GB2589587A

GB2589587A - Method for establishing a wireless network and vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2589587A
Application number: GB1917613.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kim Sohyeong
Original assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH
Current assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH
Priority date: 2019-12-03
Filing date: 2019-12-03
Publication date: 2021-06-09
Also published as: WO2021110543A1; GB201917613D0

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for establishing a wireless network of electronic components in a vehicle, wherein an initialization message is sent by a group owner comprising an identifier, and possible group clients respond if the identifier matches a predetermined set of identifiers. The invention further relates to a corresponding vehicle for performing such a method. The sending of the initialization message may be performed in response to start-up or ignition activation of the vehicle. The identifier is comprised in a secondary value of the initialization message and/or in an OUI subtype field of the initialization message. The identifier may comprise a vehicle identifier unique for the vehicle or vehicle brand.

Description

Method for establishing a wireless network and vehicle The invention relates to a method for establishing a wireless network of electronic components in a vehicle and to a 5 corresponding vehicle.

Modern vehicles are equipped with telematics and infotainment functions to an increasing extent, which also increases the amount of data to be processed between in-vehicle electronic control units (ECUs). However, there is a limitation in the wire communication between ECUs in that the communication is impossible without a connector. This relates both to communication between ECUs and between ECUs and external monitoring/diagnostic tools. There is also a problem in that there is a limitation in performance of a layer 2 (L2) switch. In addition, higher bandwidths are desirable.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide for an alternative or better communication in a vehicle, and to provide 20 for a corresponding vehicle.

This is accomplished by a method and a vehicle according to the main claims. Preferred embodiments can, for example, be derived from the respective dependent claims. The content of the claims 25 is made a content of the description by explicit reference.

The invention relates to a method for establishing a wireless network of electronic components in a vehicle, the method comprising the following steps: - wirelessly sending, by an electronic component being a group owner, an initialization message, the initialization message comprising an identifier, - receiving, by each of a number of electronic components being possible group clients, the initialization message, - determining, by each of the possible group clients, if the identifier of the received initialization message corresponds to a predetermined set of identifiers, and - if yes, wirelessly sending a response message to the group owner, - if no, not sending a response message to the group owner, - receiving the response messages by the group owner, and - establishing the wireless network between the group owner and all group clients from which a response message has been received.

The method allows for establishing a wireless network in a vehicle, wherein a group owner is defined, and can be connected automatically to a plurality of possible group clients. Each group client can determine on its own if it should be part of a group or not, especially by comparing the identifier to the predetermined set of identifiers. Thus, every electronic component in the vehicle that should be part of the network will join the group, and any other electronic component that should not be part of the group, for example because it belongs to another vehicle, will remain outside of the group. An electronic component that should not be part of the group is not required to respond. Thus, the group owner need not receive and/or process messages from irrelevant electronic components.

For example, the predetermined set of identifiers maybe stored in each electronic component, especially in electronic components being possible group clients. However, the predetermined set of identifiers may also be retrieved by a possible group client from another device, for example from a central server. For example, the predetermined set of identifiers maybe identical for each electronic component in a vehicle that should join the group.

The electronic components can, for example, be electronic control units (ECUs) or interfaces to other components, for example wire-bound interfaces. The network is established between components that each are able to communicate wirelessly. An electronic component that becomes part of the group will be able to wirelessly communicate directly with other electronic components in the group. However, some of these components, for example interfaces, can be adapted to provide wire-bound communication to other components, so that they can also join the network.

The wireless network can, for example, be an IEEE 802.11ac network. Eowever, also other networks can be used.

According to an implementation, the sending of the initialization message is performed in response to a vehicle startup and/or an ignition activation. This allows for establishing the network in response to such events, which typically correspond to usage of a vehicle requiring the network.

Preferably, the identifier is comprised in a secondary value of the initialization message and/or in an OUI (organizationally unique identifier) subtype field of the initialization message. Such fields can, especially, identify a type of a P2P public action frame. This subtype can be used in the present context, because there is typically no definition about the value in these fields.

