JP6545339B2 - Vehicle inspection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle inspection device. More specifically, the vehicle communicates with the plurality of electronic control devices mounted on the vehicle from the outside of the vehicle, and the vehicle determines the pass / fail of the plurality of inspection items based on the data acquired from the electronic control device of the vehicle by this communication. It relates to an inspection device.

  The vehicle includes a plurality of vehicle parts such as an engine, an exhaust purification device, and a sensor, and a plurality of electronic control units (hereinafter referred to as “ECU (Electric Control Unit)” for electronically controlling the vehicle parts). And may be used). The vehicle inspection apparatus for inspecting these vehicle parts and ECUs includes an on-board failure inspection apparatus (so-called OBD (On-Board Diagnostics)) mounted on the vehicle and an external failure inspection apparatus used by connecting from the outside of the vehicle. Divided into

  The in-vehicle failure inspection apparatus includes an in-vehicle ECU which inspects whether or not the above-mentioned parts or the like are broken while the vehicle is traveling, and a warning lamp for informing when a failure is detected.

  The out-of-vehicle fault inspection device is a computer having a communication function, and is called a scan tool, a test tool or the like. The out-of-vehicle fault inspection device is used by being connected to a plurality of ECUs mounted on a vehicle via a test port, and whether or not the plurality of ECUs and a plurality of parts controlled by these are malfunctioning Test using the function. More specifically, the out-of-vehicle fault inspection apparatus transmits a communication request determined according to an inspection item to a specific ECU of a vehicle, and the response of the communication request to the communication request is used to judge the quality of the inspection item. judge.

  This outside failure inspection apparatus is used, for example, in final inspection of a vehicle manufactured at a production plant. In this case, it is necessary to continuously determine the quality of many inspection items. For this reason, conventionally, a technique has been proposed for improving the efficiency of the inspection by the external failure inspection apparatus. For example, according to Patent Document 1, when a plurality of inspection programs are simultaneously executed and the type of communication request to the ECU of the vehicle is the same, the amount of communication data is reduced by collectively transmitting this type of data to the ECU Techniques are shown. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for improving the efficiency of the writing process by dividing and transmitting programs to be written to a plurality of ECUs. In addition, below, when only calling a vehicle test | inspection apparatus, this shall refer to the failure inspection apparatus outside a vehicle.

JP, 2011-107042, A JP 2005-78324 A

  FIG. 9 is a view showing the configuration of a vehicle inspection device 100 and a vehicle V to which the vehicle inspection device 100 is connected.

  Vehicle inspection apparatus 100 performs processing such as execution of a program according to an inspection item, determination of the quality of inspection items, etc., between inspection processing unit 101 and a plurality of ECUs mounted on vehicle V. And a communication processing unit 102 responsible for processing related to communication. The inspection processing unit 101 executes an inspection program defined for each inspection item according to the order determined by the user or the predetermined order, and generates a plurality of communication requests including control commands for a specific ECU of the vehicle V. , These are transmitted to the communication processing unit 102. The communication processing unit 102 transmits the communication request transmitted from the inspection processing unit 101 to the destination ECU, receives a response to the communication request from the same ECU, and transmits the response to the inspection processing unit 101 thereafter. The inspection processing unit 101 determines the quality of the inspection item by using the received response.

  As described above, communication between the inspection processing unit 101 and the communication processing unit 102 is performed via the data signal related to the communication request to the vehicle V and the response from the vehicle V. At this time, since the communication processing unit 102 has an upper limit to the number that can simultaneously process the communication requests transmitted from the inspection processing unit 101, the inspection processing unit 101 selects the communication processing unit 102 according to the state of the communication processing unit 102. So-called flow control is performed to reduce or increase the number of communication requests to be sent. By performing such flow control, it is possible to prevent a drop in communication request in the communication processing unit 102.

  However, in the flow control in the conventional vehicle inspection apparatus, only the number of communication requests transmitted from the inspection processing unit 101 to the communication processing unit 102 is controlled, and the order is not considered. For this reason, when a communication request directed to the same ECU is continuously transmitted from the inspection processing unit 101 to the communication processing unit 102 a plurality of times, the inspection efficiency may be reduced as follows.

  While processing the communication request (that is, after the communication request is received, it is transmitted to a specific ECU, and further, until the response to the communication request is received), the communication processing unit 102 A new communication request can not be received from the inspection processing unit 101 exceeding the upper limit number of In addition, in order to ensure the reliability of the inspection, the ECU is prevented from simultaneously transmitting a plurality of communication requests. For this reason, as described above, when a plurality of communication requests are concentrated on a specific ECU, the communication processing unit 102 waits for communication until the processing for all the communication requests in this specific ECU is completed, and the inspection processing unit 101 Can not receive new communication requests from

  When such a situation occurs, although a plurality of ECUs on the vehicle side can execute the inspection process in parallel, only a specific ECU will be in the state of executing the inspection process, and the inspection efficiency is lowered. Do. As a result, the time taken for the determination of the quality of all inspection items to be completed may be longer than necessary (for more details, see, for example, FIGS. 4 and 5 described later).

  An object of this invention is to provide the vehicle inspection apparatus which can test | inspect efficiently with respect to the some electronic control apparatus mounted in the vehicle.

