WO2024105459A1

WO2024105459A1 - Method and system for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and an electric vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2024105459A1
Application number: PCT/IB2023/056666
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anand R. DUNGARWAL; Vikrant V Bende; Vallabh H Bangar; Dhananjay Tare; Shanu Singh
Original assignee: Tata Motors Limited
Priority date: 2022-11-15
Filing date: 2023-06-28
Publication date: 2024-05-23

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and a vehicle tracking system for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and an electric vehicle. The vehicle tracking system is configured to receive vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units associated with the electric vehicle. A vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery are identified based on the vehicle related data. Thereafter, the vehicle tracking system facilitates communication between the external charger unit and the at least one electronic control unit of the electric vehicle on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery' as charging mode.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN

AN EXTERNAL CHARGER UNIT AND AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates, in general, to Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Hybrid Vehicles (HVs) and more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and system for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and an Electric Vehicle.

BACKGROUND

[0002] As the world transitions to a sustainable society, energy efficient EVs have been identified as a key technology in reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption in the mobility sector. Commercial success for EVs will require installing charging infrastructure that provides fast charging rates between 60 kW to 200 kW considering the application and requirement to ensure transition to zero emission mobility. Such charging of EVs is performed according to protocols or communication standards, such as, but not limited to, GB/T, Combined Charging Standard (CCS2), Chademo, and the like. The charging infrastructures support flexible charging of EVs by providing charging cable in different lengths to extend from an external charger unit to the EV. For example, a charging cable length between 5-7 meters may be required for an electric bus with dimensions of 9m/12m. As such, different charging protocols support charging cable lengths of varied lengths to meet requirements of a variety of EVs. However, such increased charging cable length pose a limitation as the communication protocol used by charging standards, for example, CAN J 1939 protocol used in GB/T charging protocol, support a maximum stub length of 1-3 meters for communication between different Electronic Control Units (ECUs) of the EV in a Controller Area Network (CAN) of the EV. More specifically, the stub length limitation is specified for an ECU connected to the CAN of the EV to avoid loss of data packets during communication between the external charger unit and the EV or intermittent transmission which is detrimental for safe charging. Accordingly, the external charger unit communicates with an ECU of the EV via a gateway device.

[0003] Conventionally, EVs employ a gateway device for facilitating charging. More specifically, the gateway device is an ECU that facilitates communication between the external charger unit and an ECU of the EV during charging. As such, this additional gateway device between the CAN network of the EV and the external charger unit will facilitate the connectivity between the external charger unit by removing the stub length limitation of CAN JI 939 protocol used in GB/T charging protocol. Although, the gateway device mitigates the limitation of the stub length due to the charging cable length, the addition of the gateway device increases vehicle cost, network complexity due to integration of the gateway device. In addition, the gateway device increases the load on the battery of the EV which adds to overall inefficiency in battery performance.

[0004] In view of the above, there exists a need for meeting the CAN J1939 protocol requirements used in GB/T charging standard and at the same time reduce the cost, improve the battery performance and reduce complexity of hardware for charging control of the EV battery.

[00051 The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

[0006] in an embodiment, a method for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle is disclosed. The method includes receiving, by a vehicle tracking system associated with the electric vehicle, vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units associated with the vehicle. The method also includes identifying, by the vehicle tracking system, a vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery based on the vehicle related data. The method further includes facilitating, by the vehicle tracking system, communication between the external charger unit and the at least one electronic control unit of the electric vehicle on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode.

[0007[ In another embodiment, a vehicle tracking system for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle tracking system includes a memory configured to store instructions and a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory and thereby cause the vehicle tracking system to receive vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units associated with the electric vehicle. A vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery are identified based on the vehicle related data. The vehicle tracking system facilitates communication between the external charger unit and the at least one electronic control unit of the electric vehicle on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode.

