Method and system for retrieving diagnostic information from a vehicle
First Claim
1. An off-board device (OBT) comprising:
- a processor in circuit communication with a) vehicle communication circuitry for linking to a vehicle diagnostic system, issuing one or more requests to the vehicle diagnostic system, and receiving one or more responses from the vehicle diagnostic system;
b) host interface circuitry for communicating with a host computer;
c) voltage determination circuitry for measuring a voltage through the vehicle diagnostic system connector; and
d) memory.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Exemplary embodiments of off-board tools (OBTS) may be used in vehicle inspection maintenance programs are provided. The OBT may include a processor, vehicle communication circuitry for linking to a vehicle diagnostic system, host interface circuitry for communicating with a host computer, and voltage determination circuitry for measuring a voltage through the vehicle diagnostic system. The OBT may include logic for storing a communications protocol used to link with a vehicle diagnostic system that is preferably used for re-establishing dropped communications links. In addition, the OBT may contain logic for testing at least one component of a starting and/or charging system of a vehicle. Still other embodiments may include logic for sending unsolicited messages to a host computer. Additional embodiments may include logic for determining the minimum number of messages that must be received by an OBT.
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Citations
67 Claims
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1. An off-board device (OBT) comprising:
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a processor in circuit communication with a) vehicle communication circuitry for linking to a vehicle diagnostic system, issuing one or more requests to the vehicle diagnostic system, and receiving one or more responses from the vehicle diagnostic system;
b) host interface circuitry for communicating with a host computer;
c) voltage determination circuitry for measuring a voltage through the vehicle diagnostic system connector; and
d) memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An off-board device (OBT) comprising:
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a processor in circuit communication with a) vehicle communication circuitry for linking to a vehicle diagnostic system, requesting information from the vehicle diagnostic system, and receiving information from the vehicle diagnostic system;
b) host interface circuitry for communicating with a host computer; and
c) logic for transmitting one or more unsolicited messages to the host computer. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An OBT comprising:
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a processor in circuit communication with a) vehicle communication circuitry for linking to a vehicle diagnostic system, wherein the vehicle diagnostic system comprises one or more computer modules;
b) logic for requesting information from the vehicle diagnostic system;
c) logic for receiving the information from the vehicle diagnostic sytem;
d) logic for determining the minimum number of messages to expect from each of the one or more computer modules in response to a request for data; and
e) logic for determining whether the number of minimum number of messages have been received from each module. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An automobile emissions inspection system comprising:
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a) a host computer; and
b) an OBT comprising;
i) logic for establishing a communications link with a vehicle diagnostic system using a selected communications protocol;
ii) logic for receiving a request for data from the host computer;
iii) logic for requesting data from the vehicle diagnostic system;
iv) logic for re-establishing communications with the vehicle diagnostic system using the selected communications protocol. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of determining whether to establish circuit communications with a vehicle diagnostic system comprising:
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connecting an OBT to a vehicle diagnostic system;
obtaining a measurement indicative of the voltage of the vehicle battery;
determining whether the measured voltage is above a first threshold value;
establishing a communications link with the vehicle if the measured voltage is above a first threshold value; and
providing an output if the measured voltage is below the second threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method of establishing a communications link between an OBT and a vehicle diagnostic system comprising:
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obtaining a vehicle type;
determining whether the vehicle type is a problem vehicle type;
if the vehicle type is not a problem vehicle automatically determining a preferred communications protocol by communicating with the vehicle;
if the vehicle type is a problem vehicle type, obtaining a communications protocol associated with the vehicle type without communicating with the vehicle; and
establishing a communications link with the vehicle diagnostic system. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method of re-establishing communications between an OBT and a vehicle diagnostic system comprising:
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establishing a communications link with a vehicle diagnostic system;
storing a communications protocol used to link with the vehicle diagnostic system;
determining loss of communications between the OBT and the vehicle diagnostic system;
re-establishing the communications link using the stored communications protocol. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of communicating unsolicited messages from an OBT to a host computer comprising:
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connecting the OBT to a vehicle diagnostic system;
establishing a communications link with the vehicle diagnostic system;
receiving a request for data from the host computer;
sending an unsolicited message to the host computer;
requesting the data from the vehicle diagnostic system; and
sending the retrieved data to the host computer. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57)
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58. A method of decreasing the time required to perform an inspection maintenance test comprising:
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determining the number of computer modules in a vehicle diagnostic system;
determining the number of messages to expect from each computer module in response to a data request;
creating a table with the number of computer modules that support a data request and the minimum number of messages to expect from each computer module;
sending a data request to the vehicle diagnostic system;
determining whether the minimum number of messages have been received for each computer module;
if the minimum number of messages have been received for each module, proceeding with test;
if the minimum number of messages have not been received for each module, waiting for a time-out period to expire. - View Dependent Claims (59)
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60. An OBT comprising:
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a processor in circuit communication with a) vehicle communication circuitry configured to selectively communicate with a vehicle diagnostic system to request at least one bit of information from the vehicle diagnostic system and to receive the at least one bit of information;
b) host interface circuitry for communicating with a host computer; and
c) voltage determination circuitry configured to selectively communicate with the starter/charging system to test at least one of a starting system, a charging system and a battery via a test cable connected to the vehicle diagnostic system. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification