, which is widely used in automobile systems. In automobile communication networks, LIN system is generally used as a supplement to CAN bus network, mainly used in occasions with low communication speed requirements, such as smart sensor nodes, automatic window nodes, etc.

[0003] Since the car system is powered by batteries, especially when the car is turned off, the LIN communication network is preferably in low power or sleep mode to save power. However, there are also some scenarios where LIN communication is required after the car is turned off, so the overall power consumption of LIN during operation is also particularly important.

[0004] Chinese patents or patent applications with application numbers 202310630828.4 (published on April 12, 2024), 202021343753.X (published on March 9, 2021) and 202322726394.6 (published on April 12, 2024) all describe hardware-implemented low-power LIN systems, but they can only ensure low power consumption when the LIN network is in sleep mode. Once activity occurs on the LIN bus, all nodes will wake up, and low power consumption cannot be achieved during operation.

[0005] The Chinese patents or patent applications with application numbers 201510922268.5 (published on October 16, 2018) and 202211581561.6 (published on June 23, 2023) describe software-controlled frame wake-up to achieve a low-power communication system. However, their low power consumption is achieved by periodic wake-up detection, which limits the format and time of the frame, has low wake-up efficiency, is prone to frame leakage, and cannot achieve real-time response. Summary of the invention

[0006] In order to solve the problems existing in the existing low-power LIN communication system and frame wake-up method, the present invention provides a low-power LIN frame wake-up system, method and device, which greatly saves the working power consumption of the LIN system through two-stage wake-up, and can achieve timely response without missing frames while achieving ultra-low power consumption of nodes.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, a low-power LIN frame wake-up system is provided, comprising a control unit and a node chip connected to each other, wherein the control unit is used to implement a frame wake-up function; the node chip comprises a first-layer wake-up detection unit, which is used to detect a frame header of a LIN frame to determine whether it is related to the node chip after the frame wake-up function of the node chip is activated; and a second-layer wake-up detection unit, which is used to parse and detect the current LIN frame when the current LIN frame is related to the node chip to determine whether to wake up the node chip to work.

[0008] The above technical solution aims to solve the problem that the existing low-power LIN communication system uses hardware switches to control the entire node, which only ensures low power consumption when the communication system is in sleep mode, but cannot achieve low power consumption when working normally. It wakes up through 2-layer detection, parses the frame header, and determines whether the frame is related to the node. If so, it wakes up, otherwise it will continue to maintain low power mode to save system power consumption when the LIN network is working.

[0009] The above technical solution aims to address the problems that the existing frame wake-up is basically software-controlled periodic wake-up detection, the data transmission format and time are limited, the wake-up efficiency is low, frames are easily missed, and real-time response cannot be achieved. LIN frame wake-up is implemented through hardware, is not restricted by communication specifications, and can complete the parsing of frame IDs while maintaining extremely low power consumption, and respond in real time without missing frames.

[0010] As a further technical solution, the control unit includes: a central processing unit for controlling the operation of the system; a LIN application layer for controlling LIN signal processing, configuration, identification and diagnosis; a LIN protocol layer for controlling the frame structure of the LIN signal; a LIN function clock for realizing the clock function and synchronizing with the clock of the second-layer wake-up detection unit; and a communication interface for information interaction with the node chip.

[0011] As a further technical solution, the frame structure of the LIN signal includes a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment and a checksum segment, wherein the synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment and the ID segment together constitute a frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together constitute a response, and the response interval segment is a response time.

[0012] As a further technical solution, the node chip further includes: a LIN physical layer for controlling the voltage conversion of the LIN communication physical layer interface; and an LDO for supplying power to the control unit and the node chip.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, a low-power LIN frame wake-up method is provided, comprising: When the system is in low power mode, the first layer wake-up detection unit remains turned on; The first layer wake-up detection unit detects the transmitted LIN frame, and when a dominant level exceeding the filtering time is detected, the second layer wake-up detection unit is triggered to work; After the second-layer wake-up detection unit performs clock synchronization, it parses the ID bit of the LIN frame. When the parsing is successful, the node chip is woken up to work.

[0014] As a further technical solution, the method also includes: configuring the frame structure of the LIN signal to include a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment and a checksum segment, wherein the synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment, and the ID segment together constitute a frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together constitute a response, and the response interval segment is a response time.

[0015] As a further technical solution, after the analysis is successful, the method further includes: each module of the node chip is started and completed within the response interval, and a data segment and a checksum segment are sent to complete the node chip response.

