Methods and apparatus for vehicle maintenance event detection and recording

• US 10,347,058 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Pursifull, Ross Dykstra, Uhrich, Michael James, Patel, Dilip B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paige, Tyler D
• Application Number:
  US15/823,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20190164360A1
• Time in Patent Office: 589 Days
• Field of Search: 701 294
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• 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 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for vehicle maintenance event detection and recording. An example apparatus includes a maintenance event detector to detect a first maintenance event including at least one of a tire rotation event or a fluid change event, a parameter recorder to store in a service log a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle travel distance at which the first maintenance event occurred, and a distance targeter to determine a target distance for a second maintenance event based on information stored in the service log.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a maintenance event detector to detect a first maintenance event associated with a vehicle, the first maintenance event being a tire rotation event in which tires of the vehicle are changed from a first tire configuration to a second tire configuration;

a parameter recorder to store in a service log a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle travel distance at which the first maintenance event occurred; and

a distance targeter to;

determine a target distance for a second maintenance event based on information stored in the service log; and

modify the target distance to a modified target distance such that a first distance traveled on the first tire configuration matches a second distance to be traveled on the second tire configuration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the maintenance event detector is further to detect the tire rotation event when one or more of the tires change location on the vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further including a maintenance event validator to determine whether the second tire configuration matches a target second tire configuration when the tire rotation event is detected.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further including an improper maintenance alert generator to alert a user of the vehicle when the second tire configuration does not match the target second tire configuration.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter recorder is further to determine a service station that completed the first maintenance event based on the vehicle location.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a target maintenance alert generator to alert a user of the vehicle that the second maintenance event is targeted based on a current vehicle travel distance and the modified target distance for the second maintenance event.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distance targeter is further to determine a difference between the first distance traveled on the first tire configuration and the second distance traveled on the second tire configuration, the modified target distance based on the difference.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor programmed to detect a first tire rotation event, wherein the processor is to record a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle travel distance for the first tire rotation event and modify a target distance for a second tire rotation event such that a first distance traveled on a first configuration of tire locations matches a second distance traveled on a second configuration of tire locations.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to detect the first tire rotation event when the first configuration of tire locations changes to the second configuration of tire locations, wherein tire locations are determined by comparing orientation data of one or more tire pressure monitoring system sensors with displacement data for one or more wheel assemblies.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to determine whether the second configuration of tire locations matches a target second configuration of tire locations when the first tire rotation event is detected.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to alert a user of the vehicle when the second configuration of tire locations does not match the target second configuration of tire locations.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to determine a service station that completed the first tire rotation event based on the vehicle location.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to alert a user of the vehicle that the second tire rotation event is targeted based on a current vehicle travel distance and the target distance for the second tire rotation event.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the vehicle maintenance diagnostic processor is further programmed to determine a difference between the first distance traveled on the first configuration of tire locations and the second distance traveled on the second configuration of tire locations, the modification of the target distance based on the difference.

15. A method comprising:

detecting a first maintenance event including at least one of a tire rotation event or a fluid change event;

storing, in a service log, a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle travel distance at which the first maintenance event occurred in response to detecting the first maintenance event; and

determining a target distance for a second maintenance event based on information stored in the service log, further including modifying the target distance such that a first distance traveled on a first configuration of tire locations matches a second distance traveled on at least a second configuration of tire locations when the first and second maintenance events are tire rotations.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting the first maintenance event further includes at least one of:

detecting the tire rotation event in response to one or more tires changing location on a vehicle;

or

detecting the fluid change event in response to a level of a fluid changing from a first level to a second level.

17. The method of claim 16, further including at least one of:

determining whether the second configuration of tire locations matches a target second configuration of tire locations in response to detecting the tire rotation event;

or

determining whether the second level of the fluid is within a tolerance of a target level for the fluid in response to detecting the fluid change event.

18. The method of claim 15, further including determining a service station that completed the first maintenance event based on correlating the vehicle location to the service station.

19. The method of claim 15, further including alerting a user of a vehicle that the second maintenance event is targeted based on a current vehicle travel distance and the target distance for the second maintenance event.

20. The method of claim 15, further including determining a difference between the first distance traveled on the first configuration of tire locations and the second distance traveled on the second configuration of tire locations, the modifying of the target distance based on the difference.