Vehicle internal communication system and vehicle including the same

Abstract

The in-vehicle communication system according to one embodiment may include a control unit that detects and controls the operation of electronic devices in a plurality of electronic device groups installed in a vehicle, using bus communication individually connected to the electronic devices in the electronic device groups, and using a series communication method connecting the electronic devices in the electronic device groups to each other.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an in-vehicle communication system and a vehicle including the same, and more specifically, to a technology for efficiently communicating between a main controller inside the vehicle and various modules installed inside the vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] In modern society, automobiles are the most common means of transportation, and the number of people using automobiles is increasing. Developments in automobile technology have made it easier to travel long distances than in the past, and have brought about many changes in our lives, such as making life more convenient.

[0003] For the convenience of drivers, many electronic devices such as hands-free devices, GPS receivers, Bluetooth devices, and high-pass devices have been developed for vehicles, and the proportion of the electrical and electronic fields creating new value within the automotive-related technology field is increasing.

[0004] In recent years, automobiles are equipped with many electronic components that operate simultaneously. In general, in such cases, a single vehicle central electronic control unit (ECU) is responsible for managing and controlling all of these electrical components simultaneously.

[0005] However, when installing and controlling such electronic components, it is more efficient to install and control similar types of electronic components as one group. Therefore, in recent years, there have been many attempts to diversify product groups by linking devices such as DC-DC converters and OCBs (oil circuit breakers).

[0006] However, in such a configuration, the central electronic control unit must be able to detect in real time whether various electronic components connected to the central electronic control unit are operating correctly. In the prior art, if a problem occurs in some of the communication lines connected between the central electronic control unit and the modules, causing communication to be impossible, there was a problem in that there was no way to accurately know this. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Therefore, as described above, the present invention has been devised to solve the problems of the prior art, and provides an in-vehicle communication system and a vehicle including the same, which can control an electronic device by simultaneously using two communication methods, namely, a method of communicating with an electronic device in a bus manner and a communication method for electronic devices connected in series, and thereby control the electronic device by using the other communication method when a problem occurs with one communication method. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The in-vehicle communication system according to one embodiment may include at least one electronic device group installed in a vehicle, and a control unit that detects and controls the operation of electronic devices in the electronic device group using a bus communication method for individually transmitting and receiving signals to electronic devices in the electronic device group and a series communication method for sequentially transmitting and receiving signals to electronic devices connected in series in the electronic device group.

[0009] The bus communication method may include at least one of a CAN (Controller Area Network) communication method and an RS-485 communication method.

[0010] The serial communication method may include a method in which communication signals are transmitted sequentially through electronic devices connected in series.

[0011] The serial communication method may include at least one of a universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) communication method, an RS-232 communication method, an SPI communication method, and an I2C communication method.

[0012] The control unit may set IDs for the electronic devices in the electronic device group using the serial communication method, and then detect and control the operation of the electronic devices using the set IDs in the bus communication method.

[0013] The electronic device group may be a group of electronic devices of the same type.

[0014] The electronic devices in the electronic device group can transmit and receive signals using the same type of communication method.

[0015] The electronic device may include at least one of a DC-DC converter, a battery management system, and an oil circuit breaker (OCB).

[0016] When a problem occurs in the operation of either the bus communication method or the serial communication method, the control unit can detect and control the electronic device using another communication method that operates normally.

[0017] In another embodiment, a vehicle may include at least one electronic device group and a control unit that detects and controls the operation of electronic devices in the electronic device group using a bus communication method that individually connects electronic devices in the electronic device group and a series communication method that connects electronic devices in the electronic device group. Effect of the Invention

[0018] The internal communication system and the vehicle including the same according to one embodiment have the advantage of reducing restrictions on the placement of electronic devices by setting IDs for each electronic device using serially connected communication, which is a drawback of communication using bus communication.

[0019] In addition, the internal communication system and a vehicle including the same according to one embodiment can continue to control electronic devices using another communication method even if a problem occurs in one communication and the system is unable to operate, thereby achieving a higher safety rating for the vehicle by realizing dual communication from the perspective of functional safety. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a communication method within a vehicle according to a conventional technique. [Diagram 2] FIG. 11 is a block diagram for explaining a communication method within a vehicle according to still another conventional technique. [Diagram 3] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a partial configuration of a vehicle internal communication system according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a partial configuration of a vehicle internal communication system according to another embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a partial configuration of a vehicle internal communication system according to still another embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] The embodiments described in this specification and the configurations illustrated in the drawings are preferred examples of the disclosed invention, and various modifications may be made that can replace the embodiments and drawings of this specification at the time of filing this application.