  (1) A plurality of vehicle inspection devices (for example, vehicle inspection devices 1, 1B and 1C described later) according to the present invention are mounted on the vehicle by executing an inspection program defined in accordance with an inspection item related to the vehicle An inspection processing unit (for example, 2, 2B, 2C described later) that generates a communication request to the electronic control device of the second embodiment, and the plurality of electronic control devices, the communication request generated by the inspection processing unit Communication processing units (for example, communication processing units 3, 3B, 3C described later) to be transmitted to the electronic control device of the above, and the pass / fail of the inspection item is determined based on the response from the vehicle to the communication request. The inspection processing unit generates an communication request by executing the inspection program (for example, an inspection control unit 51 described later), and a communication request buffer (for example, communication described later, which stores a plurality of the communication requests. Memory area (for example, buffers 522_1 to 522_n described later), which includes a request buffer 522) and divides the communication request generated by the inspection control unit for each electronic control unit to which the communication request is transmitted of the communication request buffer. A transmission flow control unit (for example, transmission flow control units 52 and 52B described later) which reads the communication request stored in the communication request buffer according to a scanning order defined in advance for each memory area, and the transmission flow A communication request transmission unit (for example, a communication request transmission unit that transmits a communication request read by a control unit to the communication processing unit) It includes a predicate communication request transmitter unit 54 of) the said communication processing unit, and transmits the communication request according to the order transmitted from the communication request transmitting unit in the vehicle.

  (2) In this case, when the communication request is generated by the communication request buffer and the inspection control unit, the transmission flow control unit identifies the transmission destination of the communication request, and the communication request is transmitted to the communication request buffer. Request transmission destination registration unit (for example, request transmission destination registration unit 521 described later) to write in a memory area according to the specified transmission destination, and the scanning order of the communication request stored in each memory area of the communication request buffer And a flow control unit (for example, a flow control unit 523 described later) to be read in accordance with the above.

  (3) In this case, the inspection processing unit includes a communication request transmission buffer (for example, a communication request transmission buffer 53 described later) storing the communication request read by the transmission flow control unit, and the communication request transmission unit A communication request reception unit that transmits the communication request stored in the communication request transmission buffer to the communication processing unit, and the communication processing unit receives the communication request transmitted from the communication request transmission unit (for example, a communication request reception unit described later A communication request reception unit 61), a communication request reception buffer (for example, a communication request reception buffer 62 described later) to which the communication request received by the communication request reception unit is written, and the communication request stored in the communication request reception buffer A vehicle communication unit (for example, vehicle communication units 65 and 65B described later) for transmitting the information to the transmission destination electronic control device; And said communication request receiving buffer preferably each is a cache memory configured based on a predetermined serial communication standard.

  (4) In this case, the communication request includes an address for specifying one of the plurality of electronic control devices mounted on the vehicle to be inspected, and a control for the electronic control device specified by the address. Preferably, the transmission flow control unit specifies a transmission destination using an address included in the communication request.

  (5) In this case, the vehicle is provided with a plurality of communication lines (for example, communication lines L1 to L3 described later) of different standards, and the memory area of the communication request buffer is divided for each of the electronic control device and the communication line. When the communication control unit generates a communication request, the transmission flow control unit divides the communication request into an electronic control device as a transmission destination of the communication request in the communication request buffer and a memory partitioned for each communication line. It is preferable to write in an area (for example, a communication request buffer of transmission flow control units 52Ba to 52Bc described later).

  (6) A plurality of vehicle inspection devices (for example, vehicle inspection devices 1A, 1B, and 1C described later) according to the present invention are mounted on the vehicle by executing an inspection program defined according to an inspection item regarding the vehicle. An inspection processing unit (for example, inspection processing units 2, 2B, 2C described later) for generating a communication request to the electronic control device, and the communication request generated by the inspection processing unit connected to the plurality of electronic control devices A communication processing unit (for example, communication processing units 3, 3B, 3C described later) to be transmitted to the electronic control device of the transmission destination, and based on the response from the vehicle to the communication request judge. The inspection processing unit generates an communication request by executing the inspection program (for example, an inspection control unit 51 described later), and a communication request buffer (for example, communication described later, which stores a plurality of the communication requests. A request buffer 522A), the communication request generated by the inspection control unit is written to the communication request buffer, and one of a plurality of communication requests written to the communication request buffer has the same transmission destination A transmission flow control unit (for example, a transmission flow control unit 52A to be described later, for example) selectively reading in an order that does not follow, and a communication request transmission for transmitting a communication request read by the transmission flow control unit to the communication processing unit (E.g., a communication request transmission unit 54 described later), and the communication processing unit follows the order of transmission from the communication request transmission unit. And transmitting the communication request to the vehicle Te.

  (7) In this case, the inspection processing unit includes a communication request transmission buffer (for example, a communication request transmission buffer 53 described later) storing the communication request read by the transmission flow control unit, and the communication request transmission unit A communication request reception unit that transmits the communication request stored in the communication request transmission buffer to the communication processing unit, and the communication processing unit receives the communication request transmitted from the communication request transmission unit (for example, a communication request reception unit described later A communication request reception unit 61), a communication request reception buffer (for example, a communication request reception buffer 62 described later) to which the communication request received by the communication request reception unit is written, and the communication request stored in the communication request reception buffer A vehicle communication unit (for example, vehicle communication units 65 and 65B described later) for transmitting the information to the transmission destination electronic control device; And said communication request receiving buffer preferably each is a cache memory configured based on a predetermined serial communication standard.

  (8) In this case, the communication request includes an address for specifying one of the plurality of electronic control devices mounted on the vehicle to be inspected, and a control for the electronic control device specified by the address. Preferably, the transmission flow control unit specifies a transmission destination using an address included in the communication request.

  (9) In this case, the vehicle is provided with a plurality of communication lines of different standards (for example, communication lines L1 to L3 described later), and the memory area of the communication request buffer is partitioned for each of the communication lines. When a communication request is generated by the inspection control unit, the control unit divides the communication request into memory areas divided for each communication line of the transmission destination of the communication request in the communication request buffer (for example, transmission flow control described later) It is preferable to write in the communication request buffer of part 52Ba-52Bc.

