Hybrid wired-wireless in-vehicle network for in-vehicle communication

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hybrid wired and wireless in-vehicle network (in-vehicle network, IVN) for in-vehicle communication, the hybrid wired and wireless IVN comprising two or more area nodes. Each zone node comprises: one or more first wired ingress ports, where the one or more first wired ingress ports are configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zone node; a first wireless ingress port, where the first wireless ingress port is configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other area node; a first processing circuit, where the first processing circuit is configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; the one or more first wired output ports are used for sending the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other area node, and the one or more first wired output ports are used for sending the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other area node; and the first wireless output port is used for sending the at least one processed wireless frame to any other area node, and the first wireless output port is used for sending the at least one processed wireless frame to any other area node.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hybrid wired-wireless in-vehicle network (IVN) for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle. The present invention proposes a communication technology for IVN (e.g., for backbone infrastructure communication between regional nodes of IVN). The present invention also provides a communication method for IVN. Background Art

[0002] Traditional IVN is deployed entirely and exclusively through wired technology, for example, through physical cables mainly made of copper. In this wired environment, heterogeneous networking and communication technologies can coexist in the vehicle: Local Interconnect Network (LIN), Controller Area Network (CAN), FlexRay, Media Oriented System Transport (MOST), Automotive Ethernet (e.g., 100Base-T1, 1000Base-T1), Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), etc., to meet various networking requirements in terms of speed, data volume, end-to-end latency, protocols, etc.

[0003] While wireless technologies are also present in vehicles, such as in car access systems or tire pressure monitoring systems, they are not integrated into the IVN backbone infrastructure (e.g., neither Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or 5G). Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the above, the present invention is directed to an automotive IVN that provides a reliable and failure-resistant solution that is cost-effective and scalable.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide communication redundancy, for example, through wireless technology rather than wired technology.

[0006] In addition, the present invention also aims to provide a hardware-centric solution. A further object of the present invention is to provide a hardware coprocessor and / or hardware accelerator for inline processing and / or dynamically processing frames of different communication technologies to achieve the redundancy level required for reliable IVN.

[0007] Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a solution that aims to maximize performance and energy efficiency (relative to the CPU / GPU) while ensuring flexibility and configurability.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a fail-operable IVN that is able to meet any ASIL AD requirements required for safety-related applications integrated in a vehicle.

[0009] These and other objects are achieved by the solutions of the invention as described in the independent claims. Advantageous implementations are further specified in the dependent claims.

[0010] The present invention proposes a hybrid wired-wireless IVN, in which wired communication technology and wireless communication technology are combined. For example, the present invention proposes wireless technology applied to the IVN backbone infrastructure as a redundant, diversified secondary link or channel between regional nodes, supplementing the main link between regional nodes based on wired technology.

[0011] A first aspect of the present invention provides a hybrid wired-wireless IVN for in-vehicle communications in a vehicle, wherein the hybrid wired-wireless IVN includes: two or more regional nodes, wherein each regional node includes: one or more first wired input ports, wherein the one or more first wired input ports are used to receive at least one wired input frame from at least one other regional node; a first wireless input port, wherein the first wireless input port is used to receive at least one wireless input frame from any other regional node; a first processing circuit, wherein the first processing circuit is used to process the at least one wired input frame and / or the at least one wireless input frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more first wired output ports, wherein the one or more first wired output ports are used to send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node; a first wireless output port, wherein the first wireless output port is used to send the at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node.

[0012] The term hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be defined by the features of the first aspect. For example, the term hybrid wired-wireless IVN may refer to an IVN comprising one or more first wired ingress ports and a first wireless ingress port, wherein the one or more first wired ingress ports are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node, and the first wireless ingress port is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node.

[0013] The processing of at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame may be inline. The regional nodes may be synthesized in silicon by hardware engines that may be integrated into a network SoC architecture. The network SoC architecture may conform to the software defined networking (SDN) concept at the device level, distributed across the control plane and data plane of the networking device from the ingress port to the egress port.

[0014] Advantageously, inline processing of wired and wireless networking protocols can be used to build a reliable network that exploits the diversity and redundancy of hardware-based digital circuit implementations.

[0015] Each regional node can be partially or fully autonomous. Each regional node can be a wired and wireless core computing solution that can be partially or exclusively orchestrated and executed in hardware. Each hardware engine that can participate in the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is able to run without software intervention. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN can also be referred to as a hybrid wired-wireless processing solution. The software in this context can be software executed by a CPU of a given algorithm described by source code and assembled in a specific sequence of machine instructions.

[0016] The solution of the present invention can be applied to any type of networking equipment, for example, Internet of Things (IoT) equipment, switches, intelligent network interface cards (NIC), routers or gateways.