[0022] In addition, the terms used in the present specification are used to describe the embodiments, and are not intended to limit and / or restrict the disclosed invention. A singular expression includes a plural expression unless otherwise clearly indicated in the context.

[0023] As used herein, terms such as "comprise," "include," or "have" are intended to specify the presence of a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, but do not preclude the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof. As used herein, terms including ordinal numbers, such as "first," "second," etc., may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited to those terms.

[0024] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. In order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts that are not related to the description will be omitted.

[0025] 1 and 2 are block diagrams for explaining a conventional in-vehicle communication method.

[0026] A vehicle is equipped with many electronic devices for the operation of the vehicle and the convenience of the user, and the status of these electronic devices is generally detected and their operation is controlled simultaneously through a central processing unit (ECU, Electronic Control Unit) installed inside the vehicle. As electronic technology advances, the number and types of electronic devices installed in vehicles are increasing, and if the central processing unit were to manage all of these individually, this would result in a burden on the central processing unit, and there is an increasing need for a method for efficiently managing such electronic devices.

[0027] Therefore, in order for the central processing unit of a vehicle to efficiently manage the electronic devices installed in the vehicle, it is necessary to determine in real time whether the transmission and reception of signals between the central processing unit and the electronic devices is operating smoothly and without any problems. However, in the case of the conventional technology, there is only one communication method between the central processing unit and the electronic devices, and therefore, there is a problem that it is not possible to accurately determine this.

[0028] To be more specific, in the case of the prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, a central processing unit 10 and a number of electronic devices installed in the vehicle individually transmit and receive signals.

[0029] Here, the 1-1 submodule to the 1-4 submodules 11, 12, 13, 14 and the 2-1 submodule to the 2-4 submodules 21, 22, 23, 24 represent a plurality of electronic devices, the 1-1 submodule to the 1-4 submodules 11, 12, 13, 14 represent a group of electronic devices of the same type, and the 2-1 submodule to the 2-4 submodules 21, 22, 23, 24 represent yet another group of electronic devices of the same type.

[0030] That is, in the prior art, the central processing unit 10 controlled each of the lower modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24 by sending and receiving signals individually to each of the lower modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24. However, if a problem occurred in any one of the communication lines and communication was not possible, it was not possible to control the lower module with which communication was not possible.

[0031] Furthermore, in the case of the prior art, a different structure is adopted as shown in FIG. 2. In the structure shown in FIG. 2, the central processing unit 10 can transmit and receive signals sequentially to each of the sub-modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, and 24, rather than transmitting signals individually.

[0032] Specifically, in this communication method, electronic devices of the same type are sequentially connected to form a group, and communication is performed in such a manner that a received signal is transmitted to the next module connected in series.

[0033] For example, when the central processing unit 10 transmits a signal A to the 1-1 lower module 11, the 1-1 lower module 11 receives the signal and then transmits the signal A to the next module, the 1-2 lower module 12, and the 1-2 lower module 12 again transmits the signal A to the 1-3 lower module 13, and the 1-3 lower module 13 again transmits the signal A to the 1-4 lower module 14.

[0034] In this type of communication method, modules of the same group are connected to each other, which has the advantage of being able to transmit and receive signals more efficiently, but there is a possibility that the communication time will become longer as the number of connected modules increases, and if a problem occurs in any one communication line, it may become impossible to communicate with all modules connected in series.

[0035] Therefore, in the case of an internal vehicle communication system and a vehicle including the same according to an embodiment, a method for solving the above problems and stably improving communication performance within the vehicle is provided.

[0036] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a partial configuration of an in-vehicle communication system according to an embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a modified example of the in-vehicle communication system according to the embodiment of FIG.

[0037] 3, the 1-1 to 1-4 submodules 110, 120, 130, 140 and the 2-1 to 2-4 submodules 210, 220, 230, 240 refer to a plurality of electronic devices, the 1-1 to 1-4 submodules 110, 120, 130, 140 refer to a group of electronic devices of the same type, and the 2-1 to 2-4 submodules 210, 220, 230, 240 refer to another group of electronic devices of the same type. Also, in FIG. 4, the 3-1 to 3-2 submodules 310 and 3-2 submodules 320 refer to a group of electronic devices of the same type, and the 4-1 to 4-2 submodules 410 and 4-2 submodules 420 refer to another group of electronic devices of the same type.