  (1) The transmission flow control unit of the present invention is provided with a communication request buffer which is a plurality of memory areas divided for each of a plurality of electronic control devices mounted on a vehicle, and the communication request generated by the inspection control unit is After the communication request buffer is written in the memory area corresponding to the transmission destination electronic control device, the written communication request is transmitted to the communication processing unit in accordance with a scanning order defined in advance for each of the plurality of memory areas. That is, in the inspection processing unit of the present invention, the communication requests generated by the inspection control unit are once stored in the communication request buffer and then arranged in the order determined for each electronic control unit by the scanning process in the transmission flow control unit. After being replaced, it is sent to the communication processing unit. As a result, even when communication commands for a specific electronic control device are generated intensively in the inspection control unit, communication requests for different electronic control devices are continuously transmitted to the communication processing unit, and thus to the vehicle. You can That is, regardless of the generation order of the communication request in the inspection control unit, the vehicle side can simultaneously perform the processing related to the inspection in as many electronic control devices as possible, so the time for the communication processing unit to wait for communication Can be shortened, and inspection can be efficiently performed on a plurality of electronic control devices. Moreover, even if there are many inspection items whose quality is to be determined, the time required for the inspection can be shortened.

  (2) In the present invention, the transmission flow control unit for performing the flow control as described above with respect to the communication request is configured by the communication request sorting unit, the communication request buffer, and the flow control unit. By this, the process of distributing and writing the communication request to the communication request buffer and the process of reading the communication request written to the communication request buffer and writing this to the predetermined buffer may be performed by separate modules at independent timings. Since this can be done, the processing in the transmission flow control unit can be made efficient and fast.

  (3) In the present invention, the communication request transmission buffer of the inspection processing unit and the communication request reception buffer of the communication processing unit are configured by the cache memory configured based on the serial communication standard. Thereby, for example, the USB communication standard can be adopted as communication between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit. This enables high-speed processing while reducing the number of physical communication lines between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit.

  (4) In the present invention, the processing efficiency of the transmission flow control unit can be improved by specifying the transmission destination using the address included in the communication request.

  (5) In the present invention, the memory area of the communication request buffer is divided into the electronic control unit and the communication line, and the communication request is made according to the electronic control unit and communication line of the transmission destination among the memory areas of the communication request buffer. Write to things. As a result, even if the vehicle is provided with communication lines of a plurality of different standards, communication requests can not be concentrated on the same electronic control unit, and as a result, the time taken for inspection can be shortened. .

  (6) The transmission flow control unit of the present invention is provided with a communication request buffer for storing a plurality of communication requests, and writes the communication request generated by the inspection control unit in this communication request buffer. The transmission flow control unit selectively reads one of the plurality of communication requests written in the communication request buffer in such an order that the same transmission destination does not follow, and transmits this to the communication processing unit. That is, in the inspection processing unit of the present invention, the communication request generated by the inspection control unit is temporarily stored in the communication request buffer, and then sent to the communication processing unit after being searched by the transmission flow control unit. As a result, even when communication commands for a specific electronic control device are generated intensively in the inspection control unit, communication requests for different electronic control devices are continuously transmitted to the communication processing unit, and thus to the vehicle. You can That is, regardless of the generation order of the communication request in the inspection control unit, the vehicle side can simultaneously perform the processing related to the inspection in as many electronic control devices as possible, so the time for the communication processing unit to wait for communication Can be shortened, and inspection can be efficiently performed on a plurality of electronic control devices. Moreover, even if there are many inspection items whose quality is to be determined, the time required for the inspection can be shortened.

  (7) In the present invention, the communication request transmission buffer of the inspection processing unit and the communication request reception buffer of the communication processing unit are configured by the cache memory configured based on the serial communication standard. As a result, for the same reason as the invention of (3), high-speed processing can be performed while reducing the number of physical communication lines between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit.

  (8) In the present invention, the processing efficiency of the transmission flow control unit can be improved by specifying the transmission destination using the address included in the communication request.

  (9) In the present invention, the memory area of the communication request buffer is partitioned for each communication line, and the communication request is written in the memory area of the communication request buffer according to the communication line of the transmission destination. As a result, even if the vehicle is provided with communication lines of a plurality of different standards, communication requests can not be concentrated on the same electronic control unit, and as a result, the time taken for inspection can be shortened. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the vehicle inspection apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, and a vehicle. It is a block diagram which shows the network configuration between a test | inspection process part and a communication process part. It is a block diagram which shows the procedure of the flow control performed in a transmission flow control part. It is a time chart which shows an example of the flow of a communication demand and a communication result in, when the quality of a plurality of inspection items is judged using the conventional vehicle inspection device. It is a time chart which shows an example of a flow of a communication demand and a communication result in, when the quality of a plurality of inspection items is judged using a vehicle inspection device of the above-mentioned embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the procedure of the flow control performed in the transmission flow control part of the vehicle inspection apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing the network composition between the inspection processing part and the communication processing part in the vehicle inspection device concerning a 3rd embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing the network composition between the inspection processing part and the communication processing part in the vehicle inspection device concerning a 4th embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional vehicle test | inspection apparatus and the vehicle to which this vehicle test | inspection apparatus is connected.

First Embodiment
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a vehicle inspection device 1 according to the present embodiment and a vehicle V as an inspection target of the vehicle inspection device 1.

  The vehicle V is equipped with a plurality of ECUs. Each of these ECUs electronically controls a plurality of vehicle components (not shown) such as an engine, an exhaust gas purification device, and a sensor mounted on the vehicle V. In the vehicle V, the plurality of ECUs are connected via a communication line based on a predetermined communication standard (for example, CAN, K-Line, etc.), and can communicate with each other. Although the example in which the 1st communication line L1, the 2nd communication line L2, and the 3rd communication line L3 are provided in vehicles V is shown in Drawing 1, the present invention is not limited to this. The number of communication lines provided in the vehicle may be one or more.

  The plurality of ECUs mounted on the vehicle V are divided into a plurality of groups by the plurality of communication lines L1 to L3. More specifically, the plurality of ECUs include p ECUs 11, 12, ..., 1p connected to the communication line L1, and q ECUs 21, 22, ..., 2q connected to the communication line L2. .., 3r connected to the communication line L3. Further, each communication line L1, L2, L3 can be connected to the vehicle inspection device 1 via the connector C. This enables communication between the vehicle inspection device 1 and a plurality of ECUs mounted on the vehicle V. In the following, it is assumed that the total number of ECUs mounted on the vehicle V and communicably connected to the vehicle inspection device 1 is n.

