JP2007135011A - Trunk connection unit and virtual mobile lan system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a trunk connection unit and a virtual mobile LAN system which can perform the exchange of a message between ECUs for constituting segments of different mobile LANs disposed at separate positions. <P>SOLUTION: The virtual mobile LAN system has a mobile LAN communication means which performs the transmission and reception of a message through a mobile LAN network, an input and output means of the message through a plurality of communication lines, a relay processing means which performs the relay processing of the message, a message storage means which stores temporarily the message outputted and inputted between the relay processing means and the input and output means, and a group information recording means which divides and establishes as a group each communication line and which can record information on the communication line on which each ECU is connected with the identification information of each ECU and the group to which each ECU belongs. The relay processing means distributes and outputs the message received or inputted from the mobile LAN means or the input and output means based on the information recorded on the group information recording means, to each communication line belonging to the same group. The system transmits the message inputted from each communication line to the mobile LAN communication means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay connection unit and a virtual in-vehicle LAN system, and more specifically, operates a plurality of ECUs constituting different in-vehicle LAN segments as constituting a single in-vehicle LAN segment. The present invention relates to a relay connection unit and a virtual in-vehicle LAN system.

In recent years, as the functions of automobiles have increased, electronic control units (ECU: Electronic)
The number of Control Units) also tends to increase. Further, when each ECU is connected by a vehicle control network (hereinafter simply referred to as an in-vehicle LAN network), the number of ECUs connected to the in-vehicle LAN network increases and the amount of data (traffic) to be communicated also increases.

  Moreover, since each ECU connected to the in-vehicle LAN network periodically outputs data such as measured values, the message is also output periodically. However, when the traffic of data transmitted from the ECU to the in-vehicle LAN network increases, the communication load factor of the in-vehicle LAN network increases, and messages including data to be periodically output from the ECU are communicated on the in-vehicle LAN network. The probability of collision with a message increases, and the transmission interval of a message including data to be output periodically may be disturbed or the delay time may be increased.

  Therefore, in the gateway device according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-159568 (Patent Document 1), by setting the priority order of messages to be relayed, data included in a message having identification information with a high priority order is reliably transmitted. Has been shown to do.

  Further, by dividing the in-vehicle LAN network connecting each ECU into several segments, data traffic flowing in each segment is also suppressed. Then, it is considered that the in-vehicle LAN segments are systematized according to their importance, for example, and traffic in each segment is suppressed.

JP 2005-159568 A

  However, when the segments of the in-vehicle LAN are divided according to the systems, it is necessary to connect the ECUs of each system arranged at physically separated positions by at least the number of physical communication lines. There is a problem that the number of communication lines increases. In addition, there are segments that do not use the allowable traffic sufficiently among the segments divided for each system, but in order to ensure the reliability of communication, a plurality of systems are made the same in-vehicle LAN segment. In some cases, it may not be possible to connect, and the number of segments of the in-vehicle LAN must be increased.

  Furthermore, in recent electric vehicles, power lines for supplying power for switching at a high voltage are routed in the vehicle, so it is necessary to form a magnetic shield on communication lines routed between physically separated positions. Occurs. Therefore, the cable which comprises a communication line tends to become thick, and there exists a problem that the bundle | flux of a cable will become very thick when a several communication line is routed.

  On the other hand, when the priority order is set for the message and the increase in the number of ECUs is dealt with by shortening the delay of the important message, as in the case of Patent Document 1, a message having identification information with a high priority order is displayed. There is a problem that a message having identification information set with a relatively low priority is output to the in-vehicle LAN network as the priority is transmitted. In addition, since it is necessary to perform signal processing such as buffering data to be transmitted by monitoring the state of the in-vehicle LAN network in the ECU, there is also a problem that a control circuit relating to data output becomes complicated.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to form an in-vehicle LAN network capable of higher-speed communication so that the in-vehicle LAN network connecting the ECU can withstand sufficiently large traffic. It is necessary to provide an in-vehicle LAN communication means capable of communication, and it is necessary to change the design of the ECU. And since the in-vehicle LAN communication means capable of high-speed communication is relatively expensive, the manufacturing cost of the ECU is increased accordingly.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a relay connection unit capable of exchanging messages between ECUs that are arranged at different positions and constitute segments of different in-vehicle LANs. It is to provide a virtual in-vehicle LAN system.