[0017] The IVN of the present invention may be implemented in commercial networking products and / or networking SoC devices.Although the present invention is particularly relevant to automotive applications, it is not limited to automotive applications.

[0018] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of at least one of the two or more regional nodes is also used to copy the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or copy the at least one received wireless ingress frame to generate at least one copied wired frame and / or at least one copied wireless frame, and the one or more first wired egress ports and / or the first wireless egress ports are also used to send the at least one copied wired frame and / or the at least one copied wireless frame to any other regional node.

[0019] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of at least one of the two or more regional nodes is also used to perform inline and / or in a memory the copying of the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the at least one received wireless ingress frame.

[0020] The copying of the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the at least one received wireless ingress frame may be performed without software intervention once the host CPU has configured the hardware engine during a system initialization phase by writing on configuration registers of the hardware engine that are part of the system memory map and accessible to the host CPU. The copying of the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the at least one received wireless ingress frame may be performed by digital logic based on both combinational and sequential circuits as part of the hardware engine.

[0021] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of at least one of the two or more regional nodes is also used to eliminate at least one received duplicate wired frame and / or at least one received duplicate wireless frame.

[0022] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of at least one of the two or more regional nodes is further configured to simultaneously process at least one wired ingress frame and at least one wireless ingress frame.

[0023] In an implementation of the first aspect, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN also includes one or more central computing nodes, wherein each central computing node includes: one or more second wired input ports, wherein the one or more second wired input ports are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one regional node; a second wireless input port, wherein the second wireless input port is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any regional node among the two or more regional nodes; a second processing circuit, wherein the second processing circuit is used to process the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more second wired output ports, wherein the one or more second wired output ports are used to send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one regional node; a second wireless output port, wherein the second wireless output port is used to send the at least one processed wireless frame to any regional node.

[0024] In an implementation of the first aspect, each of the two or more regional nodes is also used to send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one central computing node and / or send redundant processed wireless frames to at least one central computing node.

[0025] In an implementation of the first aspect, each regional node is a vehicle interface unit.

[0026] In an implementation manner of the first aspect, each regional node is a regional controller or a regional gateway controller.

[0027] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node includes a frame normalizer for normalizing frames, wherein the frame normalizer is used to convert the received at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

[0028] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node also includes an action processing level for switching and gateway processing frames, and the action processing level includes a wired and wireless gateway hardware engine, wherein the wired and wireless gateway hardware engine is used to: generate the at least one copied wired frame and / or generate the at least one copied wireless frame, and / or eliminate the at least one copied wired frame and / or eliminate the at least one copied wireless frame.

[0029] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node also includes an ingress queuing processing stage for queuing frames; the loopback path is used to loop back the output frame of the wired frame exchange to the ingress queuing processing stage to convert the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

[0030] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node also includes an intermediate queuing processing stage for intermediate queuing of frames; the loopback path is also used to loop back the output frame of the wired frame exchange to the intermediate queuing processing stage to convert the output frame into the at least one copied wireless frame.

[0031] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node also includes a traffic shaping processing stage; the loopback path is also used to loop back the output frame of the traffic shaping processing stage to the ingress queuing processing stage and / or the intermediate queuing processing stage.

[0032] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node is further used to: determine an internal ingress queuing state of the ingress queuing processing stage, determine an internal intermediate queuing state of the intermediate queuing processing stage and / or determine an internal egress queuing state of the egress queuing processing stage, and identify at least one traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes among the two or more regional nodes based on the internal ingress queuing state, the internal intermediate queuing state and / or the internal egress queuing state.

[0033] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node is also used to reroute congested frames according to the internal inlet queuing status, the internal intermediate queuing status and / or the internal outlet queuing status to alleviate the traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes among the two or more regional nodes.

[0034] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node is further configured to: when rerouting the congested frame, prioritize at least one safety critical frame over at least one non-safety critical frame.

[0035] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first wireless output port of each regional node is further used to send at least one congested frame to any other regional node, thereby skipping at least one congested regional node among the two or more regional nodes.

[0036] In an implementation of the first aspect, the first processing circuit of each regional node is further used to: determine that the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved based on the internal inlet queuing state, the internal intermediate queuing state and / or the internal outlet queuing state, and stop rerouting frames to restore a normal routing state when the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved.

[0037] The above implementation provides the following advantages:

[0038] Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is a chipset capable of processing both wired frames and wireless frames. The processing of wired frames and wireless frames can be performed entirely in hardware. The processing of wired frames and wireless frames can improve KPIs such as reliability, scalability, cost, performance and / or energy consumption, and thus achieve an excellent balance between these KPIs.