[0016] As a further technical solution, the method further includes: configuring the value of the frame wake-up ID to activate or deactivate the frame wake-up function of the node chip.

[0017] As a further technical solution, when activating the frame wake-up function of the node chip, it also includes: When the LIN node is a single-line LIN Phy, the frame wake-up ID of the current node is manually configured through the control unit; When the LIN node is a two-wire LIN Phy with automatic addressing function, the control unit automatically performs LIN automatic addressing and automatically generates a frame wake-up ID when the addressing is successful.

[0018] According to one aspect of the present invention, a low-power LIN frame wake-up device is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executed by the processor, and the processor calls the program instructions to execute the steps of the low-power LIN frame wake-up method.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. The frame wake-up function of the present invention is a two-stage wake-up, which is mainly implemented by an independent low-power hardware circuit, supports baud rate adaptive deframing, achieves ultra-low power consumption of the node, can respond to frame wake-up in time, does not miss frames, and the wake-up process does not violate the LIN protocol layer consistency requirements.

[0020] 2. The frame wake-up function of the present invention can be freely configured to be turned on and off; after being turned on, it supports 8-bit frame ID deframing, and the frame ID can be flexibly configured manually using the MCU, or it can be automatically configured in conjunction with the LIN automatic addressing function, which simplifies the installation process and is less prone to errors.

[0021] 3. The frame wake-up system of the present invention can greatly save the working power consumption of the LIN system. When the LIN system is working, each node can be selectively awakened and dormant according to application requirements, rather than all remaining in working state and wasting energy. In addition, the frame wake-up system also complies with the physical layer and protocol layer consistency requirements of LIN2.1 and is compatible with other LIN nodes. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 A topological diagram of a LIN frame wake-up system provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a frame wake-up ID configuration provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the basic structure of a LIN frame of the LIN2.1 protocol layer specification provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a frame wake-up process provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the frame parsing function principle provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] In the figure: MCU: Micro-controller Unit, micro control unit; SBC: System Basis Chip, system basic chip, generally includes power supply, communication interface chip, etc.; Core: refers to the MCU core or central processing unit, which runs the application code and controls the operation of the entire system; LIN application layer: controls the four functions of LIN signal processing, configuration, identification and diagnosis. The operations such as identification and processing of common ID and frame wake-up ID are defined here; LIN protocol layer: controls the frame structure of the LIN signal. The frame wake-up function of the present invention complies with the LIN frame structure and meets the LIN2.1 consistency requirements; Clock: MCU internal functional clock, supports LIN baud rate adaptation function, and can realize LIN communication clock calibration through Clock2; UART: UART communication interface of MCU, compatible with LIN communication logic; POWER: The power supply unit of the MCU, which is powered by the LDO of the SBC; Monitor1&Clock1: The first layer of wake-up detection, normally open, Monitor1 is an edge-triggered detection with filtering function, and the filtering is implemented by Clock1; Monitor2&Clock2: The second layer wake-up detection is triggered by the first layer wake-up detection. Monitor2 is an 8-bit frame analysis detection, and the functional clock is implemented by Clock2. LIN Phy: controls the voltage conversion of the LIN communication physical layer interface. The frame wake-up function of the present invention is compatible with the LIN2.1 physical layer consistency requirements, and also supports LIN baud rate adaptation and LIN automatic addressing functions; LDO: Linear regulated power supply, converts the power supply voltage into a stable logic voltage to power the SBC and MCU; BAT: chip power supply, connected to the positive electrode of the battery; GND: chip ground, connected to the negative pole of the battery; LIN: LIN communication, the figure shows a typical single-line LIN, and the two-line LIN supporting LIN automatic addressing is divided into two pins, LIN input and LIN output, which are all supported by the technology described in the present invention; VDD: MCU power supply, connected to the voltage output pin of LDO; TX / RX: logic signal transmission and reception, conversion between high-voltage LIN signals and LIN Phy; ID: MCU is used to control the communication signal of SBC frame wake-up ID; Clk: Output by Clock2, used for synchronization with the MCU LIN function clock; Cycle: records the synchronization information of LIN communication baud rate and Clock2, which is used for synchronization with MCU function clock. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Traditional LIN systems can only make all nodes work together or sleep. When the LIN bus is working, not all nodes need to participate. If 2 to 3 nodes participate in each communication, a LIN system has a maximum of 16 nodes, which will cause 80% of the nodes to be in an unnecessary active state, causing system power consumption to be wasted.

