JPH09126954A - Electronic control device for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire required vehicle data without mounting a drive recorder and a diagnosis tester on a vehicle. SOLUTION: The electronic control device for automobile has a self-diagnosis means 6 for detecting the failure of a vehicle state, a means 8 for storing data regarding the vehicle state, and a two-way communications means 10 for reading out the stored data. A trigger generating means 15 for generating a communication state which is different from a normal two-way communications state is connected to the two-way communications means 10 and a manual trigger is inputted from the trigger generating means, thus storing the vehicle data at a current point or before or after that point in a vehicle data storing means 8 via the two-way communications means and a second trigger detection means 9. Freeze frame data can be acquired also for any inconvenience other than the self-diagnosis failure code.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is mounted on an automobile and diagnoses the operating states of sensors and actuators.
The present invention relates to a vehicle electronic control device that can store information regarding an operating state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in engines mounted on automobiles, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, it is required to improve the exhaust gas purifying ability and the failure detecting ability of the exhaust gas purifying apparatus. Particularly, in the OBD-II regulations issued in North America, it is required that the electronic control unit for an automobile be provided with a function of storing vehicle data (so-called freeze frame data) at the time of occurrence of a malfunction in an exhaust-related device. .

Therefore, the conventional electronic control unit for automobiles is provided with a self-diagnosis device for detecting a malfunction of a specific device such as an exhaust gas purifying device, and a self-diagnosis failure code generated by the self-diagnosis device when the malfunction occurs. As a trigger, a data storage device that stores vehicle data (input / output signals) regarding sensors and actuators is provided.

[0004]

However, in the conventional electronic control unit for an automobile, the vehicle data stored in the data storage device is the time when the self-diagnosis device mounted on the automobile determines that a defect has occurred. Since it is stored as a trigger, it is limited to data when a device that generates a self-diagnosis failure code, such as an exhaust gas purification device, fails.

Therefore, even if a general defect pointed out by the user is not stored, vehicle data at the time of occurrence of a defect in which a self-diagnosis failure code does not occur, such as a minor defect relating to drivability, cannot be stored. It was

However, as a method for recording vehicle data at an arbitrary time by a manual trigger, a drive recorder for taking out a signal from an input / output terminal of an automobile electronic control unit and recording it, or a two-way operation from an automobile electronic control unit. A diagnostic tester that acquires and records vehicle data via a communication line is known, and if these drive recorders and diagnostic testers are installed in an automobile, it is possible to acquire necessary vehicle data.

However, when vehicle data is acquired by using these drive recorders and diagnostic testers, particularly when vehicle data regarding a defect with low reproducibility is acquired, these devices are mounted on a vehicle until the defect recurs. However, since these devices are relatively expensive devices, the number of them installed at the service base of the vehicle is limited, and continuous use for a long time is difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and it is possible to obtain necessary vehicle data without mounting a drive recorder or a diagnostic tester on the vehicle electronic control unit. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electronic control unit for an automobile of the present invention comprises a data arithmetic means for arithmetically operating data on a detected vehicle state and sending the data to a controlled object, and the vehicle. In a vehicle electronic control device comprising a self-diagnosis means for detecting a state abnormality, and a vehicle data storage means for storing data relating to the vehicle state, when an abnormality in the vehicle state is detected by the self-diagnosis means, First trigger detection means for sending a signal for storing vehicle data at or before and after the vehicle data storage means; bidirectional communication means for reading out data stored in the vehicle data storage means; A trigger generating means that is connected to the communication means and generates a communication state different from the normal two-way communication state; When the signal from the trigger generating means is inputted, characterized by comprising a second trigger detection means for delivering a current or a signal to be stored before and after the vehicle data that the vehicle data storage means.

In the electronic control unit for an automobile of the present invention,
Abnormality of a specific vehicle state is detected by the self-diagnosis means, this signal is detected by the first trigger detection means as a trigger, and vehicle data at the present time or before and after that is stored in the vehicle data storage means. This vehicle data is
It can be retrieved by an external device via the two-way communication means.

