A computer system of a motor vehicle, a computer implemented method, as well as non-transitory computer-readable media

Abstract

A computing system 10 of a vehicle 12 comprising a control circuit 14 to access error data associated with a communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, the error data indicating an error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, wherein the error 22 impacts an ability of the vehicle 12 to communicate with a remote computing system 18 over a communication network 20 using the communication system 16. The control circuit 14 determines, based on the error data, a severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, generates an error status message 24 based on the severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12 and transmits, via a short- or near-range communication protocol 26, the error status message 24 to another vehicle 28.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of automobiles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a computing system of a motor vehicle, a corresponding computer-implemented method, as well as a corresponding non-transitory computer-readable media. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

[0002] Communication issues in motor vehicles are very common and have various root causes. Some issues are temporary while others require human intervention to fix the issue to resume communication with the backend or other systems. One of such root causes for wireless communication issue for the motor vehicle to communicate with backend cloud system (BCS) could be a broken or misconfigured telematic control unit (TCU) in the motor vehicle or any similar device used for communication with backend cloud systems. The telematics control unit or TCU is the embedded system within a motor vehicle that wirelessly connects the motor vehicle to backend cloud system or other vehicles. To identify a communication issue of the TCU with a backend cloud system, the customer may have to go to a workshop and let the device be checked. This typically is identified at the workshop using a diagnostic tool which can read the error status or misconfiguration for the device itself and based on this error status a fix can be provided.

[0003] In a normal situation, the customer may not even be aware of communication issues with their motor vehicle. The customer becomes aware of the communication issues of their vehicle’s TCU with the backend cloud system only when he / she tries to activate / deactivate some of the features like vehicle tracker or digital radio or furthermore associated with a TCU. If this does happen, a customer is forced to take the car to the workshop at a later stage to find out the root cause of the issue and fix the malfunctioning TCU thus providing a bad customer experience. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a computing system, a corresponding computer-implemented method, as well as a corresponding non-transitory computer-readable media, by which an error of a communication device of the motor vehicle may be transmitted to a cloud system.

[0005] This object is solved by a computing system, a computer-implemented method, as well as a non-transitory computer-readable media according to the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are presented in the dependent claims.

[0006] One aspect of the invention relates to a computing system of a vehicle / motor vehicle. A control unit of the computing system is configured to access error data associated with a communication system of the vehicle, the error data indicating an error associated with the communication system of the vehicle, wherein the error impacts an ability of the vehicle to communicate with a remote computing system over a communication network using the communication system. Based on the error data a severity of the error associated with the communication system of the vehicle is determined. An error status message is generated based on the severity of the error associated with the communication system of the vehicle and the error status message is transmitted via a short- or near-range communication protocol to another vehicle.

[0007] Therefore, in order to prevent the situation mentioned above, and to provide a better customer service, the vehicle is intelligent enough to report the error status of the communication system to a backend service, in particular the remote computing system, at the point in time, when the issue is occurred. At this point, this may not be possible as the vehicle is unable to communicate with any backend system or cloud directly via HTTP, MQTT or SMS due to the malfunctioning TCU. Therefore, the error may be provided for the backend service by transmitting the error message to another motor vehicle, wherein the other motor vehicle is configured for providing the error message to the backend service.

[0008] According to an embodiment the communication system comprises a telematics control unit of the vehicle, and wherein the error is associated with the telematics control unit. In particular, the telematics control unit is a unit, which is often used in the motor vehicle. Therefore, if the telematics control unit has a malfunction, the error of the telematics control unit is transmitted to the remote computing system via another vehicle.

[0009] In another embodiment to determine the severity of the error associated with the communication system of the vehicle, the control circuit is configured to determine a type of error associated with the communication system. In particular, the computing system may be configured to generate the error status message based on the severity of the error associated with the communication system, the control circuit is configured to generate the error status message based on the type of error associated with the communication system. Therefore, a type of error can also be transmitted to the remote computing system.