In order to solve the above problem, the first invention is:
An in-vehicle LAN communication means for transmitting and receiving messages connected to the in-vehicle LAN network;
Input / output means connected to a plurality of communication lines to input / output messages to the ECU via these communication lines;
Relay processing means for performing relay processing by performing transmission / reception of messages via the in-vehicle LAN communication means and input / output of messages via the input / output means;
A message storage means for intervening between the relay processing means and the input / output means and temporarily storing messages input / output between the relay processing means and the input / output means;
Each communication line is divided into groups, and is provided with group information recording means for recording the identification information of each ECU, the group to which each ECU belongs, and information on the communication line to which each ECU is connected,
The relay processing means distributes and outputs a message received or input from the in-vehicle LAN communication means or the input / output means to the communication lines belonging to the same group based on information recorded in the group information recording means, There is provided a relay connection unit characterized in that a message input from each communication line is transmitted to an in-vehicle LAN communication means.

According to the above configuration, when receiving a message via the in-vehicle LAN communication means, the relay processing means determines the group corresponding to the identification information of the message using the group information recording means, and It outputs to each communication line which belongs to the said group via an entry output means.
Also, when receiving a message via the input / output means, the relay processing means determines a group corresponding to the identification information of the message using the group information recording means, and the message is sent via the input / output means. Output to each communication line belonging to the group and transmit via the in-vehicle LAN communication means.

  Thereby, in all the relay connection units connected to the in-vehicle LAN network, all the ECUs connected to the communication lines belonging to each group can receive a message output from one ECU belonging to the same group. In other words, messages can be exchanged with each other so as to virtually configure one in-vehicle LAN segment within the group.

In addition, the second invention
An in-vehicle LAN communication means for transmitting and receiving messages connected to the in-vehicle LAN network;
Input / output means connected to a plurality of communication lines to input / output messages to the ECU via these communication lines;
Relay processing means for performing relay processing by performing transmission / reception of messages via the in-vehicle LAN communication means and input / output of messages via the input / output means;
A message storage means for intervening between the relay processing means and the input / output means and temporarily storing messages input / output between the relay processing means and the input / output means;
Each communication line is divided into groups, and the identification information in each ECU group, the corresponding identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network, the group to which each ECU belongs, and the communication line to which each ECU is connected A group information recording means for recording information;
The relay processing means distributes the message received from the input / output means to each communication line belonging to the same group based on the information recorded in the group information recording means and outputs the message to the group information recording means. Based on the information, it is converted into identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network, transmitted to the in-vehicle LAN communication means, and the message received from the in-vehicle LAN communication means corresponds to the identification information based on the information recorded in the group information recording means There is provided a relay connection unit characterized in that it is converted into identification information within a group to be distributed to each communication line belonging to this group and output to an input / output means.

According to the above configuration, when receiving a message via the in-vehicle LAN communication unit, the relay processing unit records the group corresponding to the identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network of the message and the identification information in the group in the group information recording. The identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network is converted into identification information in the group, and the message is output to each communication line belonging to the group through the input / output means.
When receiving a message via the input / output means, the relay processing means determines the group corresponding to the identification information in the group of the message and the identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network using the group information recording means. The message is output to each communication line belonging to the group via the input / output unit, and the identification information in the group of the message is converted into the identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network, and the in-vehicle LAN communication unit is used. To send.

  Thereby, in all the relay connection units connected to the in-vehicle LAN network, all the ECUs connected to the communication lines belonging to each group can receive a message output from one ECU belonging to the same group. In other words, messages can be exchanged with each other so as to virtually configure one in-vehicle LAN segment within the group. Further, even if there is an overlap in identification information of ECUs belonging to different groups, communication failure and crosstalk do not occur.

In the first and second inventions, the in-vehicle LAN network is a LIN (Local Interconnect).
Network), CAN (Controller Area Network), FlexRay (registered trademark), MOST (Media Oriented Systems)
Various in-vehicle LANs such as those conforming to Transport, D2B (Domestic Digital Bus), and industrial LANs can be used. However, more preferably, real-time Ethernet (registered trademark), FlexRay, MOST, D2B, IDB1394, which can perform sufficiently high-speed communication so that message delay can be minimized, and industrial A single segment of the in-vehicle LAN is configured using the LAN.

