Technologies for verifying control system operation

• US 10,269,192 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2017
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karma Automotive LLC (Wanxiang Group Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Airbiquity Incorporated
• Inventors: Garrett, Darrin L., Leung, Keefe
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weeks, Martin A
• Application Number:
  US15/482,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20180293816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 746 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0234 related to maintenance or repairing of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/2487 Methods for rewriting
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and computer-readable media for verifying operations of vehicle control systems are disclosed. During a test cycle, a vehicle-embedded computer device (VECD) may monitor control modules and/or sensors embedded in a vehicle for control system data (CSD), may generate and report fingerprint based on a combination of the CSD, and may report the fingerprint to a vehicle performance verification system (VPVS). During deployment, the VECD may monitor the control modules/sensors for CSD, may generate and performance results (PRs) based on a combination of the CSD, and may report the PRs to the VPVS. The VPVS may verify whether the control systems of the vehicle are operating as desired based on a comparison of the PRs with the fingerprint. The VPVS may generate and send an alert or flag to a remote device if the control systems of the vehicle are not operating as desired.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable media article of manufacture comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of a vehicle-embedded computer device (VECD) in a vehicle during operation of the vehicle, is to cause the VECD to:

identify a trigger to monitor for control system data of the vehicle in which the computer device is embedded;

monitor for control system data in response to detection of the trigger;

obtain, during an operating cycle, the control system data from individual control modules or from individual sensors of a plurality of sensors embedded in the vehicle;

generate performance results based on a combination of the obtained control system data; and

control transmission of a message including the performance results to a vehicle performance verification system (VPVS).

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein, to generate the performance results, the VECD, in response to execution of the instructions, is to:

determine, based on the obtained control system data, real-time operation parameters during the operating cycle matching the operation parameters defined by the vehicle emissions test procedure; and

generate the performance report to include data items of the obtained control system data corresponding to the real-time operation parameters collected during the operating cycle.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 2, wherein the data items of the obtained control system data comprise:

real-time calculated or measured intake air temperature (IAT) data of IAT sensors of the plurality of sensors;

real-time calculated engine load values from an engine control module (ECM), the ECM being among the individual control modules;

real-time fuel injector activation timing data of the one or more cylinders or the one or more injectors from the ECM;

ignition spark timing data of the one or more cylinders from the ECM, wherein the ignition spark timing data indicates spark events relative to crank angle of the one or more cylinders; and

exhaust sensor data of exhaust sensors of the plurality of sensors relative to fuel injection timing events of the fuel injector activation timing data, wherein the exhaust sensors include the exhaust oxygen sensors and manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensors of the plurality of sensors.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein, the VECD, in response to execution of the instructions, is to:

identify another trigger to monitor for other control system data during a testing cycle;

monitor for the other control system data in response to detection of the other trigger;

generate a vehicle fingerprint based on a combination of the monitored other control system data; and

transmit another message including the vehicle fingerprint to the VPVS.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein the other control system data is to be obtained from the individual control modules and the plurality of sensors, and wherein the combination of other control system data of the vehicle fingerprint comprises:

exhaust oxygen data from exhaust oxygen sensors of the plurality of sensors;

engine revolutions per minute (RPM) of an engine of the vehicle from an ECM, the ECM being among the individual control modules;

fuel injector activation timing data of one or more cylinders or one or more injectors of the engine from the ECM;

ignition spark timing data of the one or more cylinders from the ECM; and

intake air flow data from mass air flow (MAF) sensors of the plurality of sensors.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 5, wherein the VECD, in response to execution of the instructions, is to:

receive a command to roll back a software update of a control system configuration when the VECD is not verified as operating according to desired performance parameters;

obtain a desired version of the control system configuration based on the command; and

implement the desired version of the control system configuration.

7. A computer system to implement a vehicle performance verification system (VPVS), the computer system comprising:

a network interface to;

receive, from a vehicle-embedded computer device (VECD), a message including performance results of a vehicle in which the VECD is embedded, the performance results being based on data collected by individual control modules embedded in the vehicle, and

transmit a flag to another computer device when the performance results indicate that the VECD is not operated according to desired performance parameters; and

a processor to;

compare data items of the performance results with data items of a vehicle fingerprint of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle fingerprint is based on a combination of control system data collected during a vehicle emissions test, the vehicle emissions test being conducted according to a vehicle emissions test procedure that defines operation parameters during which control system data is to be collected, and

generate the flag when at least one data item of the performance results varies from a corresponding data item of the vehicle fingerprint by a threshold.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the network interface is to obtain the vehicle fingerprint from a vehicle repository.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the processor is to:

generate a timestamp of when the data items of the performance results are compared with data items of a vehicle fingerprint; and

generate historical data including the timestamp and the flag, and

wherein the network interface is to send the vehicle historical data to the vehicle repository for storage.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the historical data indicates a difference between one or more data items of the performance results with one or more data items of the vehicle fingerprint.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the historical data indicates a difference between a desired air-to-fuel ratio and an actual air-to-fuel ratio, or the historical data indicates a difference between a desired spark timing and an actual spark timing.

12. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the network interface is to send the performance results to a vehicle repository for storage in association with the fingerprint.

13. A vehicle-embedded computer system, comprising:

at least one processor to;

obtain first control system data from individual electronic control units (ECUs) embedded in a vehicle during an operating cycle of the vehicle, the individual control modules being communicatively coupled with the vehicle-embedded computer system,

obtain second control system data directly from a plurality of sensors embedded in the vehicle, and

generate performance results based on a combination of the obtained first control system data and the second controls stem data;

communication circuitry communicatively coupled with the at least one processor, the communications circuitry is to transmit a message including the performance results to a vehicle performance verification system (VPVS) via a communications network.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein, to generate the performance results, the at least one processor is to:

determine, based on the obtained control system data, real-time operation parameters during the operating cycle matching the operation parameters defined by the vehicle emissions test procedure; and

generate the performance report to include data items of the obtained control system data corresponding to the real-time operation parameters collected during the operating cycle.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the data items of the obtained control system data comprise:

real-time calculated or measured intake air temperature (IAT) data of IAT sensors of the plurality of sensors;

real-time calculated engine load values from an engine control module (ECM), the ECM being among the individual ECUs;

real-time fuel injector activation timing data of the one or more cylinders or the one or more injectors from the ECM;

ignition spark timing data of the one or more cylinders from the ECM, wherein the ignition spark timing data indicates spark events relative to crank angle of the one or more cylinders; and

exhaust sensor data of exhaust sensors of the plurality of sensors relative to fuel injection timing events of the fuel injector activation timing data, wherein the exhaust sensors include the exhaust oxygen sensors and manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensors of the plurality of sensors.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

identify another trigger to monitor for other control system data during a testing cycle;

monitor for the other control system data in response to detection of the other trigger;

generate a vehicle fingerprint based on a combination of the monitored other control system data; and

control the communication circuitry to transmit another message including the vehicle fingerprint to the VPVS.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the combination of control system data of the vehicle fingerprint comprises:

exhaust oxygen data from exhaust oxygen sensors of the plurality of sensors;

engine revolutions per minute (RPM) of an engine of the vehicle from an ECM, the ECM being among the individual ECUs;

fuel injector activation timing data of one or more cylinders or one or more injectors of the engine from the ECM;

ignition spark timing data of the one or more cylinders from the ECM; and

intake air flow data from mass air flow (MAF) sensors of the plurality of sensors.

18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is communicatively coupled with the communication circuitry and the individual ECUs by way of a controller area network (CAN), a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, or a FlexRay system.