relay device

Abstract

To provide a relay device that can suppress situations where communication relay becomes unsustainable. [Solution] The system includes a control unit 110 that relays communication between multiple communication buses 21 and 31, and a bypass unit 140 that relays communication between multiple communication buses 21 and 31 when the control unit 110 is in a dormant state. The bypass unit 140 includes a wake-up request transmission circuit 146 that transmits a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110, an NM message transmission circuit 145 that transmits a bus signal including a wake-up request to the relay destination communication bus, a storage unit 141 that stores relay determination data for determining whether or not to relay the signal to the relay destination communication bus, and a determination circuit 144 that determines whether or not to relay communication to the relay destination communication bus based on the relay determination data and the activation target data, and determines whether or not to transmit a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110 based on the relay determination data and the activation target data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a relay device that relays communication between a plurality of communication buses.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a device that relays communication between a plurality of communication buses. The device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a controller, a bypass bus, and a switching circuit. In the device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the controller controls the relay of communication between the plurality of communication buses. The bypass bus relays communication between the plurality of communication buses when the controller is in the sleep state. The switching circuit switches the communication path between the path through the controller and the path through the bypass bus. The switching between the two paths is performed by a sleep signal and a wake-up signal. The description of the prior art document is incorporated herein by reference as an explanation of the technical elements in this specification.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

[0006] Errors may occur in the data used to determine whether the control unit is activated due to configuration errors or bit corruption. If there are errors in the data used to determine whether the control unit is activated, the control unit may fail to activate even though the node connected to the relay communication bus is activated. If the control unit cannot activate, it cannot relay communications, and therefore communication relay cannot continue.

[0007] This disclosure is made in light of these circumstances and aims to provide a relay device that can suppress situations in which communication relay cannot be continued. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The above objectives are achieved by combinations of features described in the independent claims, and the subordinate claims provide further advantageous specific examples. The reference numerals in parentheses in the claims indicate a correspondence with specific embodiments described later as one aspect, and do not limit the disclosed technical scope.

[0009] One disclosure to achieve the above objective is: A relay device (100, 200, 300, 400) connected to multiple communication buses (21, 31, 51, 61), Control units (110, 110A, 110B) that relay communication between multiple communication buses, It includes bypass units (140, 140A, 140B, 140C) that relay communication between multiple communication buses when the control unit is in a dormant state. The bypass section is, A wake-up request transmission circuit (146) that transmits a wake-up request signal to the control unit, A bus signal transmission circuit (145) transmits a bus signal including a wake-up request to a relay communication bus, A storage unit (141) that stores relay decision data, which is data used to determine whether or not to relay a signal to the communication bus at the relay destination, The relay device includes a determination circuit (144) that determines whether or not to relay communication to a destination communication bus based on relay determination data and activation target data received from the relay source communication bus, and also determines whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the relay determination data and activation target data.

[0010] This relay device determines whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit based on relay determination data and activation target data. It also determines whether or not to relay the signal to the destination communication bus based on the relay determination data and activation target data. Therefore, if it determines that the signal should be relayed to the destination communication bus, it can determine to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit. Thus, it can prevent situations where communication relay becomes unsustainable. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] A diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a sample in-vehicle network system. [Figure 2] A diagram illustrating a specific example of the processing of a decision circuit in the reference configuration. [Figure 3] A diagram illustrating a specific example of the processing of a decision circuit in the reference configuration. [Figure 4] Overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle network system of the first embodiment. [Figure 5] A diagram illustrating a specific example of the processing of the decision circuit in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] This figure shows the overall configuration of the in-vehicle network system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 7] A diagram illustrating the process performed by the data mask synthesis circuit of the second embodiment. [Figure 8]A diagram showing the overall configuration of the in-vehicle relay device according to the third embodiment. [Figure 9] A diagram for explaining the comparison performed by the error detection circuit. [Figure 10] A diagram for explaining the processing related to error detection in the third embodiment. [Figure 11] An overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle network system according to the fourth embodiment. [Figure 12] A diagram showing the configuration of the bypass section in FIG. 11. [Figure 13] A diagram for explaining the composite data mask generated by the data mask composite circuit in FIG. 12.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] <Reference Embodiment> Before explaining the embodiments, a reference embodiment and the problems caused by the reference embodiment will be explained. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle network system 1 according to the reference embodiment. The in-vehicle network system 1 is mounted on a vehicle. The in-vehicle network system 1 includes a first network 20, a second network 30, and an in-vehicle relay device 40.

[0013] The first network 20 includes a first communication bus 21 and a plurality of ECUs (Electronic Control Units) 22. The first communication bus 21 is a communication line to which the ECUs 22 are connected. The first communication bus 21 is connected to the in-vehicle relay device 100.

[0014] ECU 22 is a node connected to the first communication bus 21. A node means a device that serves as a communication source or a communication destination. There is no limit to the number of ECUs 22 connected to the first communication bus 21. ECU 22 has a configuration including a processor and a memory, and executes various controls. As power states, ECU 22 can be in an activated state and a suspended state. The activated state can also be referred to as a wake-up state. The suspended state can also be referred to as a sleep state. ECU 22 outputs activation target data to the first communication bus 21. The activation target data is data for specifying a node to be activated from a node included in the second network 30.

