Code reader display

• US 20040016804A1
• Filed: 04/10/2003
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: SPX Corporation
• Inventors: Namaky, Hamid, Roberts, Robert A., Koran, Matthew H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,073,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/435
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens

Abstract

An improved code reader for reading and displaying OBD II diagnostic codes. The code reader displays textual diagnosis descriptions corresponding to diagnostic codes. The code reader can display both an OBD II code and the textual diagnosis description corresponding to a selected OBD II code by using multiple display rows for the display. The improved code reader also uses an improved user interface.

Claims

1. A code reader for reading and displaying codes, comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) a communications circuit in circuit communication with the processor, the communications circuit for generating a communications link with a source of a code; and

(c) a display circuit in circuit communication with the processor, the display circuit having an available display region with a plurality of display characters arranged in a plurality of rows;

wherein the size of the display characters in a first row is larger than the size of the display characters in a row other than the first row.

2. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the communications circuit requests the code from the source and the code is stored in an internal or external memory.

3. The code reader of claim 2, wherein the processor causes the display to indicate that at least one code was stored.

4. The code reader of claim 1, further comprising at least one operator input device, wherein an operator may input instructions to the processor.

5. The code reader of claim 4, wherein the display region displays alphanumeric textual information corresponding to a code selected by the operator with the at least one operator input device.

6. The code reader of claim 5, wherein the alphanumeric textual information corresponding to a code is determined from a lookup table.

7. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rows have substantially the same width.

8. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the code comprises at least one alphanumeric character and the at least one alphanumeric character is displayed in the first row.

9. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the code corresponds to an alphanumeric textual description and the alphanumeric textual description is displayed in the display region in the rows other than the first row.

10. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the source of the code is a vehicle diagnostic system, and the communications circuit reads at least one code from the vehicle diagnostic system.

11. The code reader of claim 10, wherein the communications circuit is powered from the vehicle diagnostic system.

12. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the code has alphanumeric text associated therewith, the alphanumeric text for display in the rows other than the first row.

13. The code reader of claim 1, further comprising at least one operator input device.

14. The code reader of claim 13, wherein the at least one operator input device comprises a plurality of buttons for communication with the processor.

15. The code reader of claim 14, wherein the buttons are labeled as READ, ERASE, BACK, ENTER, YES/UP ARROW, and NO/DOWN ARROW.

16. The code reader of claim 13, wherein there are two sets of operator input devices.

17. The code reader of claim 16, wherein at least one operator input device is a member of each set of operator input devices.

18. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the first row or the row other than the first row or both are capable of displaying characters in such a way that the characters appear to be scrolling upwards.

19. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the first row or the row other than the first row or both are capable of displaying characters in such a way that the characters appear to be streaming from left to right.

20. The code reader of claim 1, wherein there is one row other than the first row.

21. The code reader of claim 1, wherein there are two rows other than the first row.

22. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the rows other than the first row comprise 16 display characters.

23. The code reader of claim 1, wherein the rows other than the first row comprise 20 display characters.

24. A code reader for reading and displaying diagnostic codes, comprising

(a) a housing;

(b) a processor located within the housing for generating a menu-driven user interface;

(c) a communications circuit in circuit communication with the processor, said communications circuit for generating a communications link with a vehicle diagnostic system and reading at least one diagnostic code from the vehicle diagnostic system, the at least one diagnostic code having a corresponding textual diagnosis description formed by a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

(d) a display circuit in circuit communication with the processor, the display circuit having an available display region for displaying the menu-driven user interface, the diagnostic code, and the textual diagnosis description; and

(e) a first input device set and a second input device set arranged on a first surface of the housing, the input device sets for operator interaction with the processor;

wherein the first input device set operates to cause the processor to bypass the menu-driven interface and to communicate with the vehicle diagnostic system and display the at least one diagnostic code and the textual diagnosis description, and the second input device set operates to interact with the menu-driven user interface.

25. A method for retrieving and displaying textual diagnostic information from a vehicle computer system comprising:

(a) establishing circuit communication between a code reader and the vehicle computer system;

(b) requesting data having at least one code from the vehicle computer system;

(c) retrieving the data;

(d) identifying a textual diagnosis description corresponding to a retrieved code selected by an operator; and

(e) displaying the textual diagnosis description.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the code selected by the operator is communicated to the code reader via at least one operator input device.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising communicating a selected code from the operator to the code reader.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein identifying a textual diagnosis description corresponding to a retrieved code comprises reference to a lookup table.

29. A code reader for reading and displaying codes, comprising:

(a) Means for establishing communication between the code reader and a source of a code;

(b) Means for displaying alphanumeric textual information associated with the code.

30. The code reader of claim 29, wherein the means for displaying textual alphanumeric information comprises a display having a first row and at least one row other than the first row, the textual alphanumeric information being displayed in the at least one row other than the first row.

31. The code reader of claim 29, further comprising means for displaying the code.

32. The code reader of claim 29, further comprising means for an operator to communicate with the code reader to select the code for which textual alphanumeric information is to be displayed.

33. The code reader of claim 29, further comprising means to display a menu to the operator from which the operator may make selections to communicate with the code reader.