Method and apparatus for a priority based processing system

A system for a vehicle, comprising:

• multiple processors in the vehicle operating multiple individual software applications;
• multiple links connecting the multiple processors together;
• and
• the multiple processors in the vehicle each operating a communication system that includes individual communication managers associated with the individual software applications, wherein the individual communication managers are configured to:
• operate a priority manager;
• use the priority manager to compare the priority value for the outgoing message with the priority values for other outgoing messages;
• use the priority manager to rank the outgoing message with respect to the other outgoing messages;
• use the priority manager to assigned higher priority values to messages that relate to at least one of vehicle safety, crash mitigation, collision avoidance or crash indication;
• independently attach a message label to individual high priority messages as a new message;
• immediately transmit the new message before other lower priority messages by passing the new message through the individual communication managers associated with different individual software applications;
• immediately process the new message in the different real-time mobile vehicle applications in the mobile vehicle according to the message labels with the highest priority value.

A communication system, comprising:

• a processor adapted to run different individual applications;
• multiple interfaces adapted to transfer individual messages and data between the different applications over different communication links;
• and
• the processor further adapted to run independently operating communication managers configured to:
• operate a priority manager;
• use the priority manager to compare the priority value for the outgoing message with the priority values for other outgoing messages;
• use the priority manager to rank the outgoing message with respect to the other outgoing messages;
• use the priority manager to assigned higher priority values to messages that relate to at least one of vehicle safety, crash mitigation, collision avoidance or crash indication;
• independently attach a message label to individual high priority messages as a new message;
• immediately transmit the new message before other lower priority messages by passing the new message through the individual communication managers associated with different individual software applications;
• immediately process the new message in the different real-time mobile vehicle applications in the mobile vehicle according to the message labels with the highest priority value.