  Further, the communication line between the ECU and the relay connection unit may be an in-vehicle LAN that conforms to a standard such as LIN, CAN, or FlexRay, or may be a communication line that conforms to another communication standard. That is, the input / output means may be an in-vehicle LAN network communication means or an interface directly connected to the ECU.

  Further, a plurality of ECUs may be connected to the communication line, but the input / output means has an input / output unit for each communication line, and one ECU is connected via one communication line. More preferably, they are connected. That is, the relay connection unit of the present invention is a hub for connecting a plurality of ECUs to an in-vehicle LAN network (hereinafter referred to as an in-vehicle hub), and an input / output unit that is directly connected to each of the plurality of ECUs in a one-to-one relationship. By providing this, it is possible to more reliably input and output messages with the ECU.

  Further, the group information recording means is preferably rewritable, and is preferably formed using a rewritable ROM such as a flash memory or a RAM made non-volatile by a backup power source.

  The storage area in the message storage means is secured by dividing and assigning to each group, and the communication band used by the in-vehicle LAN communication means for sending and receiving messages using the in-vehicle LAN network is assigned to each group. It is preferable to ensure by this. In such a configuration, the storage area in the relay connection unit can be secured for each group, so even if the number of ECUs belonging to one group increases or traffic increases, another group It does not affect the communication status of the ECUs belonging to. Further, by securing the communication band of the in-vehicle LAN network, the communication status between the ECUs belonging to the group can be stabilized even when the communication load factor of the in-vehicle LAN network increases.

  The relay processing means inserts error correction redundancy information into a message transmitted via the in-vehicle LAN communication means, and corrects the message using the error correction redundancy information inserted into the message received through the in-vehicle LAN communication means. It is preferable to do it. In such a configuration, even if external noise may be mixed in the communication cable on the in-vehicle LAN network side, bit inversion or the like caused by this can be corrected using error correction redundancy information.

  The error correction redundant information indicates information added by an FEC (Forward Error Correction) function. For example, a Reed-Solomon code, a trellis code, or a combination thereof can be used. In addition, error correction redundancy information incorporating an interleaving method may be used to deal with burst errors.

3rd invention consists of the relay connection unit of 1st invention or 2nd invention, and the vehicle-mounted LAN network which connects each relay connection unit,
A virtual in-vehicle LAN that constitutes a virtual in-vehicle LAN that can be virtually regarded as one in-vehicle LAN segment even if the communication lines grouped by the one group are connected to different relay connection units. Provide a system.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in all the relay connection units connected to the in-vehicle LAN network, all the ECUs connected to the communication lines belonging to each group are virtually connected to one in-vehicle LAN. As can be seen, messages can be exchanged with each other. Therefore, since a single in-vehicle LAN segment can be configured virtually without using a special communication protocol between ECUs belonging to the same group, a plurality of virtual The in-vehicle LAN segments can be formed together in one in-vehicle LAN network as a trunk line.

  In other words, the virtual in-vehicle LAN segment can be divided and formed for each system, and the physical connections are integrated into one in-vehicle LAN network, so the number of communication cables constituting the in-vehicle LAN network is reduced. The configuration can be simplified. In addition, since traffic allowed by one in-vehicle LAN network serving as the trunk line can be efficiently distributed to each virtual in-vehicle LAN, compared to the case where a plurality of in-vehicle LAN segments are physically formed for each system, The allowable traffic of the in-vehicle LAN network can be fully utilized.

  In addition, since the grouping of each communication line connected to the relay connection unit arranged in each part is determined by the information recorded in the group information recording means, the virtual information can be rewritten by rewriting the information in the group information recording means. Therefore, it is possible to flexibly cope with changes in specifications such as the number and arrangement of ECUs to be used, as compared with the case of forming physically separated in-vehicle LAN segments.

  In particular, when the identification information of the message in the group and the identification number of the message in the in-vehicle LAN network are recorded corresponding to the group information recording means, there is a duplication in the identification information allocated to the message in each group. However, messages can be exchanged without any problems.

  When the storage area in the message storage means and the communication band by the in-vehicle LAN communication means are allocated for each group, the traffic required for each group can be secured, so that the reliability of the virtual in-vehicle LAN is improved. .

