JP5767277B2 - Gateway device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gateway device that relays a communication connection between communication networks, and in particular, between terminal devices without impairing a condition (for example, a lower limit value) of a data transmission interval that is dynamically determined between terminal devices. The present invention relates to a gateway device capable of relaying communication. The gateway device is mounted on a vehicle, for example, and relays a communication connection between networks constituting the in-vehicle network system.

  Conventionally, as a gateway device in an in-vehicle network system, conforming to the CAN (Controller Area Network) communication standard, frames received from one network are stored in a memory, and the received frames are sequentially transferred from the memory to a transmission buffer. However, there is known a gateway device that transmits a frame in a transmission buffer to another network by a transmitter (see Patent Document 1).

  In this gateway device, every time a frame is sent out by the transmitter and a space is created in the transmission buffer, a new frame is immediately transferred asynchronously from the memory to the transmission buffer, and the frame from the memory to the transmission buffer is immediately transferred. A delay in transfer is prevented, and a delay in processing related to frame transmission is minimized.

  As a result, the gateway device can minimize the idle time of the network that is the transmission destination (the time during which no data is transmitted on the bus) and maximize the communication efficiency in the network.

  By the way, in an in-vehicle network system, a plurality of ECUs (Electronic Control Units) that control various vehicle operations are communicably connected via an in-vehicle network. By transmitting and receiving such data to and from other ECUs, appropriate control as a whole vehicle is realized.

  That is, each ECU simultaneously executes a process related to the control of the vehicle operation and a process related to the communication within the range of the processing capability given to the ECU. Even if the processing load related to the control increases, a certain communication processing capability is secured.

  However, for example, when additional processing is required in addition to normal vehicle operation control, the capability of communication processing decreases due to load fluctuation of the vehicle control and load fluctuation of the additional processing, When frames arrive at a short time interval exceeding the communication processing capability at that time, a situation may arise in which those frames cannot be received correctly.

  For example, when diagnosing abnormalities in vehicle operation, a diagnostic device is connected to the in-vehicle network from the outside of the vehicle, and various information for diagnosing the operation of each ECU is exchanged between the diagnostic device and each ECU. (Diagnostic communication) is performed. Here, a group of information transmitted from the diagnosis device to the ECU is referred to as “diagnosis information”.

  On the other hand, a frame conforming to the CAN communication standard can transmit only a maximum of 7 bytes of information per frame. For this reason, when transmitting diagnostic information of 8 bytes or more, the diagnostic apparatus divides the diagnostic information into data of 7 bytes or less and transmits the data as a plurality of continuous frames.

  However, when such processing for vehicle diagnosis is performed, each ECU performs communication with a diagnostic device and additional processing for self-diagnosis in addition to processing related to normal vehicle control. Therefore, even if frames are continuously transmitted from the diagnostic apparatus in a short cycle, there is a case where all of the frames cannot be received.

  Therefore, in order to prevent such a state, in diagnostic communication, a method is used in which the ECU transmits a frame for designating the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle to the diagnostic device. Thereby, the condition of the data transmission interval between the ECU and the diagnostic device is dynamically determined according to the processing load in the ECU.

In this case, the diagnostic communication is performed by the following procedure, for example.
First, the diagnostic device transmits a frame (First Frame; hereinafter referred to as “FF frame”) indicating that diagnostic information is divided and transmitted by a plurality of frames to the ECU. This FF frame includes the entire length (data length) of the diagnostic information.

The ECU that has received the FF frame transmits an FC (Flow Control) frame to the diagnostic apparatus in order to designate a transmission cycle of a subsequent frame (Consecutive Frame; hereinafter referred to as “CF frame”) that constitutes the diagnostic information. . This FC frame includes a value (lower limit value) ST _min that specifies the lower limit of the transmission period of the CF frame.

The diagnostic device that has received the FC frame transmits the CF frame to the ECU at a transmission cycle (or at a transmission interval) equal to or higher than the lower limit ST _min included in the FC frame. As a result, the ECU can receive all the transmitted CF frames, and can extract the data from these CF frames to obtain the entire diagnostic information. The ECU integrates the data length of the data included in the received CF frame, and compares all the CF frames with the total length of the diagnostic information included in the FF frame. It can be determined whether or not it has been received.

  According to the diagnostic communication described above, a plurality of frames continuously transmitted from the diagnostic device arrive at the ECU at intervals of the STmin or more, and the ECU correctly receives the plurality of consecutive frames. The diagnostic information divided and transmitted by the frame can be properly received.

However, when the conventional gateway device is interposed between the diagnostic device and the ECU, as shown in FIG. 11, a CF frame is sent from the diagnostic device to one network at a cycle of ST _min or more. However, the CF frame does not always arrive at a cycle of ST _min or more with respect to the ECU connected to another network.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of diagnostic communication in an in-vehicle network system configured using a conventional gateway device. In FIG. 11, communication events constituting diagnostic communication are shown in time series from the top to the bottom of the figure. In the example shown in the figure, the diagnostic apparatus 1100 attempts to divide diagnostic information into a plurality of frames and transmit it. The diagnostic apparatus 1100 is connected to the network A, and the ECU 1104 that is the transmission destination of the diagnostic information is connected to the network B. The gateway apparatus 1102 is connected to the network A and the network B, and relays communication between the networks. Yes.

  Two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 1110 and 1112 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the network A. More specifically, the passage of time and the gateway in the diagnostic device 1100 The passage of time in the network A side communication device of the device 1102 is shown. In addition, two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 1114 and 1116 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the network B. More specifically, the network B side communication of the gateway device 1102 The passage of time in the machine and the passage of time in the ECU 1104 are respectively shown.

  Of the lines 1110 to 1116, solid arrows in the horizontal direction drawn between adjacent lines represent communication events. More specifically, a solid arrow between line 1110 and line 1112 represents a communication event in network A, and a solid arrow between line 1114 and line 1116 represents a communication event in network B. In addition, a horizontal broken arrow between the line 1112 and the line 1114 schematically shows the flow of the received frame passing through the inside of the gateway device 1102.

  First, the diagnostic device 1100 sends an FF frame 1120 to the network A toward the ECU 1104, and the FF frame 1120 is sent to the network B via the gateway device 1102 and received by the ECU 1104. Next, ECU 1104 that has received FF frame 1120 sends FC frame 1122 designating lower limit value STmin of the transmission cycle to network B toward diagnostic device 1100. The sent FC frame 1122 is sent to the network A via the gateway device 1102 and received by the diagnostic device 1100.

  Next, the diagnostic apparatus 1100 sends the five CF frames 1130, 1132, 1134, 1136, and 1138 to the network A at time intervals equal to or greater than the lower limit value STmin of the transmission cycle specified by the FC frame. The FC frames 1130 to 1138 are received by the gateway device 1102. Then, the gateway device 1102 tries to send the received FC frames 1130 to 1138 to the network B.

  Here, the frame according to the CAN communication standard includes an identifier (ID) that indicates the priority of transmission of the frame, and two or more transmitters try to transmit the frame simultaneously to one network. If each transmitter tries to transmit a frame having a higher priority than the frame to be transmitted by its own device from another transmitter at the same time, the transmitter stops the transmission operation and the priority is higher. You must wait for the frame transmission to complete. Whether or not a frame having a high priority is about to be transmitted simultaneously from another transmitter is determined by sending an ID code arranged at the head of each frame as serial data on the bus, thereby identifying the ID of each frame. The determination is made by comparing the code bit by bit on the bus.

  In the example of FIG. 11, for example, in a period 1140 from time t7 to t8, a frame having a higher priority than the CF frames 1130 to 1138 is sent to the network B from another ECU (not shown) other than the ECU 1104. .

