Power management system and master electronic control unit

Abstract

This invention provides a power management system that can manage the power supply of electronic control devices that are not subject to operating program updates, without adding new management network addresses to existing systems. [Solution] Of the multiple ECU2s, ECU2A acts as the master, and ECU2B and 2C act as slaves. ECU2A manages the on / off state of the power to ECU2B and 2C using the CANID assigned to each for power management. When ECU2A is notified by tool 5 that it is the one whose operating program is to be updated, it turns off the power to ECU2B and 2C, which are not subject to the update.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system in which one of a plurality of electronic control units serves as a master and the others serve as slaves, and the master manages the on / off of the power supplies of the slaves using power management network addresses assigned to each, and to an electronic control unit serving as the master.

Background Art

[0002] A vehicle is equipped with a plurality of electronic control units, i.e., ECUs (Electronic Control Units), and each ECU is connected by an in-vehicle LAN (Local Area Network) such as CAN (Controller Area Network; registered trademark). The operation programs of each ECU are updated by version upgrade. At that time, a tool for program update is connected to the in-vehicle LAN via the vehicle-side CGW (Central Gate Way), and the program is updated.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Traditionally, when an operating program is being updated, the power to ECUs not included in the update remains on. If the power to ECUs not included in the update could be turned off during the program update, unnecessary power consumption could be reduced. However, assuming that the CGW also manages the power to each ECU, a separate CANID (Network Address Code) for management would be required. Since CANID is a finite resource, its additional use should be avoided as much as possible due to its interaction with other control systems.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a power management system that can manage the power supply of an electronic control device that is not subject to updating of its operating program without adding a new management network address, and a master electronic control device used in the system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to the power management system described in claim 1, one of the multiple electronic control units (2A to 2C) is designated as a master (2A), and the others as slaves (2B, 2C), with the master managing the on / off state of the slaves using the power management network addresses assigned to each. When the master receives notification from an external source that one of the multiple electronic control units is subject to an operating program update, it turns off the power to one or more of the other electronic control units that are not subject to the update.

[0007] With this configuration, when updating the operating program, the power to electronic control units that are not to be updated can be turned off using the network address already in use for power management in the master-slave relationship among the multiple electronic control units. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to assign a new address to each electronic control unit solely for the purpose of managing the power of multiple electronic control units when updating the operating program. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1]This is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the power management system, representing the first embodiment. [Figure 2] Sequence diagram showing the update process of the operating program between Tool / CGW and ECU_A~C. [Figure 3] This is a second embodiment, and is a sequence diagram showing the update process of the operating program between the tool / CGW and ECU_A~C. [Figure 4] This is a third embodiment, and is a sequence diagram showing the update process of the operating program between the tool / CGW and ECU_A~C. [Figure 5] This is the fourth embodiment, and is a sequence diagram showing the update process of the operating program between the tool / CGW and ECU_A~D. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] (First Embodiment) As shown in Figure 1, the power management system 1 of this embodiment comprises a plurality of ECUs 2A to 2C, which are electronic control units mounted on the vehicle. These ECUs 2A to 2C are connected to each other by a CAN communication bus 3. The master electronic control unit ECU 2A manages the on / off switching of the operating power for the slave ECUs 2B and 2C. For this purpose, ECUs 2B and 2C are assigned CANID#B and #C, which are network addresses for power management.

[0010] CGW4 is connected to communication bus 3, and tool 5 is connected to CGW4. Tool 5 is a tool for updating the operating program of ECU2 when the operating program is updated to a new version. Alternatively, a central device or server that updates the operating program via wireless communication with CGW4 may be used instead of tool 5. In the following, the update of the operating program may be referred to as "repro," which is an abbreviation for reprogramming. In this embodiment, ECU2A is the target of repro.

[0011] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The "SID" shown in the sequence in Figure 2 is the Service Identifier of UDS (Unified Diagnostic Service) as defined in ISO 14229-1. Initially, the vehicle's ignition switch is off. Tool 5 sequentially sends SID10 and SID85 to each ECU2, and ECU2 returns a corresponding response SID to Tool 5. Then, Tool 5 transitions ECU2A to the reprogramming state. That is, ECU2A recognizes itself as the ECU to be reprogrammed by receiving a reprogramming state transition instruction based on the physical address set for it.

[0012] Upon receiving the above transition instruction, ECU2A issues a power-off instruction to ECU2B and 2C. ECU2A extracts the power management CANIDs #B and #C of ECU2B and 2C, which are to be powered off, updates the data in CANIDs #B and #C to power-off instructions, and sends them to ECU2B and 2C. Upon receiving the power-off instructions, ECU2B and 2C power off in the normal sequence.

[0013] When ECU2A responds to the reprogramming state transition instruction to tool 5, tool 5 sequentially sends SID28 and SID22, and ECU2A responds to each of them to tool 5. Subsequently, tool 5 begins sending a new operating program to ECU2A, and the operating program is updated in ECU2A's memory. This puts ECU2A into the "reprogramming" state. Once the operating program update is complete and ECU2A sends a response to tool 5, tool 5 sends SID11 to reset ECU2A. After that, when the vehicle's ignition switch is turned on, each ECU2 starts up and returns to its normal state.

[0014] According to the present embodiment as described above, among the plurality of ECUs 2, ECU 2A serves as the master and ECUs 2B and 2C serve as slaves. ECU 2A manages the on / off of the power supplies of ECUs 2B and 2C using the CAN IDs for power management assigned to each of them. When ECU 2A is notified from the tool 5 that an operation program update target is itself, ECU 2A turns off the power supplies of ECUs 2B and 2C that are not update targets.

