JP6540488B2 - Relay device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay device.

  For example, in an Ethernet (registered trademark) communication system mounted on a vehicle, an Ethernet switch used as a relay device has a function of detecting that a received frame is abnormal and discarding the abnormal frame. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-9-181771

  In the above-mentioned conventional Ethernet switch, when an abnormal frame is discarded, the source device of the frame can not recognize that the frame is discarded. For this reason, measures such as retransmission of a frame can not be implemented.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a relay apparatus capable of notifying a transmission source apparatus of a frame of an abnormality when the received abnormal frame is discarded.

  The relay device of the first invention has a plurality of ports, and relays communication between control devices connected to each port via a communication line. Then, the relay apparatus includes determination means, discarding means, and abnormality notification means.

  The determination means determines, for each of the plurality of ports, whether the received frame which is a frame received from the port is normal or abnormal. The discarding means discards an abnormal frame which is a received frame determined to be abnormal by the determining means. Therefore, the abnormal frame is prevented from being relayed to any control device.

  Then, when the judging means judges that the received frame is abnormal, the abnormality notifying means indicates that the frame abnormality has occurred in the transmission source apparatus which is the control apparatus of the transmission source of the abnormal frame judged as abnormal. Send an anomaly notification frame for notification.

  Therefore, the transmission source device can know that the transmitted frame has become abnormal by the abnormality notification frame from the relay device. For this reason, the transmission source device can implement measures such as retransmission of a frame.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the parentheses described in the claim shows correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later as one aspect, Comprising: The technical scope of this invention is limited. is not.

It is a block diagram showing composition of a communication system of an embodiment. It is an explanatory view showing the composition of an Ethernet frame. It is a flowchart showing abnormality handling processing of a 1st embodiment. It is a flowchart showing abnormality handling processing of a 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart showing abnormality handling processing of a 3rd embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the relay impossibility notification process of 4th Embodiment.

Hereinafter, an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described.
First Embodiment
<Constitution>
The communication system 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a communication system of an Ethernet network mounted in a vehicle such as a passenger car, and includes an Ethernet switch 10 and ECUs 11 to 13 which are plural (three in this example) control devices. Equipped with ECU is an abbreviation of "Electronic Control Unit".

  The Ethernet switch 10 includes a plurality of (three in this example) ports 21 to 23 and a control unit 25. The control unit 25 includes an abnormality detection unit 26 and an abnormality management unit 27.

  Communication lines 31 to 33 are respectively connected to the ports 21 to 23 of the Ethernet switch 10, and ECUs 11 to 13 as communication nodes are respectively connected to the communication lines 31 to 33. Then, the Ethernet switch 10 relays communication between the ECUs 11 to 13 in accordance with the Ethernet standard. The relay process is performed by the control unit 25. The control unit 25 is configured by, for example, an IC (integrated circuit) or a microcomputer combining logic circuits.

Therefore, the ECUs 11 to 13 are communicably connected via the communication lines 31 to 33 and the Ethernet switch 10, and communicate with each other according to the Ethernet standard.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a frame communicated between the ECUs 11 to 13 (in other words, a communication frame relayed by the Ethernet switch 10) is an Ethernet frame with a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tag. This Ethernet frame comprises areas of preamble, destination MAC address, source MAC address, VLAN tag, type, data, and FCS (Frame Check Sequence).

<processing>
An abnormality handling process performed by the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 will be described with reference to FIG. The abnormality handling process in FIG. 3 is a process executed for each of the ports 21 to 23, and is started when a frame transmitted from any of the ECUs 11 to 13 is input to the target port.

  In the following, the port targeted by the abnormality handling process is referred to as a target port. Also, in the following, a frame received from the ports 21 to 23 in the Ethernet switch 10 is referred to as a received frame. Further, when the process of each step in FIG. 3 is classified, the processes of S120 and S130 are the processes performed by the abnormality detection unit 26 of the control unit 25, and the processes after S140 are performed by the abnormality management unit 27 of the control unit 25. It is a process to be performed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the abnormality handling process, the control unit 25 performs a process of receiving a frame input to the target port (that is, a frame transmitted by the ECU connected to the target port) in S110. .