  When error correction using error correction redundancy information is performed on a message transmitted / received via the in-vehicle LAN communication means, even if a communication error due to noise or the like occurs in the communication cable constituting the in-vehicle LAN network, this can be corrected. The reliability of an in-vehicle LAN is further improved. Further, in some cases, instead of using a cable with a magnetic shield structure that is thick and difficult to handle as a communication cable, it is possible to use a cable with a non-magnetic shield structure that can be made thinner and less expensive.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a virtual in-vehicle LAN system A using a relay connection unit 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an ECU connected to each relay connection unit 1 (shown in FIG. 1 are two relay connection units 1A and 1B) (hereinafter, when referring to each ECU 2 in a different manner, reference numerals 2A, 2B...) Are used. Is a communication line for connecting the ECUs 2 to the relay connection unit 1, and 4 is an in-vehicle LAN network for connecting the relay connection units 1A and 1B to each other.

  The ECUs 2 are provided with message input / output means 2a conforming to the CAN standard, for example, and the communication line 3 is a twisted pair cable conforming to the CAN standard. The communication line 3 may constitute a different type of in-vehicle LAN conforming to LIN, CAN, FlexRay, etc. for each relay connection unit 1 or for each communication line 3A, 3B... Multiple communication that conforms to a standard may be performed.

  The communication lines 3A to 3G connect one ECU 2A to 2G directly to the relay connection unit 1, and the communication line 3H connects the ECUs 2H, 2I. That is, each of the communication lines 3 may connect one ECU 2 to the relay connection unit 1 or may constitute a segment of an in-vehicle LAN that connects a plurality of ECUs 2.

  The in-vehicle LAN network 4 is a communication line conforming to the in-vehicle LAN standard capable of higher speed communication. In this embodiment, the in-vehicle LAN is an in-vehicle LAN conforming to the real-time Ethernet (registered trademark), and each relay connection unit 1 is connected to the ring. Are connected in a shape. Further, the communication speed of the in-vehicle LAN network 4 is preferably sufficiently higher than the communication speed by the communication lines 3A, 3B.

  .. And the communication lines 3A, 3B,... Are divided into two groups Ga, Gb. In this embodiment, for example, ECUs 2A, 2B, 2F, 2G, 2H, 2I... And communication lines 3A, 3B, 3F, 3G, 3H belong to group Ga, and ECUs 2C, 2D, 2E and communication lines 3C, 3D, 3E belongs to group Gb.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the relay connection unit 1A. The configuration of the other relay connection unit 1B is almost the same as that of the other relay connection unit 1B, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. In FIG. 2, 10 is an in-vehicle LAN communication means for transmitting and receiving messages connected to the in-vehicle LAN network 4, 11 is connected to the communication lines 3A to 3D and ECUs 2A, 2B... Via these communication lines 3A to 3D. Input / output means 12 for inputting / outputting messages to / from the control unit 12 is a control means connected to the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10 and the input / output means 11 to control them.

  The in-vehicle LAN communication means 10 performs communication conforming to the real-time Ethernet (registered trademark). A bus driver for exchanging electrical signals to the in-vehicle LAN network 4 and a real-time Ethernet (registered trademark) are included therein. And a communication controller that controls communication using a communication protocol that complies with the standard). The in-vehicle LAN communication means 10 of the present embodiment allocates and secures a communication band used for exchanging electrical signals using the in-vehicle LAN network 4 for each of the groups Ga and Gb.

  The input / output means 11 enables input / output of messages by performing communication conforming to CAN, and communication conforming to the CAN transceiver and CAN standard for exchanging electrical signals with respect to the communication line 3. A plurality of ports 11a to 11d having CAN controllers for controlling communication by protocol are provided. In the present embodiment, an example in which there are four ports is shown, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this number of ports.

  In the control means 12, 20 is a relay processing means for relaying messages, 21 is a message storage means interposed between the relay processing means 20 and the input / output means 11, and 22 is a group of the communication lines 3A to 3D. .. Are set separately, and the identification information of each ECU 2A, 2B..., The group to which each ECU 2A, 2B... Belongs, and the information on the communication lines 3A, 3B. Group information recording means.