[0038] In addition, the central processing unit corresponds to an ECU of a vehicle, and for the convenience of the following description, it will be described based on the control unit 100. In Fig. 3, the group of lower modules has been described based on two modules, the first module and the second module, but it is not limited thereto, and more types of modules can be set as shown in Fig. 4, and the number of modules can be changed in various ways.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 3, the control unit 100 can transmit and receive communication signals to the 1-1 to 1-4 lower modules 110, 120, 130, and 140 and the 2-1 to 2-4 lower modules 210, 220, 230, and 240 corresponding to electronic devices in two ways.

[0040] Specifically, the control unit 100 can individually communicate with each of the 1-1 to 1-4 lower modules 110, 120, 130, 140 and the 2-1 to 2-4 lower modules 210, 220, 230, 240 via a bus (BUS) communication line 200 established inside the vehicle, and at the same time, can separately communicate with the 1-1 to 1-4 lower modules 110, 120, 130, 140 and the 2-1 to 2-4 lower modules 210, 220, 230, 240 in sequence via communication lines connected in series.

[0041] Here, in the case of the bus communication line 200, it may include CAN communication and RS-485 communication methods that are generally used inside a vehicle, and in the case of a serial communication method, it may include UART (universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter) communication method, RS-232 communication method, SPI communication method, I2C communication method, etc.

[0042] The control unit 100 should sense the status information of each module and control it if necessary. Generally, the control unit 100 can sense the status of the modules using the BUS communication line 200 .

[0043] In this case, separate settings are required for each module, and such information can be set using a communication line connected in series with the control unit 100.

[0044] Therefore, since the vehicle internal communication system according to one embodiment has such a configuration, it is possible to perform dual communication in that the control unit 100 controls the modules, which has the effect of improving the operational stability of the modules installed in the vehicle.

[0045] In addition, the control unit 100 can control various modules installed in the vehicle using a bus communication line 200. In the case of a bus communication line, instead of using a single individual line, a common communication line 200 is used as shown in the drawing, so that there is an advantage in that signals can be sent to each module simultaneously.

[0046] In addition, when communication is performed using bus communication, even if an abnormality occurs in one module, such a problem does not interfere with communication between other modules, so there is an advantage that communication with other modules can be performed stably.

[0047] However, if communication is performed using only the bus communication line, a predefined ID is required for each module due to the characteristics of bus communication. If only the bus communication line is used, the position of the module must be fixed accordingly, which is a problem.

[0048] However, in the case of the in-vehicle communication system according to one embodiment, since communication with modules can be performed using a serial connection communication method separate from the bus communication method, the control unit 100 can grasp the position of each module using communication and proceed with the settings, eliminating the problem of the module position having to be fixed, and further having the advantage that only one sub-module needs to be managed for each module.

[0049] In addition, when communication is performed using bus communication, ID setting for each module must be performed using bus communication, which causes many problems. However, in the case of an in-vehicle communication system according to one embodiment, the ID can be set using serially connected communication, which makes it possible to set the ID more efficiently and at the same time eliminates positional restrictions for each module.

[0050] In addition, the vehicle internal communication system according to one embodiment has the advantage that even if a problem occurs in either the bus communication method or the serial communication method, the system can communicate with each module using another communication method, allowing continuous control of the modules, thereby enabling the various modules installed in the vehicle to operate stably, thereby achieving a higher vehicle safety rating.

[0051] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration of an in-vehicle communication system according to still another embodiment.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 5, the general structure and method of performing communication is similar to that described in FIG. 3, so the overlapping parts will be omitted and the characteristics between the modules will be described.

[0053] The control unit 100 according to an embodiment may group modules installed in a vehicle together to group modules of the same type. For example, converters in a DC-DC converter system may be grouped together, batteries in a battery management system may be grouped together, and breakers in an OCB (Oil Circuit Breaker) system may be grouped together. In this case, modules of the same type may communicate with each other in the same manner.

[0054] 5, the receiver 110a of the 1-1 lower module 110 that receives a signal from the control unit 100 and the transmitter 110b that transmits a signal to the 1-2 lower module 120 may be configured with the same type of communication interface. That is, the transmitter 110a and receiver 110b of the 1-1 lower module 110, the transmitter 120a and receiver 120b of the 1-2 lower module 120, and the transmitter 130a and receiver 130b of the 1-3 lower module 130 may be configured with the same type of communication interface.

