JPH077504A - Electrical equipment controller for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily change plural electronic controllers to be mounted when mounting those controllers on a vehicle and to suitably deal with the fault of a communication system. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a control operation communication unit 2 to operate a control signal for controlling electric equipments 16, 24, and 32 to be controlled, which are mounted on the vehicle and the respective electric equipments 16, 24 and 32 are respectively connected through a communication line 36 to this control operation communication unit 2 by electric equipment communication units 10, 18 and 26. A storage medium 8 such as an IC card storing a control program can be attached/detached to the communication unit 2 so as to change the kind of the control program to be house. The electric equipment communication unit side is provided with a fault detection part for detecting the fault of the communication system and a fault dealing part for the electric equipment to perform any operation corresponding to the fault when this fault is generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle electrical component control device for controlling various electrical components mounted on a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various vehicles are equipped with various electronic control devices in recent years. Each control device controls an electric component such as an actuator that is a control target according to each control program. An example of such various electronic control devices mounted on a vehicle is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-136496.

By the way, when a plurality of electronic control units are mounted on a vehicle, a control arithmetic unit (CPU) containing a control program is generally prepared for each control unit, and the control arithmetic unit is a control target. A structure for connecting electrical components is adopted.

[0004]

However, the type of electronic control device mounted on a vehicle differs depending on the vehicle type.
Therefore, each control device is configured in the control device unit as described above (a control operation unit having a control program is prepared for each control device, and each control operation unit is connected to an electrical component to be controlled) In that case, it is troublesome to prepare various control devices, select a control device to be mounted according to the vehicle type, and install the control device in the vehicle. In particular, preparing various control devices in this way means that the control calculation unit (CP
U) is to prepare various kinds, which is extremely troublesome as a practical problem.

As a control system for solving the above-mentioned problems, for example, one control arithmetic unit is provided and various arithmetic units are provided instead of preparing a control arithmetic unit containing a control program for each electronic control unit. A storage means for storing the control program of, for example, an IC card is detachable,
An IC card storing various control programs for the control device to be mounted according to the vehicle type is installed in the arithmetic unit, and control signal calculation for each control device is all performed by this arithmetic unit. A system is conceivable in which the product is connected to the arithmetic unit via a communication line and simply receives a control signal from the arithmetic unit.

In such a system, the control calculation section is provided in common regardless of the vehicle type, and after that, necessary electric components are connected to the control calculation section according to the vehicle type and the electric components are used. It is possible to deal with various vehicle types simply by selecting an IC card storing each control program and mounting it in the above-mentioned control calculation unit. For each electronic control device described above, a calculation unit storing the control program is prepared. The problem of having to stay is solved.

However, if the electric component side is simply provided with a communication function in this way, the following problems occur. That is, for example, when a new control signal is no longer transmitted or received due to a failure of the communication system between the control calculation unit side and the electrical component side, each electrical component side cannot know the failure of the communication system. As a result, inconvenience occurs such that the electric component continues to operate based on the control signal received before the failure.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric device for a vehicle in which the electronic control unit to be mounted on the vehicle can be easily changed and a failure in the communication system can be appropriately dealt with. An object is to provide a product control device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle electrical component control device according to the present invention includes a plurality of electrical component communication units to which electrical components to be controlled are connected, and the above electrical components. A storage medium storing a control program for controlling, a control program reading unit to which the storage medium is detachably mounted, and a control for the electrical component according to the control program read from the storage medium mounted to the reading unit A control calculation communication unit having a control calculation unit for calculating a signal; and a communication line connecting the control calculation communication unit and the electrical component communication unit,
The electrical component communication unit includes a fault detection unit that detects a fault in the communication system between the control calculation communication unit and the self unit, and a fault response for the electrical component connected to the self unit when the fault is detected. It is characterized in that it is provided with a failure response section for performing an operation.