  For this reason, the gateway apparatus 1102 cannot transmit the received CF frames 1130 to 1138 to the network B in the period 1140, and stores these CF frames 1130 to 1138 in the memory in the own apparatus. . Then, the gateway device 1102 sequentially transmits the CF frames 1130 to 1138 stored in the memory to the network B after the time t8 when the transmission of the frame with the high priority is completed in the network B.

  In general, a conventional gateway device, like the gateway device described in Patent Document 1, can generate a frame stored inside its own device so that the flow of frames from one network to another network does not stagnate inside the own device. It is configured to send to other networks as quickly as possible.

  For this reason, the CF frames 1130 to 1138 stored in the gateway device 1102 are transmitted from the gateway device 1102 to the network B at a time interval shorter than the lower limit value STmin of the transmission cycle designated by the ECU 1104. As a result, the ECU 1104 may not be able to receive a part of the CF frames 1130 to 1138, and a situation may occur in which the diagnostic information transmitted from the diagnostic device 1100 cannot be correctly received.

JP 2007-243322 A

  From the above background, it is desired to realize a gateway device that can relay communication between the terminal devices without impairing the condition (for example, the lower limit value) of the data transmission interval dynamically determined between the terminal devices. .

The present invention relates to communication between one terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network. It is a gateway device that relays between other networks. The gateway device includes a processing device that manages transmission of data received from the one bus to the other bus and manages transmission of data received from the other bus to the one bus. Then, the processing device detects a first predetermined signal including information specifying a data transmission interval transmitted from the one terminal device to the other terminal device, and stores the information. The data received from the other terminal device is stored in a storage device, and the stored data is transmitted to the one terminal device in accordance with a data transmission interval specified by the stored information. It is configured.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the processing device further retains a second predetermined signal received from the other bus and sent to the one bus in the gateway device which is its own device. Time is measured, the measured residence time exceeds a predetermined time, and a data transmission interval specified from the information included in the first predetermined signal received from the one terminal device is a predetermined time When an interval shorter than the time interval is included, the information is rewritten to a content specifying a data transmission interval that is equal to or greater than a predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined signal after the rewriting is changed to the other terminal device. Configured to send to.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the second predetermined signal includes a notification that data is continuously transmitted from the other terminal device to the one terminal device.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the designation of the data transmission interval represented by the information included in the first predetermined signal is applied to data related to continuous transmission notified by the second predetermined signal. Is done.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the one network and the other network are both in-vehicle networks mounted in a vehicle, and the gateway device is mounted in the vehicle and relays communication between the in-vehicle networks. Is.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the one terminal device is an electronic control unit (ECU) that controls the operation of the vehicle, and the other terminal device is connected to the other network from outside the vehicle. A diagnostic device for diagnosing vehicle operation.
According to another aspect of the present invention, when the first predetermined signal is not received or when the lower limit value of the data transmission interval specified by the information included in the first predetermined signal is 0, Data received from the other terminal device is transmitted to the one terminal device at an arbitrary transmission interval.
The present invention also provides communication between one terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network, A gateway device that relays between one and another network, and detects a first predetermined signal including information specifying a data transmission interval transmitted from the one terminal device to the other terminal device And storing means for storing the information, storing the data received from the other terminal device in a storage device, and storing the stored data according to the specification of the data transmission interval represented by the stored information, Means for transmitting to one terminal device.
Further, the present invention provides communication between one terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network, This is a data transfer processing method performed by a processing device provided in a gateway device that relays between one network and another network. The method includes detecting a first predetermined signal including information specifying a data transmission interval transmitted from the one terminal device to the other terminal device, and storing the information; Storing the data received from the other terminal device in a storage device, and transmitting the stored data to the one terminal device in accordance with a data transmission interval specified by the stored information. Contains.

  According to the present invention, in a gateway device that relays communication connections between communication networks, communication between the terminal devices can be relayed without impairing the data transmission interval condition dynamically determined between the terminal devices. .

It is a figure which shows the example of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention applied to the vehicle-mounted network system. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of operation | movement of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the reception process which the processing apparatus of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention performs. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the transmission process which the processing apparatus of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention performs. It is a figure which shows the structure of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of operation | movement of the gateway apparatus 10 which concerns on 1st Embodiment in the state in which a high priority flame | frame is frequently sent on a bus | bath. It is a figure which shows the example of operation | movement of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention in the same state as FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the reception process which the processing apparatus performs of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the transmission process which the processing apparatus performs of the gateway apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of diagnostic communication in the vehicle-mounted network system comprised using the conventional gateway apparatus.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gateway device according to a first embodiment of the present invention applied to an in-vehicle network system.
The gateway device 10 is connected to, for example, the networks 100 and 102 configuring the in-vehicle network system 1 and relays communication connection between the network 100 and the network 102.

  More specifically, the network 100 includes a bus 104 and, for example, ECUs 110, 112, 114, and 116 that are communicably connected to each other via the bus 104. The network 102 includes a bus 106 and, for example, ECUs 120, 122, and 124 connected to be communicable with each other via the bus 106. In FIG. 1, the number of ECUs connected to the buses 104 and 106 is an example, and any number of ECUs can be connected as required for vehicle control.

  The gateway device 10 is connected to the bus 104 of the network 100 and the bus 106 of the network 102 and relays the communication connection between the bus 104 and the bus 106. Further, when diagnosing vehicle operation, a diagnosis device 130 is connected to the bus 106 of the network 102 from the outside of the vehicle via a connector or the like (not shown) provided on the bus 106.

  The diagnostic device 130 communicates with the ECUs 120 to 124 via the bus 106 and also communicates with the ECUs 110 to 116 via the bus 106, the gateway device 10, and the bus 104, and relates to control operations from the ECUs 120 to 124, 110 to 116. The diagnostic data is collected, and diagnostic information such as measurement parameters necessary for collecting the diagnostic data is transmitted to the ECUs 110 to 116 and 120 to 124.

  Here, it is assumed that communication between the diagnostic device 130 and each of the ECUs 110 to 116 and 120 to 124 is performed according to a format of diagnostic communication. That is, the diagnostic device 130 can transmit diagnostic information divided into a plurality of frames to the ECUs 110 to 116 and 120 to 124, and the ECUs 110 to 116 and 120 to 124 can transmit the diagnostic information to the diagnostic device 130. It is assumed that the lower limit value of the transmission period of the plurality of frames can be designated.

  More specifically, the diagnostic device 130 transmits the FF frame to any one of the ECUs 110 to 116 and 120 to 124 as communication partners, and divides the diagnostic information into a plurality of frames (CF frames). The ECU that is the communication partner transmits an FC frame to the diagnostic device 130 and designates the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle. The diagnostic device 130 is equal to or greater than the designated lower limit value. Subsequent CF frames are transmitted at time intervals of.

  That is, the FC frame is a first predetermined signal including information specifying a data transmission interval transmitted from one terminal device to another terminal device, and the FF frame is transmitted from one terminal device to another terminal device. This is a second predetermined signal including a notification that data is continuously transmitted to the terminal device. The data transmission interval specified by the FC frame that is the first predetermined signal (that is, the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle) is the data related to continuous transmission notified by the FF frame that is the second predetermined signal. It applies to.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the gateway device 10.
The gateway device 10 includes CAN communication modules 200a and 200b, a processing device 202, and a storage device 204.

  The CAN communication module 200a includes a receiver 210a, a reception MB (Message Box) 212a, a transmitter 214a, one or more transmission MBs 216a, and a status register 218a.

  The receiver 210a receives a frame from the bus 104 in accordance with the CAN communication standard, and stores the received frame in the reception MB 212a. The reception MB 212a is a temporary storage device, for example, a register, for frames (reception frames) received by the receiver 210a, and the reception frame stored in the reception MB 212a is read by the processing device 202.