On the other hand, when the trigger generating means generates a communication state different from the normal two-way communication state other than the above-mentioned specific vehicle state, this signal is used as a trigger by the second two-way communication means. The vehicle data detected at this time or before and after the current time is stored in the vehicle data storage means. This vehicle data is also
It can be retrieved by an external device via the two-way communication means.

Since the electronic control unit for an automobile of the present invention uses the bidirectional communication means for reading the vehicle data from the vehicle data storage means and connects the trigger generating means to the vehicle, the vehicle data is stored. In the case of acquisition, an external device may be connected to the bidirectional communication means instead of the trigger generation means, and necessary vehicle data can be acquired without mounting the drive recorder or the diagnostic tester itself on the vehicle.

The trigger generating means according to the present invention may have a simple communication function sufficient to generate a communication state different from the normal bidirectional communication state. For example,
A trigger may be sent out by a push button, or a communication error may be simply generated while the push button is being pressed to make it cheaper.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic control unit for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external view of the same.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electronic control unit 1 is mounted on a vehicle and controls the engine. It receives vehicle data from sensors 3 and switches 4 and data arithmetic means 2 After performing a predetermined arithmetic processing in step 1, a drive signal is sent to the connected actuators 5.

Further, the electronic control unit 1 is provided with a self-diagnosis means 6, and judges from the vehicle data whether or not there is a malfunction related to the exhaust gas system, for example. When it is determined that a failure has occurred, a self-diagnosis failure code is generated and sent to the first trigger detection means 7. That is, the self-diagnosis failure code generated by the self-diagnosis means 6 becomes a trigger, and when this is detected by the first trigger detection means 7, the self-diagnosis trigger is sent from the first trigger detection means 7 to the vehicle data storage means 8. Is sent.
The vehicle data storage unit 8 reads out vehicle data at or before and after the occurrence of the self-diagnosis trigger from the data calculation unit 2 and stores it as freeze frame data.

The data calculation means 2 includes a bidirectional communication means 1
0 is connected, and the bidirectional communication means 10 has a connector 1
1 is provided. An external device such as a vehicle diagnostic device 14 can be connected to the connector 11 via the connector 12, and the freeze frame data stored in the vehicle data storage means 8 can be used as the data calculation means 2 and the bidirectional communication means. It is read out via 10 and provided for failure analysis, for example.

In the vehicle electronic control unit 1 according to this embodiment, the connector 11 of the bidirectional communication means 10 is
The trigger generating means 15 can be connected via the connector 13. Since the trigger generating means 15 can be connected except when the vehicle data is read from the vehicle data storage means 8 by using the vehicle diagnostic device 14, it can be mounted in, for example, an automobile.

Although the bidirectional communication means 10 may be provided with a dedicated input / output terminal for connecting the trigger generation means 15, since the vehicle cost increases, it is possible to install the vehicle diagnostic device 14 as in the present embodiment. It is more desirable to connect the trigger generation means 15 using the output terminal as it is.

The trigger generating means 15 produces a communication state different from the normal communication state by the bidirectional communication means 10. When the bidirectional communication means 10 receives this irregular signal, the signal is changed to the first signal. The second trigger detection means 9 regards it as a manual trigger, and the second trigger detection means 9 sends the manual trigger to the vehicle data storage means 8. In the vehicle data storage means 8, the vehicle data at or before and after the manual trigger is read from the data calculation means 2 and stored as freeze frame data.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle data storage means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle data computing means 2 fetches vehicle data from the sensors 3 and switches 4 and performs a predetermined computation, and then sends a control signal to the actuators 5. At this time, the self-diagnosis means 6 monitors from the vehicle data taken into the vehicle data calculation means 2 whether or not a defect caused by this will occur. Then, if it exceeds the predetermined standard, a self-diagnosis trigger is sent to the first trigger detection means 7.

On the other hand, the connector 11 of the bidirectional communication means 10
In place of the vehicle diagnostic device 14, a trigger generator 15 is connected to the vehicle and is mounted on the vehicle. Therefore, the user can acquire the freeze frame data by using the trigger generation means 15 when a problem that cannot be detected by the self-diagnosis means 6 occurs. That is, when the bidirectional communication means 10 receives an irregular signal from the trigger generation means 15, this is regarded as a manual trigger and is sent to the second trigger detection means 9.

