Vehicle Gateway Context Messages for Cross-Domain Coordination

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current methods for coordinating functional components in motor vehicles do not account for external components, leading to inefficient data exchange and processing, particularly when integrating vehicle-internal and vehicle-external systems, such as infotainment systems and household appliances, which can overwhelm data rates and require raw sensor data transmission.

Innovation Solution

A method that uses context messages generated from aggregated sensor data across domains, allowing for reduced data transmission rates and pre-processing, where context rules defined by users or learned from behavior control functional components across domains, enabling coordinated operation of vehicle-internal and vehicle-external components without continuous raw data exchange.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If all sensor data and status data from vehicle-external functional components are transmitted to the motor vehicle via mobile phone connection, then the infotainment system can be controlled depending on household appliances data, but the available data rate is overwhelmed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecoordination capability between vehicle-internal and vehicle-external functional componentsVSAvoiddata transmission volume
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and transmits only the essential status information and sensor data required for coordination between domains, rather than transmitting all raw data. This selective extraction reduces data volume while maintaining the capability to control vehicle-internal functional components based on vehicle-external component states.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments data transmission by domain, with each domain (vehicle-internal, residential building, office, mobile device) transmitting only its relevant status data through gateway devices. This segmentation prevents data overload by ensuring only necessary information from each domain is transmitted to the control device.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Loss of information

If raw sensor data is transmitted from all domains to the motor vehicle, then complete information is available for control decisions, but data processing complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation completeness for control decisionsVSAvoiddata processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by having gateway devices in each domain pre-process and aggregate sensor data before transmission to the control device. This pre-processing reduces the complexity of data handling at the central control device while ensuring that complete and relevant information is available for control decisions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces gateway devices as intermediaries between domains and the control device. These gateway devices aggregate and prepare data from multiple sources, reducing the processing burden on the central control device while maintaining information completeness for coordination decisions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Quantity of substance

If context messages are generated from aggregated sensor data in each domain, then data transmission rate is reduced, but pre-processing capability is required in sending domains

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata transmission rateVSAvoidpre-processing capability in gateway devices
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the data processing task across multiple gateway devices, each responsible for aggregating and generating context messages from sensor data within its own domain. This distribution of pre-processing responsibilities reduces the data transmission rate to the central control device while managing complexity through modular domain-specific processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3437304B1Control device and method for coordinating motor vehicle function components with each other and/or with at least one vehicle-external function component
Publication Date: 2019.05.15 AUDI AG
  • EP3437304B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3437304B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3437304B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to a control device (11, 11') and to a method for coordinating at least one function component (5) in a motor vehicle (1) having a vehicle-external function component (17), wherein the at least one function component (5) is combined in the motor vehicle (1) by means of a gateway apparatus (7) into a vehicle domain (14) and the at least one vehicle-external function component (17) is combined by means of a respective gateway apparatus (19) into at least one vehicle-external domain (16) and context messages (21, 21') are generated for each domain and the domains (14, 16) output their context messages (21) to a control device (11, 11') via their respective gateway apparatuses (7, 19) and a memory apparatus (32) of the control device (11, 11') provides at least one context rule (23), which is automatically generated or defined by a user (26) by means of an operating unit (25), and a monitoring apparatus (30) of the control device (11, 11') controls a function component (5, 17) indicated in the context rule (23) on the basis of the at least one context rule (23), according to the context messages (21).