FR2990667B1 - METHOD FOR MANAGING AN ELECTRONIC INSTALLATION OF A MOTOR VEHICLE AND ELECTRONIC INSTALLATION SO IMPLEMENTED - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of managing an electronic installation (1) of a motor vehicle, in several functional units (6) each providing at least a certain functional element (7). The functional units (6) are connected to an interface (3) which establishes an association list between the functional elements provided (7) and the functional unit (6) to be provided. In response to a request, it links several functional elements (7) including several functional units (6) to provide a functional group (8) using at least one communication facility (5).

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method for managing an electronic installation of a motor vehicle with several functional units providing at least one functional element each time. The invention also relates to an electronic installation for implementing the method.

State of the art

Processes of the type defined above according to the state of the art are known. These methods are used to manage an electronic installation equipping for example a motor vehicle. The electronic installation is, for example, a telematic installation and in particular an information or leisure installation or at least part of such an installation. The electronic installation may comprise a display installation and services by which the user cooperates with the electronic installation or the components thereof. The display and service facility is used to reproduce information and also to receive user input. The electronic installation usually has a functional unit produced using at least one function of the electronic installation, for example the reproduction of leisure media or the like. To link the display and services installation to this functional unit, there are currently two solutions, namely a manual solution and a semantic method. The customer and mission specific manual method is used spontaneously in most series developments for automotive leisure facilities. For example, for the manual method, we have a data pool. With respect to the manual method, the semantic method allows the automatic linking of the display station and services to the functional unit. Several display and service facilities can also be connected to this functional unit.

In general, it is known for a leisure installation, for example to connect a data memory and the installation accesses the media of the data memory and repro duit. It is also known to connect a media player to a leisure facility so that a functional unit in the form of an application (program) can transmit from this media player to the leisure facility and is then integrated in this one as a connected service. But this means that only complete functional units, for example in the form of branch services, can be integrated. It is not possible to integrate a single functionality during the operation of the electronic installation. In addition, the linking of several display facilities and services to the functional unit and possible but conversely the display installation and services can not be associated with several functional units without this being specifically provided. In addition, the user of the electronic installation can not choose. Finally, only the release of the source codes of a complete functional unit is possible, but not the release of the source codes of a single functionality of this unit.

DESCRIPTION AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION The subject of the invention is a method for managing an electronic installation of a motor vehicle, in several functional units each providing at least one functional element, characterized in that the functional units are linked to an interface which establishes an association list between the functional elements provided and the functional unit to be provided and following a request, it links several functional elements including several functional units to provide a functional group using least one communication facility.

The method of managing an electronic installation according to the invention has the advantage of allowing a flexible combination of different functionalities. In addition, this gives the user the opportunity to choose. The electronic installation also has several functional units for example in the sense of a package of applications or programs executed separately from each other on different devices. In a particularly preferred manner, each functional unit has its own computing unit and the computing units can be mobile or portable. As a variant, the functional unit may also be constituted by the calculation unit and, preferably, the interface establishes a switching link via the communications facility to the functional unit or to and / or between several functional units. .

Each functional unit provides at least one of the different functional elements which are advantageously in general largely different. The functional elements can be called "sub-services" and are also preferably integral parts of each functional unit. An application, that is to say one of the functional units can be logically decomposed in those functionalities that are described semantically as functional elements or sub-services. Such a functional unit can be organized from several functional elements with predefined conditions for different functionalities. Preferably, each of the functional units provides another functionality or another functional element.

The functional units are connected to the interface. This interface provides coordination of functional units and functional elements by establishing an association list. This list includes all the functional units related to the electronic installation or associated with them. The association list contains, for each functional unit, the functional elements that are provided to it. Conversely, one can also have an association list which gives the functional elements provided and also contains the information indicating in which functional units is the respective functional element. The interface thus makes it possible, if necessary, to link several functional elements to obtain a function group. The function group consists of functional elements preferably associated with different functional units. The functional group may also have multiple functional units, however, not all functional units of the electronic facility are grouped into the functional groups.

The functional group essentially corresponds to another functional unit or application consisting however of the functional elements of several functional units. Correspondingly, integration or joining of functional groups with different functional elements is possible not only during the development but also during the operating time of the electronic installation. This allows one who proposes one of the functional units not to release the entire functional unit but only certain functional elements of it. For this, an application will be released with a link interface.