  Then, the control unit 25 determines whether the frame (received frame) received in S110 is normal or abnormal in next S120. Specifically, the control unit 25 detects that the received frame is abnormal, for example, when an FCS error is detected for the received frame, or when the number of bits of each area (see FIG. 2) in the received frame is not a normal value. Determine that there is. The FCS error is a data error of a received frame detected using error detection data in the FCS area.

  That is, the control unit 25 determines the number of bits of the received frame to determine whether the number of bits of the received frame is a normal value, and performs error detection for detecting a data error of the received frame using data for error detection included in the received frame. At least do. The received frame is determined to be abnormal if it is determined that the number of bits of the received frame is not a normal value by bit number determination, or if a data error of the received frame is detected by error detection. Further, when the bit number determination determines that the bit number of the received frame is a normal value, and the data detection of the received frame is not detected by error detection, it is determined that the received frame is normal.

  The process of determining the number of bits may be a process of determining whether or not the number of bits is a normal value for each area of the received frame, or whether or not the number of bits is a normal value for a specific area of the received frame. The process may be performed to determine whether the number of bits is a normal value or not for the entire received frame. The target of the bit number determination may be either the whole or a part of the received frame.

The error detection process is specifically as follows.
First, the ECU on the transmission side of the frame performs an operation of a predetermined algorithm on a specific part of the frame to be transmitted, and places the operation result in the FCS area of the frame as error detection data. In the present embodiment, the specific part to be calculated is a part from the destination MAC address to the data.

  Therefore, the control unit 25 performs the calculation of the same algorithm as that on the transmission side on the portion from the destination MAC address to the data in the reception frame, and the calculation result and error detection data of the FCS area in the reception frame. Compare. Then, if the calculation result and the error detection data match, it is determined that there is no data error in the received frame, and if the calculation result and the error detection data do not match, there is a data error in the received frame. It is determined that In the present embodiment, a CRC is used as an arithmetic algorithm for error detection data, but another algorithm may be used. CRC is an abbreviation for "Cyclic Redundancy Check", that is, a cyclic redundancy code.

  If the control unit 25 determines that the received frame is normal (S120: NO), the control unit 25 ends the abnormality handling process. In this case, the control unit 25 performs processing of relaying the received frame. For example, a non-volatile memory (not shown) of the control unit 25 stores a relay table indicating which frame of which destination MAC address is to be transmitted from which port, and the control unit 25 stores the relay table. Relay the received frame on the basis of For example, when the destination MAC address of the frame received from the port 21 indicates the ECU 13, the frame is transmitted from the port 23.

  On the other hand, when the control unit 25 determines that the received frame is abnormal (S120: YES), it proceeds to S130 and discards the received frame. Specifically, the control unit 25 erases the received frame from the volatile memory in which the received frame is stored.

  When the received frame is discarded in S130, the control unit 25 notifies the abnormality management unit 27 that the received frame is abnormal in the abnormality detection unit 26. Then, the control unit 25 causes the abnormality management unit 27 to perform the process of S140 and subsequent steps.

At S140, the control unit 25 generates an abnormality notification frame.
The abnormality notification frame is a frame for notifying an ECU (hereinafter referred to as a transmission source ECU) which is a transmission source of a received frame determined to be abnormal (hereinafter also referred to as an abnormal frame) that a frame abnormality has occurred. is there. The transmission source ECU corresponds to a transmission source device.

Then, an identification code indicating that this frame is an abnormality notification frame is arranged at a specific position in, for example, a VLAN tag region among the regions of the abnormality notification frame.
Further, in the destination MAC address area of the abnormality notification frame, a MAC address indicating the transmission source ECU is arranged. For example, assuming that the target port is the port 21, since the transmission source ECU is the ECU 11, the MAC address indicating the ECU 11 is disposed in the destination MAC address area of the abnormality notification frame.