  The vehicle inspection device 1 is connected to a plurality of ECUs of the vehicle V via the connector C, transmits a communication request according to an inspection item related to the vehicle V to these ECUs, and the inspection item based on the response to the communication request Determine the success or failure of the The vehicle inspection apparatus 1 generates a communication request by executing a predetermined inspection program, and communicates between the inspection processing unit 2 and the plurality of ECUs of the vehicle V and the inspection processing unit 2 to determine whether the inspection item is acceptable or not. It is divided into a communication processing unit 3 as a network controller responsible for transmission and reception of requests and communication results.

  The inspection processing unit 2 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 21, a storage device 22, an input device 23, an audio output device 24, a display device 25, and an external communication device 26.

  The CPU 21 executes various processing such as inspection of the vehicle V and communication between the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3 in accordance with various programs stored in the storage device 22. The storage device 22 is configured of, for example, a storage medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a DRAM. The storage device 22 includes a plurality of inspection programs for the vehicle V, a program for realizing a network having a structure shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 described later between the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3 Various programs and data related to the execution of the examination are stored.

  The input device 23 is configured to include a plurality of buttons for receiving an instruction operation from the user. The external communication device 26 controls communication between the vehicle inspection device 1 and other devices via a network including the Internet. The external communication device 26 is used, for example, when adding a new inspection program to the storage device 22 or modifying an existing inspection program. The display device 25 displays guidance for prompting the user to operate the input device 23 when inspecting the vehicle V, and displays the result of the inspection and the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a network configuration between the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3.
The inspection processing unit 2 includes the inspection control unit 51, the transmission flow control unit 52, the communication request transmission buffer 53, the communication request transmission unit 54, the communication result reception unit 55, and the hardware configuration as described above. A communication result receiving buffer 56 is configured. Further, in the communication processing unit 3, a communication request receiving unit 61, a communication request receiving buffer 62, a communication result transmitting buffer 63, a communication result transmitting unit 64, and a vehicle communication unit 65. Hereinafter, the functions of each module configured in the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3 will be described in order.

First, the configuration of the inspection processing unit 2 will be described.
The inspection control unit 51 selects m (m is an integer of 1 or more) inspection programs P1, P2,..., Pm according to the model of the vehicle to be inspected from among a plurality of predetermined inspection programs. These test programs P1 to Pm are selected and executed in a predetermined order. The order of executing the selected m inspection programs P1 to Pm may be predetermined according to the inspection content or may be determined by the user. In the following, the inspection programs P1 to Pm are assumed to be executed in order from the smallest number.

  Each of the inspection programs P1 to Pm is determined according to an inspection item related to a specific ECU mounted on the vehicle or a specific vehicle component electronically controlled by the specific ECU. This inspection item is, for example, to evaluate whether the above-mentioned specific ECU or vehicle part is functioning properly by good or bad. In each of the inspection programs P1 to Pm, a procedure for determining the quality of each inspection item is defined. More specifically, each inspection program P1 to Pm includes a procedure for generating a communication request according to an inspection item and a communication result which is a response from the vehicle to the generated communication request. And a procedure for determining the quality.

  The inspection control unit 51 determines the quality of the m inspection items by executing the inspection programs P1 to Pm. When a predetermined inspection program is executed by the inspection control unit 51, first, a communication request corresponding to an inspection item is generated. The communication request includes an address for specifying an ECU that is a transmission destination, and a control command in which an instruction for the ECU of the transmission destination is described. The communication request generated by executing the inspection program is transmitted to the ECU identified by the address in accordance with the procedure described later. The ECU that has received the communication request executes processing in accordance with the control command, and transmits the result as the communication result to the vehicle inspection device 1. The inspection control unit 51 receives the communication result transmitted from the ECU, and determines the quality of the inspection item using this. Thus, one inspection program ends. The inspection control unit 51 can execute a plurality of inspection programs as described above in parallel.

  Note that the number of communication requests and communication results transmitted and received between the vehicle inspection device 1 and the vehicle V by executing one inspection program is not limited to one, and may be plural. That is, in one inspection program, transmission of a communication request from the vehicle inspection device 1 to the vehicle V and transmission of a communication result from the vehicle V to the vehicle inspection device 1 are repeated plural times, and the quality of one inspection item is evaluated. You may judge.

  The transmission flow control unit 52 acquires a plurality of communication requests generated by executing a plurality of inspection programs in the inspection control unit 51 in the order of generation by the inspection control unit 51, and will be described with reference to FIG. After optimizing the order of the plurality of communication requests so as to shorten the inspection time by the vehicle inspection device 1 by performing the flow control, the plurality of communication requests are written in the communication request transmission buffer 53.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a flow control procedure executed by the transmission flow control unit 52. As shown in FIG.
The transmission flow control unit 52 includes a request transmission destination registration unit 521, a communication request buffer 522, and a flow control unit 523.

  The communication request buffer 522 is a memory for temporarily storing a plurality of communication requests generated by the inspection control unit. As shown in FIG. 3, the memory area of the communication request buffer 522 is divided for each ECU mounted on the vehicle to be inspected. Hereinafter, in the communication request buffer 522, memory areas partitioned according to the first, second,... N-th ECUs are defined as a first buffer 522_1, a second buffer 522_2,. Do. At least two communication requests can be stored in these buffers 522_1 to 522_n, respectively. The buffers 522_1 to 522_n are so-called FIFO buffers which are output in the order of writing.

  In FIG. 3, the symbol "Cmdi_j_k" indicates a communication request. The subscript “i” means that the communication request is generated due to the execution of the “i” th inspection program. The subscript “j” means that it is the communication request generated at the “j” th time in the inspection program. Further, the subscript “k” means that the communication request is for the “k” th ECU as the transmission destination.