  The transmission MB 216a is a temporary storage device, for example, a register, and stores a frame to be transmitted (transmission frame) input from the processing device 202 to the CAN communication module 200a. The transmitter 214a transmits the transmission frames stored in one or more transmission MBs 216a in order of priority according to the CAN communication standard. Here, the priority of the transmission frame is determined according to the ID number included in the transmission frame, and it is usually determined that the lower the ID number, the higher the priority.

  The status register 218a is a temporary storage device that stores data (status data) representing the operating state of the CAN communication module 200a. The status register 218a stores, for example, status data indicating whether or not a received frame is stored in the reception MB 212a and whether or not a transmission frame is stored in each transmission MB 216a as the operation state.

  The CAN communication module 200b has the same configuration as the CAN communication module 200a, and is different only in that it is connected to the bus 106 instead of the bus 104. That is, the receiver 210b, the reception MB 212b, the transmitter 214b, the transmission MB 216b, and the status register 218b of the CAN communication module 200b are respectively the receiver 210a, the reception MB 212a, the transmitter 214a, the transmission MB 216a, and the status of the CAN communication module 200a. This corresponds to the register 218a. Therefore, for the explanation of each of the constituent elements constituting the CAN communication module 200b, the explanation of the corresponding constituent elements of the CAN communication module 200a described above is used in order to avoid the duplication of description and facilitate understanding. It shall be.

  In this embodiment, each of the CAN communication modules 200a and 200b is configured by hardware such as a general-purpose logic IC (Integrated Circuit), a large scale integrated circuit (LSI, Large Scale Integration), or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). ing. However, the CAN communication modules 200a and 200b are provided with a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and some of the functions of the CAN communication modules 200a and 200b described above are implemented as software functions (the processor executes the software). Function).

  The storage device 204 is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a transmission buffer 220b for temporarily storing frames received by the receiver 210a of the CAN communication module 200a, and a receiver 210b of the CAN communication module 200b. Has a transmission buffer 220a for temporarily storing received frames.

  More specifically, each of the transmission buffers 220a and 220b is a storage area having a predetermined size starting from a predetermined address in the storage device 204, and stores the plurality of received frames in the storage area. I can leave. In FIG. 2, the partition lines indicated by dotted lines in the rectangles indicating the transmission buffers 220a and 220b schematically indicate that the transmission buffers 220a and 220b each have an area for storing a plurality of frames. For example, one frame is stored in each area divided by a partition line.

  In FIG. 2, the transmission buffers 220a and 220b are divided into four areas by the partition lines and store four frames. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the storage capacity of the storage device 204 is not limited thereto. It is also possible to configure so that five or more frames can be stored in the corresponding range.

  The processing device 202 is a computer including a processor such as a CPU and a storage device such as a RAM and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and includes a cycle designation detection unit 230 and a transmission interval adjustment unit 232. Here, each of the above units is a virtual machine that is realized when the processing device 202, which is a computer, executes a program, and is a function realizing unit. However, each of the above units can also be configured by hardware. The computer program can be stored in any computer-readable storage medium.

  Here, in order to facilitate understanding of the operation of the processing device 202, in the following, diagnostic communication via the gateway device 10 is performed between the ECU 110 connected to the bus 104 and the diagnostic device 130 connected to the bus 106. Shall be done. However, the gateway device 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 can be similarly applied when the diagnostic device 130 performs diagnostic communication with another arbitrary ECU connected to the bus 104.

  The cycle designation detection unit 230 reads the frame received from the bus 104 from the reception MB 212a of the CAN communication module 200a and stores it in the transmission buffer 220b in time series. In the present embodiment, for example, it is assumed that received frames are stored in order of reception time from the beginning of the storage area of the transmission buffer 220b. Therefore, the cycle designation detecting unit 230 can perform the above-described time-series order storage by storing the newly received frame in the storage area after the frame stored last in the transmission buffer 220b.

  Further, the cycle designation detection unit 230 determines whether or not the received frame (reception frame) is an FC frame. When the reception frame is an FC frame, the cycle designation detection unit 230 determines the frame transmission cycle from the data included in the FC frame. A value specifying the lower limit (lower limit value) is acquired, and the acquired lower limit value is stored in a storage device (not shown) such as a RAM provided in the processing device 202.

  In general, each of the FF frame, FC frame, and CF frame used for diagnostic communication has a frame type (FF, FC, or CF) separately from the ID code (ID number) indicating the priority. ) Is included as data. Therefore, the cycle designation detection unit 230 can determine whether or not the received frame is an FC frame by referring to the frame identification code included in the received frame. Similarly, whether or not the frame is an FF frame, FC frame, or CF frame described in the following description is determined by referring to the frame identification code unless otherwise specified. .

  When there is an empty transmission MB 216b (that is, no frame is stored) in the CAN communication module 200b, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 is stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220b to the empty transmission MB 216b. Forward the frame. At this time, when the frame stored at the head is a CF frame, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 refers to the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle stored in the cycle designation detection unit 230 and transmits the frame from the transmission buffer 220b. The frame transfer process to the transmission MB 216b is controlled so that the transfer interval of the CF frame to the MB 216b is equal to or greater than the above lower limit value.

  More specifically, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 first determines whether or not the frame stored in the leading transmission buffer 220b is a CF frame. If it is a CF frame, it is determined whether or not it is the first CF frame. If it is the first CF frame, the first CF frame is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216b and the processing device 202 is provided. A timer (not shown) starts measuring the elapsed time after the transfer.

  On the other hand, when the frame stored in the first transmission buffer 220b is a CF frame but not the first CF frame, that is, a subsequent CF frame, the frame from the previous CF frame transfer measured by the timer is used. It is determined whether the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the lower limit value.

  When the elapsed time is less than the lower limit value, the reception time of the frames other than the CF frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b is the best instead of the CF frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220b. The old frame is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216b. On the other hand, when the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the lower limit value, the CF frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220b is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216b, and the elapsed time after the transfer is transferred by the timer. Start a new measurement.

  On the other hand, when the frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220b is not a CF frame, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 transfers the frame stored at the head to the empty transmission MB 216b as it is.

  After any frame in the transmission buffer 220b is transferred to the transmission MB 216b, the reception frame of the transmission buffer 220b is received at the arrival time so that the reception frames are stored in the transmission buffer 220b in chronological order. Sort in order. This sorting is performed by, for example, moving a frame stored in an area after the empty area generated in the transmission buffer 220b by the transfer to the head of the transmission buffer 220b, and continuously storing the frames in the transmission buffer 220b. It can be done by making it be in a state that is.

  The gateway device 10 having the above configuration detects the FC frame transmitted from the ECU 110 to the diagnostic device 130 by the cycle designation detection unit 230 of the processing device 202, and sets the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle designated by the FC frame. Acquire and memorize. Then, when the gateway apparatus 10 transfers the CF frame from the diagnosis apparatus 130 to the ECU 110 by the transmission interval adjustment unit 232, the gateway apparatus 10 refers to the stored lower limit value, and transmits the CF frame from the transmission buffer 220b to the transmission MB 216b. The frame transfer process to the transmission MB 216b is controlled so that the transfer interval becomes equal to or greater than the lower limit value.

  Thereby, the gateway apparatus 10 does not impair the condition of the data transmission interval dynamically determined between the ECU 110 and the diagnostic apparatus 130 (that is, designation of the lower limit value of the frame transmission period given by the FC frame). The CF frame transmitted from the diagnostic device 130 can be relayed to the ECU 110.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the gateway device 10 that relays the diagnostic communication between the diagnostic device 130 and the ECU 110. In FIG. 3, communication events constituting the diagnostic communication are shown in time series from the upper side to the lower side in the figure.

