Vehicle Network Activation Relay to Prevent ECU False Failures
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Solution Overview
Problem
In in-vehicle network systems, ECUs without partial network function erroneously determine that ECUs in standby state have failures when they receive periodic messages, leading to incorrect activation state switches.
Innovation Solution
Implement an electronic controller with network management function that periodically transmits activation notifications, switches to active state upon receiving such notifications, and continues to receive them, while also performing failure determinations on connected ECUs, and includes a relay device to manage communication between different bus types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an ECU without partial network function receives an activation notification on a communication bus, then it switches to active state, but other ECUs without partial network function on different buses remain in standby state causing erroneous failure determination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a relay device as an intermediary component that connects communication buses and manages activation notifications. The relay device receives activation notifications from ECUs on one bus and forwards them to ECUs on other buses, ensuring that all ECUs without partial network function receive the notification and switch to active state simultaneously, thereby preventing erroneous failure determination while maintaining network management simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the in-vehicle network into multiple communication buses with different transmission speeds, connecting ECUs with similar characteristics. By introducing a relay device that bridges these segmented buses, the system ensures proper activation notification distribution across segments, resolving the issue where ECUs on different buses have inconsistent activation states
2Reliability
If an ECU switches from standby state to active state upon receiving activation notification, then communication is enabled, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic transmission of activation notifications by the ECU with network management function. Instead of continuous communication, the system uses periodic notifications to wake up ECUs from standby state only when necessary, enabling communication availability while minimizing power consumption by keeping ECUs in low-power standby mode between periodic notification cycles
Solution Approach 2:
The ECU with network management function performs preliminary action by transmitting activation notifications before other ECUs need to communicate. This preliminary notification allows receiving ECUs to switch from standby to active state in advance, ensuring communication availability is established before actual data exchange occurs, while avoiding unnecessary continuous operation that would increase power consumption
3Measurement precision
If an ECU continuously monitors periodic messages for failure detection, then failure detection capability is improved, but false positives increase when ECUs are in standby state
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanism where ECUs transmit their activation state information to the monitoring ECU. The monitoring ECU receives feedback about whether monitored ECUs are in active or standby state, and uses this feedback to adjust its failure determination logic. When feedback indicates an ECU is in standby state, the monitoring ECU suspends failure determination for that ECU, preventing false positives while maintaining accurate failure detection for active ECUs
Data Source
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AI summary
An electronic controller serves as a second device in an in-vehicle network system. The in-vehicle network system includes a first device, the second device, and a third device each as an electronic controller having a network management function. The first device transmits a periodic message. The second device performs a failure determination based on the periodic message from the first device. The third device has a partial network function. The in-vehicle network system includes a first communication bus connected to the first device, a second communication bus connected to the second device and the third device, and a relay device that relays a message among the communication buses. The second device stops the failure determination when stopping transmission of an NM message, or an activation notification.