[0015] The second network 30 includes a second communication bus 31 and a plurality of ECUs 32. The second communication bus 31 is a communication line to which the ECUs 32 are connected. The second communication bus 31 is connected to the in-vehicle relay device 100.

[0016] ECU 32 is a node connected to the second communication bus 31. There is no limit to the number of ECUs 32 connected to the second communication bus 31. ECU 32, similar to the ECU 22 included in the first network 20, has a processor and a memory. While communicating with ECU 22, ECU 32 executes various controls.

[0017] The in-vehicle relay device 100 is connected to the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31, and relays communication between the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31. The in-vehicle relay device 100 includes a control unit 110, communication transceivers 120 and 130, and a bypass unit 140.

[0018] The control unit 110 has a configuration that includes a processor and memory, and can be in an active state and a hibernation state as power states. The control unit 110 can communicate with communication transceivers 120 and 130. In the active state, the control unit 110 performs the following: The control unit 110 transmits data acquired from communication transceiver 120 to communication transceiver 130. The control unit 110 also transmits data acquired from communication transceiver 130 to communication transceiver 120. If the communication protocol of the first network 20 and the communication protocol of the second network 30 are different, the control unit 110 may have a function to convert the protocol and relay data between communication transceivers 120 and 130. The control unit 110 also has a function to write a data mask to the storage unit 141 of the bypass unit 140.

[0019] The communication transceiver 120 is a communication circuit connected to the first communication bus 21. The communication transceiver 120 transmits data sent from the ECU 22 via the first communication bus 21 to the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140. When the control unit 110 is running, the communication transceiver 120 transmits the data received from the first communication bus 21 to the control unit 110. On the other hand, when the control unit 110 is in a dormant state, the communication transceiver 120 transmits the data received from the first communication bus 21 to the bypass unit 140. Whether the communication transceiver 120 transmits the data received from the first communication bus 21 to the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140 may be switched by the running control unit 110. The communication transceiver 120 also transmits data transmitted from the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140 to the first communication bus 21.

[0020] The communication transceiver 130 is a communication circuit connected to the second communication bus 31. The communication transceiver 130 transmits data sent from the ECU 32 via the second communication bus 31 to the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140. When the control unit 110 is running, the communication transceiver 130 transmits the data received from the second communication bus 31 to the control unit 110, and when the control unit 110 is in a dormant state, it transmits the data received from the second communication bus 31 to the bypass unit 140. Whether the communication transceiver 130 transmits the data received from the second communication bus 31 to the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140 may be switched by the running control unit 110. The communication transceiver 130 also transmits data transmitted from the control unit 110 or the bypass unit 140 to the second communication bus 31.

[0021] The bypass unit 140 relays communication between multiple communication buses when the control unit 110 is in a dormant state. In Figure 1, the multiple communication buses are the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31.

[0022] The bypass unit 140 includes a storage unit 141, a target extraction circuit 142, a request generation circuit 143, a decision circuit 144, an NM message transmission circuit 145, and a wake-up request transmission circuit 146. The storage unit 141 is a non-volatile memory. The storage unit 141 stores a data mask. The data mask is data used to determine whether to start a node, and can also be called startup decision data. When starting a node connected to a communication bus, the data is relayed and sent to the communication bus, so the data mask can also be called relay decision data. Relay decision data is set separately for each communication bus. A node includes a control unit 110, and startup decision data for the control unit 110 is stored in the storage unit 141. This data is called the control unit startup decision data. Because the storage unit 141 stores control unit startup decision data separately from the relay decision data, it is possible to start only the control unit 110 without starting the nodes connected to the communication bus.

[0023] The target extraction circuit 142, request generation circuit 143, decision circuit 144, NM message transmission circuit 145, and wake-up request transmission circuit 146 are composed of hardware logic circuits. An example of a hardware logic circuit is an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). The target extraction circuit 142 extracts activation target data from data received from the relay source network during a certain period. Data from the network is received from the communication bus. Therefore, the target extraction circuit 142 extracts activation target data from data received from the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31 during a certain period. The data received from the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31 includes NM (Network Management) messages.

[0024] The data to be activated is a multi-bit data, with each bit assigned to an activation group. The bits assigned to the activation group to which the node to be activated belongs are set to 1. This data to be activated is sometimes called PNI (Partial Network Information).

[0025] The request generation circuit 143 synthesizes the activation target data extracted by the target extraction circuit 142 over a certain period of time. The synthesis is performed by a logical OR operation. The data obtained by synthesizing the activation target data is called the synthesized request data. The synthesized request data is also called the synthesized PNI.

[0026] The decision circuit 144 determines whether or not to send relay decision data to the relay destination communication bus. The decision circuit 144 also determines whether or not to activate the control unit 110. For the former determination, the decision circuit 144 uses the composite request data generated by the request generation circuit 143 and the relay decision data stored in the storage unit 141. For the latter determination, the decision circuit 144 uses the composite request data and the activation decision data.