  Two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 300 and 302 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the bus 106 of the network 102, and more specifically, the passage of time in the diagnostic device 130. And the passage of time in the CAN communication module 200b of the gateway device 10 respectively. In addition, two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 304 and 306 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the bus 104 of the network 100. More specifically, the CAN of the gateway device 10 is shown. The passage of time in the communication module 200a and the passage of time in the ECU 110 are respectively shown.

  Of the lines 300 to 306, solid horizontal arrows depicted between adjacent lines represent communication events, respectively. More particularly, a solid arrow between line 300 and line 302 represents a communication event on bus 106, and a solid arrow between line 304 and line 306 represents a communication event on bus 104. In addition, a broken line arrow in the horizontal direction between the line 302 and the line 304 schematically shows the flow of the reception frame passing through the inside of the gateway device 10.

  First, the diagnostic device 130 sends an FF frame 310 to the bus 106 toward the ECU 110, and the FF frame 310 is sent to the bus 104 via the gateway device 10 and received by the ECU 110. Next, the ECU 110 that has received the FF frame 310 sends an FC frame 312 specifying the lower limit value T1 of the transmission cycle to the bus 104 toward the diagnostic device 130.

  The sent FC frame 312 is received by the gateway device 10 and detected by the cycle designation detection unit 230 of the gateway device 10. The cycle designation detection unit 230 acquires the lower limit value T1 of the frame transmission cycle from the FC frame 312, stores the acquired lower limit value T1, and then sends the FC frame 312 to the bus 106 as it is. The sent FC frame 312 is received by the diagnostic device 130 via the bus 106.

  Next, the diagnostic apparatus 130 that has received the FC frame 312 receives, for example, five CF frames 320, 322, 324, 326, and 328 at time intervals that are equal to or greater than the lower limit value T1 of the transmission period specified by the FC frame 312. The data is sent to the bus 106. The sent CF frames 320 to 328 are received by the gateway device 10, temporarily stored in the transmission buffer 220 a by the cycle designation detection unit 230, transferred to the transmission MB 216 a by the transmission interval adjustment unit 232, and transmitted by the transmitter 214 a. A transmission to the bus 104 is attempted. Thus, if a frame with a higher priority is not transmitted on the bus 104, the received frame is transmitted from the transmitter 214a to the bus 104 without remaining in the transmission buffer 220a and the transmission MB 216a.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, from a time t 1 slightly before the time when the CF frame 320 is sent out from the diagnostic device 130 to the bus 106 to a time t 2 slightly after the time when the CF frame 238 is sent out to the bus 106. It is assumed that a frame having a higher priority than the CF frames 320 to 328 is sent from another ECU on the bus 104 in the period 340. In this case, the transmitter 214a included in the gateway device 10 stops sending the CF frames 320 to 328 having a lower priority than the higher priority frames sent on the bus 104 according to the CAN communication standard, and Wait for completion of high-frequency frame transmission. As a result, all the CF frames 320 to 328 received from the bus 106 are stored and accumulated in the transmission buffer 220a.

  When time t2 passes and a frame with a high priority is no longer transmitted on the bus 104, the transmitter 214a of the gateway device 10 transmits the frames in the transmission MB 216a to the bus 104 in order of priority according to the CAN communication standard. The transmission MB 216a is sequentially vacant. When the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 detects that the transmission MB 216a is free, the CF frames 320 to 328 in the transmission buffer 220a are transmitted to the transmission MB 216a at a time interval equal to or greater than the lower limit value stored by the cycle designation detection unit 230. Forward.

  As a result, the transmitter 214a of the gateway device 10 transmits the CF frames 320 to 328 from the diagnostic device 130 to the ECU 110 at time intervals equal to or greater than the lower limit value.

Next, an operation procedure of the processing device 202 of the gateway device 10 will be described.
The processing device 202 obtains the frames received from the bus 104 and the bus 106 from the reception MBs 212a and 212b and stores them in the transmission buffers 220b and 220a, and the frames stored in the transmission buffers 220a and 220b, respectively. And transmission processing for transferring to the transmission MBs 216a and 216b, respectively. Hereinafter, procedures of the reception process and the transmission process will be described in order.

[Reception processing]
First, the procedure of reception processing performed by the processing device 202 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, a reception process when a frame received from the bus 104 is acquired from the reception MB 212a and stored in the transmission buffer 220b will be described as an example.

  In addition, the reception process in the case of acquiring the frame received from the bus 106 from the reception MB 212b and storing it in the transmission buffer 220a is as follows. The frame received from the bus 104 shown below is acquired from the reception MB 212a and stored in the transmission buffer 220b. It is the same as the reception process when

  That is, in the following reception processing, the description of “bus 104” is replaced with “bus 106”, and the description of each element of the CAN communication module 200a is replaced with each element of the CAN communication module 200b. ”Is replaced with“ transmission buffer 220a ”, which is a reception process when a frame received from the bus 106 is acquired from the reception MB 212b and stored in the transmission buffer 220a.

This process starts when the gateway device 10 is powered on.
When the processing is started, first, the processing device 202 determines whether or not a frame is received from the bus 104 via the CAN communication module 200a (S100). This determination can be made, for example, when the processing device 202 refers to the status register 218a of the CAN communication module 200a and determines whether or not a frame is stored in the reception MB 212a.

  If no frame is received from the bus 104 (S100, No), the process returns to step S100 to wait for a frame to be received. On the other hand, if a frame is received (S100, Yes), the cycle is designated. The detection unit 230 reads the received frame from the reception MB 212a, and determines whether the received frame is an FC frame (S102). This determination can be made by referring to the frame identification code included in the received frame as described above.

  When the received frame is an FC frame in step S102 (S102, Yes), the cycle designation detection unit 230 obtains designation of the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle from the data included in the FC frame, and obtains the obtained lower limit. The value is stored in a storage device (not shown) included in the processing device 202 (S104). Thereafter, the cycle designation detection unit 230 saves the received frame in the transmission buffer 220b of the storage device 204 in time series (S106). As described above, this time-series storage can be performed by storing the received frame in a storage area after the last frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b, for example.

  After storing the received frame in the transmission buffer 220b in step S106, the process returns to step S100 and the process is repeated. This process ends when the gateway device 10 is powered off.

  On the other hand, when the received frame is not an FC frame in step S102 (S102, No), the cycle designation detection unit 230 moves the process to step S106 and stores the received frame in the transmission buffer 220b.

[Transmission process]
Next, the procedure of transmission processing performed by the processing device 202 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, a transmission process for transferring a frame stored in the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a will be described as an example.

  Note that the transmission process when the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b is transferred to the transmission MB 216b is the same as the transmission process for transferring the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220a shown below to the transmission MB 216a.

  That is, in the transmission process shown below, the description of “bus 104” is replaced with “bus 106”, and the description of each element of the CAN communication module 200a is replaced with each element of the CAN communication module 200b. ”Is replaced with“ transmission buffer 220b ”, and the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b is transmitted to the transmission MB 216b.

This process starts when the gateway device 10 is powered on.
When the processing is started, first, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 of the processing device 202 determines whether or not there is a vacancy in the transmission MB 216a of the CAN communication module 200a, that is, whether there is a transmission MB 216a that does not store a frame. However, if there is no space (S200, No), step S200 is repeated to wait for the space to be generated in the transmission MB 216a.

  Here, the transmission MB 216a is vacant when the frame stored in the transmission MB 216a is sent from the transmitter 214a to the bus 104, and therefore waiting for the transmission MB 216a to occur. Is equivalent to waiting for a frame stored in any transmission MB 216 a to be sent to the bus 104. Whether or not the transmission MB 216a is available can be determined from the status data by the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 referring to the status data stored in the status register 218, for example.

  On the other hand, when the transmission MB 216a is free in step S200 (S200, Yes), the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 indicates that the frame stored in the top storage area of the transmission buffer 220a included in the storage device 204 is a CF frame. If it is not a CF frame (S202, No), the frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216a (S204), and then step S200. Return to and repeat the process.