  Also, data of the data area of the received frame is copied and placed as it is in the data area of the abnormality notification frame. For this reason, the transmission source ECU that has received the abnormality notification frame must use the data in the data area of the abnormality notification frame to identify to which frame of the frames transmitted by the ECU the abnormality notification frame is transmitted. Can. That is, the transmission source ECU can determine which frame has become abnormal. The data arranged in the data area of the abnormality notification frame is “information that can identify to which frame among the frames transmitted from the transmission source ECU the abnormality notification frame is referred to (hereinafter referred to as abnormal frame information) Equivalent to

  As another example, for example, it is assumed that the ECUs 11 to 13 arrange the sequence numbers of the frames in the VLAN tag area of the frame to be transmitted. In that case, the control unit 25 may place the sequence number, which has been arranged in the VLAN tag area of the received frame, in the VLAN tag area of the abnormality notification frame. Even in this case, the transmission source ECU can identify to which frame among the frames transmitted by the ECU, the abnormality notification frame corresponds to the sequence number in the abnormality notification frame. In this case, the sequence number in the abnormality notification frame corresponds to the above-mentioned abnormal frame information.

  The sequence number may be arranged, for example, at a specific position in the data area of the frame. Further, as abnormal frame information to be included in the abnormal notification frame, both of the sequence number in the received frame and the data of the data area may be used. In that case, even if one of the sequence number in the received frame and the data in the data area is destroyed, the other is correct. Therefore, the transmission source ECU can more correctly determine which frame has become abnormal based on at least one of the sequence number in the abnormality notification frame and the data of the data area.

  After generating the abnormality notification frame, the control unit 25 transmits the generated abnormality notification frame from the target port (that is, the port that received the abnormal frame) in S150. Then, the transmitted abnormality notification frame is received by the transmission source ECU.

  The control unit 25 counts up the abnormal count value in the next S160. Specifically, the abnormality count value is increased by one. The abnormality count value is a value of an abnormality counter for counting the number of times that the received frame is determined to be abnormal at S120. Also, the initial value of the abnormal count value is zero.

  The control unit 25 determines whether or not the abnormality count value is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value N1 (for example, 20) at next S170, and if the abnormality count value is not equal to or more than the threshold value N1, the abnormality countermeasure processing is directly performed. Although the process ends, if the abnormality count value is equal to or more than the threshold N1, the process proceeds to S180.

Then, in S180, the control unit 25 performs a port disconnection process for disconnecting the target port, and then ends the abnormality handling process.
To disconnect the target port is to exclude the target port from the relay target of the communication, and more specifically, to not relay the frame between the target port and another port. . Therefore, when the target port is disconnected, a frame input to the target port is not output from another port, and a frame input from another port is not output from the target port.

  For example, as the port disconnection process, the control unit 25 performs a process of inhibiting relaying of a frame between the target port and another port. Also, for example, the port disconnection process may be a process of stopping the operation of the transceiver of the target port (that is, the transmission / reception circuit for inputting / outputting the communication signal). Then, as a process for stopping the operation of the transceiver, for example, a process for shutting off the power supply to the transceiver can be considered.

<Example of operation of error handling process>
For example, as indicated by an arrow Y1 in FIG. 1, it is assumed that a frame whose destination is the ECU 12 or the ECU 13 is transmitted from the ECU 11, and the frame is broken due to an abnormality or noise of the communication line 31.

  In that case, in the Ethernet switch 10, the abnormality detection unit 26 of the control unit 25 determines that the received frame from the port 21 is abnormal, discards the received frame, and the received frame is sent to the abnormality management unit 27. Notify that it was abnormal. Then, as indicated by an arrow Y2 in FIG. 1, the abnormality management unit 27 of the control unit 25 transmits an abnormality notification frame to the ECU 11 that is the transmission source of the frame determined to be abnormal.

  In the Ethernet switch 10, the abnormality management unit 27 disconnects the port 21 when, for example, the number of times the frame received from the port 21 is determined to be abnormal is equal to or more than the threshold N1.