  The plurality of buffers 522_1 to 522_n may be prepared in advance as many as the number of ECUs mounted on the vehicle before the inspection, and the inspection control unit 51 selects a plurality of inspection programs. Depending on the situation, it may be possible to prepare only the number of ECUs to which the communication request can be transmitted by executing the plurality of inspection programs.

  When a new communication request is generated by the inspection control unit, the request transmission destination registration unit 521 specifies the ECU to which the communication request is to be transmitted by using the address included in the communication request, and this communication is performed. The request is written to a buffer partitioned in accordance with the transmission destination ECU of the communication request buffer 522. That is, the request transmission destination registration unit 521 distributes and writes the communication request generated by the inspection control unit to the buffers 522_1 to 522_n corresponding to the address.

The flow control unit 523 reads the communication request stored in the communication request buffer 522 according to a scanning order defined in advance for each of the buffers 522_1 to 522_n, and writes the communication request in the communication request transmission buffer 53. More specifically, as indicated by a thick arrow in FIG. 3, flow control unit 523 sets the most leading one of the communication requests stored in each of buffers 522_1 to 522_n according to a predetermined scanning order (that is, The communication request written first to each of the buffers 522_1 to 522_n is read, and is written to the communication request transmission buffer 53. Although FIG. 3 shows an example in which the communication request is read from the buffer 522_1 sequentially to the buffer 522_n and then returned to the buffer 522_1 again, the scanning order is not limited to such an example. As described above, in the present embodiment, when the flow control unit 523 writes the data read in the communication request transmission buffer 53, erroneously when the first communication request of each of the buffers 522_1 to 522_n is repeatedly scanned as described above It does not repeatedly read the same communication request.

  Further, the flow control unit 523 writes the communication request to the communication request transmission buffer 53 up to the capacity permitted in the communication request transmission buffer 53. Here, the capacity permitted in the communication request transmission buffer 53 means the capacity (so-called window size) that can be transmitted to the communication processing unit 3 from the communication request transmission unit 54 described later, the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3. The smaller the total amount of packet sizes that can be transmitted at one time in data communication between them. The window size can be obtained by a known method such as a sliding window method, for example.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the communication request transmission buffer 53 stores a plurality of communication requests output from the transmission flow control unit 52 through the flow control as described above. The communication request transmission buffer 53 is a FIFO buffer that outputs communication requests in the order of writing. The communication request transmission unit 54 reads the communication request stored in the communication request transmission buffer 53 and transmits the communication request to the communication processing unit 3.

  The communication result receiving unit 55 receives the communication result transmitted from the communication processing unit 3 and writes the communication result in the communication result receiving buffer 56. The communication result receiving buffer 56 is a FIFO buffer that outputs the communication results in the order in which they were written. When the communication result corresponding to the inspection program being executed is written in the communication result reception buffer 56, the inspection control unit 51 reads this communication result and determines the quality of the inspection item according to the inspection program or a new communication request Generate

Next, the configuration of the communication processing unit 3 will be described.
The communication request reception unit 61 receives the communication request transmitted from the communication request transmission unit 54 of the inspection processing unit 2 and writes the communication request in the communication request reception buffer 62. The communication request reception buffer 62 is a FIFO buffer that outputs communication requests in the order of writing.

  The communication result transmitting unit 64 reads the communication result stored in the communication result transmitting buffer 63 and transmits the communication result to the communication result receiving unit 55 of the inspection processing unit 2. The communication result transmission buffer 63 is a FIFO buffer that outputs communication results in the order of writing.

  The vehicle communication unit 65 performs processing regarding transmission and reception of a communication request and a communication result between the vehicle inspection device 1 and the vehicle V. More specifically, the vehicle communication unit 65 reads the communication request stored in the communication request reception buffer 62, and transmits the communication request to the transmission destination ECU via the communication line. As a result, the plurality of communication requests generated by the inspection control unit 51 are transmitted to the vehicle V in the order of transmission from the communication request transmission unit 54 after passing through the transmission flow control unit 52. When the vehicle communication unit 65 receives the communication result from the ECU of the vehicle V via the communication line, the vehicle communication unit 65 writes the communication result in the communication result transmission buffer 63.

  Communication between the inspection processing unit 2 and the communication processing unit 3 configured as described above is preferably in compliance with, for example, a serial communication standard (in particular, USB (Universal Serial Bus)). In this case, the communication request transmission buffer 53, the communication request reception buffer 62, the communication result reception buffer 56, and the communication result transmission buffer 63 are configured as cache memories based on the serial communication standard.

Next, the effect of flow control on the communication request in the transmission flow control unit 52 described above will be described.
FIG. 4 is a time chart showing an example of the flow of a communication request and a communication result when the quality of a plurality of inspection items is determined using a conventional vehicle inspection device.
FIG. 5 is a time chart showing an example of the flow of the communication request and the communication result when the quality of the inspection items of the same number is determined using the vehicle inspection device of the present embodiment.
Here, the conventional vehicle inspection device refers to one that does not perform the flow control as described above in response to a communication request, and the order from the inspection processing unit to the inspection control unit that a plurality of communication requests are generated in the inspection control unit Say something that sends in the same order.

  In the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, the number of inspection items to be determined (ie, the number of inspection programs to be executed) is four, and the total number of ECUs mounted on the vehicle is four. Further, the number of communication requests that can be processed simultaneously in parallel by the communication processing unit (in other words, the number of communication requests that can be accepted by the communication processing unit) is two. The number of acceptable communication requests is determined according to the performance of the communication processing unit. In addition, the communication processing unit performs the communication request so that the correspondence between the communication request transmitted from the vehicle inspection device to the ECU and the communication result transmitted from the ECU to the vehicle inspection device as a response to the communication request becomes clear. The transmission of the communication request was temporarily stopped for the same ECU from the transmission to the ECU until the reception of the communication result.