  On the other hand, when the frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a in step S202 is a CF frame (S202, Yes), it is determined whether or not the CF frame is the first CF frame (S206). When the CF frame stored at the top of the transmission buffer 220a is the first CF frame (S206, Yes), the first CF frame stored at the top of the transmission buffer 220a is used as an empty transmission. The data is transferred to the MB 216a (S208), and time measurement by a timer (not shown) provided in the processing device 202 is started (S210). Then, the process returns to step S200 to repeat the process. Thereby, the measurement of the elapsed time after the first CF frame is transferred to the transmission MB 216a is started.

  On the other hand, when the CF frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a is not the first CF frame in step S206 (No in S206), the elapsed time measured by the timer is detected as the cycle designation in the reception process described above. It is determined whether or not the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle stored in the unit 230 (step S104 in FIG. 4) is exceeded (S212).

  If it exceeds (S212, Yes), the measurement of the elapsed time by the timer is finished (S214), and then the CF frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216a. (S216). Further, it is determined whether or not the CF frame is the last CF frame (S218). If the CF frame is the last CF frame (S218, Yes), the frame transmission cycle stored by the cycle designation detection unit 230 in the reception process is determined. (S222), the process returns to step S200 and the process is repeated.

  Although not explicitly described in the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, whether or not it is the first CF frame and whether or not it is the last CF frame is determined from, for example, the FF frame from the diagnostic device 130. The data length included in the FF frame (the length of the entire subsequent diagnostic information) is stored when the CF frame is received, and each time the CF frame is transferred from the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a, the data of the transferred CF frame is stored. If the integrated value is 0, it is determined that the first CF frame is integrated, and if the integrated value matches the data length, it is determined that the length is integrated. can do. The integrated value is reset when an FF frame is received.

  On the other hand, when the CF frame transferred to the transmission MB 216a in step S216 is not the last CF frame (No in S218), the elapsed time is newly started by the timer (S220), and then the process returns to step S200 to perform the process. repeat. Thereby, the measurement of the elapsed time after transferring the CF frame to the transmission MB 216a in step S216 is newly started.

  On the other hand, when the elapsed time measured by the timer does not exceed the lower limit value in step S212 (No in S212), the frame having the oldest reception time among frames other than the CF frame in the transmission buffer 220a. Is transferred to the empty transmission MB 216a (S224), the process returns to step S200 to repeat the process. Note that “the frame other than the CF frame in the transmission buffer 220a having the oldest reception time” is “the frame other than the CF frame stored in the transmission buffer 220a that is the first in the transmission buffer 220a”. It can be specified as “a frame stored in a near storage area”.

  Through the above transmission process, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 uses the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle stored by the cycle designation detection unit 230 in the reception process, and stores consecutive CF frames in the transmission MB 216a at time intervals equal to or greater than the lower limit value. It will be. As a result, the continuous CF frames are sent from the transmitter 214a to the bus 104 at time intervals equal to or greater than the lower limit value.

  Note that the transmission interval adjustment unit 232, in steps S204, S208, S216, and S222, every time frames are transferred from the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a, the frames are successively stored in the transmission buffer 220a in order of oldest reception time. It is assumed that the frames stored in the transmission buffer 220a are sorted so that the stored state is obtained.

  In the present embodiment, diagnostic communication is performed between the diagnostic apparatus 130 and one ECU 110. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the diagnostic apparatus 130 transmits the same diagnostic information to a plurality of ECUs simultaneously. It can also be done. That is, for example, the diagnostic device 130 transmits FF frames to the plurality of ECUs, receives each FC frame transmitted from the plurality of ECUs in response to reception of the FF frames, and Subsequent CF frames can be transmitted using a lower limit value that specifies the longest period among the lower limit values of the frame transmission periods specified in the FC frame.

  In this case, the cycle designation detection unit 230 of the gateway apparatus 10 receives each FC frame transmitted from the plurality of ECUs, and sets the longest cycle among the lower limit values of the frame transmission cycles designated by the FC frames. The lower limit value to be designated is stored, and the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 can control the transfer interval of the CF frame from the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 214a using the stored lower limit value.

  In the present embodiment, only the diagnostic communication between the diagnostic device 130 and one ECU (for example, ECU 110) is relayed at a time. After the start of one diagnostic communication with the ECU 110), before the relay operation of the one diagnostic communication is completed, the other communication between the diagnostic device 130 and another ECU (for example, the ECU 112) is performed. Diagnostic communication may be initiated. In this case, since the CF frame related to one diagnostic communication and the CF frame related to another diagnostic communication are accumulated in the gateway device 10, any transmission cycle lower limit value is applied to any CF frame. You need to manage what to do.

  Therefore, in such a case, the cycle designation detection unit 230 of the gateway device 10 stores the frame transmission cycle lower limit value included in the FC frame in association with the transmission destination information and the transmission source information of the FC frame. When the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 transfers the CF frame from the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a, the transmission interval adjustment unit 232 is associated with the transmission source and the transmission destination of the CF frame among the stored transmission cycle lower limit values. The transfer operation may be controlled using the lower limit value.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a gateway device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
When the gateway apparatus receives the FF frame transmitted from the diagnostic apparatus to the ECU, the gateway apparatus measures an elapsed time from when the FF frame is received until the FF frame is transmitted to the transfer destination bus. Then, when the measured elapsed time exceeds a predetermined time, the gateway device has a predetermined lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle included in the FC frame transmitted from the ECU to the diagnostic device in response to the FF frame. When the value is equal to or less than the threshold value, the FC frame is transferred to the diagnosis apparatus after the lower limit value of the FC frame is rewritten to a predetermined value.

  In general, the time from when the gateway device receives the FF frame to when the FF frame is sent to the transfer destination bus, that is, the residence time of the FF frame in the gateway device is a high priority frame (more specifically, Specifically, the time when the FF frame could not be sent to the transfer destination bus due to the presence of a frame having a higher priority than the frame related to the diagnostic information is included. The residence time of the FF frame depends on the state in the transfer destination bus, more specifically, the presence frequency (sending frequency) of the high priority frame in the transfer destination bus, and becomes longer as the presence frequency is higher. . Further, it can be considered that the state of the transfer destination bus at the time of such FF frame transfer continues even when the subsequent CF frame is transferred.

  Therefore, the residence time of the FF frame in the gateway device can be regarded as a predictive representation of the residence time of the subsequent CF frame in the gateway device.

  In this case, when the ECU that has received the FF frame transmits an FC frame to the diagnostic device in response to the reception of the FF frame, and specifies a lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle that is shorter than the residence time of the FF frame, Subsequent CF frames are transmitted from the diagnostic device at a time interval shorter than the residence time in the gateway device, and it is predicted that a large amount of the transmitted CF frames will be accumulated in the gateway device. The

  According to the gateway device according to the present embodiment, when the residence time of the FF frame is longer than the predetermined time and the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle included in the FC frame is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, the lower limit value is set to the predetermined value. It can be rewritten to (more specifically, a value longer than the threshold value), and the rewritten FC frame can be transferred to the diagnostic apparatus. For this reason, this gateway device avoids the accumulation of a large amount of CF frames in the gateway device at the time of subsequent CF frame transfer, reduces the capacity of the storage device required for the accumulation, and uses the storage device efficiently. Can be increased.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the gateway device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The gateway device 60 has the same configuration as that of the gateway device 10 according to the first embodiment, except that a processing device 602 is provided instead of the processing device 202. 6, the same components as those of the gateway device 10 according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those illustrated in FIG. 2, and the above-described description of FIG. 2 is cited. .