[0010]

As described above, in the electric component control device for a vehicle according to the present invention, the control calculation communication unit centrally performs control signal calculation for the electric component of each control device.
The control program therefor can be exchanged with the control arithmetic communication unit, and the electric components of each control device are simply connected to the control arithmetic communication unit via the electric component communication unit. Even if the type of electronic control device to be mounted differs depending on the vehicle type, the electrical components to be mounted are connected to the control arithmetic communication unit via the electrical component communication unit according to the vehicle type, and It is possible to handle by simply selecting a storage medium storing the control program and mounting it in the control calculation communication unit, saving the trouble of preparing a calculation section storing the control program for each electronic control device described above, and it is extremely simple It is possible to cope with the change of the electronic control device to be mounted on the.

Further, since the failure detecting section for detecting the failure of the communication system and the failure handling section for causing the electrical equipment to perform the failure handling operation at the time of the failure are provided on the electrical equipment communication unit side,
When a failure occurs in the above communication system, the electrical equipment communication unit can reliably detect the failure and cause the electrical equipment to perform a failure response operation, for example, stop operation or fail-safe operation, and prevent improper operation of the electrical equipment. can do.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Overall Configuration> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle electrical component control apparatus according to the present invention. The illustrated embodiment is an electronic component control when an ABS (antilock brake) control device, a 4WS (four-wheel steering) control device, and an ASC (constant speed running) control device are mounted on a vehicle as electronic control devices. It is an example in which the present invention is applied to an apparatus. In the present embodiment, the ASC control device is positioned as an electronic control device provided only for a predetermined vehicle type.

The illustrated electrical component control device comprises one control arithmetic communication unit 2. The unit 2 has a reading unit 4 and a control calculation unit (CPU) 6. The reading unit 4 is configured such that an IC card 8 that is a storage medium that stores a control program for controlling an electrical component that is a control target is detachable,
The control program stored in the C card 8 is read and output to the control calculation unit 6. The control computing unit 6 computes a control signal for controlling electrical equipment according to the control program output from the reading unit 4, outputs the control signal, and performs various controls required for the unit 2.

The illustrated electrical component control device comprises an electrical component communication unit 10 of the ABS control device, an electrical component communication unit 18 of the 4WS control device, and an electrical component communication unit 26 of the ASC control device.

The ABS electrical component communication unit 10 has an A
An information output means 14 such as a sensor and a switch for outputting various information necessary for performing the BS control and an electric component 16 such as an actuator for driving for performing the ABS control are connected. Specifically, the information output means 14 is a wheel speed sensor that detects the wheel speed of each wheel, and
Reference numeral 16 is a brake fluid pressure control valve that controls the brake fluid pressure supplied to the brake device of each wheel.

The 4WS electrical component communication unit 18 has four
An information output means 22 such as a sensor and a switch for outputting various information necessary for performing the WS control and an electric component 24 such as an actuator for driving the 4WS control are connected. Specifically, the information output means 22 is a front wheel steering angle sensor that detects a front wheel steering angle and a vehicle speed sensor that detects a vehicle speed, and the electrical component 24 is a rear wheel steering motor of a rear wheel steering device.

The ASC electrical component communication unit 26 includes an A
An information output means 30 such as a sensor and a switch for outputting various information necessary for performing the SC control and an electric component 32 such as an actuator for driving for the ASC control are connected. Specifically, the information output means 30 is a set switch for setting a target vehicle speed, various switches such as an accelerator switch, a coast switch, and a resume switch, and a vehicle speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed, and the electrical component 32 is a throttle valve. This is a throttle valve opening / closing motor for opening and closing.

Each of the communication units 2, 10, 18, and 26 has a communication section (multiplex IC) and has a common multiple communication line 36.
Is connected to the battery power source line 38, and signals are transmitted and received between the communication units 2, 10, 18, 26 via the multiplex communication line 36 by multiplex communication. In this case, the multiplex communication is performed through the multiplex communication line 36 by the multiplex transmission based on the CSMA / CD-AMP system, which is a time division distributed control system. Further, the signals transmitted by any of the communication units 2, 10, 18, and 26 connected to the multiplex communication line 36 are set so that all the communication units receive the signals.