[0010] In another embodiment the type of error indicates that the error comprises a misconfigured certificate associated with the communication system, and wherein the error status message comprises a misconfiguration report indicative of the misconfigured certificate. For example, the type of error indicates that the error comprises a failure of the communication system, and wherein the error status message is indicative of the failure of the communication system. For example, when the TCU is unable to communicate with the backend system using certified exchange protocol (CEP) due to a misconfigured certificate of the TCU, the error status or misconfiguration report of the TCU should be transmitted to the nearby vehicle using the device which uses for example DSRC technology (dedicated short-range communication), or any other car-to-car communication.

[0011] In another embodiment to access the error data, the control circuit is configured to access parameter data associated with the communication system, the parameter data indicating a duration of time from a last communication activity of the communication system and based on the parameter data, the error data associated with the communication system is generated. Therefore, it is possible for the backend system to get informed about the duration of the error.

[0012] In another embodiment the control circuit is further configured to determine that the other vehicle is within a communication range of the vehicle. Therefore, just error messages, which can be received by the other vehicle may be transmitted. This saves energy and data capacity inside the vehicle.

[0013] In another embodiment the error status message is transmitted by the other vehicle to the remote computing system. Therefore, the error status message may be transmitted from the vehicle to the remote computing system and therefore, the error status message may be received by the remote computing system. Therefore, the remote computing system is informed about the error in the motor vehicle and may initiate further steps in order to handle the problem.

[0014] In particular, the method is a computer-implemented method. A further aspect of the invention relates to a computer-implemented method. Error data associated with a communication system of first motor vehicle are accessed, the error data indicating an error associated with the communication system of the first motor vehicle, wherein the error impacts an ability of the first vehicle to communicate with a remote computing system over a communication network using the communication system. Based on the error data, a severity of the error associated with the communication system of the first vehicle is determined. An error status message based on the severity of the error associated with the communication system of the first motor vehicle is generated. The error status message is transmitted to a second vehicle, in particular via a short- or nearrange communication protocol.

[0015] According to an embodiment of the computer-implemented method, accessing the error data comprises accessing parameter data associated with the communication system, the parameter data indicating a duration of time from a last communication activity of the communication system and based on the parameter data, generating the error data associated with the communication system.

[0016] In particular, in order to transmit, via the short- or near-range communication protocol, the error status message to the other vehicle the control circuit is configured to transmit the error status message via a dedicated short-range communication. Furthermore, the error status message comprises a vehicle identifier and an error status of the vehicle. Furthermore, the remote computing system comprises a cloud-based computing platform.

[0017] Furthermore, according to the computer-implemented method, the communication system comprises a telematics control unit of the first vehicle, and wherein the error is associated with the telematics control unit. Furthermore, determining the severity of the error associated with the communication system of the first vehicle comprises determining a type of error associated with the communication system. Furthermore, generating the error status message based on a severity of the error associated with the communication system comprises generating the error status message based on the type of error associated with the communication system.

[0018] A still further aspect of the invention relates to one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that stores instructions that are executable by a control circuit to access error data associated with a communication system of a first vehicle, the error data indicating an error associated with a communication system of the first vehicle, wherein the error impacts an ability of the first vehicle to communicate with a remote computing system over a communication network using the communication system, determining, based on the error data, a severity of the error associated with the communication system of the first vehicle, generating an error status message based on the severity of the error associated with the communication system of the first vehicle, and transmitting, via short- or near-range communication protocol the error status message to a second vehicle.

[0019] Advantageous embodiments of the computing system are to be regarded as advantageous embodiments of the computer-implemented method, and the non-transitory computer-readable media. In particular, the computing system comprises means for performing the computer-implemented method.

[0020] A computing unit may in particular be understood as a data processing device, which comprises processing circuitry. The computing unit can therefore in particular process data to perform computing operations. This may also include operations to perform indexed accesses to a data structure, for example a look-up table, LUT.

[0021] In particular, the computing unit may include one or more computers, one or more microcontrollers, and / or one or more integrated circuits, for example, one or more application-specific integrated circuits, ASIC, one or more field-programmable gate arrays, FPGA, and / or one or more systems on a chip, SoC. The computing unit may also include one or more processors, for example one or more microprocessors, one or more central processing units, CPU, one or more graphics processing units, GPU, and / or one or more signal processors, in particular one or more digital signal processors, DSP. The computing unit may also include a physical or a virtual cluster of computers or other of said units.