[0039] Advantageously, the processing of wired and wireless frames from ingress port to egress port can be hardware-centric, preferably with little or no CPU intervention except during the system initialization phase when the host CPU configures the configuration registers of each hardware engine.

[0040] Advantageously, hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides an architecture with dedicated hardware that enables Freedom-from-Interference (FFI) and ultra-low latency.

[0041] Advantageously, the physical implementation of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is optimized in terms of cost due to resource reuse, loopback paths, and architectural adaptation to the networking processing algorithms (e.g., automotive GW controller and / or SoC).

[0042] Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is used to perform inline wired and wireless network convergence in the same networking SoC at wire speed (ie, leveraging hardware parallelism and pipelining).

[0043] Advantageously, tunneling of wired and wireless frames may be performed by dedicated hardware digital circuits integrated into the networking SoC device.

[0044] Advantageously, the frame replication and elimination for reliability (FRER) algorithm for wired and wireless frames can be performed by dedicated hardware digital circuits integrated in the networking SoC device.

[0045] Advantageously, the simple, modular architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides a cost-effective hardware solution.

[0046] Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides an autonomous, configurable wired and wireless network SoC solution based on memory mapping (and therefore based on configurable registers accessible by the host CPU at boot time and / or initialization time).

[0047] Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is a networking SoC solution that can be fully configured through registers (ie, a memory map accessible to the CPU at initialization time).

[0048] Advantageously, hybrid wired-wireless IVN can be a pure hardware solution that is embedded in the data path of a networking device (e.g., a switch) to perform all network processing inline, based on the reception of network frames, and achieve line-speed performance, with almost zero latency due to optimizations in parallelism, pipelining, loopback, and frame priority arbitration.

[0049] Advantageously, the hardware-centric computing architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN, i.e., digital circuits without software, provides higher performance than software-centric architectures.

[0050] Advantageously, the above implementation provides automated, accelerated processing, making time deterministic, ie, strictly controlling time, and thus providing better QoS, such as lower latency.

[0051] Advantageously, the above implementation provides a flexible architecture with hyper-parameterized IP cores (ie, hardware engines) designed to provide the flexibility to accomplish any computational request.

[0052] Advantageously, the above implementation provides hardware acceleration, thereby improving the utilization of parallelism and pipelining techniques.

[0053] Advantageously, the scalable architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN of the present invention provides an architecture that is portable to different types of networking devices. The scalable architecture is scalable in terms of port count, protocol, and line rate processing.

[0054] Advantageously, the above implementation provides a less complex construction approach, thereby naturally eliminating complexity when migrating wired and wireless processing algorithms from software-centric implementations to hardware-centric implementations.

[0055] Advantageously, the customized solution provided by the present invention can be designed for ASIC to provide lower power consumption than CPU or GPU solutions.

[0056] Advantageously, the solution of the present invention can replace copper or fiber based communications with wireless communications, thereby reducing weight.

[0057] Advantageously, the solution of the present invention can replace the software-centric implementation of network primitives with a hardware-centric implementation of the solution through a custom IP core integrated in a SoC.

[0058] Advantageously, the scheme of the present invention provides inline processing of frames driven by hardware parallelism and pipelining.

[0059] Advantageously, the scheme of the present invention may provide an autonomous, configurable wired-wireless co-processor based on a memory map (ie, configurable registers accessible by a host CPU at boot time).

[0060] Advantageously, the solution of the present invention can effectively adapt wired and wireless processing cores as HW digital circuits or IP cores into the architecture of a given networking device along the forwarding data path of the given networking device.

[0061] Advantageously, the solutions of the present invention are portable and can be adopted by many vertical industries, such as: automotive, cloud computing and data centers, industrial and smart manufacturing, home office LAN, (I)IoT devices, smart NIC devices.

[0062] Advantageously, the present invention provides an architecture that efficiently integrates inline wired and wireless computing in networking devices while achieving an excellent balance between KPIs (e.g., cost, performance, and energy) and automatically performing bit manipulation and / or processing on frame data adapted to any network protocol.

[0063] The second aspect of the present invention provides a method for a hybrid wired-wireless IVN, which is used for in-vehicle communications in a vehicle, and the method includes: one or more first wired ingress ports receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node; a first wireless ingress port receives at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node; a first processing circuit processes the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more first wired egress ports send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node; and a first wireless egress port sends the at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node.

[0064] The method of the second aspect and its implementation method achieve the same advantages and effects as the hybrid wired-wireless IVN of the first aspect and its corresponding implementation method mentioned above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0065] In conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the following description of specific embodiments will illustrate the above aspects and their implementation methods. In the drawings:

[0066] Figure 1 A hybrid wired-wireless IVN including two or more regional nodes provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0067] Figure 2 A hybrid wired-wireless IVN including two or more regional nodes provided by another embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0068] Figure 3 A simplified SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0069] Figure 4 The embodiment of the present invention shows an SDN-compliant SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking.

