Car Operating System for Modular Vehicle Architecture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cars lack a unified operating system to manage and coordinate their components, making upgrades and repairs difficult, as each part is tightly coupled and custom-designed, limiting flexibility and compatibility with different hardware configurations.
Innovation Solution
A car operating system that manages resources by translating abstract driver commands into device-specific commands, allowing for the integration of components from various manufacturers and enabling modular car architectures, similar to computer operating systems, which simplifies design, supports hardware portability, and facilitates upgrades.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional car design is used with tightly coupled custom-designed parts, then the car system is reliable and performs well, but upgrades and repairs are difficult and flexibility is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the car into modular components (powertrain module, chassis module, body module, etc.) that can be independently replaced or upgraded. Each module is designed as a discrete unit with standardized interfaces, allowing individual modules to be serviced without affecting the entire vehicle system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates universal standardized interfaces and communication protocols that allow different manufacturers' components to be integrated into the same vehicle platform. This enables a single car platform to support multiple powertrain types, chassis configurations, and body styles through modular assembly.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional car design with custom-written software for each model is used, then the system is reliable, but hardware upgrades require rewriting software
Solution Approach 1:
The patent develops a universal operating system and standardized communication protocols that can manage diverse hardware configurations. The software architecture uses abstracted hardware interfaces and configuration files rather than hard-coded dependencies, allowing the same software platform to support multiple hardware variants without rewriting.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate software layer (operating system and device drivers) that mediates between the control software and hardware components. This intermediary layer handles hardware-specific details, allowing upper-level control software to remain hardware-agnostic and enabling easy hardware swaps without software modification.
3Adaptability or versatility
If parts are carefully designed to interact and work together in conventional cars, then the car performs well, but a part from one car rarely works in another car
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes universal standardized interfaces, mechanical connection standards, and communication protocols that enable components from different manufacturers to be compatible across multiple vehicle platforms. These standards cover electrical connectors, mechanical mounting points, data communication formats, and control signal protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses configurable parameters and software-defined characteristics to adapt standardized interfaces to specific application requirements. While the physical interfaces remain standardized, software parameters can be adjusted to optimize performance for different vehicle types, maintaining both compatibility and system-specific performance characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
Our car operating system allows a car's driver to control—using abstract direction and speed commands—the car's devices that make the car move. The car operating system uses information like the current state of the car's devices to process those high-level abstract commands and generate device-specific commands at a lower level of abstraction to send to the car devices that will implement the driver's commands. The car operating system sits between the driver of the car (which may be a human or an automated driving program) and the car's devices, much like a computer operating system sits between the user of a computer (which may be a human or an application program) and the computer's devices. The car operating system performs two functions: (1) Provides an abstract machine that allows the car's driver to use more powerful abstract commands rather than more primitive device-level commands. (2) Manages the car's resources so that the car's driver does not have to control each device directly.