System and method for date-stamping an event detected in an automotive vehicle

A system for date-stamping an event occurring in an automotive vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors each comprising a relative internal clock;
• and
• an electronic control unit comprising an absolute internal clock and configured to communicate with each of the sensors via a communication network, the electronic control unit further comprising:
• a data processing module configured to receive at its input, at each event detected by a sensor, a sensor relative time originating from the relative clock of the sensor associated with the detected event,
• a zero reset module configured to transmit, at each period, a zero reset signal for all the relative internal clocks, via communication frames of the communication network, and
• a calculation module configured to calculate a sensor absolute time as a function of the relative time received by the processing module and of a zero reset time stored by a storage module in the electronic control unit at each zero reset, defining a reference relative time.

A method for date-stamping an event detected in an automotive vehicle comprising a plurality of sensors each comprising a relative internal clock, and an electronic control unit comprising an absolute internal clock and configured for communicating with each of the sensors via a communication network, the method comprising:

• resetting all the relative internal clocks of the sensors to zero at each period, via communication frames of the communication network;
• storing the absolute zero reset time of the absolute clock of the electronic control unit at each zero reset;
• detecting an event;
• receiving, when each event is detected, a sensor relative time originating from the relative clock of the sensor associated with the detected event;
• and
• calculating a sensor absolute time as a function of the sensor relative time of the internal clock of a sensor associated with the detected event and of the zero reset time stored by a storage module in the electronic control unit at each zero reset, defining a reference relative time.