JP3293338B2 - In-vehicle electronic control device and its failure diagnosis method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle electronic control device, and more particularly to an on-vehicle electronic control device mounted on a four-wheeled vehicle or a two-wheeled vehicle, and a method of diagnosing a failure thereof .

[0002] The present device can be used in a device other than an automobile as long as the device is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU) such as an engine of an outboard motor or an A / T.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, electronic control units (ECUs) 54, 55 and a failure diagnostic device (outside terminal device) 52 outside a vehicle are connected by communication lines 59, 61, 65 to perform serial communication. A system for connecting an in-vehicle ECU via an in-vehicle communication network, such as a system for transmitting data required for diagnosis inside the ECU to the failure diagnosis device 52 and determining a failure, has been disclosed by the same applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10-26139). 5-174
No. 878).

[0004] On the other hand, it is common practice to use two communication lines to cope with communication abnormalities. As shown in FIG. 6, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the communication line of the in-vehicle communication network is abnormal, the two communication lines of the transmission line 75 and the control line 76 are used to avoid the problem. There is something to try (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-139939).
No.).

[0005]

However, a communication line runs around the vehicle so as to connect a plurality of on-vehicle ECUs, and if any of the communication lines is damaged or short-circuited, the entire communication is interrupted. There was a disadvantage that it would be.

Further, in the conventional example in which a plurality of communication lines are used, there is an inconvenience that an unused line is present in a normal state and the cost is increased. Moreover, 2
There is an inconvenience that the main line increases the weight and complicates the wiring, which may hinder the improvement of the performance of the vehicle.

In addition, there is a disadvantage that a circuit for switching which of the plurality of communication lines is to be selected on the ECU side, for example, a cutoff circuit is required. Further, there is a disadvantage that processing software for selecting a communication line is required.

[0008]

An object of the present invention is to improve the inconvenience of the prior art, and in particular, to provide an in-vehicle electronic control device capable of easily and easily coping with an abnormality in an in-vehicle communication network and a failure diagnosis thereof.
Its purpose is to provide a disconnection method .

[0009]

Therefore, according to the present invention, a plurality of electronic control units for controlling the operation of in-vehicle equipment such as an engine, and information stored in the electronic control units based on an external command are retrieved. And a data transfer control means for outputting the data to the outside, and an in-vehicle connector for receiving a cable connection to an external device such as a failure diagnosis device. Moreover, the data transfer control unit is connected directly to the electronic control unit and each harness, a switch group for disconnection each said harness, place a communication error occurs
In this case, select the switches in the switch group one by one
Disconnects only the relevant switch and restores communication
The electronic control unit corresponding to the switch
Or a function of determining that the harness is abnormal . This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0010]

During the operation of the on-vehicle electronic control device, the plurality of electronic control units control the operation of the in-vehicle equipment such as the engine. Information such as component information is stored in these electronic control units, and this information is retrieved by data transfer control means based on external commands. The retrieved information is read into the data transfer means via the harness,
Thereafter, the signal is output to an external device such as a failure diagnosis device via a cable connected to the in-vehicle connector.

If a communication error (communication abnormality) occurs at this time, the switch on the data line directly connected to the electronic control unit and the harness is manually or automatically turned off (disconnected) to confirm restoration. If the electronic control unit or the cable is turned off, the electronic control unit or the cable on the turned off data line is recognized as a failure, and the operation is continued with the switch turned off until the electronic control unit or the like is restored.

When the recovery is not performed, the switch that has been turned off is turned on again, and another switch is turned off to confirm the recovery. The above-described operation is performed when the operation is restored, and another switch is turned off when the operation is not restored. If all switches have been checked, but recovery is not successful, it is recognized that there is an error in the conduction of the cable from the in-vehicle connector to the out-of-vehicle device or that the data control means has failed.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle electronic control unit 9 according to the present invention. The on-vehicle electronic control unit 9 searches a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) 10, 11,... For respectively controlling the operation of in-vehicle devices such as engines, and information stored in the ECUs 10, 11,. A data transfer control means 2 for externally outputting the data and an in-vehicle connector 4 for receiving a cable connection to an external device such as a failure diagnosis device 3.

