TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a hybrid wired-wireless in-vehicle network (IVN), which is used for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle. The disclosure proposes communication technologies for the IVN, for example, for the backbone infrastructure communication between zonal nodes of the IVN. The disclosure also provides a method of communication for the IVN.

BACKGROUND

A conventional IVN is entirely and exclusively deployed through wired technologies, for example, physical cables mainly made of copper. In this wired setup, heterogeneous networking and communication technologies may coexist inside a vehicle: Local Interconnect Network (LIN), Controller Area Network (CAN), FlexRay, Media Oriented System Transport (MOST), Automotive Ethernet (e.g., lOOBase-Tl, lOOOBase-Tl), Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), etc., to meet a big scope of networking requirements in terms of speed, data volumes, end-to-end latencies, protocols, etc.

Although wireless technology is also present in the vehicle, like for instance in the car access system or tire pressure monitoring system, it is not integrated as part of the IVN backbone infrastructure (e.g. neither Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth nor 5G).

SUMMARY

In view of the above, this disclosure aims to provide an automotive IVN that delivers a reliable and fail operational solution that stays cost-effective and scalable.

Another objective of this disclosure is to provide redundancy in communications, for example, through wireless technologies instead of wired technologies.

Further it is also an objective of this disclosure to provide a hardware centric solution. It is further an objective of this disclosure to provide hardware coprocessors and/or hardware accelerators configured to process frames of different communication technologies inline and/or on the fly to achieve a level of redundancy that is required for a reliable IVN. Furthermore it is an objective of this disclosure to provide a solution that aims to maximize performance and energy efficiency (vs CPU/GPU) while guaranteeing flexibility and configurability.

It is also an objective of this disclosure to provide a fail operation IVN able to fulfill any of the ASIL A-D requirements demanded for safety-relevant applications integrated in the vehicle.

These and other objectives are achieved by the solution of this disclosure as described in the independent claims. Advantageous implementations are further defined in the dependent claims.

The disclosure proposes a hybrid wired-wireless IVN, in which wired communication technologies and wireless communication technologies are combined. For example, the disclosure proposes wireless technology applied to the IVN backbone infrastructure as a redundant and diverse secondary link or channel between zonal nodes, complementing a primary link between the zonal nodes based on wired technology.

A first aspect of this disclosure provides a hybrid wired-wireless IVN for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising: two or more zonal nodes, each zonal node comprising one or more first wired ingress ports configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node; a first wireless ingress port configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node; first processing circuitry configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more first wired egress ports configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node; and a first wireless egress port configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node.

The term hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be defined by the features of the first aspect. The term hybrid wired-wireless IVN may, for example, refer to an IVN comprising one or more first wired ingress ports configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node, and a first wireless ingress port configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node. The processing of the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame may be inline. The zonal nodes may be synthesized in silicon by means of hardware engines which may be integrated into a network SoC architecture. The network SoC architecture may be compliant with the software defined networking (SDN) concept at device level, distributed across control and data planes of the networking device, from ingress ports to egress ports.

Advantageously, the inline processing of both wired and wireless network protocols can be used to build a reliable network that leverages diversity and redundancy performed by a hardware-based digital circuit.

Each zonal node may be partly or fully autonomous. Each zonal node may be a wired and wireless core computing solution able to be orchestrated and performed partly or exclusively in hardware. Each hardware engine that may take part in the hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be able to operate with no software intervention. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN may also be referred to as a hybrid wired-wireless processing solution. Software in this context may be the execution of software by a CPU of a given algorithm described through source code and assembled in a specific sequence of machine instructions.

The present solution of this disclosure may apply to any kind of networking device, for example, internet of things (loT) device, switch, smart network interface card (NIC), router or gateway.