[0027] A specific example of the processing of the decision circuit 144 will be explained using Figure 2. Figure 2 is an example in which an NM message is received from the first communication bus 21 and a decision is made as to whether or not to relay the NM message. In Figure 2, the first storage unit 141a and the second storage unit 141b are storage areas provided by the storage unit 141, respectively. The first storage unit 141a stores the data mask for activating the second communication bus 31. The data mask for activating the second communication bus 31 is an example of relay decision data. The second storage unit 141b stores the data mask for activating the control unit. The data mask for activating the control unit is the control unit activation decision data.

[0028] The decision circuit 144 comprises a first decision circuit 144a and a second decision circuit 144b. The first decision circuit 144a is a circuit that determines whether or not to relay data received from the first communication bus 21 to the second communication bus 31. The first decision circuit 144a obtains the data mask for activating the second communication bus 31 from the first storage unit 141a and obtains the composite PNI from the request generation circuit 143. Assume that the data mask for activating the second communication bus 31 is 0010 and the composite PNI is 0111. The first decision circuit 144a calculates the logical AND of the acquired data. The logical AND of 0010 and 0111 is 0010. If the logical AND is non-zero, the first decision circuit 144a determines to relay the NM message to the second communication bus 31, which is the relay destination. If the NM message is to be relayed, the first decision circuit 144a supplies a communication relay instruction and the composite PNI to the NM message transmission circuit 145.

[0029] The second decision circuit 144b is a circuit that determines whether or not to activate the control unit 110. The second decision circuit 144b obtains the data mask for activating the control unit from the second storage unit 141b and obtains the synthesized PNI from the request generation circuit 143. Assume that the data mask for activating the control unit is 1111. The data masks for activating the second communication bus 31 and the data masks for activating the control unit described above are not limited to 4 digits, but may have 5 or more digits, or 3 or fewer digits. However, the data masks for activating the second communication bus 31 and the data masks for activating the control unit are bit sequences with the same number of digits.

[0030] The second decision circuit 144b calculates the logical AND of the acquired data. The logical AND of 1111 and 0111 is 0111. If the logical AND is not zero, the second decision circuit 144b decides to activate the control unit 110. If the control unit 110 is to be activated, the second decision circuit 144b supplies a wake-up request signal to the wake-up request transmission circuit 146.

[0031] When the NM message transmission circuit 145 receives a communication relay instruction and a composite PNI from the first decision circuit 144a, it transmits an NM message containing the composite PNI to the second communication bus 31. The composite PNI is data indicating the node to be activated and is a wake-up request for that node. An NM message containing a composite PNI that is transmitted to the second communication bus 31 is an example of a bus signal. The NM message transmission circuit 145, which transmits this bus signal to the second communication bus 31, which is the relay destination communication bus, is a bus signal transmission circuit.

[0032] The wake-up request transmission circuit 146 transmits a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110 when a wake-up request signal is supplied from the second decision circuit 144b.

[0033] In this way, while the control unit 110 is in a dormant state, the bypass unit 140 sends a signal to the second communication bus 31 to activate the destination node, i.e., the ECU 32 connected to the second communication bus 31, before the control unit 110 activates the control unit 110. This shortens the time it takes for the ECU 32 to complete to start up compared to when the control unit 110 activates the ECU 32.

[0034] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the processing of the decision circuit 144. In Figure 3, the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second memory unit 141b is set to 0000 due to a setting error or bit corruption. The composite PNI generated by the request generation circuit 143 is assumed to be 0111, as in the case of Figure 2. The logical AND calculated by the second decision circuit 144b is 0000. Therefore, in the example of Figure 3, the second decision circuit 144b does not supply the wake-up request signal to the wake-up request transmission circuit 146. On the other hand, as in the case of Figure 2, the first decision circuit 144a supplies the communication relay instruction and the composite PNI to the NM message transmission circuit 145. As a result, the NM message is sent to the second communication bus 31, but the control unit 110 does not start up. If the control unit 110 does not start up, a problem arises in that subsequent control messages will not be relayed.

[0035] <First Embodiment> Figure 4 shows the configuration of the in-vehicle network system 2 of the first embodiment. In the following description, elements with the same code number as those used up to that point are the same as the elements with the same code number in the previous description, unless otherwise specified. Also, if only a part of the configuration is described, the previously described embodiment can be applied to the other parts of the configuration.

[0036] The in-vehicle network system 2 of the first embodiment includes an in-vehicle relay device 100 instead of the in-vehicle relay device 40 of the reference embodiment. The in-vehicle relay device 100 differs from the bypass device 140 of the reference embodiment in that the bypass device 140A includes a data mask synthesis circuit 147 which is a synthesis device.

[0037] The data mask synthesis circuit 147 is also composed of hardware logic circuits. The data mask synthesis circuit 147 generates a synthesized data mask by combining a data mask for activating the relay communication bus and a data mask for activating the control unit. The synthesized data mask is an example of synthesized data. Synthesis here means performing a logical OR operation on the two data masks.