[0008] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[00091 The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and regarding the accompanying figures, in which:

[00101 FIG. 1 illustrates an example representation of an environment depicting charging of an Electric Vehicle (EV), in which at least some example embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented;

[00111 FIG. 2 shows an overview of functioning of the vehicle tracking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[00121 FIG. 3 illustrates the vehicle tracking system for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[00131 FIG. 4 illustrates a sequential flow for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and [0014] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a method for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] In the present document, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0017] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifi cations, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[0018] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises. . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

[0019] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0020] The term ‘Electric Vehicle’ as used herein refers to a vehicle that is either partially or fully powered by electricity from batteries, or fuel cell rather than an internal combustion engine that generates power by burning fuel or a mix of fuel and gases. More specifically, vehicles that use one or more electric motors for propulsion are referred to as ‘electric vehicle’. The Electric Vehicles store electricity in rechargeable batteries that power an electric motor, which turns the wheels of the Electric Vehicle. Accordingly, battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are referred to herein as electric vehicles. Some examples of electric vehicles are commercial vehicles or private vehicles equipped with a vehicle tracking system such as, but not limited to, cars, buses, trucks, autorickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, and the like. Further, it shall be noted that the term ‘Electric Vehicles’ and ‘EVs’ has been used interchangeably throughout the description.

[002]] FIG. 1 illustrates an example representation of an environment 100 depicting charging of an Electric Vehicle (EV) 102, in which at least some example embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented. It shall be noted that the EV 102 is depicted as a car for exemplary purposes and the EV can be any commercial/private vehicle such as, buses, trucks, autorickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, and the like that are partially or fully powered by electricity from batteries.

[0022] In an example scenario, the EV 102 may be a commercial car which requires charging and as such, driver of the EV 102 would visit a charging station equipped with an external charger unit 106 for charging the EV’s 102 battery. The external charger unit 106 safely delivers energy (i.e., electricity) from an electric grid to a battery (not shown in FIG. 1) of the EV 102, via a charging cable 108 attached to the external charger unit 106 to the EV 102 via a charging port 104. It shall be noted that the external charger unit 106 is depicted at a charging station for exemplary purposes and as such, the external charger unit 106 may be installed at residences, housing societies, workplace, highway kiosks, public charging stations in common places, and the like to charge electric vehicles such as, EV 102.

[0023] The external charger unit 106 enables flexible charging of different EVs by sipporting a long charging cable 108 to extend from the external charger unit 106 to the EV 102. For example, a charging cable with length between 5-7 meters may be required for an electric bus with dimensions of 9m/ 12m. As such, different charging protocols support charging cable lengths of varied lengths to meet requirements of a variety of EVs. However, communication protocol (i.e., CAN JI 939 protocol) used in GB/T charging protocol specify a maximum stub length of 1-3 meters for communication between different ECUs of the EV 102 in a CAN of the EV 102 and as such, require a gateway to mitigate the stub length limitation for facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one ECU (not shown in FIG. 1) of the EV 102.

[0024] Various embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a vehicle tracking system 150 that facilitates charging control of the battery in the EV 102. More specifically, the vehicle tracking system 150 (refer to figure 3) performs functions of a gateway to facilitate communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit of the vehicle 102. In general, the vehicle tracking system 150 performs dual role of sharing location information of the EV 102 and facilitates communication between the external charger unit 106 and the vehicle 102. In addition to meeting the CAN J1939 protocol requirements used in GB/T charging standard of the EV 102, the dual role of the vehicle tracking system 150 reduces the cost and complexity of the EV 102. It shall be noted that the dual role of the vehicle tracking system 150 may be achieved by optimally modifying existing hardware and software of the vehicle tracking system 150 which will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 2- 5.

[0025] FIG. 2 shows an overview of functioning of the vehicle tracking system 150, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 150 is based on the Automotive Industry Standards (AIS) 140 published by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) that mandates a vehicle-tracking device such as, the vehicle tracking system 150 in all existing and new public-service and commercial vehicles. The vehicle tracking system 150 uses satellite-based location technology to determine and record the precise location of any vehicle at defined intervals as specified by the AIS 140 standard. The location data so determined can be stored within the vehicle tracking system 150, and/or can be transmitted to a remote server (not shown in FIG. 2) using wireless communication protocols.

[0026] The EV 202 includes a charging port 204 and one or more ECUs (ECUi, ECU2, ..., ECUn). The charging port 204 is configured to facilitate charging of a vehicle battery (not shown in FIG. 2) from the external charger unit 106 using the charging cable. It shall be noted that components shown in FIG. 2 are for exemplary purposes to explain functioning of the vehicle tracking system 150 and the EV 202 may include more components, i.e., both hardware and software components, for performing various functionalities to facilitate propulsion of the EV 202. For example, the vehicle tracking system 150 includes one or more emergency buttons which may be accessed during emergency as specified by the AIS 140 standard.

