Vehicle message filter

A method of filtering messages in a vehicle network, comprising the steps of:

• providing a vehicle area network having a plurality electronic control units (ECUs) each associated with a network device, the ECUs being interconnected via a bus, wherein at least two of the ECUs are associated with transmit filters having a filter policy and each being positioned between the bus and the respective ECU;
• receiving at a first transmit filter an outgoing message from one of the at least two ECUs;
• determining whether the outgoing message complies with the filter policy;
• based on the determination, either:
• terminating the outgoing message based upon a violation of the filter policy, or
• transmitting the outgoing message onto the bus;
• and
• when transmitted, receiving the outgoing message at the other of the at least two ECUs.

A method of filtering messages in a vehicle area network, comprising:

• providing a plurality of network device electronic control units (ECUs) coupled to a vehicle bus, wherein each of the plurality of network device ECUs has a transmit filter and is configured to apply a filter policy to outbound messages transmitted on the bus;
• receiving at a first transmit filter of one of the plurality of network device ECUs an outbound a message from a processor associated with the respective ECU;
• applying the filter policy to the outbound message;
• and
• transmitting the outbound message if the message passes the filter policy, else discarding the message if the message fails to pass the filter policy.