  4 and 5 show the case where four inspection programs are executed in the order of P1, P2, P3 and P4. Each of the inspection programs P1 to P4 transmits and receives a communication request and a communication result twice each between the vehicle inspection device and the vehicle. Further, between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit, transmission and reception of the communication request and the communication result are periodically performed in a fixed cycle by the above-described serial communication.

  Further, in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the symbol “Resi_j_k” indicates the communication result. The subscript “i” means that it is the communication result for the communication request generated due to the execution of the “i” th inspection program. The subscript “j” means that it is the communication result for the communication request generated at the “j” th time in the inspection program. Further, the suffix “k” means that the communication result is the “k” -th ECU as the transmission source.

  First, FIG. 4 will be described. First, four inspection programs P1 to P4 are executed in this order by the inspection control unit. Thus, the first communication requests Cmd1_1, Cmd2_1_1, Cmd3_1_3, and Cmd4_1_4 corresponding to the inspection programs P1 to P4 are generated in this order. As shown in FIG. 4, in this example, two communication requests Cmd1_1_1 and Cmd2_1_1 directed to the first one of the four ECUs are successively generated.

  Under conventional flow control, communication requests are transmitted from the inspection processing unit to the communication processing unit in the order generated within the range that does not exceed the number that can be received by the communication processing unit. Therefore, in the first communication cycle, only two communication requests Cmd1_1_1 and Cmd_2_1_1 among the four communication requests generated at the beginning are transmitted from the inspection processing unit to the communication processing unit. However, since the two communication requests Cmd1_1 and Cmd_2_1_1 use the same first ECU as the transmission destination, the communication processing unit can not transmit the communication request Cmd2_1_1 until the response Res1_1_1 for the communication request Cmd1_1_1 is received. Therefore, only one ECU can be operated for inspection between the first and second communication cycles.

  Further, in the second communication cycle, since the communication processing unit has not received a response to the communication request Cmd2_1 transmitted earlier, the number of communication requests that can be newly received at this point is only one. Therefore, between the second and third communication cycles, the communication request Cmd3_1_3 can be transmitted to only one new ECU.

  As described above, under the conventional flow control, when communication requests are concentrated toward the same ECU, a plurality of ECUs can not be operated in parallel, and a communication request for the other ECUs is made accordingly. The transmission is delayed, and as a result, the number of times of communication performed between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit also increases until the four inspection programs end (in the example of FIG. 4, six cycles).

  Next, FIG. 5 will be described. First, the inspection control unit generates first communication requests Cmd1_1, Cmd2_1_1, Cmd3_1_3, and Cmd4_1_4 according to the inspection programs P1 to P4 in the same order as in FIG.

  Here, under the flow control shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of generated communication requests are written by the request transmission destination registration unit 521 in a memory area partitioned for each ECU of the communication request buffer 522. Then, the flow control unit 523 reads the communication request stored in the communication request buffer 522 in accordance with the scanning order determined for each ECU. Therefore, in the first communication cycle, two communication requests Cmd1_1_1 and Cmd3_1_3 are transmitted from the inspection processing unit to the communication processing unit. The two communication requests Cmd1_1_1 and Cmd3_1_3 are communication requests directed to the first ECU and the third ECU, respectively. Therefore, unlike the example of FIG. 4, the communication processing unit can transmit the communication request Cmd3_1_3 to the third ECU without waiting for the response Res1_1_1 to the communication request Cmd1_1_1. Therefore, between the first and second communication cycles, two ECUs can be operated in parallel for inspection.

  For this reason, in the second communication cycle, since the communication processing unit has already received responses to the two communication requests sent earlier, the number of communication requests that can be newly received at this point is two. Become. Therefore, communication requests Cmd2_1_1 and Cmd4_1_4 can be newly transmitted to two different ECUs between the second and third communication cycles.

  As described above, under the flow control of FIG. 3, even if communication requests are concentratedly generated toward the same ECU, the order of these communication requests is arranged such that a plurality of ECUs operate in parallel as much as possible. As a result, the number of communications performed between the inspection processing unit and the communication processing unit until the end of the four inspection programs is smaller than that in the example of FIG. 4 (five cycles in the example of FIG. 5). . As a result, even if there are many inspection items whose quality is to be determined, the time required for the inspection can be shortened.

Second Embodiment
Next, a vehicle inspection apparatus 1A according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, components different from the vehicle inspection device 1 of the first embodiment are given different reference numerals, and the same components are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a flow control procedure executed by the transmission flow control unit 52A of the vehicle inspection device 1A of the present embodiment. Vehicle inspection device 1A of this embodiment differs in the composition of vehicles inspection device 1 of a 1st embodiment, and transmission flow control part 52A.
The transmission flow control unit 52A includes a request transmission destination registration unit 521A, a communication request buffer 522A, and a flow control unit 523A.

  The communication request buffer 522A is a memory for temporarily storing a plurality of communication requests generated by the inspection control unit. As described with reference to FIG. 3, in the transmission flow control unit 52 of the first embodiment, the memory area of the communication request buffer 522 is divided for each ECU. On the other hand, in the communication request buffer 522A of this embodiment, the memory area is used without being divided for each ECU. When a new communication request is generated by the inspection control unit, the request transmission destination registration unit 521A writes the communication request in the order of generation in the communication request buffer 522A.