[0027] The vehicle tracking system 150 is mounted at a suitable location in the EV 202 such that it is not easily tampered. As depicted in FIG. 2, the ECUs (ECUi, ECU?, ..., ECUn) of the EV 202 and the vehicle tracking system 150 are communicably coupled to the Onboard diagnostics module (OBD) 206 via a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus 208. The vehicle tracking system 150 includes a processor 210, a Global Positioning System (GPS) 212, and one or more CAN ports (see, CAN ports 214, 216). The processor 210 is explained in detail with reference to FIG. 3 and the GPS 212 may be configured to determine location data of the EV 202. The GPS 212 may be a standalone component in the vehicle tracking system 150 or may be embodied within the processor 210 as a location tracing module (see, location tracking module 312) explained with reference to FIG. 3.

[0028] During charging, the ECUs, more specifically, the ECUi 230a (i.e., Vehicle Electronic control unit (VECU)) may not be able to communicate with the external charger unit 106 directly and requires a gateway device to facilitate the communication. The VECU is an electronic control unit that monitors the vehicle battery. More specifically, the VECU determines operational state of the vehicle battery, optimizes battery performance, and regulates charging and discharging of the vehicle battery. As such, the vehicle tracking system 150 of the present disclosure facilitates communication between the external charger unit 106 and the Vehicle Electronic control unit (VECU) (i.e., ECUi 230a) of the EV 202. Accordingly, the CAN port 214 is used for transmitting location data and charging related data between the external charger unit 106 and the VECU (i.e., ECU 1230a). The CAN Port 216 is used to isolate the CAN bus 208 of the EV 202 from CAN bus of the external charger unit 106 (not shown in Figures).

[0029] In an embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 150 includes one or more terminating resistors, for example, terminating resistor (TR) 218 and a high voltage protection circuit 220. The vehicle tracking system 150 acts as an interface or gateway between the external charger unit 106 and the VECU and as such, the terminating resistor 218 and the high voltage protection circuit 220 protect the CAN bus 208 of the EV 202 from high voltage disturbances, such as, sudden spiking of voltage or current which may arise from the external charger unit 106.

[0030] FIG. 3 illustrates the vehicle tracking system 150 for facilitating communication between an external charger unit 106 and an Electric Vehicle 102, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 150 is a standalone Electronic Control Unit (ECU) embodied within the EV 102 for tracking and sharing location in near real-time to a remote server 350. The term ‘remote server 350’ as used herein may refer to a centralized server receiving location data from a plurality of vehicles for tracking location of the plurality of vehicles and providing assistance to passengers who may require support/assistance. In another embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 150 may be embodied within an ECU of the EV 102, for example, a central control module or engine control module of the EV 102 to facilitate communication between an external charger unit 106 and an Electric Vehicle 102 in addition to sharing location information to the remote server.

[0031] The vehicle tracking system 150 is depicted to include a processor 302, a memory 304, an Input/Output (I/O) module 306, and a communication interface 308. It shall be noted that, in some embodiments, the vehicle tracking system 150 may include more or fewer components than those depicted herein. The various components of the vehicle tracking system 150 may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware or any combinations thereof. Further, the various components of the vehicle tracking system 150 may be operably coupled with each other. More specifically, various components of the vehicle tracking system 150 may be capable of communicating with each other using communication channel media (such as buses, interconnects, etc.). It is also noted that the vehicle tracking system 150 may include one or more hardware components, for example, emergency buttons, battery, terminating resistors, high voltage protection circuit, which are not depicted herein for the sake of brevity.

[0032] In one embodiment, the processor 302 may be embodied as a multi-core processor, a single core processor, or a combination of one or more multi-core processors and one or more single core processors. For example, the processor 302 may be embodied as one or more of various processing devices, such as a coprocessor, a microprocessor, a controller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a processing circuitry with or without an accompanying DSP, or various other processing devices including, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a hardware accelerator, a special-purpose computer chip, or the like. The processor 302 includes a vehicle monitoring module 310, a location tracking module 312 and a gateway management module 314 which are explained in detail later. The processor 210 (shown in FIG. 2) is an example of the processor 302 explained hereinafter.