<effect>
When discarding the received frame determined to be abnormal, the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 transmits an abnormality notification frame to the transmission source ECU that is the transmission source of the abnormal received frame. Therefore, the transmission source ECU can know that the transmitted frame has become abnormal by the abnormality notification frame from the Ethernet switch 10. For this reason, the transmission source ECU can perform measures such as retransmission of the frame.

  When the transmission source ECU receives the abnormality notification frame, it can determine that the frame transmitted immediately before has become abnormal, but the abnormality notification frame includes the above-mentioned abnormal frame information. Therefore, the transmission source ECU can more correctly determine which frame has become abnormal based on the abnormal frame information in the abnormality notification frame. Therefore, for example, the transmission source ECU can more properly select a frame to be retransmitted.

  Further, the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 counts, for each of the ports 21 to 23, the number of times the received frame becomes abnormal as an abnormality count value (S160). Then, the control unit 25 disconnects one of the ports 21 to 23 for which the abnormality count value is equal to or more than the threshold N1 (S170: YES, S180).

  Therefore, it is possible to improve the reliability of communication by excluding from the relay targets ports among the ports 21 to 23 where the signal transmission path including the communication line is considered to be unstable. This is because it is possible to reliably prevent relaying of a frame that is likely to be abnormal.

  Further, for example, if the control unit 25 is configured to perform a process of stopping the operation of the port transceiver as the port disconnection process for disconnecting the port, the power consumption of the Ethernet switch 10 can be suppressed. It is advantageous in point.

  In the first embodiment, among the steps in FIG. 3, S120 corresponds to an example of the determination means, S130 corresponds to an example of the discarding means, and S150 corresponds to an example of the abnormality notification means. Further, S160 corresponds to an example of the abnormality counting means, and S170 and S180 correspond to an example of the port cutting means.

Second Embodiment
Next, although the communication system of 2nd Embodiment is demonstrated, as a code | symbol of a communication system, the same "1" as 1st Embodiment is used. The same reference numerals as in the first embodiment are also used for the same constituent elements and processes as in the first embodiment. And this is the same as in the other embodiments described later.

  The communication system 1 according to the second embodiment is different from the communication system 1 according to the first embodiment in that the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 performs the abnormality handling process of FIG. 4 instead of the abnormality handling process of FIG. Then, the abnormality handling process of FIG. 4 is different from the abnormality handling process of FIG. 3 in that S165 is added.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the control unit 25 determines that the received frame is normal (S120: NO), the process proceeds to S165, clears the abnormal count value to 0, and ends the abnormality handling process. Do.

Therefore, the abnormality count value counted up in S160 is a value obtained by counting the number of consecutive times in which the reception frame is determined to be abnormal in S120.
That is, the control unit 25 in the Ethernet switch 10 according to the second embodiment counts the number of consecutive times that the received frame becomes abnormal for each of the ports 21 to 23 as an abnormality count value (S160, S165). Then, the control unit 25 disconnects one of the ports 21 to 23 for which the abnormality count value is equal to or more than the threshold N1 (S170: YES, S180).

  According to the Ethernet switch 10 of the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and ports among the ports 21 to 23 that are considered to be reliably unstable in the signal transmission path are excluded from relay targets can do.

In the second embodiment, of the steps shown in FIG. 4, S160 and S165 correspond to an example of the continuous abnormality counting means, and S170 and S180 correspond to an example of the port disconnecting means.
Third Embodiment
The communication system 1 of the third embodiment is different from the communication system 1 of the second embodiment in that the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 performs the abnormality handling process of FIG. 5 instead of the abnormality handling process of FIG. Then, the abnormality handling process of FIG. 5 is different from the abnormality handling process of FIG. 4 in that S210 to S260 are provided instead of S160 to S180.

As shown in FIG. 5, after transmitting the abnormality notification frame in S150, the control unit 25 proceeds to S210.
At S210, the control unit 25 adds a predetermined weighting coefficient M1 larger than 0 to the count value. The count value corresponds to an evaluation value representing the frequency at which the received frame became abnormal. The count value indicates that the higher the value, the higher the frequency at which the received frame becomes abnormal. Also, the initial value of the count value is zero.

