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DE-102025146236-A1 - COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE

DE102025146236A1DE 102025146236 A1DE102025146236 A1DE 102025146236A1DE-102025146236-A1

Abstract

In certain embodiments, an electric vehicle control system includes an electronic control unit (ECU) bus and a plurality of ECUs. A first ECU runs a broker service that communicates with a network server over a network, receives state information from applications running on the ECUs, generates subscription information based on the state information, and transmits the subscription information to the applications that have subscribed to the subscription information. The first ECU also runs a translation service that communicates with the broker service and the ECU bus, and an application that generates state information, sends the state information to the broker service, and receives subscription information from the broker service. The second ECU runs an application that transmits state information over the ECU bus to the first ECU and receives subscription information over the ECU bus from the first ECU.

Inventors

  • Jesse Schultz
  • Jack Doan
  • John Haines
  • Ben Noah Drobiz
  • Michael Powers
  • Matt Vander Vliet

Assignees

  • RIVIAN IP HOLDINGS, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251110
Priority Date
20251103

Claims (20)

  1. A control system for an electric vehicle, wherein the control system comprises: an electronic control unit (ECU) bus; and a plurality of ECUs coupled to the ECU bus, the ECUs comprising: a first ECU configured to: run a broker service configured to communicate with a network server over a network; generate subscription information based on state information received from applications running on the ECUs; transmit the subscription information to one or more applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the subscription information; and run a translation service configured to communicate with the broker service and the ECU bus; and a second ECU configured to: run an application configured to transmit state information over the ECU bus to the first ECU; and receive subscription information over the ECU bus from the first ECU.
  2. Tax system according to Claim 1 , where the translation service is configured to: receive the status information from the second ECU via the ECU bus in a first format; convert the status information in the first format into status information in the second format; and provide the status information in the second format to the broker service.
  3. Tax system according to Claim 2 , wherein the translation service is further configured to: receive additional state information from the second ECU via the ECU bus in the first format; determine if the additional state information differs from the state information; and if the additional state information differs from the state information, convert the state information in the first format to state information in the second format, and provide the state information in the second format to the broker service.
  4. Tax system according to Claim 1 , wherein: the first ECU is further configured to run an application configured to: generate state information; send the state information to the broker service; and receive subscription information from the broker service; wherein an application running on the network server is subscribed to the subscription information; and The broker service is further configured to transmit subscription information over the network to the application running on the network server.
  5. Tax system according to Claim 4 , wherein the broker service is further configured to: receive additional state information from the application running on the network server; generate additional subscription information based on the additional state information received from the network server; and transmit the additional subscription information to the applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the additional subscription information.
  6. Tax system according to Claim 4 , wherein: the first ECU is further configured to run a diagnostic client; and the diagnostic client is configured to: receive a status command from the application running on the network server, wherein the status command is associated with an application transmitting status information, and the status command includes updated status information; determine which ECU is running the application transmitting the status information; and send the status command via the ECU bus to the specified ECU.
  7. Tax system according to Claim 6 , wherein the application associated with the status command is configured to: determine whether the status command is approved; if the status command is approved, change the status information to the updated status information; and transmit the updated status information over the ECU bus to the first ECU.
  8. Electronic control unit (ECU) for an electric vehicle, the ECU comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and an ECU bus, the processor being configured to: run a broker service configured to: communicate with a network server over a network, generate subscription information based on state information received by applications running on ECUs coupled to the ECU bus, and transmit the subscription information to one or more applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the subscription information; run a translation service configured to communicate with the broker service and the ECU bus; and run an initial application configured to: generate state information, send the state information to the broker service, and receive subscription information from the broker service.
  9. ECU system after Claim 8 , wherein the translation service is configured to: receive the status information from an application running on an ECU via the ECU bus in a first format; convert the status information in the first format into status information in the second format; and provide the status information in the second format to the broker service.
  10. ECU after Claim 9 , wherein the translation service is further configured to: receive additional state information from the application running on the ECU via the ECU bus in the first format; determine if the additional state information differs from the state information; and if the additional state information differs from the state information, convert the state information in the first format to state information in the second format, and provide the state information in the second format to the broker service.
  11. ECU after Claim 8 , wherein: an application running on the network server is subscribed to the subscription information; and the broker service is further configured to transmit the subscription information to the application running on the network server.
  12. ECU after Claim 11 , wherein the broker service is further configured to: receive additional state information from the application running on the network server; generate additional subscription information based on the additional state information received from the network server; and transmit the additional subscription information to the applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the additional subscription information.
  13. ECU after Claim 11 , wherein: the processor is further configured to run a diagnostic client; and the diagnostic client is configured to: receive a status command from the application running on the network server, wherein the status command is associated with an application transmitting status information, and the status command includes updated status information; determine which ECU is running the application transmitting the status information; and send the status command via the ECU bus to the specified ECU.
  14. ECU after Claim 13 , wherein the diagnostic client is further configured to: receive updated status information from the application running on the specific ECU via the ECU bus.
