Sub Modules

Network Master

The Network Master checks the system configuration, resolves address conflicts and administrates the central registry that represents an image of the physical and logical system configuration.

Power Master

The Power Master manages the wake-up and shutdown of the MOST network.

Connection Manager

While the Low-Level Connection Manager handles point-to-point connections, the Extended Connection Manager deals with multi-link connections, prioritizes requests and resolves resource and other conflicts.

The Extended Connection Manager comprises complex functionality. This makes sure all synchronous connections can be managed on an abstract level.

The Low-Level Connection Manager builds the necessary connections and makes sure all channels needed are available. It needs the following information:

• The sources and sinks to be connected and
• the required bandwidth

The Extended Connection Manager deals with the following major tasks:

1. Handle multi-link connections: keep track of which resources (sources and sinks) are involved in delivering the functionality needed (this is done by reverting to the functionality of the Low-Level Connection Manager); without this the human-machine interface (HMI) would need to know the all system details for delivering a certain functionality.
2. Resolve conflicts in case of insufficient resources.
3. Resolve conflicts in case of bandwidth limitations.

By doing so, the Extended Connection Manager handles multi-link connections, prioritizes requests and resolves resource and other conflicts. Possible conflicts are:

• Source conflicts
• Sink conflicts
• Bandwidth conflicts

Conflicts are solved based on predefined priorities. In addition, the priority handling can be influenced by events. These events may change the access rights for a certain sink. E.g., in case a car is moving, the driver’s display will not show any entertainment content but instead information which is relevant to operate the car.
The system integrator of the MOST network can assign the priorities. Besides priority and event handling it is also possible to define special rules for the Extended Connection Manager.
The Extended Connection Manager clusters the resources available (sinks only). By doing so it is possible to handle multi-link connections straightforward.
The clusters being active may be also changed by events. E.g., audio may be shifted to the rear speakers or completely muted in case a telephone call is becoming active.
Also clusters and their interaction with events can be preconfigured by the system integrator.

By using the Extended Connection Manager in a complex system, the system integrator only needs to decide on the system behavior and to make the configuration accordingly. All complex administration is handled automatically.

The Extended Connection Manager is scalable from small to large systems – therefore no system resources are wasted (e.g., RAM, ROM, computing power).

Example of Priority Handling Influenced by Events

Event A ‘enter heavy traffic’ may change the priority of Func_Telephone to zero – i.e., no calls are let through, but Func_Online_Navigation may still be used and the telephone would therefore be involved in navigation.