Method and apparatus for reading and erasing diagnostic trouble codes from a vehicle

• US 20080065289A1
• Filed: 09/12/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: SPX Corporation
• Inventors: Bertosa, Thomas, Gessner, Michael, Namaky, Hamid
• Granted Patent: US 7,987,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided that allows a technician to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and remove any duplicates. The diagnostic tool can retrieve DTCs from the various diagnostic systems in the vehicle, remove any duplicates and display a unique list of DTCs. The diagnostic tool can also erase all DTCs including any duplicates from the vehicle after repairs have been completed. The tool can retrieve the DTCs without the user selecting the system to retrieve from.

Claims

1. A diagnostic tool for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a processor operably coupled to a memory;

an input device operably coupled to the processor for inputting information;

a communication device operably coupled to the processor; and

a housing surrounding the processor, the memory, the input device and the communication device, wherein the communication device is configured to communicate with vehicle onboard computer systems and the processor is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from multiple computer systems in the vehicle using multiple communication protocols and remove duplicate diagnostic trouble codes before displaying the diagnostic trouble codes to a user.

2. The tool of claim 1, wherein the input device is a keyboard, a button or a touch display screen.

3. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor can automatically retrieve and remove duplicate diagnostic trouble codes when a button pressed or menu selection is selected.

4. The tool of claim 1 further comprising a display, wherein the display shows a unique set of diagnostic trouble codes.

5. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor clears diagnostic trouble codes from multiple computer systems of the vehicle.

6. The tool of claim 5, wherein the processor can automatically retrieve and clear diagnostic trouble codes from the vehicle when a button pressed or menu selection is selected.

7. The tool of claim 1, wherein the communication device communicates in at least one of the following SAE J1850 (VPM), SAE J1850 (PWM), ISO 9141-2, ISO 14230-4 (“

Keyword 2000”

), and Controller Area Network (ISO 15765-4) protocols.

8. A diagnostic tool for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a processor operably coupled to a memory;

an input device operably coupled to the processor for inputting information;

a communication device operably coupled to the processor; and

a housing surrounding the processor, the memory, the input device and the communication device, wherein the communication device is configured to communicate with vehicle onboard computer systems and the processor is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from multiple computer systems of the vehicle using multiple communication protocols and clear diagnostic trouble codes from multiple systems of the vehicle using multiple communication protocols.

9. The tool of claim 8, wherein the processor can automatically retrieve and clear diagnostic trouble codes from the vehicle when a button is pressed or menu selection is selected.

10. A method of producing a unique list of diagnostic trouble codes from a vehicle, comprising:

communicating with vehicle onboard computer systems;

retrieving diagnostic trouble codes stored in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols;

determining whether duplicate diagnostic trouble codes exist;

removing any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes; and

displaying a unique list of diagnostic trouble codes, wherein the communicating, retrieving, determining, removing and displaying are done in response to a single operation of pressing a button or a menu selection is selected on a diagnostic tool.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating a list of vehicle onboard computer systems to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising selecting vehicle onboard computer systems from which to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising selecting a vehicle from a list of vehicles.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the processor clears diagnostic trouble codes from the multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols.

15. A method of erasing duplicate diagnostic trouble codes from a vehicle, comprising:

communicating with vehicle onboard computer systems;

retrieving diagnostic trouble codes stored in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols;

determining whether duplicate diagnostic trouble codes exists; and

clearing diagnostic trouble codes including any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols, wherein the communicating, retrieving, determining and clearing are done in response to a single operation of pressing a button or a menu selection is selected on a diagnostic tool.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising a user selecting vehicle onboard computer systems from which to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of clearing diagnostic trouble codes further comprises selecting all vehicle onboard computer systems from which to erase codes.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of clearing diagnostic trouble codes further comprises a user selecting vehicle onboard computer systems from which to erase codes.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the communication protocol includes at least one of the following SAE J1850 (VPM), SAE J1850 (PWM), ISO 9141-2, ISO 14230-4 (“

Keyword 2000”

), and Controller Area Network (ISO 15765-4) protocols.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting a vehicle from a list of vehicles.

21. A diagnostic tool system for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a means for processing operably coupled to a memory means;

a means for inputting operably coupled to the means for processing for inputting information;

a means for communicating operably coupled to the means for processing; and

a means for housing surrounding the means for processing, the memory means, the means for inputting and the means for communicating, wherein the means for communicating is configured to communicate with vehicle onboard computer systems and the means for processing is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from multiple systems using multiple communication protocols from the vehicle and remove duplicate diagnostic trouble codes before displaying to a user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for processing is further configured to delete all diagnostic trouble codes and any duplicates.