  Each of the means 20 to 22 is recorded in a memory in the control means 12 and is constituted by a program or data configured to be executable by a calculation means (CPU) of the control means 12, thereby reducing manufacturing costs, It is possible to respond flexibly to specification changes. However, it goes without saying that these pieces of information may be recorded in a memory provided separately from the control means 12. Further, all the means 20 to 22 may be realized by a combination of logic circuits to increase the operation speed.

  The relay processing means 20 receives a message via the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10 and inputs a message via the input / output means, and selects a message to be relayed by referring to the group information recording means 22, .. Are output to all ports 11a, 11b or 11c, 11d belonging to the corresponding group Ga or Gb, and each message input from each port 11a, 11b... Is sent to another port 11b, 11a. While outputting, it transmits to the vehicle-mounted LAN communication means 10.

  In addition, when the relay processing unit 20 of this embodiment transmits a message via the in-vehicle LAN communication unit 10, the error correction redundancy information FEC is inserted into the message as necessary, and the in-vehicle LAN communication unit 10 is When receiving a message via the FEC processing unit 20a, the FEC processing unit 20a performs error checking and correction using the error correction redundancy information FEC inserted in the message.

  The message storage means 21 temporarily stores the messages received from the ECUs 2A, 2B... Via the communication ports 11a to 11d and the communication line 3, and the ECUs 2A, 2B. An input / output buffer (hereinafter referred to as a buffer 21) for temporarily storing messages to be output to the storage area. The storage area of the buffer 21 is divided and assigned to each of the groups Ga and Gb.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a list recorded in the group information recording means 22 on the relay connection unit 1A side, and FIG. 4 is a list recorded in the group information recording means 22 on the relay connection unit 1B side. It is a figure which shows the example of.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the group information recording means 22 includes at least group information G (to which each ECU 2A, 2B... Corresponding to identification information Id of each message exchanged between each ECU 2A, 2B. In the description of this embodiment, an example is shown in which “Ga” and “Gb” that are the same as the group code are recorded as group information), and information P of the communication lines 3A, 3B. (In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which “3A”, “3B”,..., “4”, which are the same as the codes of the communication lines 3A, 3B,. Is recorded.

  When the relay connection unit 1 configured as described above receives a message via the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10, the relay processing means 20 searches the group information recording means 22 for the identification information Id of the message, If there is corresponding data, the group G corresponding to the identification information Id of this message is determined, and relaying is performed by outputting a message to all the communication lines 3A, 3B or 3C, 3D belonging to the same group Ga or Gb.

  As a result, when the relay connection unit 1A receives a message from the ECUs 2 belonging to the groups Ga, Gb connected to the relay connection unit 1B via the in-vehicle LAN network 4 and the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10, this message is sent to the same group. It is possible to relay to all the ECUs 2 belonging to Ga and Gb and connected to the relay connection unit 1A.

  On the other hand, when receiving a message from the ECU 2 belonging to each group Ga, Gb of the relay connection unit 1A via the input / output means 11 and the communication line 3 ..., the relay processing means 20 corresponds to the identification information Id of this message. The group G to be recorded is determined using the group information recording means 22, and the message is assigned to the remaining communication lines 3 belonging to the same group Ga or Gb (that is, to the same group Ga or Gb other than the communication line 3 that has received the message). To the communication line 3 to which it belongs, and also to the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10 side.

  Accordingly, messages from the ECUs 2 belonging to the groups Ga, Gb connected to one communication line 3 of the relay connection unit 1A are transferred to other communication lines 3 ... belonging to the same group Ga, Gb of the same relay connection unit 1A. Output to the relay connection unit 1B via the in-vehicle LAN network 4 and the in-vehicle LAN communication means 10, and this message belongs to the same group Ga, Gb and is connected to all the ECUs 2 connected to the relay connection unit 1B. Can be relayed.

  The relay processing means 20 performs error detection and correction using error correction redundancy information when the information indicating whether the FEC processing is necessary or not simultaneously with the relay processing requires FEC processing. This increases communication reliability. It can be said that by setting whether or not FEC processing is necessary for each message as in this embodiment, it is possible to minimize the increase in communication time due to FEC processing. You may do this for the message. Alternatively, it may be set whether the FEC process is performed in units of groups Ga and Gb. As shown in FIG. 2, the FEC processing sections 11f and 2f are also provided in the input / output means 11a of the input / output means 11 and the input / output means 2a of the ECU 2C corresponding thereto, so that an error caused by noise mixed in each communication line 3 is caused. Detection and correction can be performed to further increase the reliability.