[0022] In various embodiments, the computing unit includes one or more hardware and / or software interfaces and / or one or more memory units.

[0023] A memory unit may be implemented as a volatile data memory, for example a dynamic random access memory, DRAM, or a static random access memory, SRAM, or as a non-volatile data memory, for example a read-only memory, ROM, a programmable read-only memory, PROM, an erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM, a flash memory or flash EEPROM, a ferroelectric random access memory, FRAM, a magnetoresistive random access memory, MRAM, or a phase-change random access memory, PCRAM.

[0024] Further advantages, features, and details of the invention derive from the following description of preferred embodiments as well as from the drawings. The features and feature combinations previously mentioned in the description as well as the features and feature combinations mentioned in the following description of the figures and / or shown in the figures alone can be employed not only in the respectively indicated combination but also in any other combination or taken alone without leaving the scope of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and / or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0026] The drawings show in:

[0027] Fig. 1 a schematic block diagram according to an embodiment of a computing system; and

[0028] Fig. 2 a schematic flow chart according to an embodiment of the method.

[0029] In the figures the same elements or elements having the same function are indicated by the same reference signs. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0031] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawing and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[0032] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion so that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus preceded by “comprises” or “comprise” does not or do not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

[0033] In the following detailed description of the embodiment of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawing that forms part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the disclosure may be practiced. This embodiment is described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0034] Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram according to an embodiment of a computing system 10 of a vehicle 12. The computing system 10 at least comprises a control circuit 14. The control circuit 14 is configured for accessing error data associated with a communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, the error data indicating an error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, wherein the error 22 impacts an ability of the vehicle 12 to communicate with a remote computing system 18 over a communication network 20 using the communication system 16. In particular, the error 22 is shown with a thunder in Fig. 1.

[0035] Based on the error data, determining a severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12 is provided. An error status message 24 based on a severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 is generated with the communication system 16. The error status message 24 is transmitted via a short- or near-range communication protocol 26 to another motor vehicle 28. For example, therefore, the vehicle 12 may comprise a car-to-car communication device 30. Furthermore, the other vehicle 28 may comprise another car-to-car communication device 32 as well as another communication system 34. In particular, the error status message 24 may then be transmitted from the other motor vehicle 28 with the other communication system 34 to the remote computing system 18.

[0036] Fig. 1 further shows, that the remote computing system 18 may contact a workshop 36 to fix the problem in the vehicle 12.

[0037] In particular, in Fig. 1 a first scenario may be shown. For example, if the communication system 16 is misconfigured, in particular comprises a misconfigured certificate. When the communication system 16 is unable to communicate with the remote computing system 18 using certificate exchange protocol due to a misconfigured certificate of the communication system 16, the error status or misconfiguration report of the communication system 16 may be transmitted to the nearby vehicle 28 using the device which uses the DSRC technology (dedicated short-range communication) or any other car-to-car communication.

[0038] Another scenario may be the broken communication system 16 or beyond repair. When the communication system 16 is completely broken or beyond repair, the communication system 16 may not communicate with the device using car-to-car communication. In that scenario, the solution may be proposed in the car-to-car communication device, which may intelligently take a decision based on the duration of no communication and other parameters of the communication system 16 and transmits a failure error status of the communication system 16 to the nearby other motor vehicle 28 using the device which uses the DSRC technology or any car-to-car communication.

[0039] Thus, the trusted other vehicle 28 in close distance receives the error status which is in the encrypted format and sends it to the backend servers, the remote computing system 18, as soon as it can communicate with the remote computing system 18. Thus, the effected vehicle 12 may communicate with the host vehicle based on the proximity and working status of the communication system 16 of the host vehicle.

[0040] The error status message 24 may contain the vehicle details which could be just the vehicle identification number and the error status of the vehicle 12 emanating the error 22. Since this involves transfer of data using the other vehicle 28, the error status message 24 may be encrypted properly to ensure that no PH data is transferred to the process and to avoid remote access to both the cars.