[0015] With this configuration, when updating the operation program, the power supplies of ECUs 2B and 2C that are not update targets can be turned off using the CAN IDs for power management that are already being used in the master-slave relationship within ECU 2. Therefore, it is not necessary to assign new CAN IDs to each ECU 2 only for managing the power supplies of the plurality of electronic control units along with the update of the operation program.

[0016] (Second Embodiment) Hereinafter, the same parts as those in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted, and the different parts will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the second embodiment differs only in the end part from the sequence of the first embodiment. When SID11 is transmitted from the tool 5 and ECU 2A is reset, ECU 2A returns to the normal state. Then, ECU 2A transmits a startup instruction for CAN wake-up to ECUs 2B and 2C, and ECUs 2B and 2C turn on the power supply.

[0017] (Third Embodiment) As shown in FIG. 4, the third embodiment shows the case where ECU 2B is the repro target. Similar to the first embodiment, when SID10 and SID85 are sequentially transmitted from the tool 5 to each ECU 2 and responses thereto are returned to the tool 5, the tool 5 shifts ECU 2B to the repro state. Then, the tool 5 notifies ECU 2A that ECU 2B has shifted to the repro state.

[0018] ECU2A issues a power-off instruction to ECU2C. When ECU2A extracts the power management CAN ID #C of the ECU2C whose power is to be turned off, it updates the data of CAN ID #C to a power-off instruction and transmits it to ECU2C. Note that for itself, ECU2A, it is not necessary to extract the power management CAN ID or transmit a power-off instruction. When ECU2C receives a power-off instruction, it turns off the power in the normal sequence.

[0019] When ECU2A returns a response to the repro state transition instruction to Tool 5, Tool 5 sequentially transmits SID28 and SID22 to ECU2B. For each subsequent response, update of the operation program, reset by transmitting SID11, etc. are performed for ECU2B in the same manner as ECU2A in the first embodiment.

[0020] (Fourth Embodiment) As shown in FIG. 5, in the power management system 11 of the fourth embodiment, an ECU2D that is not subject to power management by ECU2A is connected to the communication bus 3, showing the case where the ECU2D becomes the repro target. For convenience of illustration, ECU2B is omitted. Similar to the third embodiment, when SID10 and SID85 are sequentially transmitted from Tool 5 to each ECU2 and responses to them are returned to Tool 5, Tool 5 causes ECU2D to transition to the repro state. Then, Tool 5 notifies ECU2A that ECU2D has transitioned to the repro state.

[0021] Similar to the first embodiment, ECU2A issues a power-off instruction to ECU2B and 2C. After issuing the off instruction, ECU2A also turns off its own power. When ECU2A returns a response to the repro state transition instruction to Tool 5, Tool 5 sequentially transmits SID28 and SID22 to ECU2D. For each subsequent response, update of the operation program, reset by transmitting SID11, etc. are performed for ECU2D in the same manner as ECU2B in the third embodiment.

[0022] (Other Embodiments) For example, in the first embodiment, the power to either ECU2B or 2C may be turned off. The same applies to the other embodiments, where the power to at least one of the ECU2s that are not subject to reprogramming is turned off. The number of ECU2s can be two or five or more. The network address used for power management is not limited to CANID.

[0023] This disclosure is described in accordance with the embodiments, but it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to such embodiments or structures. This disclosure also includes various modifications and variations within the equivalence. In addition, various combinations and forms, as well as other combinations and forms that include only one, more, or fewer of those elements, fall within the scope and concept of this disclosure. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0024] In the drawing, 1 represents the power management system, 2 represents the ECU, 3 represents the communication bus, 4 represents the CGW, and 5 represents the tools.

Claims

1. In a system in which one of several electronic control devices (2A to 2C) acts as a master (2A) and the others as slaves (2B, 2C), the master manages the on / off state of the slaves using the power management network addresses assigned to each of them, The aforementioned master is a power management system that, when it receives notification from an external source that one of the multiple electronic control devices is subject to an update of its operating program, turns off the power to one or more electronic control devices that are not subject to the update.

2. The power management system according to claim 1, wherein the master turns off the power to all electronic control devices that are not subject to the update.

3. The power management system according to claim 2, wherein the master also turns off its own power if it is not subject to the update.

4. When an unmanaged electronic control device (2D) that is not subject to power management by the aforementioned master is connected to the network, The power management system according to claim 1, wherein the master turns off the power to one or more electronic control devices when it is notified from an external source that an electronic control device not under management has become the target of the update and that an update of the operating program has been started.

5. The power management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the master turns on the power to the electronic control unit that is not subject to the update when it is notified that the update of the operation program has been completed.

6. In a system in which one of several electronic control units (2A to 2C) acts as a master (2A) and the others as slaves (2B, 2C), and the master manages the on / off state of the power supply of the slaves using the power management network address assigned to each of them, the master electronic control unit is the master electronic control unit, A master electronic control unit that, when notified from an external source that one of the aforementioned electronic control units is subject to an update of its operating program, turns off the power to one or more electronic control units that are not subject to the update.

7. The master electronic control device according to claim 6, which turns off the power to all electronic control devices that are not subject to the update.

8. The master electronic control device according to claim 7, which also turns off its own power supply if it is not subject to the aforementioned update.

9. When an unmanaged electronic control device (2D) that is not subject to power management by the aforementioned master is connected to the network, The master electronic control device according to claim 6, which, when the unmanaged electronic control device becomes the target of the update and is notified from an external source that the update of the operating program has started, turns off the power to one or more electronic control devices.

10. The master electronic control device according to any one of claims 6 to 9, which, when notified that the update of the operating program has been completed, turns on the power to the electronic control device that is not subject to the update.

Images