[0070] Figure 5 A block diagram of a networking SOC device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0071] Figure 6 A block diagram of a networking SOC device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0072] Figure 7 The wired and wireless gateway hardware engine provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0073] Figure 8 A timing diagram of frame replication and frame elimination provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0074] Fig. 9The frame operation in the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0075] Fig.10 A hybrid wired-wireless IVN including two or more regional nodes provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0076] Fig.11 A method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0077] Figure 1 A hybrid wired-wireless IVN including two or more regional nodes provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0078] The hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 can be used for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 can include two or more regional nodes 100. Each of the two or more regional nodes 100 can include one or more first wired ingress ports 110, wherein the one or more first wired ingress ports 110 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100. Each regional node 100 can also include a first wireless ingress port, which is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100. In addition, each regional node 100 can include a first processing circuit 130, wherein the first processing circuit 130 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame. In addition, each regional node 100 can include one or more first wired egress ports 120, wherein the one or more first wired egress ports 120 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100. Each regional node 100 may further include a first wireless output port 121 , wherein the first wireless output port 121 is configured to send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100 .

[0079] Figure 2 A hybrid wired and wireless IVN 1000 provided by another embodiment of the present invention includes two or more regional nodes 100. The hybrid wired and wireless IVN 1000 can be used for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001.

[0080] like Figure 2As shown, for example, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may include four regional nodes 100. Each of the two or more regional nodes 100 may include one or more first wired ingress ports 110, wherein the one or more first wired ingress ports 110 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100. Each regional node 100 may also include a first wireless ingress port, which is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100. In addition, each regional node 100 may include a first processing circuit 130, wherein the first processing circuit 130 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame. In addition, each regional node 100 may include one or more first wired egress ports 120, wherein the one or more first wired egress ports 120 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100. Each regional node 100 may further include a first wireless output port 121 , wherein the first wireless output port 121 is configured to send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100 .

[0081] In addition, if Figure 2 As shown, for example, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN may include a central computing node 200. The central computing node 200 may include one or more second wired ingress ports 210, wherein the one or more second wired ingress ports 210 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one regional node 100. The central computing node 200 may also include a second wireless ingress port 211, wherein the second wireless ingress port 211 is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any of the four regional nodes 100. In addition, the central computing node 200 may include a second processing circuit 230, wherein the second processing circuit 230 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame. In addition, the central computing node 200 may include one or more second wired egress ports 220, wherein the one or more second wired egress ports 220 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one regional node 100. The central computing node 200 may further include a second wireless output port 221 , which is used to send at least one processed wireless frame to any regional node 100 .

[0082] Figure 2Each of the four area nodes 100 may also be configured to send at least one processed wired frame to the central computing node 200 and / or send redundant processed wireless frames to the central computing node 200 .

[0083] For example, Figure 2 At least one of the four area nodes 100 in the sensor unit may receive at least one wired ingress frame from the sensor unit. Then, at least one of the four area nodes 100 may process the at least one wired ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame. Then, for example, one or more first wired egress ports 120 may send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other area node 100. In addition or alternatively, the first wireless egress port 121 may send the at least one processed wireless frame to any other area node 100.

[0084] Figure 2 The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the remaining three regional nodes 100 can also be used to copy at least one received wired ingress frame and / or copy at least one received wireless ingress frame to generate at least one copied wired frame and / or at least one copied wireless frame.

[0085] One or more first wired egress ports 120 and / or first wireless egress ports 121 of at least one of the remaining three regional nodes 100 may also be used to send at least one copied wired frame and / or at least one copied wireless frame to any other regional node 100 .

[0086] Figure 2 The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the two or more regional nodes 100 may also be configured to perform the copying of the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the at least one received wireless ingress frame inline and / or in memory. The copying of the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the at least one received wireless ingress frame may be performed by digital logic based on both combinational circuits and sequential circuits.

[0087] Figure 2 The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the two or more regional nodes 100 may also be used to eliminate at least one received duplicate wired frame and / or at least one received duplicate wireless frame.

[0088] Figure 2The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the four regional nodes 100 may also be configured to simultaneously process at least one wired ingress frame and at least one wireless ingress frame.

[0089] from Figure 2 As can be seen in FIG. 1 , for example, each regional node 100 is a vehicle interface unit. Alternatively, each regional node 100 may be a regional controller or a regional gateway controller.