[0038] The second decision circuit 144b is provided with this composite data mask. In other words, the second decision circuit 144b uses the composite data mask as its data mask, rather than the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second storage unit 141b. The second decision circuit 144b calculates the logical AND of the composite data mask and the composite PNI. If this logical AND is non-zero, it supplies a wake-up request signal to the wake-up request transmission circuit 146.

[0039] The processing of the decision circuit 144 in the first embodiment will be specifically explained using Figure 5. The data mask for activating the second communication bus stored in the first storage unit 141a and the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second storage unit 141b are the same as in Figure 3, i.e., 0010 and 0000. Also, the composite PNI is assumed to be 0111, the same as in Figure 3.

[0040] The combined data mask generated by the data mask synthesis circuit 147 is the logical OR of 0010 and 0000, resulting in 0010. Therefore, the second decision circuit 144b performs the logical AND of 0010 and 0111. This logical AND is 0010. In other words, the logical AND is non-zero. Thus, the second decision circuit 144b supplies a wake-up request signal to the wake-up request transmission circuit 146. As a result, the wake-up request signal is transmitted from the wake-up request transmission circuit 146 to the control unit 110.

[0041] When the control unit 110 receives a wake-up request signal, its power state changes to the startup state. After entering the startup state, the control unit 110 can set one or both of the data masks stored in the memory unit 141 for starting the control unit and the data mask for starting the relay destination communication bus as new data masks. The control unit 110 sets the new data mask in the memory unit 141 when it obtains the new data mask from an external source. By setting the new data mask in the memory unit 141, the control unit 110 can update the communication relay settings to an appropriate state even if there are changes to the in-vehicle network system 2, such as changes to the network or changes to the operating program of the control unit 110.

[0042] Alternatively, instead of the control unit 110, or in addition to the control unit 110, ECUs 22 and 32 connected to the communication buses 21 and 31 may update one or both of the data masks for activating the control unit and the data masks for activating the relay communication bus, which are stored in the storage unit 141. In this case, the communication transceiver 120 or the communication transceiver 130 obtains update data from the communication buses 21 and 31 to set the data mask for activating the control unit or the data mask for activating the relay communication bus, which are stored in the storage unit 141. The bypass unit 140 includes an update unit that updates the contents of the storage unit 141 based on the update data.

[0043] Thus, in the in-vehicle relay device 100 of the first embodiment, the second decision circuit 144b determines whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110 based on the combined data mask and combined PNI generated by the data mask combination circuit 147. The combined data mask is data obtained by combining the data mask for determining the activation of the control unit and the data mask for activating the communication bus at the relay destination. Furthermore, since the combined PNI is data obtained by combining the data to be activated, the combined PNI is also data to be activated.

[0044] Therefore, the second decision circuit 144b determines whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110 based on the data mask for activating the relay destination communication bus and the data to be activated. Similarly, the first decision circuit 144a also determines whether or not to relay the communication to the relay destination communication bus based on the data mask for activating the relay destination communication bus and the data to be activated. This allows the circuit to determine whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to the control unit 110 if it determines that the signal should be relayed to the relay destination communication bus. Thus, it is possible to prevent situations where communication relay becomes unsustainable.

[0045] <Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment will be described. Figure 6 shows the overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle network system 3 of the second embodiment. The in-vehicle network system 3 includes an in-vehicle relay device 200 instead of the in-vehicle relay device 100. The in-vehicle relay device 200 includes the same communication transceivers 120, 130 and bypass unit 140 as the in-vehicle relay device 40 of the reference embodiment. The in-vehicle relay device 200 also includes a control unit 110A. The control unit 110A differs from the control unit 110 of the first embodiment in that it includes a data mask synthesis circuit 147A.

[0046] The data mask synthesis circuit 147A performs the same processing as the data mask synthesis circuit 147. In addition, the data mask synthesis circuit 147A writes the generated synthesized data to the second storage unit 141b. Figure 7 illustrates the processing performed by the data mask synthesis circuit 147A.

[0047] Since the data mask synthesis circuit 147A is provided in the control unit 110A, it executes processing when the control unit 110A is running. For example, the data mask synthesis circuit 147A periodically executes the processing described below when the control unit 110A is running, or when it enters a dormant state.

[0048] The data mask synthesis circuit 147A obtains a data mask for activating the relay communication bus and a data mask for activating the control unit from the ECU 22 via the first communication bus 21. The data mask synthesis circuit 147A then synthesizes the data mask for activating the relay communication bus and the data mask for activating the control unit to generate a combined data mask. Subsequently, this combined data mask is set in the second storage unit 141b as the data mask for activating the control unit.

[0049] In this way, when the bypass unit 140 decides whether or not to start the control unit 110 the next time, the combined data mask is effectively used. Therefore, in the second embodiment as well, if it is determined that the signal should be relayed to the communication bus that will be the relay destination, it is possible to determine that a wake-up request signal should be sent to the control unit 110. Furthermore, the data mask combining circuit 147A is provided in the control unit 110A and executes processing when the control unit 110A is running. Therefore, an incorrect data mask will not be written to the second storage unit 141b.