[0033] In one embodiment, the memory 304 is capable of storing machine executable instructions, referred to herein as instructions 305. In an embodiment, the processor 302 is embodied as an executor of software instructions. As such, the processor 302 is capable of executing the instructions 305 stored in the memory 304 to perform one or more operations described herein. The memory 304 can be any type of storage accessible to the processor 302 to perform respective functionalities, as will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. For example, the memory 304 may include one or more volatile or non-volatile memories, or a combination thereof. For example, the memory 304 may be embodied as semiconductor memories, such as flash memory, mask ROM, PROM (programmable ROM), EPROM (erasable PROM), RAM (random access memory), etc. and the like.

[0034] In an embodiment, the processor 302 is configured to execute the instructions 305 for: (1) detecting a handshake initiation signal from the external charger unit 106, (2) identifying a vehicle state based on the vehicle related data, (3) identifying a charging state of a vehicle battery based on the vehicle related data, and (4) facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the electric vehicle 102. Further, the processor 302 is configured to send location data to the remote server 350 at predefined intervals as specified by AIS 140 standard. In some embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured to switch between operations, for example, switch between transmitting location data of the electric vehicle to the remote server and facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the electric vehicle 102 which is explained in detail later. In an embodiment, the memory 304 is configured to store a unique device identifier (ID) associated with the vehicle tracking system 150 for identification. In an embodiment, the unique ID may be a Vehicle Identification number or an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.

[0035] In an embodiment, the VO module 306 may include mechanisms configured to receive inputs from and provide outputs to peripheral devices such as, the remote server 350, one or more ECUs of the EV 102 (i.e., ECU 230a, 230b, ..., 230n depicted as ECUi, ECU?, ..., ECUn), and/or the external charger unit 106. To enable reception of inputs and provide outputs to the vehicle tracking system 150, the VO module 306 may include at least one input interface and/or at least one output interface. Examples of the input interface may include, but are not limited to, a keypad, a touch screen, soft keys, buttons/tabs, a microphone, and the like. Examples of the output interface may include, but are not limited to, a display such as a light emitting diode display, a thin-film transistor (TFT) display, a liquid crystal display, an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display, a microphone, a speaker, a ringer, and the like.

[0036] In an embodiment, the communication interface 308 may include mechanisms configured to communicate with other entities in the environment 100. In other words, the communication interface 308 is configured to receive vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units (ECU 230a, 230b, ..., 230n) associated with the electric vehicle 102 for processing by the processor 302. The vehicle related data of the EV 102 includes at least: status information of, one or more electric motors, ignition, a charging port and a vehicle battery. The status information of the one or more electric motors may indicate an amount of magnetic field in each motor of the one or more motors and the status information of the ignition indicates if the EV is powered ON or powered OFF. Further, the status information of the charging port of the EV 102 indicates if the charging cable is plugged into the charging port of the EV 102. The status information of the vehicle battery indicates charge status and battery condition of the vehicle battery. For example, a percentage of charge in the vehicle battery or current capacity of the vehicle battery may indicate status information of the vehicle battery. Similarly, battery condition may indicate State of Charge (SoC), Depth of Discharge (DoD), terminal voltage, open circuit voltage and internal resistance of the vehicle battery. It shall be noted that only a few parameters indicating status information of one or more electric motors, ignition, a charging port and a vehicle battery are mentioned herein for exemplary purposes and it is understood that various other parameters that combine one or more parameters of the status information or a different representation of the status information may also be represented in the vehicle related data. It shall be noted that the vehicle related data may be collated individually from each ECU (i.e, ECU 230a, 230b, ..., 230n) or an ECU that acts as a centralized control module may collate the vehicle related data from different ECUs and provide the vehicle related data to the communication interface 308.

[0037] The communication interface 308 is also configured to interface with external system such as, the remote server 350, for transmitting location data of the EV 102 to the remote server 350 via communication protocols specified in the AIS 140 standard for the vehicle tracking system 150. As such, the communication interface 308 is capable of transmitting location data which includes position, velocity and time along with heading direction of travel to the remote server 350 at defined intervals specified by the communication protocol of AIS 140 standard. In an embodiment, the vehicle related data is forwarded to the processor 302 which performs one or more operations described herein to facilitate communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102. More specifically, the communication interface 308 facilitates exchange of charging related data between the external charger unit and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102 as will be described in detail hereinafter.