Next, the operation of the electric component control device configured as described above will be described. From the ABS electric component communication unit 10, a wheel speed signal of each wheel output from each wheel speed sensor 14 connected to the unit 10 is transmitted. From the 4WS electric component communication unit 18, the front wheel turning angle signal and the vehicle speed signal output from the front wheel turning angle sensor and the vehicle speed sensor 22 connected to the unit 18 are transmitted. The ASC electrical component communication unit 26 transmits various switch operation signals and vehicle speed signals output from the various switches and the vehicle speed sensor 30 connected to the unit 26.

On the other hand, in the control arithmetic communication unit 2, the control program for the above ABS control and 4 W
An IC card 8 storing a control program for S control and a control program for ASC control is attached to the control program reading unit 4, and the reading unit 4 reads each control program stored in the IC card 8. Control calculation unit 6
The control calculation unit 6 outputs the control signal for ABS control and the control signal for 4WS control based on the output signals from the respective sensors and switches transmitted from the electric component communication units 10, 18, and 26 according to the control programs. The control signal and the control signal for ASC control are calculated, and the ABS control signal is transmitted to the ABS electrical component communication unit 10, the 4WS control signal is transmitted to the 4WS electrical component communication unit 18, and the ASC control signal is transmitted to the ASC electrical component communication unit 26. .

The ABS electrical component communication unit 10 operates the ABS electrical component 16 based on the received ABS control signal, and the 4WS electrical component communication unit 18 activates the 4WS electrical component 24 based on the received 4WS control signal. , The ASC electrical component communication unit 26 operates the ASC electrical component 32 based on the received ASC control signal.

Incidentally, each electrical equipment communication unit 10, 18, 26
Has a conversion function of converting an output signal from a sensor, a switch, or the like connected to its own unit into a signal of a predetermined format used when the control signal is calculated by the control calculation unit 6. Calculation unit of electrical component communication unit (CP
U) 12, 20, 28. In addition, this calculation unit
12, 20, and 28 perform other various controls necessary for the own unit.

<Fault Detection Unit and Fault Response Unit> Each of the electrical component communication units 10, 18, and 26 has a calculation unit (CP).
U) A failure detection unit and a failure response unit are provided in 12, 20, and 28. Each failure detection unit has a failure of the electrical equipment connected to its own unit (breakage or short circuit of the electrical equipment), a failure of the communication unit of its own unit (disconnection of the communication line between the own unit and the control calculation communication unit). The same applies to the failure of the communication unit of the electrical component communication unit, including the following), and the failure of the control calculation communication unit 2 (the reading unit 4 and the control calculation unit 6 of the unit 2).
And failure of the communication unit), and when the failure of the electrical equipment connected to the self unit is detected, the failure information of the self unit is transmitted, and the control calculation communication unit 2
When the failure is detected, the failure information of the unit 2 is transmitted.

Further, each of the above-mentioned electrical equipment communication units 10, 18,
The twenty-six failure handling units are the ones when the failure detection unit of the own unit detects a failure of the communication unit of the own unit and the failure of the control operation communication unit 2 and the failure of the control operation communication unit 2 transmitted from another communication unit. When the information is received, the electric components 16, 24, 32 connected to the self unit are shifted to the fail mode, that is, the failure countermeasure operation such as the operation stop or the appropriate fail-safe operation is performed.

Further, although not shown, the control arithmetic unit 6 of the control arithmetic communication unit 2 also has a failure detection unit and a failure response unit. The failure detection unit is the reading unit 4 of the own unit 2.
And failure detection of control arithmetic unit 6 and each electrical component communication unit
Detects 10, 18, and 26 failures (failures in the arithmetic unit and communication section of each electrical component communication unit, failures in electrical components connected to each electrical component communication unit, etc.), and also detects the self unit 2
When the failure of the reading unit 4 and the control calculation unit 6 is detected, the failure information of the self unit is transmitted.

