US 8,301,821 B2Granted

Communication module for connecting a serial bus to a plurality of system buses

AssigneeRobert Bosch GmbH

InventorsMarkus Ihle, Tobias Lorenz, Jan Taube

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Abstract

A communication module for connecting a serial bus, which transmits data in packets, to a plurality of system buses of a gateway, which transmit data word by word, the communication module having a communication protocol unit, which is connected to the serial bus, for converting between data packages and messages, which are respectively made up of a plurality of data words, a message relaying unit for relaying messages between at least one message memory and the communication protocol unit, as well as buffer memories, a plurality of interface units, which are respectively connected to an associated system bus of the gateway, each interface unit being connected to at least one associated buffer memory, which stores a message temporarily, a transmission of data words via a plurality of system buses and their associated interface units from and to the buffer memories of the interface units taking place simultaneously, without delay.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A system, comprising:

an adapter circuit including a customer interface having a first buffer memory, a gateway interface having a second buffer memory, a first generic interface, and an arbiter finite state machine prioritizing and arbitrating data transmission over the customer and gateway interfaces;
and
a communication module for connecting a serial bus, which transmits data in packets, to a plurality of system buses of a gateway, which transmit data word by word, the communication module, including:
a second generic interface coupled to the first generic interface of the adapter circuit;
a communication protocol unit connected to the serial bus for converting between data packets and messages, which are respectively made up of a plurality of data words;
and
a message relaying unit coupled to the second generic interface for signaling a master unit of at least one system bus through the second generic interface and the adapter circuit that a message has been received at the communication protocol unit and routing the received message to the second generic interface and the adapter circuit connected to a system bus transmitting a request for the received message;
wherein data words are transmitted simultaneously from and to the buffer memories of the customer and gateway interfaces and each interface includes an associated device-independent system bus master.

5 more elements

A method for the bidirectional transmission of data between a serial bus, which transmits data in packets, and system buses, which transmit data word by word, the method comprising:

converting data packets, which are transmitted via the serial bus, into messages having multiple data words;
temporarily storing messages in buffer memories;
responsive to receiving a converted message via data packets from the serial bus, signaling a master unit of at least one of the communicatively coupled system buses from a message relaying unit in a communications module coupled to a first generic interface in the communications module coupled to a second generic interface of an adapter circuit including a customer interface having a first buffer memory, a gateway interface having a second buffer memory, and an arbiter finite state machine prioritizing and arbitrating data transmission over the customer and gateway interfaces that the message has been received;
and
responsive to receiving a request for the received message from a master unit over a communicatively coupled system bus, routing the converted message having multiple data words over the communicatively coupled system bus transmitting the request via the arbiter finite state machine in the adapter circuit, wherein each of the communicatively coupled system buses includes an associated device-independent system bus master.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/300,590Filed 3 May 2007
Priority: DE 10 2006 024 88924 May 2006
Published: US 2010/0064082 A111 Mar 2010
Granted: 30 Oct 2012
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

H04L 12/40013
Architecture of a communication node: details regarding a bus controller
H04L 12/4625
LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone: single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
H04L 2012/40215
Characterized by the use of a particular bus standard: controller Area Network CAN
H04L 2012/40234
Characterized by the use of a particular bus standard: local Interconnect Network LIN