[0038] The vehicle tracking system 150 is depicted to be in operative communication with a database 320. In one embodiment, the database 320 is configured to store parameters of the vehicle battery, for example, amperage and voltage levels, of the vehicle battery. Further, the database 320 may store information related to the vehicle battery such as, but not limited to, number of battery cells, nominal voltage, AC input voltage, AC input current, DC link voltage, cut-off voltage, power rating, maximum battery capacity, nominal battery capacity, nominal energy, maximum energy, cycle life, specific energy, specific power, energy density, power density, maximum continuous discharge current, float voltage, maximum internal resistance, and the like. In some example embodiments, the database 320 may store heuristics for identifying the vehicle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery. Further, the database 320 may also include historical data such as, history of error messages, diagnostic messages, CAN IDs of external charger units, and the like which may be used for analysis of a condition of the vehicle battery.

[0039] The database 320 may include multiple storage units such as hard disks and/or solid- state disks in a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) configuration. In some embodiments, the database 320 may include a storage area network (SAN) and/or a network attached storage (NAS) system. In one embodiment, the database 320 may correspond to a distributed storage system, wherein individual databases are configured to store custom information, such as charging policies, list of communication protocols, specification of ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n in the EV 102, CAN identifier (ID) of the vehicle battery, etc.

[0040] In some embodiments, the database 320 is integrated within the vehicle tracking system 150. For example, the vehicle tracking system 150 may include one or more hard disk drives as the database 320. In other embodiments, the database 320 is external to the vehicle tracking system 150 and may be accessed by the vehicle tracking system 150 using a storage interface (not shown in FIG. 3). The storage interface is any component capable of providing the processor 302 with access to the database 320. The storage interface may include, for example, an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) adapter, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter, a RAID controller, a SAN adapter, a network adapter, and/or any component providing the processor 302 with access to the database 320.

[0041] As already explained, the communication interface 308 is configured to receive vehicle related data from the one or more ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n of the EV 102. The communication interface 308 forwards the vehicle related data to the processor 302. The modules of the processor 302 in conjunction with the instructions in the memory 304 are configured to process the vehicle related data for facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit 230a of the electric vehicle 102. The processor 302 is configured to forward the vehicle related data to the vehicle monitoring module 310 and the location tracking module 312.

[0042] The vehicle monitoring module 312 in conjunction with the instructions 305 of the memory 304 is configured to identify the vehicle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102 based on the vehicle related data. The vehicle state is one of: the idle state or an active state. In an embodiment, the status information of the ignition is used to identify the vehicle state of the EV 102. More specifically, if the ignition is powered ON, the vehicle state is identified as the active state and if the ignition is powered OFF, the vehicle state is identified as the idle state. In another embodiment, the status information of the one or more electric motors may be used to identify the vehicle state of the EV 102.

[0043] The charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102 is one of: the charging mode and a discharging mode. In an embodiment, the charging mode of the vehicle battery is identified on detecting a handshake initiation signal from the external charger unit 106 via a charging port of the EV 102. More specifically, when the charging cable 108 of the external charger unit 106 is plugged into a charging port (not shown in Figures) of the EV 102, the external charger 106 sends the handshake initiation signal. The handshake initiation signal is sent by the external charger unit 106 to the EV 102 for checking the connection. As such, on identifying the handshake initiation signal, the vehicle monitoring module 310 identifies the charging state of the vehicle battery. It shall be noted that the charging state assumes the discharge state in default indicating that the vehicle battery discharges at all other times. [0044] The vehicle monitoring module 310 is configured to continuously track vehicle state and charging state of the vehicle battery at predefined intervals, for example, every 1 second to update the state to other modules of the processor 302. In an embodiment, the gateway management module 314 is activated on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode. However, the location tracking module 312 transmits the location data at defined intervals specified by the communication protocol of AIS 140 standard to the remote server 350. In an embodiment, the vehicle monitoring module 310 is configured to control operation of the location tracking module 312 and the gateway management module 314. More specifically, the vehicle monitoring module 310 optimally switches between the location tracking module 312 and the gateway management module 314 based on the vehicle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102. In one example scenario, during the active state of the EV 102 and discharging state of the vehicle battery, the location tracking module 312 is enabled and performs functions of sharing location data whereas the gateway management module 314 remains disabled. In another example scenario, when the EV 102 is in the idle state and the vehicle battery is in the charging mode, the location tracking module 312 is enabled intermittently, for example, every ‘t1’ seconds for 2 seconds, to share location data at defined intervals as specified by AIS 140 standard whereas the gateway management module 314 remains enabled to facilitate communication. However, it shall be noted that gateway management module 314 may be disabled during the time interval in which the location tracking module 312 is enabled to transmit location data. In some scenarios, the location data may be queued to share with the remote server 350 during the defined interval.

