Vehicle control program determination method and communication control device

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control program determination method and a communication control device that can reduce man-hours for generating a program.SOLUTION: A vehicle control program determination method for determining a vehicle control program in accordance with the type of a vehicle in an operation unit of a communication control device mounted on the vehicle includes: a type information acquisition step of acquiring type information indicating the type; and a determination step of determining a vehicle control program in accordance with the type based on the acquired type information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control program determination method and a communication control device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle software inspection system that selects inspection specifications corresponding to the model of the vehicle electronic control device from among a plurality of inspection specifications related to the inspection of software implemented in the vehicle electronic control device. There are various models of vehicle electronic control devices corresponding to the vehicle model, etc. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-209354 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventionally, a program has been individually created for each model of control device corresponding to each vehicle type, and creating the program requires a large number of steps.

[0005] The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A first aspect of the present invention is a vehicle control program determination method in which a calculation unit of a communication control device mounted on a vehicle determines a vehicle control program corresponding to the type of vehicle, and includes a determination step of determining the vehicle control program corresponding to the type based on type information indicating the type.

[0007] A second aspect of the present invention is a communication control device that determines a vehicle control program according to a vehicle type, and includes a determination unit that determines the vehicle control program according to the type based on type information indicating the type. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, the number of steps required to create a program can be reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle having a communication control device and an individual control device. [Figure 2] 2A and 2B are diagrams for explaining vehicle type information. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure related to the vehicle control program determination method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle 30 having a communication control device 10 and an individual control device 20. The communication control device 10 is, for example, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) used for control communication within the vehicle 30. In this embodiment, CAN (Controller Area Network) (registered trademark) is used as the communication protocol for control communication, but other communication protocols such as LIN (Local Interconnect Network) and Ethernet (registered trademark) may also be used.

[0011] The individual control device 20 is an ECU used for individual control such as drive control, traveling control, safety control, and comfort control of the vehicle 30. The communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20 are connected to each other via a bus 40. Communication is performed between the communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20 via the bus 40 using CAN.

[0012] The vehicle 30 has a plurality of individual control devices 20. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the vehicle 30 has an individual control device 20A, an individual control device 20B, and an individual control device 20C. The communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20A are connected to each other via a bus 40A. The communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20B are connected to each other via a bus 40B. The communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20C are connected to each other via a bus 40C.

[0013] The communication control device 10 includes a calculation unit 80, a storage unit 82, and a communication unit 84. The calculation unit 80 includes a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). That is, the calculation unit 80 includes processing circuitry.

[0014] The storage unit 82 includes a volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM) and a non-volatile memory such as a read only memory (ROM) or flash memory. The volatile memory is used as a working memory for the processor. The non-volatile memory stores programs executed by the processor, identification information (described later), and the like. The program executed by the processor is an integrated program including a common control program, a first control program, and a second control program (described later), as well as a program for determining a combination of these programs as a vehicle control program.

[0015] The identification information is stored in one of the nonvolatile memories included in the storage unit 82 in the communication control device 10. The nonvolatile memory in which the identification information is stored cannot be rewritten while the communication control device 10 is activated and operating. However, when the communication control device 10 is not activated, the nonvolatile memory is a memory in which the data stored therein can be rewritten using a dedicated device.

[0016] The identification information includes device identification information and communication identification information. The device identification information is information uniquely assigned to each individual control device 20 in order to identify the individual control device 20. The communication identification information is information uniquely assigned to communication between the communication control device 10 and the individual control device 20 in order to identify the communication via the CAN.

[0017] The communication unit 84 is a bus transceiver that accommodates a bus 40 used for CAN communication between the communication control device 10 and the individual control devices 20 described above. The communication unit 84 accommodates multiple buses 40. Each bus 40 is identified in the communication control device 10 based on unique bus identification information. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the communication unit 84 accommodates three buses 40. The three buses 40 are bus 40A, bus 40B, and bus 40C. The bus identification information assigned to bus 40A is "No. 1." The bus identification information assigned to bus 40B is "No. 2." The bus identification information assigned to bus 40C is "No. 3."

[0018] The calculation unit 80 has an identification information acquisition unit 90, a type information acquisition unit 92, and a determination unit 94. The calculation unit 80 executes a program stored in the storage unit 82, thereby realizing the identification information acquisition unit 90, the type information acquisition unit 92, and the determination unit 94. At least some of the identification information acquisition unit 90, the type information acquisition unit 92, and the determination unit 94 may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or an electronic circuit including a discrete device.