The IVN of the present disclosure may be implemented into a commercial networking product and/or a networking SoC device. Although the present disclosure is especially concerned with automotive applications, it is not limited to automotive applications.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes is further configured to replicate the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or to replicate the received at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one replicated wired frame and/or at least one replicated wireless frame, and the one or more first wired egress ports and/or the first wireless egress port are further configured to transmit the at least one replicated wired frame and/or the at least one replicated wireless frame to any other zonal node.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes is further configured to perform the replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame inline and/or in-memory.

The replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame may be performed with no software intervention, once the hardware engine has been configured by a host CPU in a system initialization phase by writing on configuration registers of the hardware engine as part of a system memory map and accessible by the host CPU. The replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame may be executed through digital logic based on both combinational and sequential circuits as part of the hardware engine.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes is further configured to eliminate at least one received replicated wired frame and/or at least one received replicated wireless frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes is further configured to simultaneously process at least one wired ingress frame and at least one wireless ingress frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the hybrid wired-wireless IVN further comprises one or more central computing nodes, each central computing node comprising one or more second wired ingress ports configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one zonal node; a second wireless ingress port configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any of the two or more zonal nodes; second processing circuitry configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame; one or more second wired egress ports configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one zonal node; and a second wireless egress port configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any zonal node.

In an implementation form of the first aspect each zonal node of the two or more zonal nodes is further configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one central computing node, and/or transmit the redundant processed wireless frames to at least one central computing node.

In an implementation form of the first aspect each zonal node is a vehicle interface unit.

In an implementation form of the first aspect each zonal node is a zonal controller or a zonal gateway controller

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node comprises a frame normalizer for normalizing frames, wherein the frame normalizer is configured to convert the received at least one wired ingress frames and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node further comprises an action processing stage for switching and gatewaying processing of frames, and the action processing stage comprises a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine configured to generate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or generate the at least one replicated wireless frame, and/or eliminate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or eliminate the at least one replicated wireless frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node further comprises an ingress queueing processing stage for queueing of frames; and a loopback path is configured to loop back an output frame of a wired frame switching to the ingress queueing processing stage to transform the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node further comprises an intermediate queueing processing stage for intermediate queueing of frames; and the loopback path is further configured to loop back the output frame of the wired frame switching to the intermediate queueing processing stage to transform the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node further comprises a traffic shaping processing stage; and the loopback path is further configured to loop back an output frame of the traffic shaping processing stage to the ingress queueing processing stage and/or the intermediate queueing processing stage.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node is further configured to determine an internal ingress queueing status of the ingress queueing processing stage, to determine an internal intermediate queueing status of the intermediate queueing processing stage and/or to determine an internal egress queueing status of an egress queueing processing stage, and to identify at least one traffic congestion at one or more of the two or more zonal nodes based on the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node is further configured to reroute congested frames according to the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status to decongest the traffic congestion at one or more of the two or more zonal nodes.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node is further configured to prioritize at least one safety critical frame over at least one non-safety critical frame when rerouting congested frames.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first wireless egress port of each zonal node is further configured to transmit at least one of the congested frames to any other zonal node, thereby skipping at least one congested zonal node of the two or more zonal nodes.

In an implementation form of the first aspect the first processing circuitry of each zonal node is further configured to determine, based on the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status, that the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved, and stop rerouting frames if the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved to return to a normal routing status. The implementation forms described above provide the following advantages:

Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is a chipset that is able to handle wired frames and wireless frames. The handling of wired frames and wireless frames may be processed exclusively in hardware. The handling of wired frames and wireless frames may improve, and therefore provide an outstanding balance of KPIs like reliability, scalability, cost, performance and/or energy consumption.

Advantageously, the handling of wired frames and wireless frames may be hardware centric from ingress port to egress port and preferably with little or no CPU intervention, except in the system initialization phase when the host CPU configures the configuration registers of each hardware engine.

Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides an architecture with dedicated hardware providing Freedom- fro m-Interference (FFI) and ultra-low latency.