  The processing device 602 has the same configuration as the processing device 202 according to the first embodiment, but includes a cycle designation detection unit 630 instead of the cycle designation detection unit 230 and a new residence time measurement unit 634. Is different. Here, the cycle designation detection unit 630 and the residence time measurement unit 634 are virtual machines realized by the processing device 602 being a computer executing a program, and are function realizing means. However, the cycle designation detection unit 630 and the residence time measurement unit 634 can also be configured by hardware.

  In order to facilitate understanding of the processing device 602, in the following description, the gateway device 60 is used in place of the gateway device 10 in the in-vehicle network system 1 shown in FIG. It is assumed that diagnostic communication is performed between the ECU 110 and the diagnostic device 130 via the gateway device 60.

  The residence time measurement unit 634 measures the residence time of the FF frame in the gateway device 60 when the FF frame is received by the CAN communication module 200b. That is, the residence time measuring unit 634 measures the residence time from when the FF frame is received by the CAN communication module 200b until the FF frame is transmitted by the CAN communication module 200a, and processes the measured residence time. It memorize | stores in memory | storage devices (not shown), such as RAM with which the apparatus 602 is provided.

  The cycle designation detection unit 630 has the same function as the cycle designation detection unit 230 according to the first embodiment, but when a predetermined condition is satisfied when an FC frame is received from the CAN communication module 200a, The difference is that the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle included in the received FC frame is rewritten to a predetermined value, and the rewritten FC frame is stored in the transmission buffer 220b.

  More specifically, when the cycle designation detection unit 630 receives the FC frame, the cycle designation detection unit 630 refers to the residence time of the FF frame stored by the residence time measurement unit 634, the residence time exceeds the predetermined time, and the received FC frame When the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle included in the frame is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the lower limit value included in the FC frame is rewritten to a predetermined value (a value greater than the threshold value), and then the FC after the rewriting is performed. The frame is stored in the transmission buffer 220b.

  Next, the operation of the gateway device 60 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the gateway device 10 according to the first embodiment in a state in which high priority frames are frequently transmitted to the bus 104, and FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the present embodiment in the same state as FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of operation | movement of the gateway apparatus 60 which concerns on a form.

  In FIG. 7, similarly to FIG. 3, communication events constituting diagnostic communication are shown in time series from the upper side to the lower side in the drawing. In the illustrated example, diagnostic communication is performed between the diagnostic device 130 and the ECU 110 via the gateway device 10.

  Two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 700 and 702 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the bus 106 of the network 102, and more specifically, the passage of time in the diagnostic device 130. And the passage of time in the CAN communication module 200b of the gateway device 10 respectively. In addition, two lines in the illustrated vertical direction indicated by reference numerals 704 and 706 represent the passage of time of each device connected to the bus 104 of the network 100, and more specifically, the CAN of the gateway device 10 The passage of time in the communication module 200a and the passage of time in the ECU 110 are respectively shown.

  Of the lines 700 to 706, solid horizontal arrows depicted between adjacent lines represent communication events, respectively. More specifically, the solid arrow between line 700 and line 702 represents a communication event on bus 106 and the solid arrow between line 704 and line 706 represents a communication event on bus 104. A broken line arrow between the line 702 and the line 704 schematically shows the flow of the received frame that passes through the gateway device 10.

  Here, in the bus 104 to which the gateway device 10 and the ECU 110 are connected, a frame (hereinafter referred to as a frame) having a higher priority than a frame (for example, FF frame 710, FC frame 712, CF frame 720 to 730) related to diagnostic information. , High priority frames) are frequently transmitted. More specifically, in the period 740 from time t3 to t4 and the period 742 from time t5 to t6, the high priority frame is transmitted to the bus 104, and the gateway device 10 waits for transmission of a frame related to diagnostic information. Shall be done.

  First, the diagnostic device 130 sends the FF frame 710 to the bus 106 toward the ECU 110, and the FF frame 710 is received by the gateway device 10. The gateway device 10 tries to send the received FF frame 710 to the bus 104. However, since the high priority frame is sent on the bus 104 in the period 740, the gateway device 10 finishes the transmission of the high priority frame. stand by. The gateway device 10 then sends the FF frame 710 to the bus 104 after the time t4 when the transmission of the high priority frame ends, and the FF frame 710 is received by the ECU 110.

  In response to receiving FF frame 710, ECU 110 sends FC frame 712 specifying lower limit value T 2 of the transmission cycle to bus 104 toward diagnostic device 130. The FC frame 712 is relayed by the gateway device 10 and received by the diagnostic device 130. Then, for example, the diagnostic device 130 sends out the CF frames 720 to 730 to the bus 106 at a time interval that is larger than the lower limit value T2 specified by the FC frame 712 and is approximately equal to T2. The CF frames 720 to 730 are received by the gateway device 10.

  Each time the gateway apparatus 10 receives each of the CF frames 720 to 730, the gateway apparatus 10 tries to send the received CF frame to the bus 104, but the high priority frame is sent on the bus 104 in the period 742. , Without waiting for the transmission of the CF frames 720 to 730, the end of the transmission of the high priority frame is awaited. As a result, all the CF frames 720 to 730 transmitted from the diagnostic device 130 are stored and accumulated in the transmission buffer 220b included in the storage device 204 of the gateway device 10. For this reason, the storage area of the storage device 204 is occupied by many CF frames (six CF frames 720 to 730 in the example of FIG. 7), and the use efficiency of the storage area decreases.

  Then, after time t6 when the transmission of the high priority frame on the bus 104 ends, the gateway device 10 uses the CF frames 720 to 730 stored in the transmission buffer 220b as the lower limit of the frame transmission cycle specified by the FC frame 712. The data is sent to the bus 104 at time intervals equal to or greater than the value T2. As a result, the ECU 110 receives the CF frames 720 to 730 at time intervals equal to or greater than T2.

  On the other hand, in the case of the gateway device 60 according to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the number of CF frames stored in the transmission buffer 220b is reduced even under the same situation as in FIG. The utilization efficiency of the storage area of the storage device 204 can be increased.

  FIG. 8 shows an aspect of the relay operation of gateway device 60 in the diagnostic communication between diagnostic device 130 and ECU 110 using the same notation method as in FIG. In FIG. 8, the passage of time of the CAN communication modules 200b and 200a of the gateway device 60 is shown by lines 802 and 804, respectively, instead of the lines 702 and 704 in FIG. In FIG. 8, the same frame and time axis as those shown in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7, and the description of FIG. 7 described above is used.

  In FIG. 8, the point that the FF frame 710 transmitted from the diagnostic device 130 is sent to the bus 104 after time t4 is the same as in FIG. However, in FIG. 8, the gateway device 60 receives the FF frame 710 from the bus 106 by the residence time measuring unit 634 and then transmits the FF frame 710 to the bus 104, that is, within the gateway device 60. The residence time Tm of the FF frame 710 is measured.

  Then, in the same way as in FIG. 7, ECU 110 sends FC frame 712 specifying frame transmission cycle lower limit value T2 to bus 104 in response to receiving FF frame 710.

  When the gateway device 60 receives the FC frame 712, the cycle designation detection unit 630 stores the lower limit value T2 of the frame transmission cycle included in the FC frame. Further, the cycle designation detection unit 630 refers to the residence time Tm of the FF frame 710 measured by the residence time measurement unit 634, and the residence time Tm is longer than the predetermined time Tthm and is included in the FC frame 712. When the lower limit value T2 is shorter than the predetermined threshold value Ttha, the lower limit value T2 included in the FC frame is set to a larger value T3 (more specifically, a value larger than the predetermined threshold value Ttha). ) To generate a new FC frame 712 ′. Further, the gateway device 60 sends out the rewritten new FC frame 712 ′ to the bus 106, and the FC frame 712 ′ is received by the diagnostic device 130.