[0045] The location tracking module 312 in conjunction with the instructions 305 in the memory 304 is configured to continuously monitor location data related to the EV 102. More specifically, the location tracking module 312 transmits location data which includes position, velocity and time along with heading direction of travel to the remote server 350 at defined intervals specified by the communication protocol of AIS 140 standard to the remote server 350. In an embodiment, the location tracking module 312 may be capable of obtaining position information using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). In an embodiment, the location tracking module 312 is configured to transmit location data at a first defined interval on identifying the vehicle state as the active state and at a second defined interval on identifying the vehicle state as the idle state. For example, if the vehicle state of the EV 102 is identified as the active state, the location data may be transmitted every 5 second to the remote server 350 and the location data may be transmitted at every 5-minute interval to the remote server 350 when the vehicle state of the EV 102 is identified as the idle state. In another embodiment, the location tracking module 312 is configured to transmit the location data only when the vehicle state is identified as the idle state of the EV 102.

[0046] The gateway management module 314 in conjunction with the instructions 305 in the memory 304 is configured to facilitate communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102 on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode. More specifically, the vehicle tracking system 150 acts as a gateway between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102 to facilitate communication. In an embodiment, charging related data is exchanged between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a. Some examples of the charging related data include one or more of: voltage in a vehicle battery, current in the vehicle battery, temperature in the vehicle battery, State of Charge (SoC) in a vehicle battery, communication protocol specification, a diagnostic message, an error message, a Controller Area Network (CAN) ID of the external charger unit and a CAN ID of the vehicle battery.

[0047] In an embodiment, communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102 is facilitated using a CAN based protocol. In an example, GB/T 27930-2015 version of standard communication protocol is based on SAE JI 939 and accordingly uses a CAN network as a point-to-point connection between the external charger unit and the at least one ECU. In an embodiment, the at least one electronic control unit 230a corresponds to a Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (VECU) of the EV 102. It shall be noted that various signal may be exchanged between the communicating entities, i. e, the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU which are explained next in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

[0048] FIG. 4 illustrates a sequential flow diagram of a method 400 for facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit 230a of the EV 102, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In general, communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a is performed to ensure the at least one ECU 230a and the external charger unit 106 agree on power requirements of the EV 102 and monitor the charging of the EV 102. [00491 At 402, the external charger unit 106 sends a handshake initiation signal to the vehicle tracking system 150 that is shown and explained with reference to FIGS. 2-3. More specifically, when the charging cable 108 is plugged into the charger port of the EV 102, the external charger unit 106 initiates communication with the at least one ECU 230a, 230b, ..., 230n. It shall be noted that the vehicle tracking system 150 acts as a gateway for facilitating communication and as such, the vehicle tracing system 150 receives the handshake initiation signal before facilitating the communication. In general, the handshake initiation signal checks the connection between the external charger and the at least one ECU 230a via the gateway (i.e., vehicle tracking system 150). In an embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 150 may send information related to maximum permissible charging voltage of the vehicle battery based on information received from the ECU 230a (i.e., VECU).

[0050] At 404, the vehicle tracking system 150 requests vehicle related data from one or more ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n. As already explained, the vehicle related data includes, but not limited to, status information of, one or more electric motors, ignition, a charging port and a vehicle battery.

[0051[ At 406, the one or more ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n shares vehicle related data to the vehicle tracking system 150. In an embodiment, each ECU of the one or more ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n may send status information of associated components. In another embodiment, one ECU, for example, ECU 230b, may collate data from all other ECUs 230a, 230b, ..., 230n and shares the vehicle related data to the external charger unit 106.

[0052] At 408, the vehicle tracking system 150 is configured to determine a vehicle state and a charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102 based on the vehicle related data. The vehicle state of the EV 102 is one of an idle state and an active state and the charging state of the vehicle battery is one of a charging mode and a discharge mode. Determining of the vehicle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102 is explained with reference to vehicle monitoring module 310 of the vehicle tracking system 150 and is not explained herein for the sake of brevity.

