Method for controlling devices, and a device in a communications network in a motor vehicle

A system for implementing a communications network in a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of devices including one of the plurality of devices configured as a network management device;
• and
• at least one system bus interconnecting the plurality of devices;
• wherein the network management device comprises a network management software application to manage the plurality of devices and the communications network that includes detecting connection to the system bus of at least one additional device, and wherein the software application comprises a generic control module that accesses and processes device specific data stored in the at least one additional device to generate a respective device-specific control component for use in controlling the at least one additional device for communications network operation.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method for managing a plurality of devices interconnected as a communications network in a motor vehicle via one or a plurality of interconnected bus systems, the method comprising steps of:
• providing a network management software application in a memory allocated on one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the software application further includes a generic control module;
• operating the network management software application to detect at least one device connected to the one or plurality of interconnected bus systems;
• operating the generic control module to access and process data stored in at least one additional device to generate a device-specific control component for controlling the at least one additional device within the network, and determining whether said controlling is to be carried out only by the generic control module;
• and
• if the controlling is not limited to being carried out only by the generic control module, storing the generated device-specific control component in a memory within the at least one additional device, and allowing other of the plurality of devices interconnected as the communications network access to memory-stored device-specific control component in order to control the at least one additional device without interaction with the generic control module.