[0029] To this end, the present invention proposes a LIN frame wake-up system and wake-up method. For nodes with frame wake-up function, the system wakes up through layer 2 detection, parses the frame header, and determines whether the frame is related to the node. If so, the system wakes up. Otherwise, the system continues to maintain a low power consumption mode to save system power consumption when the LIN network is working.

[0030] The existing frame wake-up technologies are all implemented by software-controlled periodic wake-up detection. Although they can achieve low average power consumption over a large period, they are easily restricted by communication specifications and are prone to frame leakage.

[0031] To this end, the LIN frame wake-up function provided by the present invention is mainly implemented by hardware. It can complete the parsing of the frame ID while maintaining extremely low power consumption, and respond in real time without missing frames. In addition, the wake-up process complies with the physical layer and protocol layer consistency requirements of LIN2.1 and is compatible with any existing LIN communication system.

[0032] The technical solution of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0033] An embodiment of the present invention provides a low-power consumption LIN frame wake-up system, comprising a control unit and a node chip connected to each other.

[0034] The control unit includes: a central processing unit for controlling the operation of the system; a LIN application layer for controlling LIN signal processing, configuration, identification and diagnosis; a LIN protocol layer for controlling the frame structure of the LIN signal; a LIN function clock for realizing the clock function and synchronizing with the clock of the second layer wake-up detection unit; and a communication interface for information exchange with the node chip.

[0035] The node chip includes: a first-layer wake-up detection unit, which is used to detect the frame header of the LIN frame to determine whether it is related to the node chip after the frame wake-up function of the node chip is activated; a second-layer wake-up detection unit, which is used to parse and detect the current LIN frame when the current LIN frame is related to the node chip to determine whether to wake up the node chip to work; a LIN physical layer, which is used to control the voltage conversion of the LIN communication physical layer interface; and an LDO, which is used to power the control unit and the node chip.

[0036] See also Figure 1 The frame wake-up system is mainly composed of MCU and SBC. During the transmission of LIN frames, nodes that support LIN frame wake-up can parse the frame header to determine whether the frame is related to the node. If so, the frame will be woken up, while non-related nodes can continue to remain in low power mode to save system power consumption.

[0037] The state before the chip wakes up is called low power mode, which is divided into sleep mode and standby mode. In sleep mode, the chip will turn off the MCU, LDO and LIN Phy, so the wake-up process is longer, about 1ms, but the power consumption can be about 10uA, which is suitable for scenarios with high power requirements and slow response speed. In standby mode, the chip only turns off LIN Phy and keeps LDO on, but it will put the MCU in the lowest power mode. The system power consumption is slightly larger, about 40uA, but the wake-up time is short, which is suitable for scenarios with fast response speed.

[0038] See also Figure 2 , which gives the configuration process of the frame wake-up ID. Users can configure the frame wake-up ID according to their needs.

[0039] When the user does not need the frame wake-up function, set the frame wake-up ID to the initial value. At this time, Monitor2 and Clock2 are in bypass state, that is, the frame wake-up function is turned off. In this case, when Monitor1 detects a dominant signal of the LIN bus that exceeds the filtering time, the SBC and MCU can wake up and start normally.

[0040] When the user needs the frame wake-up function, the initial value of the frame wake-up ID can be changed to activate the function. There are two cases for changing the initial value of the frame wake-up ID. When the LIN node is a classic single-line LIN Phy, the user can manually configure the frame wake-up ID of the current node through the MCU; when the LIN node is a two-line LIN Phy with automatic addressing function, the user does not need to manually configure the frame wake-up ID, and the MCU can automatically perform LIN automatic addressing. When the addressing is successful, the frame ID is automatically generated. Therefore, the frame wake-up technology is more compatible with the automatic addressing function, which will make the installation process simpler and less prone to errors.

[0041] When the frame wake-up ID configuration is completed, Monitor2 will take effect. LIN wake-up needs to go through two stages: edge wake-up + frame wake-up, in order to successfully wake up other modules of the system. If you need to change the frame wake-up ID, you need to initialize the ID to unlock it first, and then configure the ID. LIN nodes with automatic addressing function can complete this operation automatically, while LIN nodes without automatic addressing function need to be manually coordinated with MCU.

[0042] It should be noted that the frame wake-up function described in the present invention complies with the protocol layer consistency requirements of LIN2.1 and is compatible with any current LIN bus system.