[0019] The identification information acquisition unit 90 acquires identification information including the above-mentioned device identification information and communication identification information from the storage unit 82. In the example shown in Fig. 1, communication is performed by CAN between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20A via the bus 40A, to which "No. 1" is assigned as bus identification information. "No. 1" is assigned to the individual control device 20A as device (node) identification information.

[0020] The communication between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20A via the CAN is assigned the communication identification information "ID#2." The communication identification information is also information set in a predetermined field within a data frame used in communication via the CAN. The identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 90 in this manner can be associated with the bus identification information "No. 1."

[0021] Communication between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20B is performed via the CAN through the bus 40B, which is assigned "No. 2" as bus identification information. "No. 7" is assigned to the individual control device 20B as device (node) identification information. "ID#48" is assigned as communication identification information to the CAN communication between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20B. The identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 90 in this way can be associated with the bus identification information "No. 2."

[0022] Communication is performed between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20C via the CAN through the bus 40C, which is assigned the bus identification information "No. 3." The individual control device 20C is assigned the device (node) identification information "No. 4." The CAN communication between the communication unit 84 and the individual control device 20C is assigned the communication identification information "ID#16." The identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 90 in this way can be associated with the bus identification information "No. 3."

[0023] Type information indicating the type of vehicle 30 is obtained based on the correspondence between the bus identification information assigned to the bus 40 and the device identification information and communication identification information included in the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 90. In other words, the combination of the bus identification information, device identification information, and communication identification information determines the connection topology for communication between the communication control device 10 and each individual control device 20. The connection topology differs depending on the type of vehicle 30.

[0024] Therefore, the combination of the bus identification information, the device identification information, and the communication identification information indicates the type of the vehicle 30. That is, the type information is obtained based on the combination of the bus identification information, the device identification information, and the communication identification information. The type information acquisition unit 92 acquires the type information. This makes it possible to easily determine the type of the vehicle 30.

[0025] The type information may be obtained based on two types of information among the bus identification information, the device identification information, and the communication identification information. For example, when a combination of the device identification information and the communication identification information is uniquely determined, the type information may be obtained based on the bus identification information and the device identification information, or based on the bus identification information and the communication identification information.

[0026] When a combination of bus identification information and communication identification information is uniquely determined, the type information may be obtained based on the bus identification information and device identification information, or based on the device identification information and communication identification information.When a combination of bus identification information and device identification information is uniquely determined, the type information may be obtained based on the bus identification information and communication identification information, or based on the device identification information and communication identification information.

[0027] The determination unit 94 determines the type of the vehicle 30 based on the type information acquired by the type information acquisition unit 92. The determination unit 94 determines a vehicle control program according to the determined type. A combination of either the first control program or the second control program included in the programs previously stored in the storage unit 82 of the communication control device 10 and the common control program is determined as the vehicle control program. The vehicle control program determined in this manner is executed by the calculation unit 80.

[0028] The first control program is executed by the calculation unit 80 in a first type of vehicle 30. The second control program is executed by the calculation unit 80 in a second type of vehicle 30. The common control program is a program that is executed by the calculation unit 80 in common regardless of the type of vehicle 30. However, when the common control program is included in both the first control program and the second control program, either the first control program or the second control program may be determined as the vehicle control program based on type information.

[0029] In this way, a vehicle control program corresponding to the type of vehicle 30 is obtained from the program stored in the storage unit 82. Therefore, the program stored in the storage unit 82 itself does not need to change depending on the type of vehicle 30. In other words, when various types of vehicles 30 are manufactured, it is sufficient to store an integrated program in the storage unit 82 that does not need to take into account the type of vehicle 30. Therefore, the number of steps required to create the program can be reduced. Furthermore, since a vehicle control program corresponding to the type of vehicle 30 is automatically obtained, it is highly convenient.

[0030] When the integrated program stored in the storage unit 82 includes a common control program in addition to the first and second control programs, the first and second control programs can include only processing instructions specific to the type information to which they respectively correspond. Because the first and second control programs do not include overlapping processing instructions, providing the common control program reduces the amount of data consumed by the storage unit 82.

[0031] As described above, the identification information stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory of the storage unit 82 is rewritable. Therefore, by attaching a nonvolatile memory storing identification information corresponding to a new type of vehicle 30 to the communication control device 10 provided in the new type of vehicle 30, it is possible to obtain a vehicle control program corresponding to the new type of vehicle 30 without needing to update the integrated program.