It is planned to connect the functional units by the communication facility. But it can also be expected that at least one of the functional units or the display and service facility presents the interface. However, the interface may also be available as a separate item, such as another application (program) in an electronic installation.

According to one development, the interface provides at the same time several functional groups. The interface is not limited to grouping the functional elements provided in a single functional group although these can obviously be provided. Moreover, it is possible to group together several functional groups that use, in part or completely, all the functional elements of the same functional units. It is also possible to combine several functional groups with the same functionality and correspondingly use the same functional elements of the same functional units. But it is also possible to bring together functional groups with totally different functionalities that share only certain functional elements or functional elements.

According to a development, several functional units offer the same functional element and the interface selects one of the functional units to provide the functional element for this function group. Thus it is not necessary for the functional units to offer different functional elements, although this can also be envisaged, preferably, any functional units may be associated with the electronic installation and these functional units may have the same elements. functional with the same functionality. The association list of the interface thus contains several identical functional elements. This makes it possible to replace a functional unit and / or a defective functional element with another functional unit or another functional element during the time of use. If, for example, a functional element which provides the functionality of Internet radio is no longer available or is only incompletely available because of a bad Internet connection, it will be possible to automatically use a functional element giving a radio reception functionality, in particular a corresponding functional element with a headset.

Correspondingly, upon request of the corresponding functionality to provide the functional group, it can select one of the functional elements or one of the functional units provided by the functional element. Particularly advantageously, this is done by interaction with the user of the electronic installation. This can predefine the functional unit that is to be used preferentially. For example, the user can preferably predefine the functional unit to use and the interface can use it to the first request of the functional element. If, however, at the same time we want to have several functional groups that have the same functional element, the interface will not be able to select the preferred functional unit but a functional unit different from the latter to give the other functional group. This avoids the multiple selection of a single functional element or one of the functional units which regularly distributes a possible computational load.

According to a development, at least one of the functional units offers several functional elements preferably all the functional units of several functional elements. Functional units do not, however, consist of a single functional element although this is obviously intended. Preferably, each of the functional units proposes several functional elements that will then be taken by the interface to provide the functional group. Preferably, all the functional units comprise several functional elements.

According to a development, the functional unit at the link with the interface provides information regarding the functional element available for the interface. Each functional unit is connected to the interface for example by the communication installation, in particular by a bus system or a similar means. To establish the association list, the interface unit requires information about the available information element, and also about the functional unit that provides the functional element. The functional unit must furthermore provide information concerning the functional unit, in particular the functional element made available, or transmit information to the interface. This information will then make it possible to establish the association list.

According to a development, the functional element made available is applied to the functional unit, in particular to the calculation unit associated with the functional unit. Each functional element is part of one of the functional units so that the latter is available as a combination of functional elements. For example, the functional element is available as an application with several sub-services representing the functional units. The calculation unit applies the functional element or the functional units, this unit being that associated with the functional unit. Preferably, each functional unit has its own computing unit.

According to a development, the functional elements that provide the functional groups communicate exclusively through the communication facility connecting the various functional units including a bus system. The functional units are connected by the communication facility. According to another characteristic, the functional elements are not transmitted as such between the functional units and the interface. Moreover, all the communication between the functional elements grouped in a functional group will be done by the communication installation connecting the functional units. It is thus only a data exchange (not executable) between the functional elements. The functional elements (executable) are not transmitted by the communication installation but remain in the respective functional unit, that is to say are only available in them.

According to a development, at least one of the functional units is a mobile phone, a digital tablet, a memory installation, a distributed computer system, a navigation device, a leisure facility or a display and service facility. . Such devices usually have a computing unit to execute the functional unit. Preferably, each of the functional units is in a device connected to the interface by a wired link. The mobile phone thus corresponds for example to a telecommunication service for connecting to the Internet and / or to a directory service in the form of a functional element. The navigation device for example provides a POI service (Points Interesting Service) and / or a navigation service again as a functional element.

