METHOD FOR VEHICLE FAULT DIAGNOSIS USING AUDIO SENSORS

• US 20090177354A1
• Filed: 01/09/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bisdikian, Chatschik, Ko, Bong Jun, Lee, Kang-Won, Agrawal, Dakshi, Pappas, Vasileios
• Application Number:
  US11/971,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20090177354A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

A method for implementing vehicle diagnostics includes: receiving one or more sound signals from a series of sensors distributed and positioned in various operational areas of a vehicle; recording the one or more sound signals in response to a command generated by an operator of the vehicle; storing the one or more sound signals in persistent memory; processing the one or more sound signals; and selecting one or more of the processed sound signals for audio playback in response to a user command; and wherein the audio playback is configured to assist in the diagnosis and prevention of vehicle faults and component defects.

Claims

1. A method for implementing vehicle diagnostics, the method comprising:

receiving one or more sound signals from a series of sensors distributed and positioned in various operational areas of a vehicle;

recording the one or more sound signals in response to a command generated by an operator of the vehicle;

storing the one or more sound signals in persistent memory;

processing the one or more sound signals; and

selecting one or more of the processed sound signals for audio playback in response to a user command; and

wherein the audio playback is configured to assist in the diagnosis and prevention of vehicle faults and component defects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of the one or more sound signals comprises separating and isolating the one or more sound signals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the recording of the one or more sound signals is initiated in response to the vehicle'"'"'s operator pushing a control button within the vehicle;

and

wherein the recording stops as a result of at least one of the following;

in response to the vehicle operator, and automatically via a predefined recording session timeout.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the diagnosis of vehicle faults further comprises the matching the one or more processed sound signals with existing sound samples in a symptom database;

and

wherein the matching of one or more processed sound signals with the existing sound samples assists in the potential identification of a root cause of the vehicle fault.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the diagnosis of vehicle faults further comprises correlating the one or more processed sound signals with information derived from the vehicle'"'"'s monitoring and diagnostic system.