  At the next S220, the control unit 25 determines whether or not the count value is equal to or more than a predetermined first threshold Na. If the count is equal to or more than the first threshold Na, the process proceeds to S230, as shown in FIG. As in S1804, the port disconnection process for disconnecting the target port is performed. Then, the process proceeds to S240.

  The first threshold Na is a value larger than the weighting factor M1, and is set to a predetermined number (for example, 20 times) the weighting factor M1. In the third embodiment, even after the target port is disconnected, reception of a frame from the target port is performed, and disconnection of the target port is released if the number of normal reception frames increases. Therefore, as the port disconnection process in S230, not the process of stopping the operation of the transceiver of the target port, but the process of prohibiting the relay of the frame between the target port and another port is performed.

On the other hand, when the control unit 25 determines that the count value is not the first threshold value Na or more at S220, the process proceeds to S240 as it is.
If the control unit 25 determines in S120 that the received frame is normal, the control unit 25 proceeds to S215 and subtracts a predetermined weighting coefficient M2 larger than 0 from the count value. Then, the process proceeds to S240.

  In S240, the control unit 25 determines whether or not the target port is being disconnected (that is, while the target port is being disconnected), and when the target port is not being disconnected, the abnormality handling process is performed as it is. If the target port is being disconnected, the process proceeds to step S250.

In S250, the control unit 25 determines whether the count value is equal to or less than a second threshold Nb smaller than the first threshold Na. The second threshold Nb corresponds to the return threshold.
If the control unit 25 determines that the count value is not less than the second threshold Nb (S250: NO), it ends the abnormality handling processing as it is but determines that the count value is less than the second threshold Nb. In the case (S250: YES), the process proceeds to S260.

  Then, in S260, the control unit 25 performs port recovery processing for releasing the disconnection of the target port. That is, the target port is restored to the relay target of communication. Specifically, the control unit 25 performs a process of releasing the relay prohibition performed in S230 as the port recovery process. Then, the control unit 25 ends the abnormality handling process.

  The reception frame is abnormal from the number of abnormal receptions which is the number of times the reception frame is judged as abnormal in S120 and the number of normal receptions which is the number of times the reception frame is judged as normal in S120 in S210 and S215 of FIG. The count value representing the frequency of becoming is updated.

  Specifically, every time the received frame is determined to be abnormal in S120, the counter value is increased by the weighting factor M1, and conversely, each time the received frame is determined to be normal in S120, the counter value is weighted C2. Only reduced. Therefore, a value obtained by subtracting the value obtained by multiplying the normal reception frequency by the weighting coefficient M2 as the second coefficient from the value obtained by multiplying the weighting coefficient M1 as the first coefficient by the abnormal reception frequency is calculated as the count value. The Rukoto.

  Then, in the abnormality handling process of FIG. 5, when the count value becomes equal to or more than the first threshold value Na, the target port is disconnected (S220: YES, S230). After that, when the count value decreases to the second threshold Nb or less, disconnection of the target port is canceled (S250: YES, S260). Such an abnormality handling process is performed for each of the ports 21 to 23.

  According to the Ethernet switch 10 of the third embodiment, the same effects as those of the first and second embodiments can be obtained, and the number of times of normal reception for the disconnected (that is, excluded from relay target) port is By increasing the number, disconnection of the port can be released. Therefore, it is possible to properly restore the original state in which relaying is performed between all the ports 21-23.

  Note that the condition for canceling the disconnection of the port is set to be stricter than the condition for disconnecting the port from the viewpoint of reliably preventing relaying of a frame having a possibility of abnormality. Is preferred. Therefore, it is preferable to set the weighting factor M2 as the second factor to a value smaller than the weighting factor M1 as the first factor.

  Further, in the third embodiment, of the steps in FIG. 5, S210 and S215 correspond to an example of calculation means, S220 and S230 correspond to an example of port disconnection means, and S250 and S260 are port return means. It corresponds to an example.

Modified Example 1 of Third Embodiment
As a modification, the abnormality handling process of FIG. 5 may be modified as, for example, <1> to <3> below.