Advantageously, a physical implementation of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is optimized in terms of costs due to a reuse of resources, a loopback path, and an architectural fit with networking processing algorithms for example automotive GW controllers and/or SoCs.

Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is configured to perform inline wired and wireless network fusion in the same networking SoC at line rate i.e. exploiting hardware parallelism and pipeline.

Advantageously, a tunneling of wired frames and wireless frames may be performed by a dedicated hardware digital circuit integrated in a networking SoC device.

Advantageously, a frame replication and elimination for reliability (FRER) algorithm of wired frames and wireless frames may be performed by a dedicated hardware digital circuit integrated in a networking SoC device.

Advantageously, the simple and modular architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides a cost-effective solution provided in hardware. Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN provides an autonomous and configurable wired and wireless network SoC solution based on memory map, therefore configurable registers accessible by a host CPU at start-up time and/or initialization time.

Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN is a networking SoC solution fully configurable through registers i.e. memory map accessible by CPU at initialization time.

Advantageously, the hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be a hardware-only solution embedded in the data path of a networking device (e.g. switch) to perform inline all the network processing, based on the reception of network frames and achieving line rate performance and therefore achieving nearly zero latency due to the optimization of parallelism, pipelining, loopback and frame priority arbitration.

Advantageously, the hardware centric computation architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN, i.e. a digital circuit that is software free, provides a higher performance than a software centric architecture.

Advantageously, the above described implementation forms provide automated and accelerated processing resulting in time determinism, i.e. strict control of time, and leading to better QoS, e.g. latency.

Advantageously, the above described implementation forms provide a flexible architecture with ultra-parameterized IP Cores (i.e., hardware engines) aimed at delivering flexibility to accomplish any computing request.

Advantageously, the above described implementation forms provide a hardware acceleration leading to an improvement of an exploitation of parallelism and pipelining techniques.

Advantageously, the scalable architecture of the hybrid wired-wireless IVN of this disclosure provides an architecture that is portable to different types of networking devices. The scalable architecture is amongst others scalable in terms of the number of ports, protocols and line rate processing. Advantageously, the above-described implementation forms provide a solution with low complexity by construction that leads to a natural removal of complexity when porting the wired and wireless processing algorithm from a software-centric implementation to a hardwarecentric implementation.

Advantageously, the customized solution provided by the present disclosure may be oriented to ASIC design to deliver better power consumption than CPU or GPU solutions.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure allows replacing copper or optical fiber based communications through wireless communications leading to weight reduction.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure allows replacing a software-centric implementation of networking primitive by the implementation of a hardware-centric solution through custom IP cores integrated in SoC.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure provides an inline processing of frames driven by hardware parallelism and pipeline.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure may provide an autonomous and configurable wired-wireless coprocessor based on memory map, i.e., configurable registers accessible by a host CPU at start-up time.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure may effectively adapt the wired and wireless processing core as a HW digital circuit or IP core into the architecture of a given networking device along its forwarding data path.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure is portable and adoptable to/by many vertical industries. For example: automotive, cloud computing and data centers, industrial and smart manufacturing, home office LANs, (I)IoT devices, SmartNIC devices.

Advantageously, the solution of the present disclosure provides an architecture to efficiently integrate inline wired and wireless computation in a networking device with outstanding balance of KPIs, e.g. cost, performance and energy, and automatic bit manipulation and/or processing of frame data adapted to any network protocol. A second aspect of this disclosure provides a method for a hybrid wired-wireless IVN for in- vehicle communication in a vehicle, the method comprising: receiving at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node by one or more first wired ingress ports; receiving at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node by a first wireless ingress port; processing the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame by first processing circuitry; transmitting the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node by one or more first wired egress ports; and transmitting the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node by a first wireless egress port.

