US 9,002,534 B2Granted

System for identifying the components of a vehicle

AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.

InventorsGiuseppe Grasso, Davide Giuseppe Patti

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Abstract

A system for identifying a plurality of components of a vehicle that includes a plurality of non-volatile memories for storing identifiers associated with the plurality of vehicle components, a controller of the plurality of the vehicle components, a communication network configured for connecting the controller to the plurality of memories, and an identifiers memory including a portion to store a list of a plurality of type-approved identifiers associated with the plurality of type-approved vehicle components. The controller receives the identifiers, reads from the portion of the identifiers memory the list of type-approved identifiers, and checks if the identifiers of the plurality of components are included in the list of the type-approved identifiers, and when the controller detects that an identifier associated with a component out of the plurality of components is not included in the list, the controller blocks operation of the component.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A system, comprising:

a plurality of memories configured to store respective unique identifiers associated respectively with a plurality of vehicle components and spare components, the plurality of memories including a vehicle component identifier memory configured to store a vehicle component identifier associated with a respective vehicle component of the plurality of vehicle components and further configured to store each spare component identifier associated with each spare component that has replaced the respective vehicle component;
a first identifiers memory configured to store a first list of type-approved vehicle component identifiers associated with a plurality of type-approved vehicle components and type-approved spare component identifiers associated with type-approved spare components;
a controller configured to:
receive from the plurality of memories respective vehicle component and spare component identifiers;
read from the first identifiers memory the first list of type-approved vehicle component and type-approved spare component identifiers;
detect if a vehicle component or spare component identifier received from the plurality of memories is included in the first list of the type-approved vehicle component and type-approved spare component identifiers read from the first identifiers memory;
and
block operation of the vehicle in response to detecting that the received vehicle component or spare component identifier is not included in the first list of type-approved vehicle component and spare component identifiers received from the first identifiers memory;
and
a hardwired communication network configured to directly connect the plurality of memories to the controller.

7 more elements

A vehicle, comprising:

a system structured to identify vehicle components and spare components, the system including:
a plurality of memories configured to store vehicle component and spare component unique identifiers associated with the vehicle components and spare components respectively, the plurality of memories including a vehicle component identifier memory configured to store at least one vehicle component identifier associated with a vehicle component of the plurality of vehicle components and further configured to store each spare component identifier associated with each spare component that has replaced the respective vehicle component;
a first identifiers memory configured to store a first list of type-approved vehicle component and spare component identifiers associated with type-approved vehicle components and spare components respectively;
a controller configured to be coupled to the vehicle components and spare components, the controller configured to:
receive from the plurality of memories vehicle component and spare component identifiers associated with the respective vehicle components and spare components;
read from the first identifiers memory the first list of the type-approved vehicle component and spare component identifiers;
detect if a received vehicle component or spare component identifier received from the plurality of memories is not included in the first list of type-approved vehicle component and spare component identifiers;
and
block operation of the vehicle in response to detecting that a respective received vehicle component or spare component identifier is not included in the first list of type-approved vehicle component and spare component identifiers;
and
a hardwired communication network that directly connects the plurality of memories to the controller.

8 more elements

A circuit for vehicles having a plurality of vehicle components and spare components, the circuit comprising:

a plurality of memories, each memory associated with a respective one of the vehicle components and spare components, each memory of the plurality of memories configured to store a respective unique identifier associated with the vehicle component and a respective unique identifier associated with each spare component that has replaced the vehicle component;
a first identification memory configured to store identification data associated with respective vehicle components and spare components;
a first processor configured to be coupled to the first identification memory and the plurality of memories of the vehicle components and spare components and to verify that the vehicle components and spare components by comparison with the first identification memory are authorized vehicle components and spare components and, if not, to disable the vehicle;
and
a communication network configured to provide a direct wired connection to the plurality of memories to the processor.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.