<< 1 >> At S210, counting up of the abnormal count value is performed to count the number of abnormal receptions.
<< 2 >> At S215, counting up of the normal count value is performed to count the number of normal receptions.

  << 3 >> An additional step is provided between S210 and S220, and in the additional step, the value of "(abnormal count value x weighting coefficient M1)-(normal count value x weighting coefficient M2)" is counted. Calculated as

And even if it deform | transforms in this way, the same result as the abnormality-handling process of FIG. 5 is obtained.
Modified Example 2 of Third Embodiment
In the abnormality handling process of FIG. 5, S240 to S260 may be deleted. In that case, as the port disconnection process in S230, a process of stopping the operation of the transceiver of the target port may be performed.

Fourth Embodiment
The communication system 1 of the fourth embodiment is different from the communication system 1 of the first to third embodiments in that the control unit 25 of the Ethernet switch 10 further executes the relay failure notification process of FIG. 6.

  The relay impossibility notification process of FIG. 6 is a process to be executed for the disconnected port among the ports 21-23. The cut port is a port cut by S180 in FIG. 3 or 4 or S230 in FIG. The relay failure notification process of FIG. 6 is started, for example, every fixed time, or when a frame is received from a port other than the disconnected port among the ports 21 to 23.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the relay impossibility notification process, the control unit 25 determines in S310 whether or not a frame addressed to the disconnection port is received from a port other than the disconnection port. Specifically, the frame for the disconnection port is a frame for the ECU connected to the disconnection port.

  Then, when the control unit 25 determines that the frame addressed to the disconnection port is not received (S310: NO), the relay incapability notification process is ended as it is, but it is determined that the frame addressed to the disconnection port is received. If it has (S310: YES), the process proceeds to S320.

At S320, the control unit 25 generates a relay impossible notification frame.
The relay impossibility notification frame is a frame for notifying the ECU (hereinafter, referred to as a transmission execution ECU) that has transmitted the frame addressed to the disconnection port that the frame can not be relayed. The transmission implementation ECU corresponds to a transmission implementation device.

  Then, an identification code indicating that this frame is the relay failure notification frame is arranged at a specific position in, for example, the VLAN tag region among the regions of the relay failure notification frame.

Also, in the destination MAC address area of the relay failure notification frame, the MAC address indicating the transmission execution ECU is arranged.
In addition, data of the data area of the frame received from the transmission execution ECU is copied and disposed as it is in the data area of the relay failure notification frame. For this reason, the transmission execution ECU that has received the relay incapability notification frame uses the data in the data area of the relay incapability notification frame to determine which frame of the frames transmitted by the ECU is the relay incapability notification frame. It can be identified. That is, the transmission execution ECU can determine which frame is not relayed (in other words, does not reach the transmission destination ECU). The data arranged in the data area of the relay impossibility notification frame is “information capable of identifying to which frame among the frames transmitted from the transmission execution ECU (hereinafter referred to as“ relay impracticable frame ” It corresponds to information).

  As another example, for example, it is assumed that the ECUs 11 to 13 arrange the sequence numbers of the frames in the VLAN tag area of the frame to be transmitted. In that case, the control unit 25 may place the sequence number, which has been arranged in the VLAN tag area of the received frame, in the VLAN tag area of the relay failure notification frame. Even in this case, the transmission execution ECU can identify which frame among the frames transmitted by the ECU is the relay non-transmission notification frame based on the sequence number in the relay non-transmission notification frame. . In this case, the sequence number in the relay failure notification frame corresponds to the above-mentioned relay failure frame information.

  As with the abnormality notification frame, the sequence number may be arranged, for example, at a specific position in the data area of the frame, also for the relay failure notification frame. In addition, relay impossible frame information to be included in the relay impossible notification frame may be both the sequence number in the frame received from the transmission execution ECU and the data in the data area.

  When the control unit 25 generates the relay impossibility notification frame, in the next S330, the port that has received the frame addressed to the disconnection port in the generated relay impossibility notification frame (that is, the port to which the transmission execution ECU is connected) Send from Then, the transmitted relay impracticable notification frame is received by the transmission execution ECU.

