Automotive vehicle data network

Abstract

A data network comprises at least one first data-sending device (103-1, 103-2…, 103-n) and a second data-receiving device (103-1, 103-2…, 103-n). The data is transmitted in packets and passes through a first router (101) having an identifier and a plurality of output interfaces, each having an identifier. The packets include a header comprising a router identifier associated with an output interface identifier, such that upon receiving a packet, the router is adapted to read the router identifier and, if it matches its identifier, to read the output interface identifier and forward the packet to the output interface thus identified. A device and a router used in the network, as well as a motor vehicle incorporating the network, are also described. Figure to be published with the abbreviation: Fig 1

Description

Title of the invention: Motor vehicle data network technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a data network, a device for transmitting packets in the network, a network router and a motor vehicle comprising such a network. State of the art

[0002] The term "vehicle" means any type of vehicle, such as a motor vehicle, moped, motorcycle, warehouse robot, etc. "Autonomous driving" of a "vehicle" means any process capable of assisting the driving of the vehicle; the "vehicle" is then also called an "autonomous vehicle." The process may thus consist of partially or fully controlling the vehicle or providing any type of assistance to a person driving the vehicle. The process thus covers all autonomous driving, from level 0 to level 5 in the OICA (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers) scale.

[0003] As a result, motor vehicles have data networks enabling communication between increasingly complex modules.

[0004] Most of these data networks use packets in the transport layer; that is to say, schematically, the data to be transported from a first device to a second device is grouped according to a predefined format and associated with a header including at least the address of the second device as well as various mechanisms to ensure the correct transmission of the data, such as control values. The best-known and most widely used example of a packet network is the network using the TCP / IP protocol.

[0005] However, many of these networks have a star-type physical configuration, meaning that packets pass through specialized equipment, called routers, which will direct them to their destinations.

[0006] And, depending on the network topology and its complexity, the network may include several routers connected to each other.

[0007] To direct packets in the right direction, conventionally, each router has a routing table. Thus, after reading the destination address of the packet, the router consults its routing table which tells it which output port, or interface, it should direct the packet to.

[0008] However, managing these routing tables can become complex when the network changes configuration or simply when terminal equipment is moved within the network.

[0009] There is therefore a real need for a network that resolves all or part of the aforementioned disadvantages. Description of the invention

[0010] To resolve one or more of the aforementioned drawbacks, according to a first embodiment, a data network comprises at least a first data-sending device and a second data-receiving device, the data being transmitted in the form of packets and passing through a first router having an identifier and a plurality of output interfaces each having an identifier, and the packets comprising a header including a router identifier associated with an output interface identifier such that upon receiving a packet, the router is adapted to read the router identifier and if it matches its identifier, to read the output interface identifier and forward the packet to the output interface thus identified.

[0011] Thus, the router has the information in the packet of its routing path and no longer needs a routing table.

[0012] Specific features or embodiments, usable alone or in combination, are: • The network includes a second router, and in which the first device has defined a path passing through the first and second routers to reach the second device, the packet header includes two pairs of router identifiers associated with an outgoing interface identifier; and / or • The network comprises a plurality of routers and in which the first device having defined a path passing through one or more of said routers to reach the second device, the packet header comprises as many pairs of router identifiers associated with an output interface identifier as there are routers traversed by the path.

[0013] In a second embodiment, a device includes a memory associated with at least one processor configured to create and send a packet in the network according to the first embodiment and to, upon creation, generate a header including a router identifier associated with an output interface identifier.

[0014] In a third embodiment, a router for the network according to the first embodiment includes a memory associated with at least one processor configured to, upon receiving a packet, read the router identifier and, if it matches its identifier, to read the output interface identifier and forward the packet to the output interface thus identified.