[0090] Each regional node can be composed of hardware-centric wired and wireless processing engines. Each regional node can be integrated in a network SoC processed by a specific hardware engine in a fully automated manner, aiming to maintain the same level of flexibility achievable in SW, but because it is implemented by dedicated and customized hardware digital circuits instead of general-purpose hardware processing units such as CPUs or NoCs, it can improve performance, that is, achieve ultra-low latency.

[0091] Figure 3 A simplified SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0092] from Figure 3 As can be seen, for example, the simplified SoC network architecture may include four first wired ingress ports 110, and the four first wired ingress ports 110 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100. For example, the simplified SoC network architecture may also include a first wireless ingress port 111, wherein the first wireless ingress port 111 is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100.

[0093] Figure 3 The simplified SoC network architecture may include a first processing circuit 130, wherein the first processing circuit 130 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame.

[0094] In addition, if Figure 3 As shown, for example, a simplified SoC network architecture may include two first wired output ports 120 and a first wireless output port 121, wherein the two first wired output ports 120 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100, and the first wireless output port 121 is used to send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100.

[0095] Figure 3The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing a frame. The frame normalizer 310 may be used to convert at least one received wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

[0096] Figure 3 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a matching processing stage 370 for filtering and managing frames.

[0097] Figure 3 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also include an action processing stage 320 for switching and gateway processing frames. The action processing stage 320 may include a wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321, wherein the wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 is used to generate at least one duplicated wired frame from at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame and / or generate at least one duplicated wireless frame from at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame. The wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 may be used to eliminate at least one duplicated wired frame and / or eliminate at least one duplicated wireless frame.

[0098] The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may further include a traffic shaping processing stage 360 ​​.

[0099] Figure 4 The embodiment of the present invention shows an SDN-compliant SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking.

[0100] from Figure 4 As can be seen, for example, the simplified SoC network architecture may include four first wired ingress ports 110, and the four first wired ingress ports 110 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100. For example, the simplified SoC network architecture may also include a first wireless ingress port 111, wherein the first wireless ingress port 111 is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100.

[0101] Figure 4 The simplified SoC network architecture may include a first processing circuit 130, wherein the first processing circuit 130 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame.

[0102] In addition, if Figure 4As shown, for example, a simplified SoC network architecture may include two first wired output ports 120 and a first wireless output port 121, wherein the two first wired output ports 120 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100, and the first wireless output port 121 is used to send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100.

[0103] Figure 4 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing a frame. The frame normalizer 310 may be used to convert at least one received wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

[0104] Figure 4 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a matching processing stage 370 for filtering and managing frames.

[0105] Figure 4 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also include an action processing stage 320 for switching and gateway processing frames. The action processing stage 320 may include a wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321, wherein the wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 is used to generate at least one duplicate wired frame and / or generate at least one duplicate wireless frame. The wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 may be used to eliminate at least one duplicate wired frame and / or eliminate at least one duplicate wireless frame.

[0106] The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also include a traffic shaping processing stage 360, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0107] It can be seen that Figure 4 The SDN-compliant SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking is divided into the control plane and the data plane. Figure 4 As shown, for example, the SDN-compliant SoC network architecture can receive at least one wired ingress frame via CAN Flexible Data Rate (CAN-FD), automotive Ethernet, LIN, and / or FlexRay. In addition, the SDN-compliant SoC network architecture can receive at least one wireless ingress frame via Wi-Fi. In addition, for example, the SDN-compliant SoC network architecture can send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node via CAN-FD and / or automotive Ethernet, and can send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100 via Wi-Fi.

[0108] Figure 5A block diagram of a networking SOC device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 6 A block diagram of a networking SOC device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 7 The wired and wireless gateway hardware engine provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0109] from Figures 5 to 7 As can be seen in the figure, each regional node 100 may include one or more first wired ingress ports 110 and first wireless ingress ports 111, wherein the one or more first wired ingress ports 110 are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100, and the first wireless ingress port 111 is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100. In addition, each regional node 100 may include a first processing circuit 130, wherein the first processing circuit 130 is used to process at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame. Each regional node 100 may also include one or more first wired egress ports 120 and a first wireless egress port 121, wherein the one or more first wired egress ports 120 are used to send at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100, and the first wireless egress port 121 is used to send at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node 100.

[0110] Figures 5 to 7 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing a frame. The frame normalizer 310 may be used to convert at least one received wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

[0111] Figures 5 to 7 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also include an ingress queuing processing stage 330 for queuing frames. The loopback path 400 may be used to loop back the output frame of the wired frame switch 350 to the ingress queuing processing stage 330 to convert the output frame into at least one replicated wireless frame.

[0112] Figures 5 to 7 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may include a matching processing stage 370 for filtering and managing frames.