Then, after transmitting the relay impossibility notification frame in S330, the control unit 25 ends the relay impossibility notification process.
According to the Ethernet switch 10 of the fourth embodiment, the transmission execution ECU that has transmitted the frame addressed to the disconnection port can know from the relay impossibility notification frame that the transmitted frame is not relayed. Therefore, for example, the transmission execution ECU can appropriately perform fail-safe processing for preventing or suppressing a failure due to the frame transmitted by itself not reaching the transmission destination ECU.

  In addition, when the transmission execution ECU receives the relay failure notification frame, it can determine that the frame transmitted immediately before is not relayed, but the relay failure notification frame includes the above-mentioned relay failure frame information. included. Therefore, the transmission execution ECU can more correctly determine which frame is not relayed based on the relay impossible frame information in the relay impossible notification frame. Therefore, for example, the transmission implementation ECU can more properly select a failsafe process to be implemented.

In the fourth embodiment, S310 to S330 in FIG. 6 correspond to an example of the relay failure notification unit.
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can take various forms, without being limited to the said embodiment. Moreover, the above-mentioned numerical value is also an example and may be another value.

  For example, in the abnormality notification frame, an identification code indicating that the frame is an abnormality notification frame may be arranged at any position in the data region, not limited to the VLAN tag region. The same applies to the relay impossibility notification frame. Further, the present invention is not limited to the Ethernet switch, but can be similarly applied to relay devices of other communication standards.

  Also, the function of one component in the above embodiment may be distributed as a plurality of components, or the function of a plurality of components may be integrated into one component. Further, at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be replaced with a known configuration having the same function. In addition, part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be omitted. In addition, at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be added to or replaced with the configuration of the other above embodiment. In addition, all the aspects contained in the technical thought specified by the words described in the claim are embodiments of the present invention. In addition to the Ethernet switch 10 described above, various modes such as a communication system having the Ethernet switch 10 as a component, a program for causing a computer to function as the Ethernet switch 10, a medium storing the program, a relay control method, etc. The present invention can also be realized.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ethernet switch, 11-13 ... ECU, 21-23 ... Port, 31-33 ... Communication line

Claims (11)