According to a development, at least one of the functional units comprises a communication device for establishing in particular a wireless communication link. The communication link or the telecommunication link or the telecommunication link may be, for example, a point-to-point link, in particular a telephone link or a similar link, or a link via a network, for example an Internet link. The establishment of the telecommunication link by a communication device and the transmission of data via this link are also in the form of a functional element as a telecommunication service. The communication link can be in the form of a wireless or wired link. The invention also relates to an electronic installation of other motor vehicles in particular for the implementation of the method. The electronic installation comprises several functional units that respectively provide at least one determined functional element. The functional units are connected to an interface unit which establishes an association list between the functional elements already provided and the functional unit to be supplied and the request connects several functional elements including several functional units to provide a function group to the functional unit. using at least one communication facility. The applied process can be carried out according to the indications given above. The advantages produced by this electronic installation are also those of the process as developed above.

drawings

The present invention will be described hereinafter in more detail using examples of a method for managing an electronic installation of a vehicle shown in the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. an electronic installation of a motor vehicle with several functional units existing in different devices, an interface as well as a display and control installation, and - Figure 2 is a schematic view of a management method of the electronic installation. .

Description of embodiments

FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of an electronic installation 1. This installation consists of a display and service facility 2, an interface 3 as well as a set of apparatus 4 connected to the interface. 3 by a communication installation 5. Each device 4 is associated with at least one functional unit 6 which provides at least one functional element 7 (not shown here). One or more functional units 6 may be provided. The functional unit 6 is for example available as an application (program) executed by the calculation unit of the respective device 4. The functional elements 7 are, for example, an integral part of the functional units 6, that is to say, they are not separated from them. The interface 3 can be provided either by one of the devices 4 or by the display and service facility 2. The interface can also, as shown here, be constituted by a separate installation. It is also possible to consider the display and service facility 2 as a device 4 which provides another functional unit 6. This makes it possible to ensure on the screen of the display and service facility 2 , transmission of a reproduction and / or entries of a user.

It is clear that the functional units 6 with each device 4 can be anywhere. In particular, the devices 4 are physically separated from each other and also from the interface 3, preferably being connected by a wireless communication installation 5. The display and service facility 2 can not, as shown, include a display and an input installation. The input installation can be in the form of a keyboard or a touch screen. Alternatively or in addition, one can see a voice input or similar means. In addition, the display and service facility 2 also includes a computing unit (electronic control unit ECU).

To manage the electronic installation 1, the interface 3 establishes an association list between the functional elements 7 provided by the functional units 6 and the functional units already provided. Thus, the association list gives an overview of the functional elements 7 available in the electronic installation 1. This is particularly significant if the functional units 6 can be added to the electronic installation 1 and be separated therefrom. that is, only temporarily connected to the electronic installation. For example, the functional unit 6 is on the mobile device 4 and taken away by a user; it is for example a mobile phone. The apparatus 4 will not be permanently connected to the interface 3. On request, the interface 3 may connect several functional elements 7 to have a functional group 8 (not represented) by the communication installation 5. This means that the interface 3 selects in the association list, the functional elements 7 necessary to have a certain functionality of the functional group 8. These functional elements 7 will then be connected by the communication installation 5 which is for example a system of communication. bus. The functional elements 7 are not transmitted by the communication installation 5. Moreover, only the useful data will be exchanged between the functional elements 7.

For this, the interface 3 has several components 9-14. The component 9 ("service description") serves for example to classify the functional elements 7 according to their semantic and ontological description. Component 9 thus has all the characteristic information relating to the functional elements 7, in particular the functionality offered by the functional element 7, how and when the functional element 7 has been added to the electronic installation 1, which has applied the functional element 7 and so on. The component 10 ("service register") is used to record when a new functional element 7, unknown until then of the interface 3, is found, thereby registering the functional element 7 in the component 9 with a service identity ID unambiguous service. The non-functional properties and the functional description of the functional element 7 will be communicated to the electronic installation 1.

In the component 11, ("service decomposition") during the request of the functional group 8, it decomposes it into these necessary functions. Thus, all the functionalities and functional elements 7 are known which are necessary to form the functional group 8. Using the component 12 ("service discovery"), the functional unit 6 is defined as the functional element 7 the respective functional group 8. It may happen that several functional elements 7 are found which offer the same functionality. The component 13 ("service composition") is then used to group the functional elements 7 which provide the desired functionalities in a function group 8. If there are several functional elements 7 having the same functionality, it will be possible to select a single element functional 7 according to the request of the user of the electronic installation 1 or according to systematic predefined criteria. Component 14 ("service base") represents the basic missions. The expression "base" represents the establishment of a coherent link (mapping) between a semantic description and a syntactical description of the functional elements 7. The base is thus the interface between a semantic model and the environment that can be requested. (eg JAVA)

FIG. 2 describes the operation of the electronic installation 1 using a functional group 8 which must provide the user with a navigation service. For the description of the functional elements 7, the WSMO (Web Service Modeling Onthology) service for a semantic network is used for example. As the description language and the environment that can be called, we use the Web Service Modeling Language (WSML), JAVA and / or the Web Service Execution Environment (WSMX).