[0015] In a fourth embodiment, a motor vehicle includes a network according to the first embodiment. Brief description of the figures

[0016] The invention will be better understood upon reading the following description, given solely by way of example, and with reference to the figures in the appendix in which: • [Fig.1] represents a schematic view of a network according to one embodiment; • [Fig.2] represents a flowchart of a packet routing process in the network of [Fig. 1] according to one embodiment; and • [Fig.3] represents a schematic view of a network according to a second embodiment. Methods of implementation

[0017] The embodiments presented below refer to a motor vehicle, a car. However, those skilled in the art understand that they are also applicable to other types of vehicles, such as vans, trucks, etc. Other applications, such as a robot in a warehouse or a motorcycle on a country road, are also conceivable.

[0018] The terms "front", "rear", "top", "bottom", "transverse" are understood in relation to the vehicle.

[0019] Fig. 1 represents a simple star network comprising a router 101 at the center of the star and n terminal devices 103-1, 103-2..., 103-n.

[0020] Advantageously, the network is contained within a vehicle.

[0021] The router 101 and the devices 103 can take the form of a box comprising printed circuit boards, any type of computer or even a mobile phone (“smartphone”). This device is sometimes called a computer or ECU (from the English acronym “Electronic Control Unit”).

[0022] They include random access memory for storing instructions for the implementation by a processor of at least one step of the process as described below. They may also include mass storage for storing data intended to be retained.

[0023] Router 101 also includes input / output interfaces 105-1, 105-2..., 105-n for receiving and sending packets within the network. In this simple network, router 101 has as many interfaces 105 as there are terminal devices 103. It is understood that it could have more interfaces 105, and the extra interfaces would then not be connected.

[0024] Router 101 has an identifier, and each of its interfaces also has an identifier. These identifiers are known to all devices on the network.

[0025] The operation of the network is as follows, [Fig.2].

[0026] We assume, for example, that terminal device 105-1 wishes to send data to terminal device 105-2.

[0027] In step 201, device 103-1 collects the data and formats it into a packet adapted to the protocol used by the network. The packet creation process includes, in particular, substep 203 during which device 103-1 inserts a field, hereafter referred to as the routing field, into the packet header. This field comprises two parts. The first part contains the identifier of router 101, and the second part contains the identifier of the outgoing port for router 101; therefore, in this example, the identifier of interface 105-2, which is connected to terminal device 103-2. It is understood that, in a preliminary step, device 103-1 received and stored in its mass memory information about the network topology and organization, enabling it to determine that, in order to send data to device 103-2, the packet must pass through router 101 and its outgoing interface 105-2.This could be, for example, an indirection table whose pointer is the address of device 103-2.

[0028] At step 205, the packet is sent by device 103-1 to router 101 which receives it at step 207.

[0029] Router 101 reads, step 209, the packet header and, in particular, the routing field.

[0030] Router 101 reads and compares, step 211, the first part of the routing field with its identifier.

[0031] If the read identifier does not match, then router 101 issues an error code, step 213, for example to device 103-1 to indicate that the packet is malformed and therefore impossible to route.

[0032] If the read identifier corresponds to the identifier of router 101, the latter reads, step 215, the second part of the routing field and therefore the identifier of the output interface, and sends, step 217, the packet to device 103-2 via the output interface thus identified.

[0033] It is thus understood that router 101 no longer needs a routing table, as the path calculation is performed at the sending device level. This very often has the advantage of simplifying path calculations, since many devices only need to send data to a limited number of recipients, and therefore, for them, the equivalents of routing tables are reduced.

[0034] It is understood that, depending on the needs, the terminal devices 103-1, 103-2..., 103-n can be both transmitters and receivers of packets

[0035] Figure 1 illustrates a system according to certain embodiments. The breakdown presented is for pedagogical purposes to highlight the different functions. However, it is understood that each block can be implemented using different means or combinations thereof, such as hardware components, software, one or more computers, and / or electronic circuits. Each of the components can Each component must include at least one computer or control unit. Each component may include at least one memory. The memory may contain computer program instructions or software code.