Further, the failure handling unit of the control operation communication unit 2 is the electrical equipment communication unit when the failure detection unit of the own unit 2 detects the failure of the electrical equipment communication unit and when the electrical equipment communication unit is transmitted from another communication unit. When the failure information is received, the electrical equipment connected to the electrical equipment communication unit other than the failed electrical equipment communication unit is shifted to a predetermined other unit failure coping fail mode. In other words, when an electric equipment communication unit fails in another predetermined electric equipment communication unit, the electric equipment of its own unit is made to perform a failure response operation such as operation stop or a predetermined fail-safe operation for various purposes. A fail mode may be set, and a non-faulty electrical equipment unit in which such a failure mode for another unit failure is set is changed to a failure mode for another unit failure.

The above-mentioned failure detection and failure handling procedure will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure on the side of the electrical component communication unit. First, in P1, it is determined whether or not a failure (disconnection, short circuit, etc.) of an electrical component connected to the own unit is detected, and when it is detected, failure information of the own unit is transmitted in P2. When not detected, the process proceeds to P3, and it is determined whether or not a failure of the communication unit of the own unit is detected. When it is detected, the electric component of the own unit is shifted to the fail mode in P6. If not detected, go to P4,
It is judged whether or not a failure of the control calculation communication unit 2 (a failure of the reading section 4, the control calculation section 6 and the communication section of the unit 2 or the like) is detected, and when it is detected, the failure information of the unit 2 is displayed at P5. At the same time as transmitting, the electric components of the own unit are shifted to the fail mode at P6. When no failure of the control calculation communication unit 2 is detected, at P7, another electric component communication unit (see P5) or the unit 2 is connected.
It is determined whether or not the failure information of the unit 2 transmitted from (see Q2 of FIG. 4 described below) is received. When the failure information is received, the electrical equipment of the own unit is shifted to the fail mode at P6, and the information is received. If not, proceed to return.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the control calculation communication unit 2. On this side, first, it is judged whether or not the failure of the own unit 2 (the failure of the reading unit 4 and the control calculation unit 6 of the own unit 2) is detected in Q1, and when it is detected, the failure information of the own unit 2 is detected in Q2. To send. If not detected, Q3 detected a failure in any of the electrical equipment communication units 10, 18, 26 (failure in the electrical equipment connected to each unit, failure in the arithmetic unit, communication unit, etc. of each unit). If it is detected and detected, in Q4,
Non-faulty electrical equipment Other electrical equipment connected to the communication unit If the above failure detected unit fails, the above-mentioned other unit should be transferred to the other electrical equipment when the failure mode is set. Change to failure handling fail mode. When no failure is detected in Q3, it is judged in Q5 whether or not the failure information (see P2 above) of the unit sent from any of the electrical component communication units is received. After shifting to Q4, the same failure mode as the other unit failure handling described above is performed, and when no signal is received, the process proceeds to return.

With the above-described configuration, each electrical component communication unit has a failure in the communication system between itself and the control calculation communication unit 2 (such as a failure in the communication section of the own unit and the communication section of the control calculation communication unit 2). ) At times, the electrical components of the own unit can be appropriately shifted to the fail mode.
Further, even when the control calculation communication unit 2 fails, the electrical equipment of the own unit can be appropriately shifted to the fail mode, and an inappropriate control signal is transmitted due to the failure of the control calculation communication unit 2, and based on the signal. It is possible to prevent the electric component from performing improper operation. Further, even when a predetermined electrical equipment communication unit fails, the electrical equipment of the other non-faulty electrical equipment communication unit can be appropriately shifted to the fail mode for dealing with other unit failure.

In the above failure detection, for example, the control signal is not transmitted or cannot be received from the control arithmetic communication unit 2, or the transmitted control signal is abnormal, for example, an impossible control signal. It can be done by

The electric component control device is provided with the control calculation communication unit 2 for calculating the control signal for each electric component as described above, and various control programs necessary for that are stored in the storage medium 8 such as an IC card. Is configured to be replaceable using
Each of the electric components 16, 24, 32 is configured to be connected to the control arithmetic communication unit 2 via the communication line 36 by the electric component communication unit 10, 18, 26.