In the vehicle data storage means 8, as shown in FIG. 3, after initialization (step 101), the first
The determination of the presence / absence of the self-diagnosis trigger sent from the trigger detection means 7 (step 102) and the determination of the presence / absence of the manual trigger sent from the second trigger detection means 9 (step 103) are repeatedly executed. Then, when either the self-diagnosis trigger or the manual trigger is received,
The vehicle data is read from the vehicle data calculation unit 2 and stored in the storage area of the vehicle data storage unit 8.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the bidirectional communication means 10 to which an external device such as the vehicle diagnostic device 14 is originally connected is used, and the trigger generating means 15 for generating a manual trigger is connected thereto. Therefore, the vehicle data in the vicinity of the time of occurrence can be taken out as freeze frame data even for a slight defect that is not monitored by the self-diagnosis means 6.

The trigger generating means 15 may be a device that merely generates a communication error as a manual trigger.
In this case, for example, it can be configured as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bidirectional communication means 10, and the bidirectional communication means 10 executes step 201.
The communication line monitoring is executed at to monitor the communication request from the vehicle diagnostic device 14. Here, when a normal communication request is received (step 202), the diagnostic data is read from the vehicle data calculation means 2 (step 205).

In steps 202 and 203, if a communication state different from the normal communication state, that is, a communication error is confirmed, the continuity of the communication error is confirmed (step 204). Since a communication error occurs for some reason even during normal communication, it is determined whether the communication error confirmed by the bidirectional communication means 10 is the original communication error signal or the communication error signal generated by the trigger generating means 15.

This difference can be determined by, for example, assuming that a communication error occurs three times or more in succession as a manual trigger signal by the trigger generating means 15, and if less than that, a normal communication error. . That is, in step 204, it is confirmed whether or not a communication error has occurred three times or more in succession, and if less than three times, the communication is aborted as a communication error of the vehicle diagnostic device 14 (step 20).
6). If a communication error occurs three or more times,
Since it is not the usual communication error but the trigger generation means 15, the manual trigger is sent to the second trigger detection means 9 as if the manual trigger was generated (step 207).

As described above, in the electronic control unit 1 for an automobile according to the present embodiment, the manual trigger can be generated by using a signal that can be universally used without mounting a device for generating a special signal on the vehicle. Moreover, since such a device is extremely inexpensive, it is possible to acquire vehicle data in the vicinity of the time of occurrence as freeze frame data for a defect other than the defect detected by the self-diagnosis means 6.

The above-described embodiments are described to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, and are not described to limit the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the bidirectional communication means for reading the vehicle data from the vehicle data storage means is utilized and the trigger generation means is connected to the vehicle, the vehicle is mounted. When acquiring the vehicle data, an external device may be connected to the bidirectional communication means instead of the trigger generating means, and the necessary vehicle data can be acquired without mounting the drive recorder or the diagnostic tester itself on the vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic control unit for an automobile, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing an electronic control unit for an automobile, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of vehicle data storage means according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the bidirectional communication means according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic control device 2 ... Data calculation means 3 ... Sensors 4 ... Switches 5 ... Actuators 6 ... Self-diagnosis means 7 ... 1st trigger detection means 8 ... Vehicle data storage means 9 ... 2nd trigger detection means 10 ... Bidirectional communication means 11, 12, 13 ... Connector 14 ... Vehicle diagnostic device 15 ... Trigger generation means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data calculation means for calculating data on a detected vehicle state and sending it to a controlled object, a self-diagnosis means for detecting an abnormality in the vehicle state, and a vehicle data storage for storing data on the vehicle state. An electronic control unit for a vehicle, comprising: means for outputting a signal for storing vehicle data at the present time or before and after the current time to the vehicle data storage means when the abnormality of the vehicle state is detected by the self-diagnosis means. Trigger detecting means, bidirectional communication means for reading data stored in the vehicle data storage means, and trigger generation for generating a communication state different from a normal bidirectional communication state, which is connected to the bidirectional communication means Means and a signal from the trigger generation means via the two-way communication means, the current data stored in the vehicle data storage means. An electronic control unit for an automobile, comprising: a second trigger detecting means for transmitting a signal for storing vehicle data before or after the time point.