The flow control unit 523A selectively reads one of the plurality of communication requests stored in the communication request buffer 522A in such an order that the same transmission destination does not follow, and writes the read request to the communication request transmission buffer 53. More specifically, the flow control unit 523A defines a search order for a plurality of ECUs that can be transmission destinations in advance, and a communication request buffer is a communication request buffer whose transmission destination is the ECUs corresponding in order according to the search order. It is determined using the address included in the communication request whether or not it exists among the plurality of communication requests stored in 522A. As a result of the determination, if there is a communication request whose destination is the corresponding ECU, the flow control unit 523A reads one of the corresponding communication requests and writes the read request in the communication request transmission buffer 53. Further, as a result of this determination, if there is no communication request for which the corresponding ECU is the transmission destination, the flow control unit 523A defers the search order by one, and again the communication request for which the corresponding ECU is the transmission destination is It is determined whether it exists in the communication request buffer 522A. Thus, by searching the communication request buffer 522A by the flow control unit 523A, it is possible to selectively read the communication request and write the communication request in the communication request transmission buffer 53 in an order such that the same destination does not follow the destination. it can.

  According to the vehicle inspection device 1A provided with the transmission flow control unit 52A as described above, the same effect as the vehicle inspection device 1 of the first embodiment is obtained.

Third Embodiment
Next, a vehicle inspection apparatus 1B according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, components different from the vehicle inspection device 1 of the first embodiment are given different reference numerals, and the same components are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a network configuration between the inspection processing unit 2B and the communication processing unit 3B in the vehicle inspection device 1B according to the present embodiment. The vehicle inspection device 1B of the present embodiment differs from the vehicle inspection device 1 of the first embodiment in the configurations of the inspection processing unit 2B and the communication processing unit 3B. As described above, the vehicle V is provided with three communication lines L1 to L3, and p, q, and r ECUs are connected to the respective communication lines L1 to L3 (see FIG. 1). ). The vehicle inspection device 1B according to the present embodiment is the first embodiment in that the number of communication systems equal to the number of communication lines L1 to L3 provided in the vehicle V is provided between the inspection processing unit 2B and the communication processing unit 3B. It differs from the vehicle inspection device 1 of the form.

  The inspection processing unit 2B includes an inspection control unit 51, a transmission flow control unit 52B, an integrated flow control unit 57B, a communication request transmission buffer 53, a communication request transmission unit 54, a communication result reception unit 55, and a communication result. And a reception buffer 56.

  The transmission flow control unit 52B includes a first transmission flow control unit 52Ba provided corresponding to the first communication line, a second transmission flow control unit 52Bb provided corresponding to the second communication line, and a third communication. And a third transmission flow control unit 52Bc provided corresponding to the line. Each of the transmission flow control units 52Ba, 52Bb, 52Bc has a communication request buffer which is divided independently for each communication line, and the inspection control unit is performed by performing the flow control described with reference to FIG. 51 has a function of optimizing the order of a plurality of communication requests.

  More specifically, in the first transmission flow control unit 52Ba, among the plurality of communication requests generated by executing the plurality of inspection programs in the inspection control unit 51, the ECU of the transmission destination is the first communication line. The order of a plurality of communication requests is optimized among those belonging to the first communication line by acquiring only connected ones and performing the flow control described with reference to FIG. 3 to the acquired communication requests. Do.

  The second transmission flow control unit 52Bb performs the same flow control as that of the first transmission flow control unit 52Ba, so that the order of the plurality of communication requests generated in the inspection control unit 51 belongs to the second communication line. Optimize.

  The third transmission flow control unit 52Bc performs the same flow control as that of the first transmission flow control unit 52Ba so that the order of the plurality of communication requests generated in the inspection control unit 51 belongs to the third communication line. Optimize.

  The flow control performed in each of the transmission flow control units 52Ba to 52Bc is not limited to the one described with reference to FIG. 3, and the one described with reference to FIG. 6 may be performed.

  The integrated flow control unit 57B reads a plurality of communication requests rearranged so as to be optimal for each communication line through any of the transmission flow control units 52Ba to 52Bc, and writes the read communication requests in the communication request transmission buffer 53.

  The communication processing unit 3B includes a communication request reception unit 61, a communication request reception buffer 62, a reception flow control unit 66B, a communication result transmission buffer 63, a communication result transmission unit 64, and a vehicle communication unit 65B. Be done.

  Reception flow control unit 66B receives separation flow control unit 661B, first communication request reception buffer 662Ba provided corresponding to the first communication line, and second communication request reception provided corresponding to the second communication line. A buffer 662Bb and a third communication request reception buffer 662Bc provided corresponding to the third communication line are provided.

  The communication request receiving buffers 662Ba to 662Bc are FIFO buffers that respectively output communication requests in the order in which they were written, and store a plurality of communication requests whose transmission destinations are ECUs connected to the respective communication lines. The separated flow control unit 661B reads the communication request stored in the communication request reception buffer 62, specifies the communication line to which this communication request is to be transmitted by using the address included in the communication request, and this communication The request is written to communication request reception buffers 662Ba to 662Bc corresponding to the specified communication line.

  The vehicle communication unit 65B includes a first communication unit 65Ba that communicates with the ECU connected to the first communication line, and a second communication unit 65Bb that communicates with the ECU connected to the second communication line. And a third communication unit 65Bc that communicates with the ECU connected to the communication line.

  The first communication unit 65Ba reads the communication request stored in the first communication request reception buffer 662Ba, and transmits the communication request to the transmission destination ECU via the first communication line. When the first communication unit 65Ba receives the communication result from the vehicle V via the first communication line, the first communication unit 65Ba writes the communication result in the communication result transmission buffer 63.

  The second communication unit 65Bb reads the communication request stored in the second communication request reception buffer 662Bb, and transmits the communication request to the transmission destination ECU via the second communication line. When the second communication unit 65Bb receives the communication result from the vehicle V via the second communication line, the second communication unit 65Bb writes the communication result in the communication result transmission buffer 63.

  The third communication unit 65Bc reads the communication request stored in the third communication request reception buffer 662Bc, and transmits the communication request to the transmission destination ECU via the third communication line. When the third communication unit 65Bc receives the communication result from the vehicle V via the third communication line, the third communication unit 65Bc writes the communication result in the communication result transmission buffer 63.