As a result, the diagnostic apparatus 130 sends the CF frame to the bus 106 at a time interval equal to or greater than the lower limit value T3 of the frame transmission cycle specified by the FC frame 712 ′. Here, since T3 specified by the FC frame 712 ′ is larger than the lower limit value T2 included in the original FC frame 712, the period 742 from time t5 to time t6 when the high priority frame is transmitted on the bus 104 is displayed. In the meantime, the gateway device 60 has a total of 6 CF frames 720 to 730.
A smaller number of CF frames, for example, four CF frames 720 to 726 are received, and the four CF frames 720 to 726 are stored in the transmission buffer 220b.

  After the time t6, the gateway device 60 sends the CF frames 720 to 726 stored in the transmission buffer 220b to the bus 104 according to the stored lower limit value T2, and the diagnostic device 130 sets the lower limit value T3. Then, the subsequent CF frames 728 and 730 are sent to the bus 106. That is, the gateway device 60 stores the CF frames 720 accumulated at a time interval (time interval according to the lower limit value T2 (<T3)) shorter than an interval (time interval according to the lower limit value T3) at which the subsequent CF frames 728 and 730 are received. ˜726 are sent to the bus 104, and the number of CF frames simultaneously stored (that is, accumulated) in the transmission buffer 220b of the gateway device 60 decreases from four.

  As described above, in the relay operation of the gateway device 10 shown in FIG. 7, the maximum number of CF frames stored in the transmission buffer 220b is 6, whereas in the relay operation of the gateway device 60 shown in FIG. Only a smaller number, for example, a maximum of four frames, needs to be stored in the transmission buffer 220b. Therefore, in the gateway device 60, the storage capacity of the transmission buffer 220b can be reduced, and the use efficiency of the storage area of the storage device 204 can be increased.

  Next, an operation procedure of the processing device 602 of the gateway device 60 will be described. As an example, in the following description, it is assumed that the gateway device 60 is used in place of the gateway device 10 in the in-vehicle network system 1 shown in FIG.

  The processing device 602 obtains the frames received from the bus 104 and the bus 106 from the reception MBs 212a and 212b and stores them in the transmission buffers 220b and 220a, and the frames stored in the transmission buffers 220b and 220a, respectively. , And transmission processing to transfer to the transmission MBs 216b and 216a, respectively. Hereinafter, procedures of the reception process and the transmission process will be described in order.

[Reception processing]
First, the procedure of reception processing performed by the processing device 602 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, a reception process when a frame received from the bus 104 is acquired from the reception MB 212a and stored in the transmission buffer 220b will be described as an example.

  In addition, the reception process in the case of acquiring the frame received from the bus 106 from the reception MB 212b and storing it in the transmission buffer 220a is as follows. The frame received from the bus 104 shown below is acquired from the reception MB 212a and stored in the transmission buffer 220b. It is the same as the reception process when

  That is, in the following reception processing, the description of “bus 104” is replaced with “bus 106”, and the description of each element of the CAN communication module 200a is replaced with each element of the CAN communication module 200b. ”Is replaced with“ transmission buffer 220a ”, which is a reception process when a frame received from the bus 106 is acquired from the reception MB 212b and stored in the transmission buffer 220a.

This process starts when the gateway device 60 is powered on.
When the processing is started, first, the processing device 602 determines whether or not a frame has been received from the bus 104 via the CAN communication module 200a (S300). This determination can be made, for example, when the processing device 602 refers to the status register 218a and determines whether or not a frame is stored in the reception MB 212a.

  When no frame is received from the bus 104 (S300, No), the process returns to step S300 and waits for the reception of the frame. On the other hand, when a frame is received from the bus 104 (S300, Yes), the residence time measurement unit 634 reads the received frame from the reception MB 212a, and determines whether the received frame is an FF frame (S302). This determination can be made by referring to the frame identification code included in the received frame as described above.

  When the received frame is an FF frame (S302, Yes), a timer (not shown) provided in the processing device 602 is activated and measurement of the FF frame residence time (hereinafter referred to as FF residence time) is started. Later (S304), the received frame is stored in the transmission buffer 220b (S314).

  Note that the measurement of the FF residence time started in step S304 ends when the FF frame is read from the transmission buffer 220b and transmitted from the transmitter 214b to the bus 104 in the transmission process described later. The measured FF residence time is stored in a storage device (not shown) of the processing device 602 by the residence time measurement unit 634 (step S404 in FIG. 10).

  On the other hand, when the received frame is not an FF frame (S302, No), the cycle designation detection unit 630 determines whether the received frame is an FC frame (S306), and when it is not an FC frame (S306, No), The process moves to step S314.

  On the other hand, when the received frame is an FC frame (S306, Yes), the cycle designation detection unit 630 acquires the designation of the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle from the data included in the FC frame, and uses the obtained lower limit value. It memorize | stores in the memory | storage device (not shown) with which the processing apparatus 602 is provided (S308). Further, the cycle designation detection unit 630 refers to the FF residence time Tm stored in step S404 (FIG. 10) of the transmission process described later, the FF residence time Tm exceeds the predetermined time Tthm, and the storage It is determined whether or not the lower limit value is less than a predetermined threshold value Ttha (S310).

  When the FF residence time exceeds the predetermined time Tthm and the lower limit value is less than the predetermined threshold Ttha (S310, Yes), the cycle designation detection unit 630 is included in the FC frame that is the reception frame. After the lower limit value of the frame transmission cycle is rewritten to a predetermined value (S312), the process proceeds to step S316. Thus, the rewritten FC frame is stored in the transmission buffer 220b.

  In step S314, after the received frame from the bus 104 is stored in the transmission buffer 220b, the processing device 602 returns to step S300 and repeats the processing. This process ends when the gateway device 60 is powered off.

[Transmission process]
Next, the procedure of transmission processing performed by the processing device 602 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, a transmission process for transferring a frame stored in the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a will be described as an example.

  Note that the transmission process when the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b is transferred to the transmission MB 216b is the same as the transmission process for transferring the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220a shown below to the transmission MB 216a.

  That is, in the transmission process shown below, the description of “bus 104” is replaced with “bus 106”, and the description of each element of the CAN communication module 200a is replaced with each element of the CAN communication module 200b. ”Is replaced with“ transmission buffer 220b ”, and the frame stored in the transmission buffer 220b is transmitted to the transmission MB 216b.

This process starts when the gateway device 60 is powered on.
When the processing is started, first, the residence time measuring unit 634 of the processing device 602 determines whether or not FLAG, which is a flag indicating that the FF frame is stored in any of the transmission MBs 216a, is “1” (S400). ). Here, FLAG = 0 indicates that no FF frame is stored in any transmission MB 216a, and FLAG = 1 indicates that an FF frame is stored in any transmission MB 216a. This FLAG is set to 1 in step S412 to be described later when the FF frame is transferred from the transmission buffer 220a to the transmission MB 216a, and when it is detected that the FLAG frame has been transmitted from the transmission MB 216a to the bus 104 via the transmitter 214a. In step S406, which will be described later, the value is reset to zero. The FLAG is also reset to 0 during the initialization operation when the gateway device 60 is powered on.

  Subsequently, when FLAG = 1 in Step S400 (S400, Yes), it is determined whether or not the FF frame stored in the transmission MB 216a has been transmitted (S402). Here, the determination as to whether or not the FF frame has been transmitted is made, for example, by the residence time measuring unit 634 referring to the status register 218a of the gateway device 600a and storing the FF frame based on the information stored in step S416. This determination can be made by determining whether or not the transmitted MB 216a is empty.

  Then, when the FF frame stored in the transmission MB 216a is transmitted (S402, Yes), the measurement of the FF residence time is terminated and the measured FF residence time is stored (S404). Further, after FLAG is reset to 0 (S406), it is determined whether or not there is a vacancy in the transmission MB 216a (S408).