According to an implementation, the identifier comprises a vehicle identifier unique for the vehicle and/or a brand identifier unique for a brand of the vehicle. Furthermore, the identifier may comprise a manufacturer identifier unique for a manufacturer of the vehicle. The identifier may comprise a manufacturer identifier unique for a manufacturer of electronic components in the vehicle. Such identifiers can, for example, be derived from standards or agreements and may ensure that only electronic components of a certain vehicle, or only electronic components of a certain vehicle manufacturer or brand, or only electronic components of a certain component manufacturer, may communicate with each other.

According to an implementation, the predetermined set of identifiers may comprise only one respective identifier at each possible group client. For example, such an identifier can be unique for a certain group. The data processing is simplified by this measure. However, the predetermined set of identifiers can also comprise several respective identifiers at each possible group client in order to increase flexibility.

The predetermined set of identifiers can be identical for all possible group clients in the vehicle. This can simplify establishment of a certain group.

Each response message may comprise an identification of the sending group client. This may simplify the establishing of the network and afterwards communication between the electronic components, because the group clients maybe easily identified.

The establishing of the wireless network may comprise wirelessly sending, by the group owner, an information message to the group clients. This may inform the group clients about their membership to the wireless network.

The information message may comprise an indication of all group 5 clients from which response messages have been received. This can inform all members of the group about the respective other members.

The group owner may be predefined before starting the method, 10 which simplifies forming of the group and allows for usage of one certain electronic component as group owner. For example, an intent value can be used in order to predefine one group owner.

According to an implementation, at least one electronic component is or comprises an interface to a wired vehicle network. Thus, also other devices connected to this wired vehicle network can take part in the communication of the wireless network. Especially, they can be accessed via the wireless network or can exchange data with components of the wireless network. Such devices can be configured to communicate with electronic components connected to the wireless network in addition to electronic components connected to the wired network.

According to an implementation, at least one electronic component is a mobile electronic device not physically connected to the vehicle. For example, such a device can be a mobile phone. This allows for electronic components or other devices that are not physically connected to the vehicle to be part of the wireless network so that, for example, a mobile phone or other electronic device like a gaming device or an audio or video playback device may be part of the wireless network. This simplifies communication with such devices, which significantly increase usability for driver and passengers.

Especially, one, some or all of the electronic components may be electronic control units. Such electronic control units can be certain devices in the vehicle that have certain tasks, for 5 example relating to driving control or entertainment functions.

The invention further relates to a vehicle comprising at least a first electronic component and a second electronic component, the electronic components being configured to perform a method as described herein. Regarding the method, all embodiments and variations discussed herein can be applied.

With the vehicle, the advantages described above can be achieved. Especially, a wireless network can be established between electronic components of the vehicle in an easy and efficient way. For example, one of the electronic components of the vehicle may be predefined as a group owner, and may establish a wireless network in response to vehicle startup or ignition activation. The vehicle may comprise any number of electronic components, and furthermore electronic components that are not physically connected to the vehicle, like mobile phones of passengers, may be connected to the wireless network.

The invention further relates to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program code that causes a processor to perform a method as described herein. With respect to the method, all embodiments and variations discussed herein can be applied.

For example, a vendor-specific:EEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi Direct) network maybe established with the method. Peer-to-peer technology may enable 1:n communication between electronic control units or other devices without connectors. Highspeed communication, e.g. a giga bandwidth in the case of IEEE 802.11ac, can be provided. Using Wi-Fi display technology, one of the Wi-Fi Direct technologies, real-time streaming services are also available utilizing high bandwidth.

When ignition is turned on, one electronic control unit (e.g. cluster) may send an invitation message. When other electronic control units respond to the invitation, a connection may be established and a communication group maybe formed. In order to avoid the connection with other vehicle ECUs during driving, communication interference between different manufacturers and/or vehicles may be prevented by using secondary type in message. This value should be a unique number identifying the manufacturer and the vehicle.