The method of the second aspect and its implementation forms achieve the same advantages and effects as described above for the hybrid wired-wireless IVN of the first aspect and its respective implementation forms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above described aspects and implementation forms will be explained in the following description of specific embodiments in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising two or more zonal nodes according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising two or more zonal nodes according to another embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a SDN complaint SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a networking SOC device according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a networking SOC device according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a sequence diagram illustrating frame replication and frame elimination according to an embodiment of this disclosure. FIG. 9 illustrates frame manipulation in a hybrid wired-wireless IVN according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising two or more zonal nodes according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 11 shows a method according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising two or more zonal nodes according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

The hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may be for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may comprise two or more zonal nodes 100. Each zonal node 100 of the two or more zonal nodes 100 may comprise one or more first wired ingress ports 110 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100. Each zonal node 100 may further comprise a first wireless ingress port configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node 100. Furthermore each zonal node 100 may comprise first processing circuitry 130 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame. Further each zonal node 100 may comprise one or more first wired egress ports 120 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100. Each zonal node 100 may also comprise a first wireless egress port 121 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 comprising two or more zonal nodes 100 according to another embodiment of this disclosure. The hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may be for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 the hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may for example comprise four zonal nodes 100. Each zonal node 100 of the two or more zonal nodes 100 may comprise one or more first wired ingress ports 110 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100. Each zonal node 100 may further comprise a first wireless ingress port configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node 100. Furthermore each zonal node 100 may comprise first processing circuitry 130 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame. Further each zonal node 100 may comprise one or more first wired egress ports 120 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100. Each zonal node 100 may also comprise a first wireless egress port 121 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

Further as illustrated in FIG. 2 the hybrid wired-wireless IVN may for example comprise one central computing node 200. The central computing node 200 may comprise one or more second wired ingress ports 210 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one zonal node 100. The central computing node 200 may also comprise a second wireless ingress port 211 configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any of the four zonal nodes 100. Further the central computing node 200 may comprise second processing circuitry 230 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame. Furthermore the central computing node 200 may comprise one or more second wired egress ports 220 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one zonal node 100. The central computing node 200 may also comprise a second wireless egress port 221 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any zonal node 100.

Each zonal node 100 of the four zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may further be configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to the central computing node 200, and/or transmit the redundant processed wireless frames to the central computing node 200.

At least one of the four zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may for example receive at least one wired ingress frame from a sensor unit. The at least one of the four zonal nodes 100 may then process the at least one wired ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame. The one or more first wired egress ports 120 may then for example transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100. Additionally or alternatively the first wireless egress port 121 may transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100. The first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the remaining three zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may further be configured to replicate the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or to replicate the received at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one replicated wired frame and/or at least one replicated wireless frame.

The one or more first wired egress ports 120 and/or the first wireless egress port 121 of the at least one of the remaining three zonal nodes 100 may further be configured to transmit the at least one replicated wired frame and/or the at least one replicated wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

The first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may further be configured to perform the replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame inline and/or inmemory. The replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame may be executed through digital logic based on both combinational and sequential circuits.

The first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may further be configured to eliminate at least one received replicated wired frame and/or at least one received replicated wireless frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the four zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 2 may further be configured to simultaneously process at least one wired ingress frame and at least one wireless ingress frame.

As can be seen from FIG. 2 each zonal node 100 is for example a vehicle interface unit. Alternatively each zonal node 100 may be a zonal controller or a zonal gateway controller.

Each zonal node may be composed of hardware-centric wired and wireless processing engines. Each zonal node may be integrated in a network SoC handled in a fully automated way by a specific hardware engine, aimed at keeping the same level of flexibility achievable in SW but improving in performance, i.e. ultra-low latency, due to the implementation through a dedicated and customized hardware digital circuit instead of a general-purpose hardware processing unit like a CPU or a NoC. FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

As can be seen from FIG. 3 the simplified SoC network architecture may for example comprise four first wired ingress ports 110 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100. The simplified SoC network architecture may for example also comprise a first wireless ingress port 111 configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node 100.