[0053] At 410, the vehicle tracking system 150 sends a handshake recognition signal to the external charger unit 106. The handshake recognition signal includes information related to the communication protocol and vehicle information (e.g., battery type, vehicle identification number, etc.) [0054, The external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a communicate one or more parameter configurations via the vehicle tracking system 150 (shown as 412 and 414). More specifically, the parameters of the charging process are negotiated. For example, battery capacity and specification (such as, maximum permissible amperage and voltage) of the vehicle battery are shared by the at least one ECU 230a and the external charger unit 106 shares information related to available amperage and charging voltage of the external charger unit 106.

[0055] The external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a communicate charging data via the vehicle tracking system 150 (shown as 416 and 418). In an embodiment, the communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a of the EV 102 vehicle is facilitated using a CAN based protocol. During charging, charging related data is exchanged between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a. The charging related data includes one or more of: voltage in a vehicle battery, current in the vehicle battery, temperature in the vehicle battery, State of Charge (SoC) in a vehicle battery, communication protocol specification, a diagnostic message, an error message, a Controller Area Network (CAN) ID of the external charger unit 106 and a CAN ID of the vehicle battery.

[0056[ ft shall be noted that although, two signal flow arrows are depicted for communication of parameter configurations (412, 414) and charging data (416, 418), the communication flow is between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU which is facilitated by the vehicle tracking system 150 that acts as the gateway.

[0057[ TIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method 500 for facilitating communication between an external charger unit and at least one electronic control unit of an electric vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 500 depicted in the flow diagram may be executed by, for example, the vehicle tracking system 150 associated with an electric vehicle, for example, the EV 102 shown and explained with reference to FIGS. 2-4. Operations of the flow diagram, and combinations of operation in the flow diagram, may be implemented by, for example, hardware, firmware, a processor, circuitry and/or a different device associated with the execution of software that includes one or more computer program instructions. The operations of the method 500 are described herein with help of the vehicle tracking system 150. It is noted that the operations of the method 500 can be described and/or practiced by using one or more processors of a system/device other than the vehicle tracking system 150. The method 500 starts at operation 502. [0058[ At operation 502 of the method 500, vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units 230a, 230b, ..., 230n associated with the electric vehicle 102 is received by a system, such as, the vehicle tracking system 150 associated with the electric vehicle 102 as shown and explained with reference to FIGS. 2-3.

[0059] At operation 504 of the method 500, a vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery are identified based on the vehicle related data. The vehicle state is one of: an active state and an idle state and the charging state of the battery is one of: a charging mode and a discharge mode. Determining of the vehicle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery of the EV 102 is explained with reference to vehicle monitoring module 310 of the vehicle tracking system 150 and is not explained herein for the sake of brevity.

[00601 At operation 506 of the method 500, communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one electronic control unit 230a of the electric vehicle 102 is facilitated by the vehicle tracking system 150 on identifying the vehicle state as the idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as the charging mode. The at least one ECU 230a is the VECU of the EV 102 and the communication between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a of the EV 102 vehicle is facilitated using a CAN based protocol. During charging, charging related data is exchanged between the external charger unit 106 and the at least one ECU 230a.

[0061] As illustrated in FIG. 5, the method 500 may include one or more blocks illustrating a method facilitating communication between an external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit 230a of an electric vehicle. The method 500 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform specific functions or implement specific abstract data types.

[0062] The order in which the method 500 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof. [00631 The disclosed method 500 with reference to FIG. 5, or one or more operations of the flow diagram 500 may be implemented using software including computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer- readable media, such as one or more optical media discs, volatile memory components (e.g., DRAM or SRAM), or non-volatile memory or storage components (e.g., hard drives or solid- state non-volatile memory components, such as Flash memory components) and executed on a computer (e.g., any suitable computer, such as a laptop computer, net book, Web book, tablet computing device, smart phone, or other mobile computing device). Such software may be executed, for example, on a single local computer.