[0050] <Third Embodiment> Figure 8 shows the overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle relay device 300 of the third embodiment. The in-vehicle relay device 300 includes the same control unit 110 and communication transceivers 120 and 130 as the in-vehicle relay device 40 of the reference embodiment. The in-vehicle relay device 300 also includes a bypass unit 140B.

[0051] Bypass section 140B includes all the components of bypass section 140A in the first embodiment. In addition, bypass section 140B includes an error detection circuit 148. The error detection circuit 148 corresponds to the error detection unit. Bypass section 140B also includes a communication bus communication circuit 149 and a control unit communication circuit 150.

[0052] The communication bus communication circuit 149 is a circuit that transmits and receives signals between the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31. The communication bus communication circuit 149 also has the function of the NM message transmission circuit 145. The control unit communication circuit 150 is a circuit that transmits and receives signals between the control unit 110. The control unit communication circuit 150 also has the function of the wake-up request transmission circuit 146. Therefore, although the NM message transmission circuit 145 and the wake-up request transmission circuit 146 are not shown in Figure 8, the bypass unit 140B has all the configurations that the bypass unit 140A of the first embodiment has.

[0053] The error detection circuit 148 determines whether the data mask for determining control unit activation stored in the memory unit 141 is incorrect. The error detection circuit 148 compares the data mask for determining control unit activation stored in the memory unit 141 with the data mask for activating the communication bus that will be the relay destination. More specifically, the comparison is a bit-by-bit comparison of each data mask.

[0054] Figure 9 illustrates the comparison performed by the error detection circuit 148. In the example shown in Figure 9, the error detection circuit 148 retrieves the data mask for activating the second communication bus stored in the first storage unit 141a and the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second storage unit 141b. The error detection circuit 148 then compares these two retrieved data masks bit by bit. If, as a result of the comparison, a bit that is 1 in the data mask for activating the second communication bus is 0 in the data mask for activating the control unit, the error detection circuit 148 determines that the data mask for activating the control unit is incorrect.

[0055] When an NM message is sent to the relay communication bus, the control unit 110 is also activated. For the transmission of these NM messages and the activation of the control unit 110, the decision circuit 144 calculates the logical AND of the data mask for activating the second communication bus and the composite PNI, and also calculates the logical AND of the data mask for activating the control unit and the composite PNI. If either logical AND is non-zero, it is determined that activation is necessary. Therefore, in order to send an NM message to the relay communication bus and activate the control unit 110, the bits that are 1 in the data mask for activating the second communication bus must also be 1 in the data mask for activating the control unit. For this reason, if the bits that are 1 in the data mask for activating the second communication bus are 0 in the data mask for activating the control unit, the error detection circuit 148 determines that the data mask for activating the control unit is incorrect.

[0056] In the example shown in Figure 9, the second bit of the data mask for activating the second communication bus is set to 1, while the second bit of the data mask for activating the control unit is set to 0. Therefore, the error detection circuit 148 determines that the data mask for activating the control unit is incorrect.

[0057] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating the error detection process in the third embodiment. The process shown in Figure 10 is initiated when the data mask for activating the control unit, which is stored in the second storage unit 141b, is updated.

[0058] In S1, the error detection circuit 148 compares two data masks bit by bit to determine whether the data mask for activating the control unit is incorrect. In S2, it is determined whether an error was detected as a result of the processing in S1. If the result of S2 is NO, the process terminates without executing S3. On the other hand, if the result of S2 is YES, the process proceeds to S3.

[0059] In S3, the source device that set the data mask for determining control unit activation is notified that the data mask for determining control unit activation is incorrect. The data mask for determining control unit activation can be set by the control unit 110 or the ECUs 22 and 32. In other words, the source device is the control unit 110 or the ECUs 22 and 32. If the source device is the ECUs 22 and 32, an ID that identifies the source device, included in the data sent from the source device when the data mask for determining control unit activation is set, is used to identify the source device. On the other hand, since the control unit 110 sets the data mask for determining control unit activation via serial communication, it can be identified that the source device is the control unit 110.

[0060] If the error detection circuit 148 detects that the data mask for determining control unit activation is incorrect, it provides a notification indicating that an error has been detected and the ID of the setting source device to the communication bus communication circuit 149 or the control unit communication circuit 150. As a result, the communication bus communication circuit 149 or the control unit communication circuit 150 notifies the setting source device that set the data mask for determining control unit activation that the data mask for determining control unit activation is incorrect.

[0061] In this third embodiment, an error detection circuit 148 is provided, which can determine whether the data mask for determining control unit activation stored in the memory unit 141 is incorrect. The bypass unit 140B then notifies the source device that set the data mask for determining control unit activation that the data mask for determining control unit activation is incorrect. This prevents the same source device from setting the incorrect data mask again.

[0062] Furthermore, if the error detection circuit 148 determines that the data mask for determining control unit activation stored in the memory unit 141 is not incorrect, the second determination circuit 144b may perform a logical AND operation between the data mask for determining control unit activation stored in the second memory unit 141b and the composite PNI.