[0113] exist Figures 5 to 7 In the embodiment, the first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may further include an intermediate queuing processing stage 340 for intermediate queuing of frames. The loopback path 400 may also be used to loop back the output frame of the wired frame switch 350 to the intermediate queuing processing stage 340 to convert the output frame into at least one replicated wireless frame.

[0114] Figures 5 to 7 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also include an action processing stage 320 for switching and gateway processing frames. The action processing stage 320 may include a wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321, wherein the wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 is used to generate at least one duplicate wired frame and / or generate at least one duplicate wireless frame. The wired wireless gateway hardware engine 321 can be used to eliminate at least one duplicate wired frame and / or eliminate at least one duplicate wireless frame. The loopback path 400 can also be used to loop back the output frame of the action processing stage 320 to the inlet queuing processing stage 330 and / or the intermediate queuing processing stage 340.

[0115] Figures 5 to 7 The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 shown in FIG. 1 may include an egress queuing processing stage 380 for egress queuing.

[0116] exist Figures 5 to 7 In the example, the first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may further include a traffic shaping processing stage 360. The loopback path 400 may also be used to loop back the output frames of the traffic shaping processing stage 360 ​​to the ingress queuing processing stage 330 and / or the intermediate queuing processing stage 340.

[0117] According to this embodiment, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 can be embedded into the network SoC architecture as a modular, configurable and hyper-parameterized building block.

[0118] The new building block can be plugged into the gateway block of the motion processing stage 320 of the SoC device as an IP core responsible for performing the required wired and wireless processing. Figure 5 The process of wired and wireless tunnel transmission is shown. Figure 5 The flow of a frame replication and elimination for reliability (FRER) algorithm is also shown. The wired-wireless tunneling and FRER algorithm may utilize a loopback path 400 implemented in a network SoC device.

[0119] Figure 7 The networking flow through multiple processing stages is described. The wired-to-wireless frame copy operation is shown as part of the FRER algorithm. The networking flow shown can be fully synthesized by dedicated hardware.

[0120] Figure 8 A timing diagram of frame replication and frame elimination provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0121] exist Figure 8In the embodiment, the first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the two or more regional nodes 100 can be used to copy at least one received wired ingress frame and / or copy at least one received wireless ingress frame to generate at least one copied wired frame and / or at least one copied wireless frame. The first wireless egress port 121 can be used to send at least one copied wired frame and / or at least one copied wireless frame to any other regional node 100.

[0122] also, Figure 8 The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the two or more regional nodes 100 may be configured to perform inline and / or in memory the copying of at least one received wired ingress frame and / or the copying of at least one received wireless ingress frame.

[0123] also, Figure 8 The first processing circuit 130 of at least one of the two or more regional nodes 100 may be configured to eliminate at least one received duplicate wired frame and / or at least one received duplicate wireless frame.

[0124] like Figure 8 As shown, a configurable hardware engine can be responsible for inline wired and wireless processing embedded in a networking device. Figure 8 An example of a wired and wireless FRER algorithm is shown, wherein one or more regional nodes 100 in a hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be equipped with one or more first wired ingress ports 110, a first wireless ingress port 111, one or more first wired egress ports 120, and a first wireless egress port 121. These redundant ports 110, 111, 120, and 121 may be used to establish reliable communications.

[0125] Figure 8 A method 900 is shown comprising the following steps:

[0126] Step 901: Copy and eliminate wired Ethernet frames over the air. Process OK.

[0127] Step 902: Copy and eliminate wired CAN frames via wireless. Process OK.

[0128] Step 903: Wired Ethernet frames are copied wirelessly, but wired transmission is defective. The process is OK because there are redundant wireless frames.

[0129] Fig. 9 The frame operation in the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0130] Fig. 9The hardware engine used to perform operations on any given frame (e.g., duplication and / or elimination of wired and wireless frames) is shown. Fig. 9 As shown, the operation may also be performed directly inline by a hardware processor and / or a hardware coprocessor.

[0131] Alternatively or in addition, for example, a hardware engine may be used to perform the manipulation of any given frame and the encapsulation and / or decapsulation from one network protocol to another (wired or wireless). Fig. 9 As shown, the operation may also be performed directly inline by a hardware processor and / or a hardware coprocessor.

