Controller area network with flexible data-rate

A method for serial communication, comprising:

• exchanging data frames between at least one transmitting node and at least one receiving node connected by a bus system;
• wherein:
• the roles of transmitter and receiver are assigned to the respective nodes for each data frame by the arbitration procedure defined in the CAN-Standard ISO 11898-1;
• the exchanged data frames have a logical structure according to the CAN-Standard ISO 11898-1;
• the data frames are composed of a sequence of bits;
• the logical structure of the data frames includes a Start-Of-Frame-Bit, an Arbitration Field, a Control Field, a Data Field, a CRC Field, an Acknowledge Field and an End-Of-Frame Field;
• each bit has a bit time;
• each bit time is divided into multiple Time Segments;
• and
• in response to a predefined value of a specific bit within the Control Field, (i) a first node belonging to a first group of nodes restarts its protocol decoding state machine and waits until the first node has synchronized itself to the bus activity, and (ii) a second node belonging to a second group of nodes communicates using the communication protocol according to CAN FD Specification.

A serial communication system, comprising:

• at least one transmitting node and at least one receiving node connected by a bus system and exchanging data frames;
• wherein:
• the roles of transmitter and receiver are assigned to the respective nodes for each data frame by the arbitration procedure defined in the CAN-Standard ISO 11898-1;
• the exchanged data frames have a logical structure according to the CAN-Standard ISO 11898-1;
• the data frames are composed of a sequence of bits;
• the logical structure of the data frames includes a Start-Of-Frame-Bit, an Arbitration Field, a Control Field, a Data Field, a CRC Field, an Acknowledge Field and an End-Of-Frame Field;
• each bit has a bit time;
• each bit time is divided into multiple Time Segments;
• and
• in response to a predefined value of a specific bit within the Control Field, (i) a first node belonging to a first group of nodes restarts its protocol decoding state machine and waits until the first node has synchronized itself to the bus activity, and (ii) a second node belonging to a second group of nodes communicates using the communication protocol according to CAN FD Specification.