[0063] Furthermore, in the third embodiment, the process shown in Figure 10 is started based on the fact that the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second storage unit 141b has been updated. In this way, when the data mask for activating the control unit stored in the second storage unit 141b is updated, the process shown in Figure 10 can be executed immediately. This makes it possible to notify the source device that the data mask for activating the control unit is incorrect before the source device that set the incorrect data mask for activating the control unit sets the incorrect data mask again.

[0064] <Fourth Embodiment> Figure 11 shows the overall configuration diagram of the in-vehicle network system 4 of the fourth embodiment. The in-vehicle network system 4 includes a first network 20, a second network 30, a third network 50, and a fourth network 60. The in-vehicle network system 4 also includes an in-vehicle relay device 400.

[0065] The third network 50 comprises a third communication bus 51 and a plurality of ECUs 52. The third communication bus 51 is connected to the ECUs 52 and the in-vehicle relay device 400. The fourth network 60 comprises a fourth communication bus 61 and a plurality of ECUs 62. The fourth communication bus 61 is connected to the ECUs 52 and the in-vehicle relay device 400.

[0066] The in-vehicle relay device 400 has multiple communication paths to relay and, correspondingly, multiple control units 110 and 110B. Specifically, the in-vehicle relay device 400, like the in-vehicle relay device 100 of the first embodiment, has a control unit 110 and communication transceivers 120 and 130, and further includes a control unit 110B, communication transceivers 120A and 130A, and a bypass unit 140C. Although the targets for which the communication is relayed differ, the control unit 110B and communication transceivers 120A and 130A have the same functions as the control unit 110 and communication transceivers 120 and 130. The control unit 110B and communication transceivers 120A and 130A relay communication between the third network 50 and the fourth network 60.

[0067] During startup, the control unit 110 relays communication between the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31 via communication transceivers 120 and 130. Meanwhile, during startup, the control unit 110B relays communication between the third communication bus 51 and the fourth communication bus 61 via communication transceivers 120A and 130A.

[0068] When the control unit 110 is in a dormant state, the bypass unit 140C relays communication between the first communication bus 21 and the second communication bus 31 via the communication transceivers 120 and 130. In addition, when the control unit 110B is in a dormant state, the bypass unit 140C relays communication between the third communication bus 51 and the fourth communication bus 61 via the communication transceivers 120A and 130A.

[0069] Figure 12 shows the configuration of the bypass unit 140C. Similar to the bypass unit 140A of the first embodiment, the bypass unit 140C includes a storage unit 141, a target extraction circuit 142, a request generation circuit 143, a decision circuit 144, an NM message transmission circuit 145, and a wake-up request transmission circuit 146. In addition, it includes a data mask synthesis circuit 147A instead of the data mask synthesis circuit 147 that is included in the bypass unit 140A of the first embodiment.

[0070] In the fourth embodiment, the target extraction circuit 142 extracts activation target data from data received over a certain period of time, network by network. The request generation circuit 143 synthesizes the activation target data extracted by the target extraction circuit 142 over a certain period of time, network by network, to generate synthesized request data (i.e., synthesized PNI). The synthesis is performed using a logical OR operation.

[0071] Furthermore, the memory unit 141 stores data masks for activating each communication bus. Therefore, as shown in Figure 13, the memory unit 141 stores data masks for activating the second communication bus and data masks for activating the fourth communication bus. The memory unit 141 also stores data masks for activating the control unit 110 and data masks for activating the control unit 110B. These data masks are bit sequences with the same number of digits.

[0072] The data mask synthesis circuit 147A generates a composite data mask for each communication bus, used for determining the startup of the control units 110 and 110B. Specifically, the data mask synthesis circuit 147A synthesizes the data mask for starting the second communication bus and the data mask for starting the control unit 110 to generate a composite data mask used when starting the second communication bus. This composite data mask is the same as the composite data mask generated by the data mask synthesis circuit 147. In addition, the data mask synthesis circuit 147A synthesizes the data mask for starting the fourth communication bus and the data mask for starting the control unit 110B to generate a composite data mask used when starting the fourth communication bus. The generation method is the same as that for the composite data mask used when starting the second communication bus.

[0073] If the relay destination is the second communication bus 31, the decision circuit 144 uses the composite data mask generated when the second communication bus is started to determine whether to start the control unit 110. On the other hand, if the relay destination is the fourth communication bus 61, the control unit 144 uses the composite data mask generated when the fourth communication bus is started to determine whether to start the control unit 110B.

[0074] Then, if the decision circuit 144 determines that it is necessary to send an NM message to the relay destination communication bus, it supplies a communication relay instruction to the NM message transmission circuit 145, instructing the communication transceiver connected to the relay destination communication bus to send the NM message. In addition, by using the composite data mask described above, if the decision circuit 144 determines that it is necessary to send an NM message to the relay destination communication bus, it can supply a wake-up request signal to the wake-up request transmission circuit 146 to activate the control units 110 and 110B that relay communication on the relay destination communication bus.