[0055] Similarly, the receiver 210a through which the 2-1 lower module 210 receives a signal from the control unit 100 and the transmitter 210b through which it transmits a signal to the 2-2 lower module 220 may be configured with the same type of communication interface. That is, the transmitter 210a and receiver 210b of the 2-1 lower module 210, the transmitter 220a and receiver 220b of the 2-2 lower module 220, and the transmitter 230a and receiver 230b of the 2-3 lower module 230 may be configured with the same type of communication interface.

[0056] Furthermore, with this configuration, ID setting, which is a drawback of conventional communication using bus communication, can be effectively set using serially connected communication, thereby reducing restrictions on the position arrangement of modules.

[0057] So far, the configuration and effects of the in-vehicle communication system have been investigated based on the drawings.

[0058] In the case of a vehicle internal communication system, if a problem occurs in one of the communication lines connected to the system and communication is disabled, there is no way to accurately know this.

[0059] However, the internal communication system and the vehicle including the same according to one embodiment have the advantage of reducing restrictions on the placement of electronic devices by using serially connected communication to set IDs for each electronic device, which is a drawback of communication using bus communication.

[0060] In addition, an internal communication system according to an embodiment and a vehicle including the same can continue to control electronic devices using another communication method even if a problem occurs in one communication and the system is unable to operate. As a result, from the perspective of functional safety, the realization of dual communication has the effect of achieving a higher safety rating for the vehicle.

[0061] Although the embodiments have been described above with reference to limited examples and drawings, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and variations may be made from the above description. For example, the techniques described may be performed in a different order than described, and / or the components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, etc. may be combined or combined in a different manner than described, or alternative components or equivalents may be substituted or replaced with other components while still achieving suitable results. Accordingly, alternative embodiments and equivalents to the claims are also within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. at least one group of electronic devices installed in the vehicle; and a control unit for detecting and controlling the electronic devices in the electronic device group by using a bus communication method for individually transmitting and receiving signals to and from the electronic devices in the electronic device group and a series communication method for sequentially transmitting and receiving signals to and from the electronic devices connected in series in the electronic device group, the electronic device group includes a first electronic device group and a second electronic device group; the control unit is connected to the electronic devices in the first electronic device group and the electronic devices in the second electronic device group using the bus communication method, and is connected to one of the electronic devices in the first electronic device group and one of the electronic devices in the second electronic device group using the serial communication method.

2. The vehicle internal communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the bus communication method includes at least one of a Controller Area Network (CAN) communication method and an RS-485 communication method.

3. 3. The vehicle internal communication system according to claim 1, wherein the serial communication method includes a method in which communication signals are transmitted sequentially through electronic devices connected in series.

4. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the serial communication method includes at least one of a universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) communication method, an RS-232 communication method, an SPI communication method, and an I2C communication method.

5. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit sets an ID for the electronic device in the electronic device group using the serial communication method, and then detects and controls the electronic device using the set ID in the bus communication method.

6. 6. The vehicle internal communication system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit detects a position of the electronic device in the electronic device group by using the serial communication method.

7. The in-vehicle communication system of claim 1, wherein the control unit detects a position of one of the electronic devices in the electronic device group by using the serial communication method.

8. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the electronic device groups are grouped together with electronic devices of the same type.

9. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the electronic devices in the electronic device group transmit and receive signals using the same type of communication method.

10. The vehicle interior communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the electronic devices in the electronic device group each include a communication interface of the same type in its transmitting and receiving parts.

11. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the electronic device includes at least one of a DC-DC converter, a battery management system, and an OCB (Oil Circuit Breaker).

12. The vehicle internal communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the control unit detects and controls the electronic device using another communication method that operates normally when a problem occurs in the operation of either the bus communication method or the serial communication method.

13. At least one electronic device group; and a control unit for detecting and controlling the electronic devices in the electronic device group using a bus communication method in which the electronic devices in the electronic device group are individually connected and a series communication method in which the electronic devices in the electronic device group are connected to each other, the electronic device group includes a first electronic device group and a second electronic device group; the control unit is connected to the electronic devices in the first electronic device group and the electronic devices in the second electronic device group using the bus communication method, and is connected to one of the electronic devices in the first electronic device group and one of the electronic devices in the second electronic device group using the serial communication method.

14. 14. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein the control unit sets IDs for the electronic devices in the electronic device group using the serial communication method, and then detects and controls the electronic devices using the set IDs in the bus communication method.

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