Online Connectivity Unit Gateway for Vehicle ECU Scalability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle communication systems face limitations in resource management, requiring multiple vehicle devices to share a single connection to backend brokers, which restricts efficient communication and scalability.
Innovation Solution
An online connectivity unit within the electronic control unit of a vehicle, comprising connectivity subunits supporting protocols like MQTT, AMQP, and REST, and a managing connecting gateway that routes messages between vehicle devices and backend brokers, creating multiple bridges based on subscription topics and providing a subscription mapping repository for efficient message distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If multiple vehicle devices share a single connection to backend brokers, then resource consumption is reduced, but communication efficiency and scalability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single connection into multiple separate connections, with each connectivity subunit having its own independent connection to backend brokers. This segmentation allows each device to communicate independently without sharing resources, thereby improving communication efficiency while maintaining manageable resource consumption through modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-dimensional shared connection model to a multi-dimensional architecture where multiple connections operate in parallel. Each connectivity subunit operates in its own dimensional space with dedicated resources, enabling simultaneous communications without interference and improving overall system throughput and scalability.
2Device complexity
If multiple vehicle devices share a single connection to backend brokers, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability and scalability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments connection management into independent connectivity subunits, where each subunit manages its own connection separately. This eliminates the need for complex shared connection management while enabling easy scalability - new devices can be added by simply creating new connectivity subunits without affecting existing connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway device provides universal functionality by serving as a parent device for multiple connectivity subunits. It handles common tasks such as authentication and connection establishment for all subunits, reducing individual device complexity while maintaining high adaptability and scalability through its multi-functional role.
3Measurement precision
If a managing connecting gateway routes messages between multiple connectivity subunits and various backend brokers, then message routing precision is improved, but gateway device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway acts as an intermediary between connectivity subunits and backend brokers, providing precise message routing through its broker-to-subunit mapping mechanism. It mediates the communication by receiving messages from subunits, determining the appropriate backend broker based on topic subscriptions, and forwarding messages accordingly, thereby achieving high routing precision without requiring complex intelligence in each subunit.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway maintains a subscription mapping repository that stores copies of subscription information from multiple backend brokers. This copying mechanism allows the gateway to efficiently match incoming messages with subscribed subunits without complex real-time analysis, achieving precise routing through pre-computed mapping relationships stored in the repository.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to an online connectivity unit (OCU) for an electronic control unit (ECU) of a vehicle (100), comprising: - a plurality of connectivity subunits (C) for corresponding vehicle devices (MOD) configured to subscribe to a publish-subscribe messaging environment (pub/sub) using different topics (t) provided by various backend brokers (X, Y, Z), wherein the connectivity subunits (C) are configured to publish and/or to receive messages (m) corresponding to the different topics (t), and - a managing connecting gateway (GP) for routing the messages (m) between the plurality of the connectivity subunits (C) and the various backend brokers (X, Y, Z), wherein the managing connecting gateway (GP) is connected to the plurality of the connectivity subunits (C) over at least one communication line (L, TLS), and wherein the managing connecting gateway (GP) is configured to provide a communication interface for the messages (m) from the plurality of the connectivity subunits (C) with different connection bridges (b) to the various backend brokers (X, Y, Z) according to the different topics (t) to which the connectivity subunits (C) are subscribed.