[0041] The backend system, in particular the remote computing system 18, in the cloud may receive the error status of the broken or misconfigured communication system 16. It takes an intelligent decision and informs the customer either directly to fix the vehicle 12 or identifies the vehicle 12 for a silent campaign roll-out. The workshop 36 may be aware of this campaign roll-out, and the workshop 36 may fix the communication system 16 whenever the customer brings the vehicle 12 for maintenance. Furthermore, it is shown, that from the other motor vehicle 28 a further error status message 38 may be transmitted to the remote computing system 18.

[0042] Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart according to an embodiment of the method. In particular, Fig. 2 shows in a first step S1 accessing error data associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, the error data indicating an error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12, wherein the error 22 impacts an ability of the vehicle 12 to communicate with the remote computing system 18 over a communication network 20 using the communication system 16. In a second step S2 based on the error data, a severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 of the vehicle 12 is determined. In a third step S3 an error status message 24 based on the severity of the error 22 associated with the communication system 16 is generated in the vehicle 12. In a fourth step S4, the error status message 24 is transmitted via a short- or near-range communication protocol 26 to another vehicle 28. signs Computing system Vehicle Control circuit Communication system Remote computing system Communication network error Error status message Short- or near-range communication protocol Another vehicle Car-to-car communication device Another car-to-car communication device Another communication system Workshops Further error status message Steps of the method

Claims

1. A computing system (10) of a vehicle (12) comprising:a control circuit (14) configured to:- access error data associated with a communication system (16) of the vehicle (12), the error data indicating an error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the vehicle (12), wherein the error (22) impacts an ability of the vehicle (12) to communicate with a remote computing system (18) over a communication network (20) using the communication system (16);- determine, based on the error data, a severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the vehicle (12);- generate an error status message (24) based on the severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the vehicle (12); and- transmit, via a short- or near-range communication protocol (26), the error status message (24) to another vehicle (28).

2. The computing system (10) of claim 1, wherein the communication system (16) comprises a telematics control unit of the vehicle (12), and wherein the error (22) is associated with the telematics control unit.

3. The computing system (10) of claim 1 or 2, wherein to determine the severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the vehicle (12), the control circuit (14) is configured to:determine a type of error (22) associated with the communication system (16).

4. The computing system (10) of claim 3, wherein the type of error (22) indicates that the error (22) comprises a misconfigured certificate associated with the communication system (16), and wherein the error status message (24) comprises a misconfiguration report indicative of the misconfigured certificate.

5. The computing system (10) according to any one of claim 1 to 4, wherein to access the error data, the control circuit (14) is configured to:- access parameter data associated with the communication system (16), the parameter data indicating a duration of time from a last communication activity of the communication system (16); and- based on the parameter data, generate the error data associated with the communication system (16).

6. The computing system (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the control circuit (14) is further configured to:determine that the other vehicle (28) is within a communication range of the vehicle (12).

7. The computing system (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the errorstatus message (24) is transmitted by the other vehicle (28) to the remote computing system (18).

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:- accessing error data associated with a communication system (16) of a first vehicle (12), the error data indicating an error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12), wherein the error (22) impacts an ability of the first vehicle (12) to communicate with a remote computing system (18) over a communication network (20) using the communication system (16);- determining, based on the error data, a severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12);- generating an error status message (24) based on the severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12); and - transmitting, via a short- or near-range communication protocol (26), the error status message (24) to a second vehicle (28).

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein accessing the error data comprises:- accessing parameter data associated with the communication system (16), the parameter data indicating a duration of time from a last communication activity of the communication system (16); and- based on the parameter data, generating the error data associated with the communication system (16).

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media that store instructions that are executable by a control circuit (14) to:- access error data associated with a communication system (16) of a first vehicle (12), the error data indicating an error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12), wherein the error (22) impacts an ability of the first vehicle (12) to communicate with a remote computing system (18) over a communication network (20) using the communication system (16);- determine, based on the error data, a severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12);- generate an error status message (24) based on the severity of the error (22) associated with the communication system (16) of the first vehicle (12); and - transmit, via a short- or near-range communication protocol (26), the error status message (24) to a second vehicle (28).15

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