[0075] Thus, in the fourth embodiment, the in-vehicle network system 4 has two control units 110 and 110B that relay communication between different communication buses. The decision circuit 144 determines whether or not to send a wake-up request signal to each control unit 110 and 110B based on a composite data mask and a composite PNI generated from data masks for activating communication buses corresponding to the communication buses relayed by each control unit 110 and 110B. Therefore, only the control units 110 and 110B that need to be activated can be activated, thus reducing power consumption.

[0076] Although embodiments have been described above, the disclosed technology is not limited to the embodiments described above. The following modifications are also included within the scope of disclosure, and further modifications can be made in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

[0077] <Example 1> In the embodiment, a combined data mask, obtained by combining the data mask for starting the communication bus and the data mask for starting the control unit, was used as the control unit startup decision data by the decision circuit 144. However, the data mask for starting the communication bus at the relay destination may be used directly as the control unit startup decision data by the decision circuit 144. Even in this case, if it is determined that a signal should be relayed to the communication bus at the relay destination, it is possible to determine to send a wake-up request signal to the control units 110 and 110B. In the embodiment of Modification 1, the data mask combining circuit 147 is unnecessary.

[0078] <Modification 2> The relay devices in the embodiment were vehicle-mounted relay devices 100, 200, 300, and 400. However, the relay devices do not necessarily have to be mounted on a vehicle.

[0079] <Variation 3> The bypass section 140C of the fourth embodiment may further include an error detection circuit 148.

[0080] (Disclosure of technical ideas) This specification discloses several technical concepts, as listed in the following paragraphs. Some paragraphs are written in a multiple dependent form, where subsequent paragraphs optionally refer to preceding paragraphs. Furthermore, some paragraphs are written in a multiple dependent form, referring to other multiple dependent forms. These paragraphs written in multiple dependent forms define several technical concepts.

[0081] (Technical thought 1) A relay device (100, 200, 300, 400) connected to multiple communication buses (21, 31, 51, 61), Control units (110, 110A, 110B) that relay communication between multiple communication buses, The control unit includes bypass units (140, 140A, 140B, 140C) that relay communication between multiple communication buses when the control unit is in a dormant state. The bypass section is A wake-up request transmission circuit (146) transmits a wake-up request signal to the control unit, A bus signal transmission circuit (145) transmits a bus signal including a wake-up request to the aforementioned communication bus at the relay destination, A storage unit (141) that stores relay determination data, which is data for determining whether or not to relay a signal to the aforementioned communication bus at the relay destination, A relay device comprising: a determination circuit (144) that determines whether or not to relay communication to the communication bus to be relayed, based on the relay determination data and the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus, and determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the relay determination data and the activation target data. (Technical thought 2) In addition to the relay decision data, the storage unit also stores control unit activation decision data, which is data used to determine whether or not to activate the control unit. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the control unit activation determination data, the relay determination data, and the activation target data. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 1. (Technical Thought 3) The relay determination data and the control unit activation determination data are bit sequences with the same number of digits. The storage unit includes a combining unit (147, 147A) which performs a bitwise logical OR operation on the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit to generate combined data. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the synthesized data and the data to be activated. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 2. (Technical Thought 4) The bypass portion includes the composite portion. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 3. (Technical Thought 5) During startup, the control unit sets at least one of the control unit startup determination data and the relay determination data stored in the memory unit. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 4. (Technical Thought 6) The system includes a communication circuit (120, 130) that acquires update data from the communication bus for setting at least one of the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit, At least one of the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit is updated by the update data acquired by the communication circuit. A relay device as described in Technical Idea 4 or 5. (Technical Thought 7) The bypass section is A target extraction circuit (142) extracts the activation target data from the data received from the relay source communication bus, The system further comprises a request generation circuit (143) that generates synthesized request data based on the activation target data extracted by the target extraction circuit over a certain period of time, The determination circuit determines whether communication relay to the communication bus, which is the relay destination, is necessary based on the relay determination data and the composite request data, and determines whether or not to transmit the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the relay determination data and the composite request data. The target extraction circuit, the request generation circuit, the decision circuit, the wake-up request transmission circuit, and the bus signal transmission circuit are hardware logic circuits. A relay device as described in any one of the technical concepts 1 to 6. (Technical Thought 8) The control unit comprises the synthesis unit, The control unit sets the synthesized data synthesized by the synthesis unit in the storage unit as data for determining whether to activate the control unit. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 3. (Technical Thought 9) The bypass unit includes an error detection unit (148) that determines whether the control unit activation determination data is incorrect by comparing the control unit activation determination data stored in the storage unit bit by bit with the relay determination data. A relay device as described in any one of the technical ideas sections 3-6 or 8. (Technical Thought 10) If the error detection unit detects an error, the bypass unit notifies the source device that set the control unit activation determination data that the control unit activation determination data is incorrect. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 9. (Technical Thought 11) The error detection unit determines whether the control unit activation determination data stored in the memory unit is incorrect, based on the fact that the control unit activation determination data stored in the memory unit has been updated. A relay device as described in Technical Idea 9 or 10. (Technical Thought 12) The control unit comprises a plurality of such units, Multiple control units relay communication between different communication buses. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus and the relay determination data corresponding to the communication bus relayed by each of the control units. A relay device as described in any one of the technical ideas 1 to 11. (Technical Thought 13) In addition to the relay decision data, the storage unit stores, for each control unit, control unit activation decision data, which is data used to determine whether or not to activate the control unit. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus, the control unit activation determination data corresponding to the communication bus that transmitted the activation target data among a plurality of control unit activation determination data, and the relay determination data corresponding to the communication bus that each control unit relays. A relay device as described in Technical Concept 12. [Explanation of symbols]