The simplified SoC network architecture in FIG. 3 may comprise first processing circuitry 130 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame.

Further as illustrated in FIG. 3 the simplified SoC network architecture may for example comprise two first wired egress ports 120 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100 and a first wireless egress port 121 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 3 may comprise a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing frames. The frame normalizer 310 may be configured to convert the received at least one wired ingress frames and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 3 may comprise a match processing stage 370 for filtering and policing of frames.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 3 may further comprise an action processing stage 320 for switching and gatewaying processing of frames. The action processing stage 320 may comprise a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 configured to generate the at least one replicated wired frame from at least one wired ingress frame and/or at least one wireless ingress frame and/or generate the at least one replicated wireless frame from at least one wired ingress frame and/or at least one wireless ingress frame. The wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 may be configured to eliminate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or eliminate the at least one replicated wireless frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further comprise a traffic shaping processing stage 360.

FIG. 4 illustrates a SDN complaint SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

As can be seen from FIG. 4 the simplified SoC network architecture may for example comprise four first wired ingress ports 110 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100. The simplified SoC network architecture may for example also comprise a first wireless ingress port 111 configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node 100.

The simplified SoC network architecture in FIG. 4 may comprise first processing circuitry 130 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame.

Further as illustrated in FIG. 4 the simplified SoC network architecture may for example comprise two first wired egress ports 120 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100 and a first wireless egress port 121 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 4 may comprise a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing frames. The frame normalizer 310 may be configured to convert the received at least one wired ingress frames and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 4 may comprise a match processing stage 370 for filtering and policing of frames. The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 4 may further comprise an action processing stage 320 for switching and gatewaying processing of frames. The action processing stage 320 may comprise a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 configured to generate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or generate the at least one replicated wireless frame. The wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 may be configured to eliminate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or eliminate the at least one replicated wireless frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further comprise a traffic shaping processing stage 360 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

As can be seen the illustration of the SDN complaint SoC network architecture for wired and wireless networking in FIG.4 is divided into a control plane and a data plane. As illustrated in FIG.4 the SDN compliant SoC network architecture may for example receive at least one wired ingress frame via CAN Flexible Data Rate (CAN-FD), Automotive Ethernet, LIN and/or FlexRay. Furthermore the SDN compliant SoC network architecture may receive at least one wireless ingress frame via Wi-Fi. Furthermore the SDN compliant SoC network architecture may for example transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node via CAN-FD and/or Automotive Ethernet and may transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100 via Wi-Fi.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a networking SOC device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a networking SOC device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. FIG. 7 shows a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

As can be seen from FIGS. 5 to 7 each zonal node 100 may comprise one or more first wired ingress ports 110 configured to receive at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100 and a first wireless ingress port 111 configured to receive at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal node 100. Further each zonal node 100 may comprise first processing circuitry 130 configured to process the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame. Each zonal node 100 may also comprise one or more first wired egress ports 120 configured to transmit the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100 and a first wireless egress port 121 configured to transmit the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIGS. 5 to 7 may comprise a frame normalizer 310 for normalizing frames. The frame normalizer 310 may be configured to convert the received at least one wired ingress frames and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame into a normalized frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIGS. 5 to 7 may further comprise an ingress queueing processing stage 330 for queueing of frames. A loopback path 400 may be configured to loop back an output frame of a wired frame switching 350 to the ingress queueing processing stage 330 to transform the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIGS. 5 to 7 may comprise a match processing stage 370 for filtering and policing of frames.