[0032] 2A and 2B are diagrams for explaining type information of vehicle 30. The combination of bus identification information, device identification information, and communication identification information varies depending on the type of vehicle 30. In other words, the type information of vehicle 30 corresponds to the combination of bus identification information, device identification information, and communication identification information. FIG. 2A shows an example of type information corresponding to a first type of vehicle 30. The first type of vehicle 30 is the vehicle 30 shown in FIG. 1.

[0033] 2A, bus 40A, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 1," is associated with individual control device 20A, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 1," and communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#2." Bus 40B, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 2," is associated with individual control device 20B, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 7," and communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#48."

[0034] Bus 40C, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 3," is associated with individual control device 20C, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 4," and a communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#16." That is, the type information represented by the three combinations of (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (1, 1, 2), (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (2, 7, 48), and (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (3, 4, 16) indicates that vehicle 30 is a first type vehicle 30.

[0035] 2B shows an example of type information corresponding to a second type of vehicle 30. The second type of vehicle 30 is a different type of vehicle 30 from the first type of vehicle 30. When the types of vehicles 30 are different, the combinations of bus identification information, device identification information, and communication identification information are also different.

[0036] 2B, bus 40A, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 1," is associated with an individual control device 20, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 8," and a communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#64." Bus 40B, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 2," is associated with an individual control device 20, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 5," and a communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#24."

[0037] Bus 40C, which is assigned bus identification information "No. 3," is associated with an individual control device 20, which is assigned device (node) identification information "No. 2," and a communication, which is assigned communication identification information "ID#4." That is, the type information represented by the three combinations of (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (1, 8, 64), (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (2, 5, 24), and (bus identification information, device identification information, communication identification information) = (3, 2, 4) indicates that vehicle 30 is a second type vehicle 30.

[0038] 2A is acquired by the type information acquisition unit 92, the determination unit 94 determines, based on the type information, that the vehicle 30 is a first type of vehicle 30. When the type information acquisition unit 92 acquires the type information shown in Fig. 2B, the determination unit 94 determines, based on the type information, that the vehicle 30 is a second type of vehicle 30. Note that, when type information different from either the type information shown in Fig. 2A or the type information shown in Fig. 2B is acquired, the determination unit 94 may determine, based on the type information, that the vehicle 30 is a vehicle 30 of a type different from either the first type or the second type.

[0039] In this embodiment, the type information of the vehicle 30 corresponds to three combinations of bus identification information, device identification information, and communication identification information, but may correspond to more or less than three combinations. Furthermore, a plurality of individual control devices 20 may be connected to one bus 40.

[0040] 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure relating to the vehicle control program determination method. This processing procedure is performed by the calculation unit 80 of the communication control device 10 executing the integrated program stored in the storage unit 82 when the ignition switch (not shown) of the vehicle 30 is turned on and the communication control device 10 and each individual control device 20 are started up.

[0041] When this processing procedure starts, in step S1, the identification information acquisition unit 90 acquires identification information including device identification information and communication identification information from the storage unit 82. In step S2, the type information acquisition unit 92 acquires type information of the vehicle 30 based on the bus identification information assigned to the bus 40 and the device identification information and communication identification information acquired in step S1. In step S3, the determination unit 94 determines the type of the vehicle 30 based on the type information acquired in step S2. The determination unit 94 determines whether the vehicle 30 is a first type vehicle 30.

[0042] If step S3 returns YES, the vehicle 30 is a first type of vehicle 30, and the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, the determination unit 94 determines a vehicle control program according to the type determined in step S3. That is, the determination unit 94 determines a combination of the common control program and the first control program according to the first type of vehicle 30 as the vehicle control program. When the process of step S4 is completed, the process ends.

[0043] If step S3 returns NO, the vehicle 30 is a second type of vehicle 30, and the process proceeds to step S21. In step S21, the determination unit 94 determines a vehicle control program according to the type determined in step S3. That is, the determination unit 94 determines a combination of the common control program and the second control program according to the second type of vehicle 30 as the vehicle control program. When the process of step S21 is completed, the process ends.

[0044] The following additional notes are provided regarding the above-described embodiment.

[0045] (Appendix 1) A vehicle control program determination method in which a calculation unit (80) of a communication control device (10) mounted on a vehicle determines a vehicle control program corresponding to the type of the vehicle (30) includes a type information acquisition step of acquiring type information indicating the type, and a determination step of determining the vehicle control program corresponding to the type based on the acquired type information. With this configuration, the number of steps required to create the program can be reduced.

[0046] (Appendix 2) In the vehicle control program determination method described in Supplementary Note 1, in the determination step, either a first control program or a second control program corresponding to the vehicle type may be determined as the vehicle control program based on the type information. With this configuration, a vehicle control program corresponding to the vehicle type is automatically obtained, which is highly convenient.

