AUTOMOBILE SERVICING METHOD, DIAGNOSTIC SERVER AND AUTOMOBILE THEREOF

• US 20090112396A1
• Filed: 10/08/2008
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Tseng, Wen-Haw, Tsai, Shu-Jen, Chen, Long-Fong, Wong, Shih-Fang
• Application Number:
  US12/247,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112396A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An exemplary automobile servicing method includes: registering basic information of automobiles and service stations; receiving a self-check report, positional coordinates of one of the automobiles; analyzing the self-check report to generate diagnostic results of the automobile; selecting a desirable one of the service stations capable of performing a preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile according to the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the automobile; searching and transmitting prices of each item of the diagnostic results and positional coordinates of the desirable service station to the automobile, for one or more of the items being selected to generate a service order; receiving and transmitting the service order to the desirable service station, for informing the desirable service station to prepare for performing the preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile according to the service order. An exemplary related automobile and diagnostic server are also provided.

Claims

1. An automobile servicing method, the method comprising:

registering basic information of automobiles and service stations, and assigning a unique identifier to each of the automobiles;

receiving a combined data transmitted by one of the automobiles, and parsing the combined data into a diagnostic request, a self-check report, positional coordinates, and the unique identifier of the automobile;

analyzing the self-check report to generate diagnostic results of the automobile in response to the diagnostic request on condition that the unique identifier being validated;

selecting a desirable one of the service stations capable of performing a preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile according to the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the automobile;

searching a price list of the desirable service station for prices of each item of the diagnostic results and positional coordinates of the desirable service station;

combining the prices of each item of the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the desirable service station to form an estimate report;

transmitting the estimate report to the automobile, for one or more of the items of the diagnostic results being selected to generate a service order;

receiving the service order transmitted by the automobile; and

transmitting the service order to the desirable service station, for informing the desirable service station to to start making preparation to perform the preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile according to the service order.

2. The automobile servicing method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

selecting one or more of the service stations capable of performing the preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile according to the diagnostic results;

reading the positional coordinates of the selected service stations;

calculating distances between the automobile and each of the selected service stations according to the positional coordinates of the automobile and each of the selected service stations; and

selecting a nearest one of the selected service stations to the automobile as the desirable service station by comparing the distances.

3. A diagnostic server comprising:

a register unit for registering basic information of automobiles and service stations, and assigning a unique identifier to each of the automobiles, the basic information including positional coordinates of each of the service stations;

a communication unit for receiving a combined data transmitted by one of the automobiles;

a data processing unit for parsing the combined data into a diagnostic request, a self-check report, positional coordinates, and a unique identifier of the one of the automobiles;

a diagnostic unit for analyzing the self-check report to generate diagnostic results in response to the diagnostic request on condition that the unique identifier of the one of the automobiles being validated, the diagnostic results indicating which components of the automobile need to have preventive maintenance performed or need to be repaired;

a shop determination unit for selecting a desirable one of the service stations capable of performing the preventive maintenance or repair of the one of the automobiles according to the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the automobile;

an estimate unit for obtaining prices of each item of the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the desirable service station, combining the prices of each item of the diagnostic results and the positional coordinates of the desirable service station to form the estimate report, and transmitting the estimate report to the one of the automobiles via the communication unit; and

a network transmission unit for receiving the service order transmitted by the one of the automobiles via the communication unit, and transmitting the service order to the desirable service station, for informing the desirable service station to prepare for performing the preventive maintenance or repair of the one of the automobiles according to the service order.

4. The diagnostic server as claimed in claim 3, wherein the shop determination unit selects one or more of the service stations capable of performing the preventive maintenance or repair of the one of the automobiles according to the diagnostic results, reads the positional coordinates of the selected service stations, calculates distances between the one of the automobiles and each of the selected service stations according to the positional coordinates of the one of the automobiles and each of the selected service stations, and selects a nearest one of the selected service stations to the one of the automobiles as the desirable service station by comparing the distances.

5. The diagnostic server as claimed in claim 3, wherein the estimate unit searches a price list of the desirable service station for the prices of each item of the diagnostic results.

6. The diagnostic server as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a database for storing the basic information of the automobiles and service stations.

7. An automobile comprising:

a detection unit for performing a self-check at regular intervals, and providing a self-check report;

a signal receiver for receiving GPS signals at regular intervals, and generating positional coordinates of the automobile according to the GPS signals; and

a diagnostic request unit for generating a diagnostic request, the diagnostic request being for signaling a diagnostic server that an estimate report is needed according to the self-check report of the automobile;

a data processing unit for obtaining the unique identifier of the automobile, and combining the self-check report, the positional coordinates, and the unique identifier of the automobile with the diagnostic request to form the combined data; and

a communication unit for transmitting the combined data to the diagnostic server.

8. The automobile as claimed in claim 7, wherein the data processing unit receives the estimate report from the diagnostic server through the communication unit, and parses the estimate report into prices of each item of diagnostic results and positional coordinates of the desirable service station.

9. The automobile as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:

a display unit for displaying a reference mark of the desirable service station on an electronic map according to the positional coordinates of the desirable service station, and the prices of each item of the diagnostic results; and

an order generation unit for selecting one or more of the items of the diagnostic results, combining the selected items of the diagnostic results and the unique identifier of the automobile to form a service order, and transmitting the service order to the diagnostic server via the communication unit, the service order being for requesting a desirable service station to perform the preventive maintenance or repair of the automobile.

10. The automobile as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a storage unit for storing the unique identifier of the automobile.