Therefore, for example, when an ABS control device and a 4WS control device are installed, the ABS control program and
The IC card 8 storing the WS control program is mounted on the reading unit 4, and the ABS electronic component communication unit 10 and 4W are installed.
It suffices to connect the S electrical component communication unit 18 (including the sensors 14 and 22 connected to each unit 10 and 18 and the electrical components 16 and 24) to the control calculation communication unit 2 via the communication line 36, and further to connect the ASC ABS, 4WS when equipped with a control device
Also, the IC card 8 storing the ASC control program is mounted on the reading unit 4, and the ABS and 4WS electric component communication units 10 and 18 together with the ASC electric component communication unit 26 (the switch 30 connected to the unit 26 and the electric component 32). (Including) are also connected via the communication line 36.

That is, even if the type of the electronic control device to be mounted differs depending on the vehicle type, the electrical components to be mounted are connected to the control arithmetic communication unit via the electrical component communication unit according to the vehicle type, and A storage medium storing each control program for electrical equipment can be selected and mounted in the control arithmetic communication unit, and an arithmetic unit storing the control program is prepared for each electronic control unit described above. This saves labor and makes it possible to cope with changes in the electronic control device to be mounted extremely easily.

Further, since the failure detecting section for detecting the failure of the communication system and the failure handling section for causing the electrical equipment to perform the failure handling operation at the time of the failure are provided on the electrical equipment communication unit side,
When a failure occurs in the above communication system, the electrical equipment communication unit can reliably detect the failure and cause the electrical equipment to perform a failure response operation, for example, stop operation or fail-safe operation, and prevent improper operation of the electrical equipment. can do.

<Other Embodiments> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment. In this embodiment, in contrast to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in which signals are transmitted and received via the multiplex communication line 36, as shown in the figure, each of the electrical equipment communication units 10, 18, 26 communicates separately. Connected to the control arithmetic communication unit 2 via the line 34 respectively, and transmitting / receiving signals between the electric component communication units 10, 18 and 26 and the control arithmetic communication unit 2 are not multiplexed communication via the communication line 34. It is configured to perform in a normal communication format. Except for the multiplex communication line 36, the structure is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and the operation is also the same, so that the description thereof will be omitted.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the control program reading unit 4 can be connected to the control arithmetic unit 6 via a communication line. Further, the information output means 14, 22, 30 are connected to the electrical equipment communication units 10, 18, 26 to which the electrical equipments 16, 24, 32 controlled based on the information output from them are connected. However, it does not necessarily have to be connected to the units 10, 18, and 26, and may be configured so that it is connected to any arbitrary communication unit and the output signal is input to the control calculation unit. Further, the control calculation communication unit 2 does not have to be one, and may be provided in plural. Also, the electrical equipment communication unit
The failure of the communication system between 0, 18, and 26 and the control calculation communication unit 2 can be detected, for example, by detecting only one of the failure of the communication section of the electrical component communication unit and the failure of the communication section of the control calculation communication unit. It may be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle electrical component control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the vehicle electrical component control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a failure detection / failure response operation of the electrical component communication unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a failure detection / failure response operation of the control calculation communication unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Control calculation communication unit 4 Control program reading unit 6 Control calculation unit 8 Storage medium 10, 18, 26 Electrical component communication unit 12, 20, 28 Failure detection unit and fault response unit 16, 24, 32 Electrical component 34, 36 Communication line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of electrical component communication units to which electrical components to be controlled are connected, a storage medium storing a control program for controlling the electrical components, and the storage medium is detachably mounted. A control calculation communication unit having a control program reading unit and a control calculation unit that calculates a control signal for the electrical component in accordance with a control program read from the storage medium mounted on the reading unit; A communication line connecting the electrical component communication unit to the electrical component communication unit, wherein the electrical component communication unit includes a failure detection unit that detects a failure of a communication system between the control operation communication unit and the self unit, and the failure. A vehicle electrical device, wherein an electrical component connected to the self-unit is provided with a failure response section for performing a failure response operation when is detected. The control device.