  According to the vehicle inspection device 1B as described above, in addition to the effects of the vehicle inspection device of the first or second embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. For example, according to the vehicle inspection device 1B, transmission flow control units 52Ba to 52Bc are provided for each communication line, and flow control is performed to optimize the order of a plurality of communication requests for each communication line. As a result, even if the vehicle is provided with communication lines of a plurality of different standards, communication requests can not be concentrated on the same ECU, and as a result, the time for inspection can be shortened.

  Further, according to the vehicle inspection device 1B, the communication request reception buffer 62 is provided between the communication request reception unit 61 and the reception flow control unit 66B, and the communication request before the communication request classification processing in the reception flow control unit 66B is performed. By storing in the communication request reception buffer 62, it is possible to ease the time restriction necessary for the sorting process in the reception flow control unit 66B.

Fourth Embodiment
Next, a vehicle inspection apparatus 1C according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Below, a different code | symbol is attached | subjected about the structure different from the vehicle inspection apparatus 1B of 3rd Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the same structure, and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a network configuration between the inspection processing unit 2C and the communication processing unit 3C in the vehicle inspection device 1C according to the present embodiment. The inspection processing unit 2C of the present embodiment further includes a reception flow control unit 58C in addition to the inspection processing unit 2B of the third embodiment. In addition to the communication processing unit 3B of the third embodiment, the communication processing unit 3C further includes a transmission flow control unit 67C.

  Reception flow control unit 58C receives separated flow control unit 581C, first communication result reception buffer 582Ca provided corresponding to the first communication line, and second communication result reception provided corresponding to the second communication line. A buffer 582Cb and a third communication result reception buffer 582Cc provided corresponding to the third communication line are provided.

  The communication result receiving buffers 582Ca to 582Cc are FIFO buffers that output the communication results in the order in which the communication results are written, and store a plurality of communication results whose transmission sources are ECUs connected to the respective communication lines. The separation flow control unit 581C reads the communication result stored in the communication result receiving buffer 56, identifies the communication line of the transmission source of the communication result, and determines the communication result as the communication result reception buffer corresponding to the identified communication line. Write to 582Ca, 582Cb, 582Cc.

  The transmission flow control unit 67C includes an integrated flow control unit 671C, a first communication result transmission buffer 672Ca provided corresponding to the first communication line, and a second communication result transmission provided corresponding to the second communication line. A buffer 672Cb and a third communication result transmission buffer 672Cc provided corresponding to the third communication line are provided.

  The communication result transmission buffers 672Ca to 672Cc are FIFO buffers that output the communication results in the order in which they were written, and store a plurality of communication results with the ECUs connected to the respective communication lines as transmission sources. Each of the communication units 65Ba to 65Bc, upon receiving the communication result, writes the communication result in the communication result transmission buffers 672Ca to 672Cc. The integrated flow control unit 671C reads the plurality of communication results stored in each of the communication result transmission buffers 672Ca to 672Cc, and writes the plurality of communication results in the communication result transmission buffer 63.

  According to the above-described vehicle inspection device 1C, in addition to the effects of the vehicle inspection device 1B of the third embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. For example, according to the vehicle inspection device 1C, the communication result receiving buffer 56 is provided between the communication result receiving unit 55 and the reception flow control unit 58C, and the communication result before the reception flow control unit 58C performs the sorting processing of the communication results. By storing this in the communication result reception buffer 56, it is possible to ease the time restriction necessary for the sorting process in the reception flow control unit 58C.

  Further, according to the vehicle inspection device 1C, the communication result transmission buffers 672Ca to 672Cc are provided for each communication line. As a result, even if the communication result transmission buffer 63 temporarily exceeds the capacity, the communication result is recorded in the communication result transmission buffers 672Ca to 672Cc so that part of the communication results can be inspected. It can be prevented from being sent to 2C.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications, improvements, and the like as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved are included in the present invention.

1, 1A, 1B, 1C: vehicle inspection device 2, 2, 2B, 2C ... inspection processing unit 3, 3B, 3C ... communication processing unit 51 ... inspection control unit 52, 52A, 52B ... transmission flow control unit 52Ba, 52Bb, 52Bc ... Transmission flow control unit 521 ... request transmission destination registration unit 522 ... communication request buffer 522_1 to 522_n ... buffer 523 ... flow control unit 53 ... communication request transmission buffer 54 ... communication request transmission unit 61 ... communication request reception unit 62 ... communication request reception buffer 65, 65 B: Vehicle communication unit V: Vehicle L1, L2, L3: Communication line

Claims (4)

Sending a communication request which is determined according to the test items related to the vehicle to a plurality of electronic control units installed in the vehicle, there in a vehicle testing apparatus determines acceptance of the inspection item on the basis of the response from the previous SL vehicle ,
A communication request buffer for storing a plurality of the communication requests ;
And transmitting the flow control unit to read the communication request previously stored Symbol communication request buffer,
And a communication processing unit that transmits the communication request read by the transmission flow control unit to the electronic control unit of the transmission destination ,
When the communication requests stored in the communication request buffer are concentrated on the same electronic control device, the transmission flow control unit performs the communication requests in an order such that the plurality of electronic control devices operate in parallel. A vehicle inspection device characterized by reading . The communication request includes an address for specifying each electronic control equipment, the vehicle test apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least, a control command for an electronic control apparatus specified by the address. The communication request buffer includes a plurality of memory areas partitioned for each of the plurality of electronic control units.
Each memory area outputs the communication request in the order of writing.
The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission flow control unit reads the communication request output from each of the memory areas in accordance with a scanning order defined in advance for each of the memory areas. By using the address, the transmission flow control unit stores, in the communication request buffer, a communication request whose transmission destination is an electronic control device corresponding to the plurality of electronic control devices in order according to a predetermined search order. It is determined whether or not the communication request is present among the plurality of communication requests, and if there is a communication request whose destination is the corresponding electronic control device, the communication request is read. Vehicle inspection device according to.

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