[0043] See also Figure 3, which gives the basic structure of the LIN frame of the LIN2.1 protocol layer specification, which consists of a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment, and a checksum segment. The synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment, and the ID segment together form the frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together form the response, and the response interval segment is the response time. The protocol layer consistency requires that this time should not exceed 40% of the frame time (frame header + response + response interval). When transmitted at the fastest rate of the consistency specification, 1 bit is 50us, 1 segment = 1bit start bit + 8bit + 1bit stop bit, frame header + response>=12 segments, so the time of 1 frame>=(50us*12*10) / 0.6=10ms, that is, when the response interval <10ms*0.4=4ms, any communication rate that meets the consistency requirements will not violate the consistency requirements.

[0044] See also Figure 4 , which gives the frame wake-up process. When the frame wake-up function is turned on, the chip performs frame parsing as follows: Step 1. The chip is in low power mode, Monitor1 and Clock1 remain on.

[0045] Step 2. During the synchronization interval, Monitor1 detects a dominant level that exceeds the filtering time and wakes up Monitor2 and Clock2.

[0046] Step 3. Before the synchronization phase arrives, Monitor2 and Clock2 have been successfully started and are stable.

[0047] Step 4. During the synchronization segment, Clock2 performs LIN communication rate synchronization for subsequent frame ID resolution and synchronization of the MCU LIN function clock after wake-up.

[0048] Step 5. During the frame ID segment, Monitor 2 performs serial analysis of the frame ID bit. Once it detects that the communication frame ID and the storage frame ID are inconsistent, the analysis fails and the chip immediately ends the analysis and returns to the state of step 1. If they are consistent, the analysis is successful and other modules of the chip are awakened.

[0049] Step 6. When the parsing is successful, other modules of the chip will start to complete within the response interval and send the data segment and checksum segment.

[0050] Step 7. After the chip responds, if it does not receive a low power command, it maintains the current state, otherwise it enters the state of step 1.

[0051] See also Figure 5, which gives a schematic diagram of the principle of the frame parsing function. In the figure, IDx represents the stored frame ID, which is locked after configuration by the MCU, and Bitx represents the frame ID captured by LIN communication. The functional clock is provided by Clock2 after clock synchronization, and has the function of LIN baud rate adaptation, which can achieve correct capture and sampling at any baud rate without manual setting. Since the capture is serial, each captured bit will be XORed with the corresponding stored frame ID, with the same bit being 0 and the different bit being 1. The bit that has not been compared yet maintains the default output 0, and finally outputs a positive logic 1 through the NOR gate. In the comparison of the serial 10 bits, once the comparison is inconsistent at a certain stage, the module outputs 0, indicating that the frame wake-up fails, thereby ending the current parsing behavior and restoring to the state before wake-up.

[0052] Based on the same inventive concept as the above-mentioned system embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention also provides a low-power LIN frame wake-up method, which is implemented by using a pre-configured wake-up frame structure in combination with a two-stage wake-up detection. The wake-up frame structure is pre-configured to include a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment, and a checksum segment, wherein the synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment, and the ID segment together constitute a frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together constitute a response, and the response interval segment is a response time.

[0053] Specifically, the low-power LIN frame wake-up method implemented based on the low-power LIN frame wake-up system includes the following steps: For a node chip with the frame wake-up function activated, when the system is in low power mode, the first layer wake-up detection unit remains turned on; The first layer wake-up detection unit detects the transmitted LIN frame, and when a dominant level exceeding the filtering time is detected, the second layer wake-up detection unit is triggered to work; After the second-layer wake-up detection unit performs clock synchronization, it parses the ID bit of the LIN frame. When the parsing is successful, the node chip is woken up to work.

[0054] After the analysis is successful, each module of the node chip starts and completes within the response interval, and sends a data segment and a checksum segment to complete the node chip response.

[0055] When activating the frame wake-up function of the node chip, it also includes: when the LIN node is a single-line LIN Phy, manually configuring the frame wake-up ID of the current node through the control unit; when the LIN node is a dual-line LIN Phy with automatic addressing function, the control unit automatically performs LIN automatic addressing, and automatically generates a frame wake-up ID when the addressing is successful.

[0056] It should be noted that the frame wake-up method provided in the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented using the modules in the system embodiment, and the specific implementation process will not be repeated here.

[0057] Based on the same inventive concept as the above-mentioned system embodiment, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a low-power LIN frame wake-up device, including a memory and a processor, the memory stores program instructions executed by the processor, and the processor calls the program instructions to execute the steps of the low-power LIN frame wake-up method.

