Patent ID: 10773634

Abstract:
An array (166, 184, 194, 230, 256) of multiple light heads (170, 186, 194, 236) for a vehicle (100) has a primary Controller Area Network (CAN) serial data bus (108, 224) to carry first serial communications among spaced-apart CAN nodes (112, 118, 130, 136, 140, 154, 220, 260, 288) communicatively coupled thereto. The first serial communications initiate a flash sequence from the array via second serial communications provided to the multiple light heads communicatively coupled to a nested CAN serial data bus (180, 190, 200, 238). An array controller (130, 136, 140, 220, 260) segregates the nested CAN serial data bus from the primary CAN serial data bus while providing a communications bridge between nodes of the two buses. Accordingly, light heads on the nested bus provide self-identification and diagnostic information to other nodes such as a computer (288) configuration utility (290) featuring a graphical user interface (292).