[0064] Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processors) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer-readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., be non-transitory. Examples include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drives, CD (Compact Disc) ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

[00651 Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide numerous advantages. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a vehicle tracking system 150 that performs dual role of sharing location data and facilitating communication between the external charger unit 106 and at least one electronic control unit 230a of the vehicle 102. The efficient utilization of an existing component i.e, the vehicle tracking system to optimally function as a gateway reduces the cost incurred in production of EVs. Further, overall complexity of integrating a gateway device with other ECUs is also precluded by optimally modifying existing hardware and software of the vehicle tracking system 150. Moreover, the dual function of the vehicle tracking system 150 reduces the operational expense by significantly reducing power consumption from the vehicle battery. In general, the CAN network limitation introduced due to the length of the charging cable 106 may be resolved due to the dual function of the vehicle tracking system 150. [00661 The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", and "one embodiment" mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the inventions)" unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0067] The terms "including", "comprising", “having” and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0068] The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0069] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

[00701 When a single device or article is described herein, it will be clear that more than one device/article (whether they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device/article is described herein (whether they cooperate), it will be clear that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device/article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of invention need not include the device itself.

[0071] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

[0072] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A method for facilitating communication between an external charger unit (106) and at least one electronic control unit (230a) of an electric vehicle (102), the method comprising: receiving, by a vehicle tracking system (150) associated with the electric vehicle (102), vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units (230a, 230b, ..., 230n) associated with the electric vehicle (102); identifying, by the vehicle tracking system (150), a vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery based on the vehicle related data; and on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode, facilitating, by the vehicle tracking system (150), communication between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a) of the electric vehicle (102).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle related data comprises at least: status information of, one or more electric motors, ignition, a charging port (104) and the vehicle battery.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle state is one of: the idle state or an active state.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging state of the vehicle battery is one of: the charging mode and a discharging mode.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein charging related data is exchanged between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a).

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the charging related data comprises one or more of: voltage in the vehicle battery, current in the vehicle battery, temperature in the vehicle battery, State of Charge (SoC) in a vehicle battery, communication protocol specification, a diagnostic message, an error message, a Controller Area Network (CAN) ID of the external charger unit (106) and a CAN ID of the vehicle battery.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein communication between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a) of the electric vehicle (102) is facilitated using a CAN based protocol.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging mode of the vehicle battery is identified on detecting a handshake initiation signal from the external charger unit ( 106) via a charging port (104) of the electric vehicle (102).

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein during the active state of the electric vehicle (102), location data of the electric vehicle (102) is shared with a remote server (350).

10. A vehicle tracking system (150) associated with an electric vehicle (102) for facilitating communication between an external charger unit (106) and at least one electronic control unit (230a) of the electric vehicle (102), the vehicle tracking system (150) comprising: a memory (304) configured to store instructions (305); and a processor (302) configured to execute the instructions (305) stored in the memory (304) and thereby cause the vehicle tracking system (150) to: receive vehicle related data from one or more electronic control units

(230a, 230b, ..., 230n) associated with the electric vehicle (102); identify a vehicle state and a charging state of a vehicle battery based on the vehicle related data; and on identifying the vehicle state as an idle state and the charging state of the vehicle battery as charging mode, facilitating communication between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a) of the electric vehicle (102).

11. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the vehicle related data comprises at least: status information of, engine, one or more electric motors, ignition, a charging port (104) and the vehicle battery.

12. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the vehicle state is one of: the idle state or an active state.

13. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the charging state of the vehicle battery is one of: the charging mode and a discharging mode.

14. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein charging related data is exchanged between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a).

15. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 14, wherein the charging related data comprises one or more of: voltage in the vehicle battery, current in the vehicle battery, temperature in the vehicle battery, State of Charge (SoC) in a vehicle battery, communication protocol specification, a diagnostic message, an error message, Controller Area Network (CAN) ID of the external charger unit (106) and CAN ID of the vehicle battery.

16. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein communication between the external charger unit (106) and the at least one electronic control unit (230a) of the electric vehicle (102) is facilitated using a CAN based protocol.

17. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the charging state of the vehicle battery is identified on detecting a handshake initiation signal from the external charger unit (106) via a charging port (104) of the electric vehicle (102).

18. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein during the active state of the electric vehicle (102), location data of the electric vehicle (102) is shared with a remote server (350).

19. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the at least one electronic control unit (230a) is a Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (VECU).

20. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the vehicle tracking system (150) shares location data of the electric vehicle (102) during the active state of the electric vehicle (102).

21. The vehicle tracking system (150) as claimed in claim 10, comprising one or more terminating resistors (218) and a high voltage protection circuit (220) for protecting a CAN of the electric vehicle (102) from high voltage disturbances.

22. An electric vehicle (102) comprising a vehicle tracking system (150), the vehicle tracking system (150) configured to perform a method claimed in one or more of claims 1- 9.