A relay device (10) relaying communication between control devices (11 to 13) having a plurality of ports (21 to 23) and connected to the respective ports via communication lines (31 to 33) ,
A determination unit (S120) that determines whether a received frame that is a frame received from the port is normal or abnormal for each of the plurality of ports;
Discarding means (S130) for discarding an abnormal frame which is the received frame determined to be abnormal by the determining means;
When the determination means determines that the received frame is abnormal, an abnormality notification frame for notifying that a frame abnormality has occurred is transmitted to a transmission source apparatus that is a control apparatus of the transmission source of the abnormal frame. Abnormality notification means (S150),
For each of the plurality of ports, the number of abnormal receptions, which is the number of times the reception frame is determined to be abnormal by the determination means, and the number of normal receptions, which is the number of times the reception frame is determined normal by the determination means Calculating means (S210, S215) for calculating an evaluation value representing a frequency at which the received frame has become abnormal;
Port disconnecting means (S220, S230) for excluding a port whose evaluation value is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold among the plurality of ports from relay targets of communication;
A relay apparatus characterized by comprising: In the relay device according to claim 1,
The calculation means may calculate, as the evaluation value, a value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by multiplying the number of normal receptions by a second coefficient from a value obtained by multiplying the number of abnormal receptions by a first coefficient;
A relay apparatus characterized by In the relay device according to claim 1 or 2,
Port recovery means for recovering the port to the relay target of communication when the evaluation value for the port excluded from the relay target of communication by the port disconnecting unit becomes equal to or less than a recovery threshold smaller than the threshold value S250, S260),
A relay apparatus characterized by In the relay device according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The port disconnecting means performs a process of stopping the operation of the transceiver of the port as a process of excluding the port from relay targets of communication.
A relay apparatus characterized by The relay apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 .
When a frame addressed to a control device connected to the disconnection port is received from a port other than the disconnection port which is a port excluded from the relay target of communication by the port disconnection means among the plurality of ports. Providing relay inability notification means (S310 to S330) for transmitting a relay inability notification frame for notifying that transmission of the frame is not possible to the transmission execution device which is the control device of the transmission source of the frame;
A relay apparatus characterized by A relay device (10) relaying communication between control devices (11 to 13) having a plurality of ports (21 to 23) and connected to the respective ports via communication lines (31 to 33) ,
A determination unit (S120) that determines whether a received frame that is a frame received from the port is normal or abnormal for each of the plurality of ports;
Discarding means (S130) for discarding an abnormal frame which is the received frame determined to be abnormal by the determining means;
When the determination means determines that the received frame is abnormal, an abnormality notification frame for notifying that a frame abnormality has occurred is transmitted to a transmission source apparatus that is a control apparatus of the transmission source of the abnormal frame. Abnormality notification means (S150),
Abnormality count means (S160) for counting the number of times the reception frame is determined to be abnormal by the determination means for each of the plurality of ports;
Port disconnecting means (S170, S180) for excluding a port whose count value by the abnormality counting means is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold among the plurality of ports from communication relay targets;
When a frame addressed to a control device connected to the disconnection port is received from a port other than the disconnection port which is a port excluded from the relay target of communication by the port disconnection means among the plurality of ports. Relay impossible notification means (S310 to S330) for transmitting a relay impossible notification frame for notifying that the relay of the frame is impossible to the transmission execution device which is the control device of the transmission source of the frame;
A relay apparatus characterized by comprising: A relay device (10) relaying communication between control devices (11 to 13) having a plurality of ports (21 to 23) and connected to the respective ports via communication lines (31 to 33) ,
A determination unit (S120) that determines whether a received frame that is a frame received from the port is normal or abnormal for each of the plurality of ports;
Discarding means (S130) for discarding an abnormal frame which is the received frame determined to be abnormal by the determining means;
When the determination means determines that the received frame is abnormal, an abnormality notification frame for notifying that a frame abnormality has occurred is transmitted to a transmission source apparatus that is a control apparatus of the transmission source of the abnormal frame. Abnormality notification means (S150),
Continuous abnormality counting means (S160, S165) for counting the number of consecutive times in which the received frame is determined to be abnormal by the determination means for each of the plurality of ports;
Port disconnecting means (S170, S180) for excluding, from among relay targets of communication, a port for which the count value by the continuous abnormality counting means has become equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold among the plurality of ports
When a frame addressed to a control device connected to the disconnection port is received from a port other than the disconnection port which is a port excluded from the relay target of communication by the port disconnection means among the plurality of ports. Relay impossible notification means (S310 to S330) for transmitting a relay impossible notification frame for notifying that the relay of the frame is impossible to the transmission execution device which is the control device of the transmission source of the frame;
Relay device comprising: a. In the relay device according to claim 6 or 7,
The port disconnecting means performs a process of stopping the operation of the transceiver of the port as a process of excluding the port from relay targets of communication.
A relay apparatus characterized by The relay apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 8 .
The relay impossible notification frame includes information that can identify to which frame the relay impossible notification frame is one of the frames transmitted from the transmission execution device.
A relay apparatus characterized by In the relay apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
The determination means
Bit number determination to determine whether the bit number of the received frame is a normal value;
Performing error detection for detecting data errors in the received frame using data for error detection included in the received frame;
When it is determined that the number of bits of the received frame is not a normal value by the bit number determination, or when a data error of the received frame is detected by the error detection, the received frame is determined to be abnormal.
Determining that the received frame is normal if it is determined by the bit number determination that the bit number of the received frame is a normal value, and the data detection of the received frame is not detected by the error detection.
A relay apparatus characterized by The relay apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10 .
The abnormality notification frame includes information capable of identifying which frame of the frames transmitted from the transmission source device is the abnormality notification frame.
A relay apparatus characterized by