By setting the intent value that determines the group owner to a fixed value other than a random value, the appropriate electronic control unit (e.g. cluster) may act as the group owner (server role) and the other electronic control units may act as the group clients (client role).

At this time, the group owner may receive each group client information through a probe request/response and may share in the group which ECU is in the group. After that, direct communication between all group clients in the group may be possible, and the communication status of each electronic control unit may be grasped.

It may be possible to communicate directly between electronic control units without ECU L2Us (ESU) and ICU, and 1:n simultaneous communication may be possible, so it is not limited by equipment and is efficient_ Since TCP/UDP maybe used as an upper layer of IEEE 802.11, it maybe possible to use a method of sending a CAN message to a payload in an existing system. The 5 GHz frequency band may be used, because it provides a high bandwidth, though there is no restriction on the data type. That is, it can provide various services such as large-capacity data and video streaming.

If Wi-Fi Direct is applied to the external equipment, ECU simultaneous update and diagnose are available. Various infotainment services are available.

The invention is now further described with respect to the drawings, wherein: fig. 1: shows a vehicle, fig. 2: shows a network configuration, fig. 3: shows an alternative network configuration, fig. 4: shows two networks.

Fig. 1 shows a vehicle 10 only schematically in order to illustrate a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

The vehicle 10 comprises a first electronic component 21, a second electronic component 22 and a third electronic component 23.

When the vehicle 10 is started up, the first electronic component 21, being configured as a group owner, wirelessly sends an initialization message to the surrounding, wherein the initialization message is received by the second electronic component 22 and the third electronic component 23. The initialization message comprises an identifier.

Each of the second electronic component 22 and the third electronic component 23 has stored a respective predetermined set of identifiers and checks if the identifier of the initialization message is comprised in this predetermined set of identifiers.

In normal operation this will be the case. Thus, the second electronic component 22 and the third electronic component 23 determine that they should belong to the group 20. This is especially due to the fact that they all belong to the vehicle 10, i.e. they are all configured to have similar predetermined sets of identifiers.

In response to determining that the identifier of the initialization message belongs to the predetermined set of identifiers, each of the second electronic component 22 and the third electronic component 23 sends a respective response message to the first electronic component 21, wherein each electronic component 22, 23 identifies itself to the group owner, namely the first electronic component 21. Afterwards, the first electronic component 21 knows about the other participants of a wireless network and sends a respective information to the other two electronic components 22, 23.

After this initialization process, the three electronic 20 components 21, 22, 23 may communicate using the established wireless network 20.

Fig. 2 shows a network configuration with three electronic control units ECU, one interconnection unit ICU being an interface to a CAN-based network, and an external network comprising an ethernet diagnostic tool (EDT) component or an ethernet reprogramming tool (ERT) component. The three electronic control units and the interconnection control unit form a vehicle network together with the CAN-based network. The three electronic control units, the interconnection control unit and the EDT/ERT unit of the external network should be part of a group 20, which should be connected as a wireless network. For example, one of the electronic control units may be defined as a group owner and the process as described with respect to fig. 1 may establish a wireless network between the components being part of the group 20, wherein other devices being part of the CAN-based network may also take part in the communication because they may be accessed using the interconnection unit ICU.

For example, the interconnection unit ICU may become the group owner and may send an invitation message to other electronic control units, and each electronic control unit may accept connection. Data may be transferred between the shown devices in group 20 without a connector, for example by using a TCP protocol or a UDP protocol. When an external equipment is connected, the external equipment may belong to the group and every electronic control unit in group 20 can be connected to the external equipment without restriction.