Moreover, the data transfer control means 2 is connected to the electronic control units 10, 11,.
, And the harnesses 20, 21 ...
Are provided with switch groups 2a, 2b,.

This will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle ECU group 10 is connected to the data transfer control means 2 via a harness group 20. The data transfer control means 2 is connected to the in-vehicle connector 4 via a harness 6. The in-vehicle connector 4 is connected to the out-of-vehicle connector 5 as necessary, and is connected via a cable 7 to the failure diagnosis device 3.
Is connected to the in-vehicle ECU group 10.

Further, inside the data transfer control means 2, as shown in FIG.
Are connected to the in-vehicle connector 4 via the switch groups 2a, 2b... And the harness 6a and the harness 6 in the data transfer control means 2. These switches 2a, 2b ...
As shown, it is provided for each ECU.

Next, an example will be described in which the switch groups 2a, 2b,... Are manually operated to use the vehicle-mounted electronic control device 9 according to the present embodiment.

At the start of communication between the failure diagnosis device 3 as an external device and the electronic control unit 9, all the switches 2a, 2
are in the on (connection) state. If no communication error occurs, for example, the electronic control unit 9 collects the internal information 10a, 11a, 12a... In each ECU, and the failure diagnosis device 3 performs a failure diagnosis or the like based on the information. Is output.

When a communication error occurs, the user first turns off (disconnects) the switch 2a to release the ECU 10.
And the harness 20 are separated from the other ECU groups 11, 12,. Next, in this state, restoration of communication is confirmed. When the communication is restored, the user can determine that the harness 20 or the ECU 10 has failed. Therefore, the communication error can be eliminated by checking the harness 20 and the ECU 10.

In addition, when the switch 2a is turned off and the communication is restored, the communication with the other ECU 11 except the communication with the ECU 10 is restored and the normal operation is performed until the repair of the ECU 10 or the like is completed. it can. Therefore, it is possible to prevent all communication from being interrupted due to a single failure.

If the communication is not restored, the next switch (switch 2b) is turned off and the above operation is repeated. If the terminal is not restored even after being turned off until the final switch 2n, the user checks the continuity of the harness 6, the cable 7, and the connectors 4, 5.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the operability in coping with a communication error can be greatly improved by concentrating the switch group in one place. In addition, since it can be performed manually, it is possible to deal with an abnormality in the in-vehicle communication network without requiring a special circuit or program on the ECU side.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the data transfer control means 2 turns on / off each switch 2a, 2b.
A control unit 30 for controlling turning off is provided. A buffer 3 for turning on / off the communication between the harnesses 6a to 6
1, 32 are provided. Therefore, harness 6-6
The continuity check between a can be automatically performed.

On the other hand, since the data transfer control means 2 has a program including the function of the external diagnosis device control software 3a, it is possible to perform all the operations automatically instead of manually determining the location where the communication abnormality occurs. Can be. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

At the start of communication, all switches 2a, 2
are on (connected) (step S)
1). In this state, communication between the external failure diagnosis device 3 and the on-vehicle electronic control device 9 is started. If no error occurs (step S2), normal processing is performed (steps S10 to S12). When a communication error occurs (step S2), first, the counter substitutes 0 for a variable i, and then turns off (disconnection) the switch 2a, which is a switch (i = 0) (step S4).

The control unit 30 confirms whether or not communication has been restored with the switch 2a turned off (step S).
5) In the case of recovery, first, it is determined that the ECU 10 or the harness 20 corresponding to the switch 2a that is the switch (i = 0) is abnormal. Next, the abnormality is displayed to the driver (step S7).

On the other hand, when the recovery is not performed, the switch (i =
0) is the last switch 2n (step S8). If it is not the last switch 2n, the counter adds 1 to the variable i and returns to step S4. Since the counter increments the variable i so that i = 1, the control unit 30 turns off the switch 2b, which is the switch (i = 1). By repeating steps S4 to S8 up to the final switch 2n in this manner, the control unit 30 individually disconnects the switch groups 2a and 2b and confirms communication restoration.