[0058] In summary, the present invention has the following advantages over the prior art: 1. This frame wake-up system can greatly save the working power consumption of the LIN system. A LIN system has a maximum of 16 nodes. When the LIN bus is working, not all nodes need to participate. Each node can wake up and sleep according to demand. If only 2 to 3 nodes are required to participate in each communication, and the power consumption of a single node is about 20mA to 50mA, the frame wake-up system can save about 80% of the energy, and can save up to about 650mA of power consumption.

[0059] 2. The frame wake-up function is a two-stage wake-up, which is mainly implemented by an independent low-power hardware circuit. It supports baud rate adaptive deframing, which can achieve ultra-low power consumption of the node while responding to frame wake-up in time without missing frames. The entire wake-up process does not violate the consistency requirements of the physical layer and protocol layer of LIN, and is also compatible with other traditional LIN nodes.

[0060] 3. The frame wake-up function can be freely configured to be turned on or off; when turned on, it supports 8-bit frame ID deframing. The frame ID can be flexibly configured manually using the MCU, or it can be automatically configured in conjunction with the LIN automatic addressing function, simplifying the installation process and making it less prone to errors.

[0061] It should be noted that the above-mentioned multiple embodiments are only examples, and the technical solutions of various embodiments can be combined, all of which are within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0062] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A low-power LIN frame wake-up system, characterized in that: It includes a control unit and a node chip connected to each other, the control unit is used to implement the frame wake-up function; the node chip includes a first layer wake-up detection unit, which is used to detect the frame header of the LIN frame to determine whether it is related to the node chip after the frame wake-up function of the node chip is activated; The second layer wake-up detection unit is used to parse and detect the current LIN frame when the current LIN frame is related to the current node chip to determine whether to wake up the current node chip to work.

2. According to the low power consumption LIN frame wake-up system of claim 1, it is characterized in that: The control unit includes: a central processing unit for controlling the operation of the system; a LIN application layer for controlling LIN signal processing, configuration, identification and diagnosis; a LIN protocol layer for controlling the frame structure of the LIN signal; a LIN function clock for realizing the clock function and synchronizing with the clock of the second layer wake-up detection unit; and a communication interface for information exchange with the node chip.

3. According to the low power consumption LIN frame wake-up system of claim 2, it is characterized in that: The frame structure of the LIN signal includes a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment and a checksum segment, wherein the synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment and the ID segment together constitute a frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together constitute a response, and the response interval segment is the response time.

4. A low-power LIN frame wake-up system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The node chip further comprises: a LIN physical layer for controlling the voltage conversion of the LIN communication physical layer interface; and an LDO for supplying power to the control unit and the node chip.

5. A low-power LIN frame wake-up method, characterized in that: include: When the system is in low power mode, the first layer wake-up detection unit remains turned on; The first layer wake-up detection unit detects the transmitted LIN frame, and when a dominant level exceeding the filtering time is detected, the second layer wake-up detection unit is triggered to work; After the second-layer wake-up detection unit performs clock synchronization, it parses the ID bit of the LIN frame. When the parsing is successful, the node chip is woken up to work.

6. A low-power LIN frame wake-up method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The method also includes: configuring the frame structure of the LIN signal to include a synchronization interval segment, a synchronization segment, an ID segment, a response interval segment, a data segment and a checksum segment, wherein the synchronization interval segment, the synchronization segment, and the ID segment together constitute a frame header, the data segment and the checksum segment together constitute a response, and the response interval segment is a response time.

7. A low-power LIN frame wake-up method according to claim 6, characterized in that: After the analysis is successful, the method further includes: each module of the node chip starts and completes within the response interval, and sends a data segment and a checksum segment to complete the node chip response.

8. A low-power LIN frame wake-up method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The method further includes: configuring a value of a frame wake-up ID to activate or deactivate a frame wake-up function of the node chip.

9. A low-power LIN frame wake-up method according to claim 8, characterized in that: When activating the frame wake-up function of the node chip, it also includes: When the LIN node is a single-line LIN Phy, the frame wake-up ID of the current node is manually configured through the control unit; When the LIN node is a two-wire LIN Phy with automatic addressing function, the control unit automatically performs LIN automatic addressing and automatically generates a frame wake-up ID when the addressing is successful.

10. A low-power LIN frame wake-up device, characterized in that: It comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executed by the processor, and the processor calls the program instructions to execute the steps of the low-power LIN frame wake-up method according to any one of claims 5 to 9.

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