Powerline communications automotive network
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsOleg Logvinov, Bo Zhang, Huijuan Liu, Michael John Macaluso, James D. Allen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An embodiment is a powerline communications (PLC) apparatus including a communications interface that implements a first communication protocol including of a transceiver that communicates over an electrical power distribution wiring of a vehicle. The first communication protocol includes a powerline communications automotive network (PLCAN) delimiter type (DT) (PLCAN-DT), and a PLCAN variant length field in a frame control comprising payload length, a number of symbols used, a PHY block size, and a number of repetitions used, wherein broadcast addressing is used in the network to transmit messages.
Claims33
A method comprising:
- transmitting a powerline communication (PLC) message in a first communication protocol over an electrical power distribution wiring of a vehicle, wherein transmitting the PLC message in the first communication protocol comprises:
- transmitting a PLC automotive network (PLCAN) delimiter type;
- transmitting a PLCAN variant field (VF PLCAN) comprising a number of users, user identifications (IDs), payload length, payload data, and a repetition number, wherein the repetition number corresponds to a number of times the transmission of the PLC message is to be repeated over the electrical power distribution wiring of the vehicle;
- and
- transmitting a first payload to a first user;
- determining if the vehicle is in motion;
- and
- switching between the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol based on whether the vehicle is determined to be in motion, wherein the second communication protocol comprises a second PLC message transmitted over the electrical power distribution wiring of the vehicle.
A method for communication between vehicle subsystems, the method comprising:
- transmitting a powerline communication (PLC) message in a first communication protocol over an electrical power distribution wiring of a vehicle, wherein transmitting the PLC message in the first communication protocol comprises:
- transmitting a PLC automotive network (PLCAN) delimiter type (DT_PLCAN);
- transmitting a PLCAN variant field (VF_PLCAN) comprising a number of users, user identifications (IDs), payload data, a payload length, a number of symbols, and a physical (PHY) block size;
- and
- transmitting a payload to a user;
- determining if the vehicle is in motion;
- and
- switching between the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol over the electrical power distribution wiring of the vehicle based on whether the vehicle is determined to be in motion.
A method for multi-user communication between vehicle subsystems, the method comprising:
- transmitting a powerline communication (PLC) message in a first communication protocol over an electrical power distribution wiring of a vehicle, wherein transmitting the PLC message in the first communication protocol comprises:
- transmitting a PLC automotive network (PLCAN) delimiter type (DT_PLCAN);
- transmitting a PLCAN variant field (VF_PLCAN) comprising a number of users, user identifications (IDs), payload length, and payload data;
- and
- transmitting each of a plurality of payloads to a corresponding plurality of users in accordance with the VF_PLCAN;
- determining if the vehicle is in motion;
- and
- switching between the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol based on whether the vehicle is determined to be in motion, wherein the second communication protocol comprises a second PLC message transmitted over the electrical power distribution wiring of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.