[0132] also, Fig. 9 The concept of replication and rerouting used in load balancing or network congestion scenarios is shown. The replication and / or rerouting can be performed at runtime, dynamically and / or automatically by digital circuits. Fig. 9 In the example shown, a wired frame routed from VIU1 to VIU3 via VIU2 as an intermediate hop is copied, and a new wireless frame is generated by the hardware engine, which is routed directly from VIU1 to VIU3 skipping the hop of VIU2. Fig. 9 In FIG. 5 , an example of load balancing or network congestion relief is shown in the case of VIU2 overload / congestion (e.g., internal queues are full and therefore ingress frames are dropped). Fig. 9 In the example shown, due to the above replication strategy, it is guaranteed that the information sent from VIU1 to VIU3 actually reaches VIU3. Therefore, the network congestion problem observed in VIU2 mentioned above is solved and the reliability of IVN is improved.

[0133] Fig.10 A hybrid wired-wireless IVN including two or more regional nodes provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0134] according to Fig.10 In the illustrated embodiment, the first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also be used to determine an internal ingress queue state of the ingress queue processing stage 330, determine an internal intermediate queue state of the intermediate queue processing stage 340, and / or determine an internal egress queue state of the egress queue processing stage 380. The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may be used to identify at least one traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes 100 of the four regional nodes 100 based on the internal ingress queue state, the internal intermediate queue state, and / or the internal egress queue state.

[0135] Fig.10The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also be used to reroute the congested frame according to the internal ingress queuing state, the internal intermediate queuing state and / or the internal egress queuing state to relieve traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes 100 in the two or more regional nodes 100. The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also be used to prioritize at least one security critical frame over at least one non-security critical frame when rerouting the congested frame.

[0136] The first wireless egress port 121 of each area node 100 may be used to send at least one congested frame to any other area node 100 , thereby skipping at least one congested area node 100 among two or more area nodes 100 .

[0137] The first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may also be used to determine that at least one traffic congestion has been resolved based on the internal inlet queue state, the internal intermediate queue state, and / or the internal outlet queue state. In addition, the first processing circuit 130 of each regional node 100 may be used to stop rerouting frames when at least one traffic congestion has been resolved to restore a normal routing state.

[0138] For example, Fig.10 As shown, the safety-related signal must be transmitted from the first area node 100 (i.e. Fig.10 A) is redundantly sent to the second regional node (i.e. Fig.10 B), the safety-related signal can be integrated in a safety-critical frame (e.g., an Ethernet frame) and can be part of an ASIL-D function (e.g., Electric Power Steering (EPS)) implemented in a vehicle. Although wired Ethernet is a way to transmit safety-critical frames from the first regional node 100 (i.e., Fig.10 A) is sent to the second regional node 100 (i.e. Fig.10 However, a redundant wireless frame is generated inside the first area node 100 and is directly sent to the second area node 100, thereby skipping any relay or jump in the wired link between the first area node 100 and the second area node 100.

[0139] Fig.11 The method 800 provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown. The method 800 may be used in a hybrid wired and wireless IVN 1000, which is used for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001. The method 800 may be executed by at least one regional node 100 of two or more regional nodes 100.

[0140] The method 800 comprises step 801 : one or more first wired ingress ports 110 receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node 100 .

[0141] The method 800 further includes step 802 : the first wireless ingress port 111 receives at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node 100 .

[0142] The step 801 of receiving at least one wired ingress frame and the step 802 of receiving at least one wireless ingress frame may be performed in parallel.

[0143] The method 800 further includes step 803 : the first processing circuit 130 processes at least one wired ingress frame and / or at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame.

[0144] In addition, the method 800 includes step 804 : the one or more first wired egress ports 120 transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node 100 .

[0145] The method 800 further includes step 805 : the first wireless output port 121 sends at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node.

[0146] The step 804 of sending at least one processed wired frame and the step 805 of sending at least one processed wireless frame may be performed in parallel.

[0147] The invention has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples and implementations. However, from a study of the drawings, the invention and the independent claims, other variations will be understood and implemented by a person skilled in the art in implementing the claimed subject matter. In the claims and in the specification, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfil the functions of several entities or items described in the claims. The fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not in itself mean that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

Claims

1. A hybrid wired and wireless in-vehicle network (IVN) (1000), characterized in that: The hybrid wired and wireless IVN (1000) is used for on-board communication in a vehicle (1001), and the hybrid wired and wireless IVN (1000) comprises: Two or more regional nodes (100), wherein each regional node (100) comprises: one or more first wired ingress ports (110), wherein the one or more first wired ingress ports (110) are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node (100); a first wireless ingress port (111), wherein the first wireless ingress port (111) is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node (100); a first processing circuit (130), wherein the first processing circuit (130) is configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more first wired egress ports (120), wherein the one or more first wired egress ports (120) are used to send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node (100); A first wireless output port (121), wherein the first wireless output port (121) is used to send the at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node (100).

2. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of at least one of the two or more regional nodes (100) is further configured to replicate the at least one received wired ingress frame and / or replicate the at least one received wireless ingress frame to generate at least one replicated wired frame and / or at least one replicated wireless frame, The one or more first wired egress ports (120) and / or the first wireless egress port (121) are further configured to send the at least one copied wired frame and / or the at least one copied wireless frame to any other regional node (100).

3. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of at least one of the two or more regional nodes (100) is also used to perform inline and / or in memory the copying of the received at least one wired ingress frame and / or the copying of the received at least one wireless ingress frame.

4. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of at least one of the two or more regional nodes (100) is further configured to eliminate at least one received duplicate wired frame and / or at least one received duplicate wireless frame.

5. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of at least one regional node (100) among the two or more regional nodes (100) is further configured to simultaneously process at least one wired ingress frame and at least one wireless ingress frame.

6. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Also includes: One or more central computing nodes (200), wherein each central computing node (200) comprises: One or more second wired ingress ports (210), wherein the one or more second wired ingress ports (210) are used to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one regional node (100); a second wireless ingress port (211), wherein the second wireless ingress port (211) is used to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any regional node (100) among the two or more regional nodes (100); a second processing circuit (230), wherein the second processing circuit (230) is configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more second wired egress ports (220), wherein the one or more second wired egress ports (220) are used to send the at least one processed wired frame to at least one regional node (100); A second wireless output port (221), wherein the second wireless output port (221) is used to send the at least one processed wireless frame to any regional node (100).

7. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Each of the two or more regional nodes (100) is further configured to: sending the at least one processed wired frame to at least one central computing node (200), and / or The redundant processed radio frames are sent to at least one central computing node (200).

8. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Each regional node (100) is a vehicle interface unit.

9. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Each regional node (100) is a regional controller or a regional gateway controller.

10. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) comprises a frame normalizer (310) for normalizing a frame. The frame normalizer (310) is used to convert the received at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

11. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) further comprises an action processing stage (320) for switching and gateway processing frames. The action processing stage (320) comprises a wired / wireless gateway hardware engine (321), wherein the wired / wireless gateway hardware engine (321) is used to: generating the at least one copied wired frame and / or generating the at least one copied wireless frame, and / or The at least one duplicated wired frame is eliminated and / or the at least one duplicated wireless frame is eliminated.

12. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 11, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) further comprises an ingress queuing processing stage (330) for queuing frames; The loopback path (400) is used to loop back the output frame of the wired frame switch (350) to the ingress queuing processing stage (330) to convert the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

13. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) further comprises an intermediate queuing processing stage (340) for intermediate queuing of frames; The loopback path (400) is also used to loop the output frame of the wired frame switch (350) back to the intermediate queuing processing stage (340) to convert the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

14. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) further comprises a traffic shaping processing stage (360); The loopback path (400) is also used to loop back the output frames of the traffic shaping processing stage (360) to the ingress queuing processing stage (330) and / or the intermediate queuing processing stage (340).

15. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) is further configured to: determine an internal ingress queuing state of the ingress queuing processing stage (330), determine an internal intermediate queuing state of the intermediate queuing processing stage (340), and / or determine an internal egress queuing state of the egress queuing processing stage (380), and identify at least one traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes (100) among the two or more regional nodes (100) based on the internal ingress queuing state, the internal intermediate queuing state, and / or the internal egress queuing state.

16. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 15, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) is further configured to reroute congested frames according to the internal inlet queuing state, the internal intermediate queuing state and / or the internal outlet queuing state, so as to alleviate the traffic congestion at one or more regional nodes (100) among the two or more regional nodes (100).

17. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to claim 16, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) is further configured to prioritize at least one safety critical frame over at least one non-safety critical frame when rerouting the congested frame.

18. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that: The first wireless output port (121) of each regional node (100) is also used to send at least one congested frame to any other regional node (100), thereby skipping at least one congested regional node (100) among the two or more regional nodes (100).

19. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that: The first processing circuit (130) of each regional node (100) is further configured to: Determining that the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved based on the internal inlet queue state, the internal intermediate queue state and / or the internal outlet queue state, When the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved, rerouting of frames is stopped to restore a normal routing state.

20. A method for hybrid wired and wireless in-vehicle network (IVN) (1000), characterized in that: The hybrid wired-wireless IVN (1000) is used for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle (1001), and the method comprises: One or more first wired ingress ports (110) receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other regional node (100); The first wireless ingress port receives at least one wireless ingress frame from any other regional node (100); A first processing circuit (130) processes the at least one wired ingress frame and / or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and / or at least one processed wireless frame; One or more first wired egress ports (120) transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other regional node (100); The first wireless output port (121) transmits the at least one processed wireless frame to any other regional node (100).

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