  On the other hand, when FLAG is not 1 in step S400 (S400, No), and when the FF frame stored in the transmission MB 216a is not yet transmitted in Step S402 (S402, No), the process proceeds to Step S408. .

  Next, when there is no vacancy in any transmission MB 216a in step S408 (No in S408), step S408 is repeated to wait for any transmission MB 216a to be vacant.

  On the other hand, when any of the transmission MBs 216a is free in step S408 (S408, Yes), it is determined whether or not the frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a is an FF frame (S410). If the frame stored at the head is an FF frame (S410, Yes), FLAG is set to 1 (S412) and the FF frame stored at the head is transferred to an empty transmission MB 216a. (S414), information for specifying the transmission MB 216a that is the transfer destination of the FF frame (that is, the transmission MB 216a storing the FF frame) is stored in a storage device (not shown) such as a RAM provided in the processing device 602. After storing (S416), the process returns to step S400 to repeat the process.

  On the other hand, when the frame stored at the head of the transmission buffer 220a is not the FF frame in step S410 (S410, No), the process proceeds to step S418.

  Steps S418 to S440 other than the above in FIG. 10 are the same as steps S202 to S224 in FIG. 5, and thus the description of FIG. 5 described above is cited.

  As described above, the gateway device according to the first and second embodiments is configured so that a terminal device (for example, ECU) connected to a bus (for example, the bus 104) of one network and a bus (for another network) (for example, an ECU). For example, a signal designating a data transmission interval (for example, an FC frame) to another terminal device (for example, a diagnostic device) connected to the bus 106) is relayed (transferred) between the two networks and included in the signal. The designated data transmission interval is stored.

  Then, when the gateway device receives the data transmitted from the other terminal device from the other bus, the gateway device receives the received data at the time interval according to the specification of the stored data transmission interval. The data is sent to the one bus toward the terminal device.

  As a result, the gateway device is transmitted from the other terminal device without damaging the data transmission interval specified by the one terminal device to the other terminal device across two different networks. Data can be relayed (transferred) to the one terminal device across the two networks.

  In the above-described embodiment, the gateway device that relays the diagnostic communication performed between the diagnostic device and the ECU in the in-vehicle network system is shown as an example. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the gateway device according to the present invention is In a general network system other than the network system, the present invention can be similarly applied to relaying data communication between terminal devices that can dynamically determine a data transmission interval between each other.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... In-vehicle network system 10, 60, 1102 ... Gateway apparatus, 100, 102 ... Network, 104, 106 ... Bus, 110, 112, 114, 116, 120, 122, 124, 1004 ... ECU, 130, 1100 ... Diagnostic device, 200a, 200b ... CAN communication module, 202, 602 ... Processing device, 204 ... Storage device, 210a, 210b ... Receiver, 212a, 212b ... Receive MB, 214a, 214b ... Transmitter, 216a, 216b ... Send MB, 218a, 218b ... Status register, 220a, 220b ... Send buffer, 230, 630 ... Cycle Designated detection unit, 232 ... Transmission interval adjustment unit, 634 ... Residence time measurement unit

Claims (13)

Communication between the first bus terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network is performed by the communication between the one and other networks. A gateway device that relays between,
A processor for managing transmission of data received from the one bus to the other bus and managing transmission of data received from the other bus to the one bus;
The processor is
Wherein the first bus terminal device is transmitted to the another terminal apparatus detects the first predetermined signal containing information of the data transmission interval first bus terminal apparatus specifies, stores the information And
The data received from the other terminal device is stored in a storage device, and the stored data is configured to be transmitted to the first bus terminal device in accordance with a data transmission interval specified by the stored information.
Gateway device. The processing apparatus further includes:
Measuring the residence time of the second predetermined signal received from the other bus and sent to the one bus in the gateway device as its own device;
The measured residence time exceeds a predetermined time, and the data transmission interval specified from the information included in the first predetermined signal received from the first bus terminal device is shorter than the predetermined time interval. When the interval is included, the information is rewritten to a content specifying a data transmission interval equal to or greater than a predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined signal after the rewriting is transmitted to the other terminal device. It is configured,
The gateway device according to claim 1. Communication between the first bus terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network is performed by the communication between the one and other networks. A gateway device that relays between,
A processor for managing transmission of data received from the one bus to the other bus and managing transmission of data received from the other bus to the one bus;
The processor is
A first predetermined signal that is transmitted from the first bus terminal device to the other terminal device and includes information on a data transmission interval designated by the first bus terminal device is detected and stored. And
Measuring the residence time of the second predetermined signal received from the other bus and sent to the one bus in the gateway device as its own device;
The measured residence time exceeds a predetermined time, and the data transmission interval specified from the information included in the first predetermined signal received from the first bus terminal device is shorter than the predetermined time interval. When the interval is included, the information is rewritten to a content designating a data transmission interval that is equal to or greater than a predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined signal after the rewriting is transmitted to the other terminal device,
Storing data received from the other terminal device in a storage device, and transmitting the stored data to the first bus terminal device in accordance with a data transmission interval specified by the stored information;
Configured as
Gateway device. The second predetermined signal includes a notification that data is continuously transmitted from the other terminal device to the first bus terminal device.
The gateway device according to claim 2 or 3 . The designation of the data transmission interval represented by the information included in the first predetermined signal is applied to data related to continuous transmission notified by the second predetermined signal.
The gateway device according to claim 4 . The one network and the other network are both in-vehicle networks mounted on a vehicle,
The gateway device is mounted on a vehicle and relays communication between the in-vehicle networks.
The gateway apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5 . The first bus terminal device is an electronic control unit (ECU) that controls the operation of the vehicle,
The other terminal device is a diagnostic device for diagnosing vehicle operation, which is connected to the other network from the outside of the vehicle.
The gateway device according to claim 6 . Data received from the other terminal device when the first predetermined signal is not received or when the lower limit value of the data transmission interval specified by the information included in the first predetermined signal is 0 Is transmitted to the first bus terminal device at an arbitrary transmission interval,
The gateway apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 thru | or 7 . The processor is
When storing all the data received from the other terminal device and stored in the storage device to the first bus terminal device, the storage of the information is deleted.
Is configured as
The gateway apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 thru | or 8. The processor is
Storing the information in association with the transmission source information of the first predetermined signal;
The stored data is transmitted to the first bus terminal device in accordance with a data transmission interval designated by the information associated with the transmission destination of the data.
Is configured as
The gateway apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 thru | or 9. The processor is
When the first predetermined signal is transmitted from a plurality of the first bus terminal devices to the other terminal device, the data transmission interval information respectively designated by the plurality of first bus terminal devices. Information specifying the longest data transmission interval is stored as the information
Configured as
The gateway apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 10. Communication between the first bus terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network is performed by the communication between the one and other networks. A gateway device that relays between,
Wherein the first bus terminal device is transmitted to the another terminal apparatus detects the first predetermined signal containing information of the data transmission interval first bus terminal apparatus specifies, stores the information Means to
Means for storing data received from the other terminal device in a storage device, and transmitting the stored data to the first bus terminal device in accordance with a specification of a data transmission interval represented by the stored information;
A gateway device comprising: Communication between the first bus terminal device connected to one bus constituting one network and another terminal device connected to another bus constituting another network is performed by the communication between the one and other networks. A data transfer processing method performed by a processing device provided in a gateway device that relays between,
Wherein the first bus terminal device is transmitted to the another terminal apparatus detects the first predetermined signal containing information of the data transmission interval first bus terminal apparatus specifies, stores the information And steps to
Storing data received from the other terminal device in a storage device;
Transmitting the stored data to the first bus terminal device in accordance with a specification of a data transmission interval represented by the stored information;
Including a data transfer processing method.

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