Figure 2 shows the process using a WSMO model. The functional group 8 that must provide the navigation service consists for example of non-functional properties and functional descriptions with executable semantics. A model ("cyreograper") describes the interaction between the display and service facility 2 or a user 17 and the functional group 8; on the other hand, a model 16 ("orchestration") represents the interaction between the functional group 8 and the functional elements 7.

The following description shows how the functional group 8 is composed from distributed functional elements 7. First, in a first step, using the component 11 ("service decomposition") or the model 16, the functional group 8 is broken down into these necessary functions. In this example, it is a POI (Interesting Point) service. An address service, a vocalization service and a route planning service. Then, using the component 12 ("service discovery") we look for the functional elements 7 that provide these features. In the present example, a functional element 18 provides the POI service, a functional element 19 provides the address service, a functional element 20 provides a communication link or a telecommunication link, a functional element 21 provides the voice service and a functional element 22 provides the route planning service. The functional element 18 is provided by a first functional unit 6 (tablet), the functional element 19 is provided by a second functional unit 6 (distributed computer), the functional elements 20 and 21 are provided by a third functional unit 6 ( mobile telephone) and the functional element 22 is provided by a fourth functional unit 6 (navigation apparatus). If the functional units 6 provide several functional elements 7 with the same functionality, then the interface 3 decides the functional element 7 to be chosen for example according to a prescription of the user.

Finally, in a third step, using the component 13 ("service composition") or the model 16, the functional elements 7 selected by the communication installation 5 are connected. At the same time, several measures can be taken. to remedy any defects which have appeared and which make it possible to better adapt to the given request, the functional group 8 formed of the functional elements 7. The user receives correspondingly, with the functional group 8 in the present example embodiment , a custom navigation function.

NOMENCLATURE OF THE MAIN ELEMENTS 1 Electronic installation 2 Display and service installation 3 Interface 4 Device 5 Communication installation 6 Functional unit 7 Functional element 8 Functional group 9 Interface component 3 10, 11, 12, 13, Models 14, 15, 16 17 User 18-22 Functional elements

Claims (8)

CLAIMS 1 °) A method for managing an electronic installation (1) of a motor vehicle comprising a plurality of functional units (6) each providing at least one functional element (7), determined according to which the functional units (6) are connected an interface (3) which establishes an association list between the provided functional elements (7) and the functional unit (6) which provides and following a request, links a plurality of functional elements (7) including several functional units (6). ) to provide a functional group (8) using at least one communication facility (5), characterized in that the interface (3) simultaneously provides a plurality of functional groups (8), or a plurality of functional units (6) provide the same functional element (7) and the interface (3) selects one of these functional units (6) to provide the functional element (7) for the functional group (8). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the functional units (6) provides a plurality of functional elements (7) and preferably all the functional elements (7) provide a plurality of functional elements (6). Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the functional unit (6) provides information concerning the functional element (7) for the interface (3), for connecting the functional unit (6) to the interface (3). 4) Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional element (7) provided is executed by the functional unit (6) in particular on a computer associated with the functional unit (6). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional elements (7) connected to provide a group of functions (8) communicate exclusively by the communication installation (5) connecting the respective functional units (6), in particular a bus system. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the functional units (6) is a mobile telephone, a tablet, a memory installation, a distributed computer system, a navigation apparatus, a recreation facility or display and service facility (2). 7) Method according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the functional units (6) comprises a communication device for establishing a communication link including wireless. 8 °) Electronic installation (1) of other motor vehicles in particular for carrying out the method according to one or more of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the electronic installation (1) comprises several functional units (6) which respectively provide at least one determined functional element (7), the functional units (6) are connected to an interface (3) which establishes an association list between the functional elements (7) already provided and the functional unit (6) supply and demand links a plurality of functional elements (7) including several functional units (6) to provide a function group (8) with at least one communication facility (5).