SECURELY CALCULATING AND STORING VEHICLE ODOMETER DATA

• US 20080294312A1
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PACCAR Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PACCAR Incorporated
• Inventors: O'Connor, Ian David, Caspe-Detzer, Martin Jay, Creel, William Michael, Scherzinger, Ted Joseph, Winch, Wayne Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,610,128 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention are directed at securely calculating and storing odometer data associated with a vehicle. In accordance with one embodiment, a method is provided that checks the integrity of odometer data being received from a vehicle'"'"'s engine. More specifically, the method includes receiving a first and second engine odometer values for an engine. Then, these odometer values are compared to determine whether data indicative of tampering was received. In this regard, if data indicative of tampering was received, aspects of the present invention adjust the official vehicle odometer value to account for the tampering.

Claims

1. In a vehicle that includes an engine, a first electronic control unit associated with the engine, and a second electronic control unit that is communicatively connected to the first electronic control unit, a method of calculating an official vehicle odometer value that represents the total distance traveled by the vehicle, the method comprising:

maintaining an engine offset in a memory of the second electronic control unit that represents the total distance traveled by the vehicle with one or more previous installed engines;

receiving an engine odometer value from the first electronic control unit that represents the total distance traveled by the engine; and

calculating an official vehicle odometer value, the official vehicle odometer value being based on a summation of the engine odometer value received from the first electronic control unit and the engine offset.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising causing the official odometer value to be presented on a dashboard display.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising causing the official odometer value to be periodically saved to non-volatile memory upon the identification of a triggering event.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein calculation of the official vehicle odometer value does not depend on data that is maintained in memory of the first electronic control unit.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the first electronic control unit may be reprogrammed without changing the official vehicle odometer value maintained by the second electronic control unit.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein maintaining the engine offset, includes:

identifying a change in engines installed in the vehicle; and

if a change in engines was identified, adding the official engine odometer value associated with the one or more previously installed engines to the engine offset.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein identifying a change in engines includes incrementing an engine counter that tracks the total number of engines installed in the vehicle.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein calculating an official vehicle odometer value, includes:

performing a comparison between successive engine odometer values as reported from the first electronic control unit; and

determining whether the comparison indicates that data indicative of tampering was received.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising if data indicative of tampering was received, adjusting the official vehicle odometer value to account for the tampering.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein calculating an official vehicle odometer value includes synchronizing an official engine odometer value maintained in the second electronic control unit with the engine odometer value received from the first electronic control unit.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein engine odometer values are periodically received during operations of the vehicle from the first electronic control unit and the calculation of the official vehicle odometer value is based on the periodically received engine odometer values.

12. A method of checking the integrity of odometer data reported from an engine in a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a first engine odometer value that represents the total distance traveled by the engine;

receiving a second engine odometer value that represents the total distance traveled by the engine, wherein the second engine odometer value is received subsequent to receiving the first engine odometer value;

comparing the first and second engine odometer values to determine whether data indicative of tampering was received; and

if data indicative of tampering was received, adjusting an official vehicle odometer value to account for the tampering.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the first and second engine odometer values are received from an electronic control unit associated with the engine in the vehicle.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the first and second engine odometer values are not maintained in memory on the electronic control unit associated with the engine and the difference between the first and second engine odometer values represents an incremental distance traveled by the vehicle over a predetermined period of time.

15. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein comparing the first and second engine odometer values to determine whether data indicative of tampering was received includes determining whether the first and second engine odometer values were received from the same engine.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein accounting for the tampering including calculating an official vehicle odometer value that is a summation of an engine offset, the second engine odometer value, and a negative rollback offset.

17. An electronic control unit comprising:

a memory for storing data; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is operative to;

cause an accumulation in memory of periodically received engine odometer values that represent the distance traveled by the current engine and an engine offset that represents the total distance traveled by one or more previously installed engines;

perform a comparison between at least two engine odometer values received from the current engine to determine whether tampering has occurred; and

calculate an official vehicle odometer value, the official vehicle odometer value being based a summation of the engine offset, an engine odometer value received from the current engine, and an a negative rollback offset that accounts for the tampering.

18. The electronic control unit as recited in claim 17, wherein the electronic control unit if further configured to cause the official vehicle odometer value to be displayed on a dashboard display.

19. The electronic control unit as recited in claim 17, wherein to cause an accumulation in memory of an engine offset that represents the total distance traveled by one or more previously installed engines includes determining whether a change in engines installed in the vehicle occurred.

20. The electronic control unit as recited in claim 17, wherein to calculate an official vehicle odometer value includes maintaining a value that represents the total distance traveled by the vehicle using one or more previous installed engines other than the current engine.