[0082] 21…First communication bus, 31…Second communication bus, 51…Third communication bus, 61…Fourth communication bus, 100…In-vehicle relay device (relay device), 110, 110A, 110B…Control unit, 120, 120A, 130, 130A…Communication transceiver (communication circuit), 140, 140A, 140B, 140C…Bypass unit, 141…Storage unit, 142…Target extraction circuit, 143…Request generation circuit, 144…Decision circuit, 145…NM message transmission circuit (bus signal transmission circuit), 146…Wake-up request transmission circuit, 147, 147A…Data mask synthesis circuit (synthesis unit), 148…Error detection circuit (error detection unit), 200, 300, 400…In-vehicle relay device (relay device)

Claims

1. A relay device (100, 200, 300, 400) connected to multiple communication buses (21, 31, 51, 61), Control units (110, 110A, 110B) that relay communication between multiple communication buses, The control unit includes bypass units (140, 140A, 140B, 140C) that relay communication between multiple communication buses when the control unit is in a standby state. The bypass section is A wake-up request transmission circuit (146) transmits a wake-up request signal to the control unit, A bus signal transmission circuit (145) transmits a bus signal including a wake-up request to the aforementioned communication bus at the relay destination, A storage unit (141) that stores relay determination data, which is data for determining whether or not to relay a signal to the aforementioned communication bus at the relay destination, A relay device comprising: a determination circuit (144) that determines whether or not to relay communication to the communication bus to be relayed, based on the relay determination data and the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus, and determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the relay determination data and the activation target data.

2. In addition to the relay decision data, the storage unit also stores control unit activation decision data, which is data used to determine whether or not to activate the control unit. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the control unit activation determination data, the relay determination data, and the activation target data. The relay device according to claim 1.

3. The relay determination data and the control unit activation determination data are bit sequences with the same number of digits. The storage unit includes a combining unit (147, 147A) which performs a bitwise logical OR operation on the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit to generate combined data. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the synthesized data and the data to be activated. The relay device according to claim 2.

4. The bypass portion includes the composite portion. The relay device according to claim 3.

5. During startup, the control unit sets at least one of the control unit startup determination data and the relay determination data stored in the memory unit. The relay device according to claim 4.

6. The system includes a communication circuit (120, 130) that acquires update data from the communication bus for setting at least one of the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit, At least one of the control unit activation determination data and the relay determination data stored in the storage unit is updated by the update data acquired by the communication circuit. The relay device according to claim 4 or 5.

7. The bypass section is A target extraction circuit (142) extracts the activation target data from the data received from the relay source communication bus, The system further includes a request generation circuit (143) that generates synthesized request data based on the activation target data extracted by the target extraction circuit over a certain period of time, The determination circuit determines whether communication relay to the communication bus, which is the relay destination, is necessary based on the relay determination data and the composite request data, and determines whether or not to transmit the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the relay determination data and the composite request data. The target extraction circuit, the request generation circuit, the decision circuit, the wake-up request transmission circuit, and the bus signal transmission circuit are hardware logic circuits. The relay device according to claim 1.

8. The control unit comprises the synthesis unit, The control unit sets the synthesized data synthesized by the synthesis unit in the storage unit as data for determining whether to activate the control unit. The relay device according to claim 3.

9. The bypass unit includes an error detection unit (148) that determines whether the control unit activation determination data is incorrect by comparing the control unit activation determination data stored in the storage unit bit by bit with the relay determination data. The relay device according to claim 3.

10. If the error detection unit detects an error, the bypass unit notifies the source device that set the control unit activation determination data that the control unit activation determination data is incorrect. The relay device according to claim 9.

11. The error detection unit determines whether the control unit activation determination data stored in the memory unit is incorrect, based on the fact that the control unit activation determination data stored in the memory unit has been updated. The relay device according to claim 9 or 10.

12. The control unit comprises a plurality of such units, Multiple control units relay communication between different communication buses. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus and the relay determination data corresponding to the communication bus relayed by each of the control units. A relay device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

13. In addition to the relay decision data, the storage unit stores, for each control unit, control unit activation decision data, which is data used to determine whether or not to activate the control unit. The determination circuit determines whether or not to send the wake-up request signal to the control unit based on the activation target data received from the relay source communication bus, the control unit activation determination data corresponding to the communication bus that transmitted the activation target data among a plurality of control unit activation determination data, and the relay determination data corresponding to the communication bus that each control unit relays. The relay device according to claim 12.

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