Fig. 3 shows an alternative configuration, in which the group 20 does not comprise the EDT/ERT component of the external network, but this component is connected to the interconnection unit ICU by a wirebound communication. The group owner may be flexibly selected by fixing the group owner intent, and the group owner can share information of group clients so that the connection between the group clients is possible. In the present case, one of the electronic control units, namely ECU 1, is set as a group owner (denoted as GO), and the other electronic control units ECU2, ECU3, ICU are configured as group clients (denoted as GC). Information is sent around the group in order to make every group member aware of the other group clients.

Fig. 4 shows a configuration in which two vehicle networks, namely a Vehicle Network 1 and a Vehicle Network 2, are physically proximate to each other, for example because the vehicles are parked or are driving near to each other. Vehicle Network 1 has its Group 20, and Vehicle Network 2 has its Group 200. Due to the implementation described with respect to fig. 1, wherein an identifier is used by each group owner which is unique for the group, no communication will be established between the two vehicle networks, so that only devices being part of a certain vehicle network communicate with each other. The invitation message sent by one of the group owners may be received by devices of the other vehicle network, however due to the fact that devices of the other vehicle network have a different predetermined set of identifiers, these devices will recognize that they should not belong to the intended wireless network and do not respond to the invitation message.

The disclosed embodiments thus allow for easy establishment of 15 an in-vehicle wireless communication network, wherein interferences with other vehicles are securely prevented.

Mentioned steps of the inventive method can be performed in the given order. However, they can also be performed in another order, as long as this is technically reasonable. The inventive method can, in an embodiment, for example with a certain combination of steps, be performed in such a way that no further steps are performed. However, also other steps may be performed, including steps that are not mentioned.

It is to be noted that features may be described in combination in the claims and in the description, for example in order to provide for better understandability, despite the fact that these features may be used or implemented independent from each other.

The person skilled in the art will note that such features can be combined with other features or feature combinations independent from each other.

References in dependent claims may indicate preferred combinations of the respective features, but do not exclude other feature combinations.

Claims

Patent Claims 1. Method for establishing a wireless network of electronic components (21, 22, 23) in a vehicle (10), the method comprising the following steps: - wirelessly sending, by an electronic component (21) being a group owner, an initialization message, the initialization message comprising an identifier, - receiving, by each of a number of electronic components (22, 23) being possible group clients, the initialization message, - determining, by each of the possible group clients, if the identifier of the received initialization message corresponds to a predetermined set of identifiers, and - if yes, wirelessly sending a response message to the group owner, - if no, not sending a response to the group owner, - receiving the response messages by the group owner, and - establishing the wireless network between the group owner and all group clients from which a response message has been received.
2. Method according to claim 1, - wherein the sending of the initialization message is performed in response to a vehicle startup and/or an ignition activation.
3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein the identifier is comprised in a secondary value of the initialization message and/or in an OUI subtype field of the initialization message.
4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the identifier comprises a vehicle identifier unique for the vehicle (10) and/or a brand identifier unique for a brand of the vehicle (10).
Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the identifier comprises a manufacturer identifier unique for a manufacturer of the vehicle (10).
Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined set of identifiers comprises only one respective identifier at each possible group client.
Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined set of identifiers is identical for all possible group clients in the vehicle (10).
Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein each response message comprises an identification of the sending group client.
Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the establishing the wireless network comprises wirelessly sending, by the group owner, an information message to the group clients.
10. Method according to claim 9, wherein the information message comprises an indication of all group clients from which response messages have been received.
11. Method according to one of the preceding claims, 5. 6. 7.-S. 9.- wherein the group owner is predefined before starting the method.
12. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein at least one electronic component (21, 22, 23) is or comprises an interface to a wired vehicle network.
13. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein at least one electronic component (21, 22, 23) is a mobile electronic device not physically connected to the vehicle (10).
14. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein one, some or all of the electronic components (21, 22, 23) are electronic control units.
15. Vehicle (10), comprising at least a first electronic component (21, 22, 23) and a second electronic component (21, 22, 23), the elecronic components (21, 22, 23) being configured to perform a method according to one of the preceding claims.