[0036] The calculators can be implemented by any type of data processing device, such as a central processing unit, a signal processing unit, a specific application integrated circuit, a programmable gate network, etc. The calculators can be implemented in the form of a single controller, or a plurality of controllers or calculators.

[0037] The different modules are connected to each other by data links adapted to the environment. These can be wired, electrical or optical, or wireless.

[0038] For the software, the implementation may comprise modules or units distributed in the form of procedures, functions, etc. The memories may be any type of storage circuit. They may be part of the processor circuit, or separate from it and connected via electrical data links. These may be non-volatile memories, hard drives, RAM, flash memory, etc.

[0039] The software product can be downloaded from a communication network and / or stored on a computer-readable medium. It can be directly executable by a processor or be in the form of a high-level language requiring one or more intermediate operations to be executable.

[0040] Thus, the program instructions stored in memory and processed by the computers can be any type of program code, for example, a compiled or interpreted program written in a suitable programming language.

[0041] The computer program instructions stored in memory are such that, when executed by the computer, the latter carries out one or more of the steps of the processes described above.

[0042] The invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and the preceding description. This description is to be considered illustrative and given by way of example and not as limiting the invention to this single description. Numerous embodiments are possible.

[0043] For example, the process has been described as a sequence of steps. Some steps can be carried out in parallel or in a different sequence.

[0044] Equations and calculations have also been detailed. The invention is not limited to the form of these equations and calculations, and extends to any other type of mathematically equivalent form.

[0045] In a first variant, [Fig. 3], the network comprises two routers 301-1, 301-2 and the terminal devices 303-1, 303-2..., 303-m. The technical characteristics of the The routers and terminal devices are identical to those of the first network described above. This corresponds, for example, to a subnetwork routed by router 301-1 for engine functions and a subnetwork routed by router 301-2 for vehicle dashboard functions. Routers 301-1 and 301-2 are connected together by a 305 link. Each router has input / output interfaces 307-1, 307-2..., 307-n for router 301-1 and 309-1, 309-2..., 309-m for router 301-2. The 305 link connects interfaces 307-4 and 309-1.

[0046] It is assumed that terminal device 303-1 wants to transfer data to terminal device 303-m. It is observed that the path passes through both routers.

[0047] The header of the packet written by device 303-1 then includes two routing fields. The first routing field is associated with router 301-1, which is directly connected to device 303-1 and its interface 307-1, allowing router 303-1 to forward the packet to router 303-2. The second routing field is then used in that its first part contains the identifier of router 303-2 and its second part contains the identifier of the outgoing interface 309-m that connects to terminal device 303-m.

[0048] Of course, this can be generalized to a path comprising any number of routers.

Claims

Demands

1. Data network comprising at least a first data-sending device (103-1, 103-2..., 103-n) and a second data-receiving device (103-1, 103-2..., 103-n), the data being transmitted in packet form and passing through a first router (101) having an identifier and a plurality of output interfaces each having an identifier, and the packets comprising a header including a router identifier associated with an output interface identifier such that upon receiving a packet, the router is adapted to read the router identifier and, if it matches its identifier, to read the output interface identifier and forward the packet to the output interface thus identified.

2. Network according to claim 1, comprising a second router and wherein the first device having defined a path passing through the first and second routers to reach the second device, the packet header comprises two pairs of router identifier associated with an output interface identifier.

3. Network according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of routers and wherein the first device having defined a path passing through one or more of said routers to reach the second device, the packet header comprises as many pairs of router identifier associated with an output interface identifier as there are routers traversed by the path.

4. Device comprising a memory associated with at least one processor configured to create and transmit a packet in the network according to claim 1, 2 or 3 and to, upon creation, generate a header comprising a router identifier associated with an output interface identifier.

5. Router for the network according to claim 1, 2 or 3 comprising a memory associated with at least one processor configured to, upon receiving a packet, read the router identifier and if it matches its identifier, to read the output interface identifier and forward the packet on the output interface so identified.

6. Motor vehicle comprising the network according to claim 1, 2 or 3.

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