If communication is not restored even after checking the switch Sn, which is the last switch (step S8), it is determined that the communication line of the data transfer control means 2 from the connector 4 is abnormal (step S9), and the process is terminated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the control unit automatically turns on and off the switch, and further, automates the continuity check from the data transfer control means to the outside equipment by using a buffer. Therefore, when a communication error occurs, it is possible to automatically isolate the abnormal location and point out the abnormal location. further,
Since the occurrence of the abnormality is indicated by a warning lamp or the like, when the vehicle or the like is driven or repaired, the communication abnormality can be notified to the driver or the like in a simple manner.

[0031]

The present invention is constructed and functions as described above. According to this, when a communication error (communication abnormality) occurs, the switch on the data line directly connected to the electronic control unit and the harness is manually operated. Or automatically off (disconnection)
The electronic control unit or cable on the data line that has been turned off can be recognized as a failure. Further, if the switch is kept off until the failed electronic control unit or the like is restored, communication with other electronic control units can be continued. Can be prevented from being disconnected.

Further, when the recovery is not performed, the communication abnormality of all the electronic control units is checked by a simple operation of turning on the switch that has been turned off again and turning off another switch to confirm the recovery. be able to.
Therefore, the operability can be dramatically improved by concentrating the switches in one place. Further, since it is no longer necessary to use two wires to cope with communication abnormalities, it is possible to reduce the number of wires and to obtain advantageous effects in terms of wiring and weight. As described above, it is possible to provide an unprecedented excellent in-vehicle electronic control device that can easily and easily deal with an abnormality in the in-vehicle communication network and a failure diagnosis method thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a data transfer control unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing steps of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional in-vehicle electronic control device.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Data transfer control means 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d switch 3 Failure diagnosis device as an outside vehicle device 4 In-vehicle connector 5 Out-of-vehicle connector 6 Harness from in-vehicle connector to data transfer control means 9 In-vehicle electronic control device 10, 11, 12 Electronic control unit (ECU) 20, 21, 22 Harness from ECU to data transfer control means 30 Control device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04Q 9/00-9/16 B60R 16/02 H04L 12/28

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. The operation of in-vehicle equipment such as an engine
Multiple electronic control units to control and based on external commands
Search the information stored in the electronic control unit
Output data transfer control means and
In-vehicle connector that accepts cable connections to equipment outside the vehicle
The electronic control unit for a vehicle comprising:Is  Directly connected to the electronic control unit via a harness
And a switch group that disconnects for each harness
e,When a communication error occurs, the switches in the
Switches one by one, and disconnect only the switch.
As a result, when communication is restored, the switch
The electronic control unit or the harness
Having the function of An on-vehicle electronic control device characterized by the above-mentioned. (2) If a communication error occurs,
Switches in the group
Only for all switches, and perform this for all switches.
Even if communication is not restored,
Function to judge that the communication line up to the data transfer control means is abnormal
Having, The in-vehicle electronic control device according to claim 1. (3) The operation of in-vehicle equipment such as the engine
Multiple electronic control units to control and based on external commands
Search the information stored in the electronic control unit
Output data transfer control means and
In-vehicle connector that accepts cable connections to equipment outside the vehicle
Wherein the data transfer control means includes the electronic control unit.
It is directly connected to the knit and each harness, and
In-vehicle electronics equipped with a switch group that disconnects for each harness
A failure diagnosis method for a control device, comprising: When a communication error occurs, the switches in the switch group
Switches one by one, and disconnect only the switch.
The switch when communication is restored. Against
The electronic control unit or the harness
, Failure diagnosis method for in-vehicle electronic control unit. (4) If a communication error occurs,
Switches in the group
Only for all switches, and perform this for all switches.
Even if communication is not restored,
Determining that the communication line to the data transfer control means is abnormal; The method for diagnosing a failure of an electronic control unit for a vehicle according to claim 3.