  The identification information Id of the message may be different between the identification information Id3 on the communication line 3 side and the identification information Id4 on the in-vehicle LAN network 4 side. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, both identification information Id3 and Id4 may be recorded in the group information recording means, and the relay processing means 20 may convert both identification information Id3 and Id4. .

  In such a configuration, if the groups Ga and Gb are different, the identification information Id3 on the communication line 3 side may overlap, so that the ECUs 2 connected to the virtual in-vehicle LANs belonging to these groups Ga and Gb. The identification information to be given can be set arbitrarily.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the virtual communication LAN system formed using the relay connection unit of this invention. It is a figure which shows the Example of a relay connection unit. It is a figure which shows the example of the said group information recording means. It is a figure which shows the example of the said group information recording means. It is a figure which shows the example of the group information recording means which shows the modification of the said Example. It is a figure which shows the example of the group information recording means of the said modification.

Explanation of symbols

1 Relay connection unit 2 ECU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Communication line 4 In-vehicle LAN network 10 Input / output means 11 In-vehicle LAN communication means 20 Relay processing means 21 Message storage means 22 Group information recording means A Virtual in-vehicle LAN system

Claims (5)

An in-vehicle LAN communication means for transmitting and receiving messages connected to the in-vehicle LAN network;
Input / output means connected to a plurality of communication lines and performing input / output of messages to the ECU via these communication lines;
Relay processing means for performing relay processing by transmitting / receiving messages via the in-vehicle LAN communication means and inputting / outputting messages via the input / output means;
A message storage unit that is interposed between the relay processing unit and the input / output unit and temporarily stores a message input / output between the relay processing unit and the input / output unit;
Each communication line is divided into groups, and is provided with group information recording means for recording the identification information of each ECU, the group to which each ECU belongs, and information on the communication line to which each ECU is connected,
The relay processing means distributes and outputs a message received or input from the in-vehicle LAN communication means or the input / output means to the communication lines belonging to the same group based on information recorded in the group information recording means, A relay connection unit that transmits a message input from each communication line to the in-vehicle LAN communication means. An in-vehicle LAN communication means for transmitting and receiving messages connected to the in-vehicle LAN network;
Input / output means connected to a plurality of communication lines and performing input / output of messages to the ECU via these communication lines;
Relay processing means for performing relay processing by transmitting / receiving messages via the in-vehicle LAN communication means and inputting / outputting messages via the input / output means;
A message storage unit that is interposed between the relay processing unit and the input / output unit and temporarily stores a message input / output between the relay processing unit and the input / output unit;
Each communication line is divided into groups, and the identification information in each ECU group, the corresponding identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network, the group to which each ECU belongs, and the communication line to which each ECU is connected A group information recording means for recording information;
The relay processing means distributes the message received from the input / output means to each communication line belonging to the same group based on the information recorded in the group information recording means and outputs the message to the group information recording means. Based on the information, it is converted into identification information in the in-vehicle LAN network, transmitted to the in-vehicle LAN communication means, and the message received from the in-vehicle LAN communication means corresponds to the identification information based on the information recorded in the group information recording means The relay connection unit is characterized in that it is converted into identification information within the group to be distributed, distributed to each communication line belonging to the group and output to the input / output means.   The storage area in the message storage means is secured by dividing and assigning to each group, and the communication band used by the in-vehicle LAN communication means for sending and receiving messages using the in-vehicle LAN network is assigned to each group. The relay connection unit according to claim 1, wherein the relay connection unit is secured.   The relay processing means inserts error correction redundancy information into a message transmitted via the in-vehicle LAN communication means, and corrects the message using the error correction redundancy information inserted into the message received through the in-vehicle LAN communication means. The relay connection unit and virtual in-vehicle LAN system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the relay connection unit and the virtual in-vehicle LAN system are performed. A plurality of relay connection units according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and an in-vehicle LAN network that connects the relay connection units.
A virtual in-vehicle LAN characterized in that a virtual in-vehicle LAN that can be virtually regarded as a segment of one in-vehicle LAN even if the communication lines grouped by the one group are connected to different relay connection units system.

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