  15. A method for managing state information for an electric vehicle, comprising: Communicating, via a broker service running on an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to an ECU bus, with a network server over a network; Generating, via the broker service, subscription information based on state information received by applications running on ECUs coupled to the ECU bus; and Transmitting, via the broker service, subscription information to one or more applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the subscription information; Generating, by an initial application running on the ECU, state information; Sending, by the application, the state information to the broker service; and Receiving, by the application, subscription information from the broker service.
  16. Procedure according to Claim 15 , further comprising: Receiving, via a translation service running on the ECU, status information from an application running on an ECU via the ECU bus in a first format; converting, via the translation service, status information in the first format into status information in the second format; and providing, via the translation service, status information in the second format to the broker service.
  17. Procedure according to Claim 16 , furthermore, including: Receiving, via the translation service, additional state information from the application running on the ECU via the ECU bus in the first format; Determining, via the translation service, whether the additional state information differs from the state information; and if the additional state information differs from the state information, converting, via the translation service, the state information in the first format into state information in the second format, and providing the state information in the second format to the broker service.
  18. Procedure according to Claim 15 , wherein: an application running on the network server is subscribed to the subscription information; and the method further comprises transmitting, via the broker service, the subscription information to the application running on the network server.
  19. Procedure according to Claim 18 , furthermore, including: receiving, via the broker service, additional status information from the application running on the network server; generating, via the broker service, additional subscription information based on the additional status information received from the network server; and transmitting, via the broker service, the additional subscription information to the applications running on the ECUs that have subscribed to the additional subscription information.
  20. Procedure according to Claim 18 , further comprising: Receiving, via a diagnostic client, a status command from the application running on the network server, wherein the status command is associated with an application transmitting status information, and the status command includes updated status information; Determining, via the diagnostic client, which ECU is running the application transmitting the status information; Sending, via the diagnostic client, the status command to the specified ECU via the ECU bus; and Receiving, via the diagnostic client, updated status information from the application running on the specified ECU via the ECU bus.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED REGISTRATIONS This application claims the benefit of the preliminary US patent application with serial number 63/719,643 (filed on November 12, 2024), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. INTRODUCTION The present disclosure relates to communication systems. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a communication system for an electric vehicle. Vehicles use various ad-hoc communication techniques to exchange data between applications running on network devices and applications running on the vehicle's electronic control units (ECUs). Once generated, the data is sent and translated across multiple communication channels before being received for further processing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 1 presents a diagram of an exemplary electric vehicle according to embodiments of the present disclosure.2 represents a block diagram of example components of the electric vehicle according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.3 represents a block diagram of an exemplary communication system according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.4 represents a flowchart that describes the functionality for managing the status information of the electric vehicle according to embodiments of the present disclosure.5 represents a flowchart that describes the functionality for event-driven or state-driven self-starting of an electric vehicle according to embodiments of the present disclosure.6 represents a flowchart that describes the functionality for managing status information for an electric vehicle according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Existing communication systems lack a unified representation of the data states and services available across network devices and in-vehicle ECUs. Furthermore, applications running on these network devices and ECUs must constantly revise their underlying code to accommodate changes in data structures and application programming interfaces (APIs). Managing these platform and architecture variations becomes complex and cumbersome, making it difficult to share data and services across network devices and ECUs. Embodiments of the present disclosure advantageously provide a vehicle communication system that includes a unified communication structure (also referred to as a secure data structure) that is simple, convenient, efficient, and less error-prone. The secure data structure encompasses data transmitted between network applications running on network devices and vehicle applications running on the ECUs, data transmitted between vehicle applications running on different ECUs, and data transmitted between vehicle applications running on the same ECU. The network devices can include network servers, cloud-based network servers that provide cloud computing services, smartphones, personal computers, etc. The vehicle has a control system that includes a number of ECUs connected via an ECU bus. Each ECU includes one or more processors configured to run one or more software modules stored in memory. At least one ECU includes a wireless transceiver that may be paired with a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, etc.) connected to a wide area network (WAN, e.g., the internet, etc.). The network applications and the vehicle applications work together to provide a range of services within the communication system, such as backend services, user services, vehicle services, etc. Specifically, the network devices and the ECUs in vehicles are nodes that form a distributed cluster for the secure data structure. The data is generated by "producer" applications running on the network devices or the ECUs in vehicles. Data is transmitted via the secure data structure and received by "consumer" applications running on the ECUs in vehicles or network devices. The advantage is that an application connected to the secure data structure on one node can generate data that can be used by other applications connected to the secure data structure on any node. The secure data fabric includes a messaging protocol and supporting infrastructure that provides a framework for producer applications to publish data and offer services to consumer applications, and for consumer applications to subscribe to published data and request services from producer applications. In certain embodiments, the communication messaging protocol implements the Neural Autonomous Transport System (NATS) protocol. In other embodiments, the communication messaging protocol may implement Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, Apache Pulsar, gRPC, etc. The communication system offers many technical advantages over existing ad-hoc communication techniques. The secure data fabric provides at-least-once data consistency by making the most recent state of relevant data available to consumer applications, followed by the remaining states of that data. Alternatively, the secure data fabric can compress changes to data