Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Yasushi Shinojima

Tomohisa Kishigami

Akihiro Sasaki

Akihiro Tanaka

Shigeru Uehara

Yukio Onishi

Takato Sato

Masaru Shimono

An information output apparatus includes: a first switching element joined through a solder part, and forming one arm of a power conversion apparatus; a second switching element connected in series with the first switching element, and forming the other arm of the power conversion apparatus; a smoothing capacitor; a measuring unit configured to measure a temperature of the first switching element to output a measured value; an applying unit configured to apply two or more continuous pulses in a state where a potential difference across the smoothing capacitor is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the pulses causing the first switching element and the second switching element to simultaneously turn on; an adjusting unit configured to adjust pulse widths of the pulses; and an output unit configured to output information indicating a deterioration of the solder part based on a manner of a change in measured values.

Information output apparatus

In a data communication system in which many nodes are connected to a common data bus so that each node can communicate with other nodes, a data frame to be transmitted from a node to other nodes includes a message having a variable length interposed between a signal indicating the length of the message and a signal indicating the end of the message in the frame. The message and the signals are coded according to a coding rule such as NRZ, and a bit stuffing rule is applied to the signal indicating the length of the message and the message while another rule violating the bit stuffing rule is applied to the signal indicating the end of the message. When the message length is changed due to noise or other causes in the course of data transmission, the signal indicating the end of the message is clearly detected at a receiving end because it is coded according to a rule different from the rule applied to the message and other signals. Further, since the length of the message actually received at the receiving end can be compared with the signal indicating the length of the message, transmission error can be detected without fail.

Data communication system and electronic control unit used therein

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Yasushi Shinojima