[0047] (Appendix 3) In the vehicle control program determination method according to Supplementary Note 1, in the determining step, a combination of either a first control program or a second control program corresponding to each of the vehicle control programs and a common control program common to the vehicle control programs may be determined as the vehicle control program based on the vehicle control program type information. With this configuration, the amount of data consumed by the storage unit can be reduced.

[0048] (Appendix 4) The vehicle control program determination method according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 3 may further include an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device (20) mounted on the vehicle, and the type information may be obtained based on bus identification information for identifying a bus (40) used for communication between each individual control device and the communication control device and the device identification information. With this configuration, the type of vehicle can be easily determined.

[0049] (Appendix 5) The vehicle control program determination method according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 3 may further include an identification information acquisition step of acquiring communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device, wherein the type information may be obtained based on bus identification information of a bus used for the communication and the communication identification information. With this configuration, the type of vehicle can be easily determined.

[0050] (Appendix 6) The vehicle control program determination method according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 3 may further include an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device, and the type information may be obtained based on the device identification information and the communication identification information. With this configuration, the type of vehicle can be easily determined.

[0051] (Appendix 7) The vehicle control program determination method according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 3 further includes an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device, wherein the type information may be obtained based on bus identification information of a bus used for the communication, the device identification information, and the communication identification information. With this configuration, the type of vehicle can be easily determined.

[0052] (Appendix 8) In the vehicle control program determination method described in Supplementary Note 7, in the identification information acquisition step, the device identification information and the communication identification information may be acquired from a rewritable memory in the communication control device. With this configuration, by storing identification information according to the type in the rewritable memory, it is possible to obtain a vehicle control program corresponding to a new type of vehicle.

[0053] (Appendix 9) The communication control device that determines a vehicle control program according to a vehicle type includes a type information acquisition unit (92) that acquires type information indicating the vehicle type, and a determination unit (94) that determines the vehicle control program according to the type based on the acquired type information. With this configuration, the number of steps required to create the program can be reduced.

[0054] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, the present disclosure is not limited to the individual embodiments described above. Various additions, substitutions, modifications, partial deletions, etc. are possible in these embodiments without departing from the gist of the present disclosure or the spirit of the present disclosure derived from the content of the claims and their equivalents. These embodiments can also be implemented in combination. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the order of each operation and the order of each process are shown as examples and are not limited to these. The same applies when numerical values ​​or mathematical expressions are used in the description of the above-described embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0055] 10... communication control device 20... individual control device 30... vehicle 40... bus 80... calculation unit 82... storage unit 84... communication unit 90... identification information acquisition unit 92... type information acquisition unit 94... determination unit

Claims

1. A vehicle control program determination method in which a calculation unit of a communication control device mounted on a vehicle determines a vehicle control program according to a type of the vehicle, comprising: a type information acquisition step of acquiring type information indicating the type; a determination step of determining the vehicle control program according to the type based on the acquired type information; A vehicle control program determination method comprising:

2. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, In the determination step, one of a first control program and a second control program corresponding to the type is determined as the vehicle control program based on the type information. A method for determining a vehicle control program.

3. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, In the determination step, a combination of either one of a first control program or a second control program corresponding to each of the vehicle types and a common control program common to the vehicle types is determined as the vehicle control program based on the vehicle type information. A method for determining a vehicle control program.

4. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device mounted on the vehicle; the type information is obtained based on bus identification information for identifying a bus used for communication between each of the individual control devices and the communication control device, and the device identification information; A method for determining a vehicle control program.

5. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, an identification information acquisition step of acquiring communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device; the type information is obtained based on bus identification information of a bus used for the communication and the communication identification information; A method for determining a vehicle control program.

6. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, The method further includes an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device, the type information is obtained based on the device identification information and the communication identification information; A method for determining a vehicle control program.

7. 2. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 1, The method further includes an identification information acquisition step of acquiring device identification information for identifying each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and communication identification information for identifying communication between each individual control device mounted on the vehicle and the communication control device, the type information is obtained based on bus identification information of a bus used for the communication, the device identification information, and the communication identification information; A method for determining a vehicle control program.

8. 8. The vehicle control program determination method according to claim 7, In the identification information acquisition step, the device identification information and the communication identification information are acquired from a rewritable memory in the communication control device. A method for determining a vehicle control program.

9. A communication control device that determines a vehicle control program according to a vehicle type, a type information acquisition unit that acquires type information indicating the type; a determination unit that determines the vehicle control program according to the type based on the acquired type information; A communication control device comprising:

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