In FIGS. 5 to 7 the first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further comprise an intermediate queueing processing stage 340 for intermediate queueing of frames. The loopback path 400 may further be configured to loop back the output frame of the wired frame switching 350 to the intermediate queueing processing stage 340 to transform the output frame into the at least one replicated wireless frame.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIGS. 5 to 7 may further comprise an action processing stage 320 for switching and gatewaying processing of frames. The action processing stage 320 may comprise a wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 configured to generate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or generate the at least one replicated wireless frame. The wired-wireless gatewaying hardware engine 321 may be configured to eliminate the at least one replicated wired frame and/or eliminate the at least one replicated wireless frame. The loopback path 400 may further be configured to loop back an output frame of the action processing stage 320 to the ingress queueing processing stage 330 and/or the intermediate queueing processing stage 340.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 may comprise an egress queueing processing stage 380 for egress queueing. In FIGS. 5 to 7 the first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further comprise a traffic shaping processing stage 360. The loopback path 400 may further be configured to loop back an output frame of the traffic shaping processing stage 360 to the ingress queueing processing stage 330 and/or the intermediate queueing processing stage 340.

According to this embodiment the hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 may be embedded in a network SoC architecture as modular, configurable and ultra-parameterized building blocks.

New building blocks may be inserted in the gatewaying block of the action processing stage 320 of the SoC device as IP Cores responsible for performing a required wired-wireless processing. FIG. 5 shows a flow for wired-wireless tunneling. FIG. 5 also shows a flow for a frame replication and elimination for reliability (FRER) algorithm. The wired-wireless tunneling and the FRER algorithm may take advantage of the loopback path 400 implemented in the network SoC device.

FIG. 7 describes a networking flow through a plurality of processing stages. A frame replication wired-to-wireless operation is illustrated as part of a FRER algorithm. The shown networking flow may be synthesized completely through dedicated hardware.

FIG. 8 shows a sequence diagram illustrating frame replication and frame elimination according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

In FIG. 8 first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of two or more zonal nodes 100 may be configured to replicate received at least one wired ingress frame and/or to replicate received at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one replicated wired frame and/or at least one replicated wireless frame. A first wireless egress port 121 may be configured to transmit the at least one replicated wired frame and/or the at least one replicated wireless frame to any other zonal node 100.

Further the first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 8 may be configured to perform the replication of the received at least one wired ingress frame and/or the replication of the received at least one wireless ingress frame inline and/or inmemory. Furthermore first processing circuitry 130 of at least one of the two or more zonal nodes 100 in FIG. 8 may be configured to eliminate at least one received replicated wired frame and/or at least one received replicated wireless frame.

As illustrated in FIG. 8 a configurable hardware engine may be responsible for inline wired and wireless processing embedded in a networking device. FIG. 8 shows an example of a wired and wireless FRER algorithm, where one or more zonal nodes 100 in the hybrid wired-wireless IVN may be equipped with one or more first wired ingress ports 110, a first wireless ingress port 111, one or more first wired egress ports 120 and a first wireless egress port 121. These redundant ports 110, 111, 120 and 121 may be used to establish reliable communication.

FIG. 8 illustrates the method 900 comprising the following steps:

Step 901 : Wired Ethernet frame replicated and eliminated via wireless. Process OK.

Step 902: Wired CAN frame replicated and eliminated via wireless. Process OK.

Step 903: Wired Ethernet frame replicated via wireless but wired transmission defective. Process OK due to the redundant wireless frame.

FIG. 9 illustrates frame manipulation in a hybrid wired-wireless IVN according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates a hardware engine configured to perform a manipulation of any given frame, for example the replication and/or elimination of wired frames and wireless frames. As shown in FIG. 9, the manipulation may also be performed inline directly by means of a hardware processor and/or hardware coprocessor.

Alternatively or additionally the hardware engine may be configured to perform the manipulation of any given frame, for instance and encapsulation and/or decapsulation from a network protocol to another, either wired or wireless. As shown in FIG. 9, the manipulation may also be performed inline directly by means of a hardware processor and/or hardware coprocessor.

Furthermore FIG. 9 illustrates the concept of replication and rerouting used in scenarios of load balancing or network congestion. The replication and/or the rerouting may be performed at run time, on the fly, and/or automatically by means of a digital circuit. In the example shown in Fig. 9, a wired frame that is routed from VIU 1 to VIU3 across VIU2 as intermediate hop is replicated and a new wireless frame is generated by means of the hardware engine and routed directly from VIU1 to VIU3, skipping thus the hop of VIU2. In Fig. 9 an example of load balancing or network decongestion in a case in which VIU2 is overloaded/congested (e.g. internal queues full and consequently dropping ingress frames) is shown. In the example shown in Fig. 9 it is therefore guaranteed that the information sent from VIU1 to VIU3 actually arrives at VIU3 due to the replication strategy described above. Therefore, the network congestion problem observed in VIU2, and described above, is solved and the reliability of the IVN is improved.

FIG. 10 illustrates a hybrid wired-wireless IVN comprising two or more zonal nodes according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10 first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further be configured to determine an internal ingress queueing status of the ingress queueing processing stage 330, to determine an internal intermediate queueing status of the intermediate queueing processing stage 340 and/or to determine an internal egress queueing status of an egress queueing processing stage 380. The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may be configured to identify at least one traffic congestion at one or more of the four zonal nodes 100 based on the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status.

The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 in FIG. 10 may further be configured to reroute congested frames according to the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status to decongest the traffic congestion at one or more of the two or more zonal nodes 100. The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may also be configured to prioritize at least one safety critical frame over at least one non-safety critical frame when rerouting congested frames.

A first wireless egress port 121 of each zonal node 100 may be configured to transmit at least one of the congested frames to any other zonal node 100, thereby skipping at least one congested zonal node 100 of the two or more zonal nodes 100. The first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may further be configured to determine, based on the internal ingress queueing status, the internal intermediate queueing status and/or the internal egress queueing status, that the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved. Furthermore the first processing circuitry 130 of each zonal node 100 may be configured stop rerouting frames if the at least one traffic congestion has been resolved to return to a normal routing status.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a safety-relevant signal that may be integrated in a safety critical frame, e.g. an Ethernet frame, and that may be part of an ASIL-D function implemented in a vehicle, e.g. Electric Power Steering (EPS), has to be sent redundantly from a first zonal node 100, i.e. A in FIG. 10, to a second zonal node, i.e. B in FIG. 10. While the wired Ethernet is a first link to send the safety critical frame from the first zonal node 100, i.e. A in FIG. 10, across several hops to the second zonal node 100, i.e. B in FIG. 10, a redundant wireless frame is generated internally in the first zonal node 100 and is sent directly to the second zonal node 100, thereby skipping any relay or hop that is present in the wired link between the first zonal node 100 and the second zonal node 100.

FIG. 11 shows a method 800 according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The method 800 may be used for a hybrid wired-wireless IVN 1000 for in-vehicle communication in a vehicle 1001. The method 800 may be performed by at least one of two or more zonal nodes 100.

The method 800 comprises a step 801 of receiving at least one wired ingress frame from at least one other zonal node 100 by one or more first wired ingress ports 110.

The method 800 also comprises a step 802 of receiving at least one wireless ingress frame from any other zonal 100 node by a first wireless ingress port 111.

Step 801 of receiving at least one wired ingress frame and the step 802 of receiving at least one wireless ingress frame may be performed in parallel.

The method 800 further comprises a step 803 of processing the at least one wired ingress frame and/or the at least one wireless ingress frame to generate at least one processed wired frame and/or at least one processed wireless frame by first processing circuitry 130. Furthermore the method 800 comprises a step 804 of transmitting the at least one processed wired frame to at least one other zonal node 100 by one or more first wired egress ports 120.

The method 800 also comprises a step 805 of transmitting the at least one processed wireless frame to any other zonal node by a first wireless egress port 121.

The step 804 of transmitting the at least one processed wired frame and the step 805 of transmitting the at least one processed wireless frame may be performed in parallel. The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples as well as implementations. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed matter, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the independent claims. In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.