ELECTRONIC CONTROL SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE

• US 20090271064A1
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: SHIMIZU, Kokichi, ENOMOTO, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,521 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/02 Ensuring safety in case of control system failures, e.g. by diagnosing, circumventing or fixing failures
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/2425 Particular ways of programming the data

Abstract

An electronic control unit performs self-diagnosis based on signals received from various sensors, and stores abnormality data in an EEPROM when abnormality is detected. The DTC is stored in a first memory area and a second memory area of the EEPROM, if a condition flag stored in the EEPROM is OFF and ON, respectively. The condition flag is switched from OFF (initial value) to ON, when service start data is received from a telematics service center in a period from the completion of assembling the electronic control unit to the vehicle to the start of use of the vehicle by a user.

Claims

1. An electronic control system for a vehicle comprising:

a non-volatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data in a plurality of memory areas thereof;

diagnosis means configured to perform diagnosis based on data from devices mounted on the vehicle; and

memory area switching means configured to store in the non-volatile memory abnormality data detected by the diagnosis means,

wherein the memory area switching means is configured to check whether a specified condition is satisfied, and switch the memory area of the abnormality data based on a check result, the specified condition being set to be after assembling the non-volatile memory, the diagnosis means and the memory area switching means to the vehicle.

2. The electronic control system according to claim 1, wherein the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in a first memory area and a second memory area of the plurality of memory areas of the non-volatile memory, when the abnormality is detected before and after the specified condition is satisfied, respectively.

3. The electronic control system according to claim 1, wherein:

the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in a first memory area of the plurality of memory areas of the non-volatile memory and set a history data, at time the abnormality is detected before the specified condition is satisfied; and

the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in the first memory area and a second memory area, when the history data is not set and is set, respectively, at time the abnormality is detected after the specified condition is satisfied.

4. The electronic control system according to claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory is configured to store data indicating a memory area of the plurality of memory areas of the non-volatile memory in which the abnormality data of abnormality detected after the specified condition is satisfied.

5. An electronic control system for a vehicle comprising:

a non-volatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data in a plurality of memory areas thereof;

diagnosis means configured to perform diagnosis based on data from devices mounted on the vehicle; and

memory area switching means configured to store in the non-volatile memory abnormality data detected by the diagnosis means,

wherein the diagnosis means is configured to be operable in a function check mode for performing a function checking operation and a normal mode for performing a normal operation, and

wherein the memory area switching means is configured to switch the memory area of the non-volatile memory for storing the abnormality data based on whether the function check mode or the normal mode is performed when the abnormality is detected.

6. The electronic control system according to claim 5, wherein the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in a first memory area and a second memory area of the plurality of memory areas of the non-volatile memory, when the abnormality is detected in the function check mode and the normal mode, respectively.

7. The electronic control system according to claim 5, wherein:

the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in a first memory area of the plurality of the memory areas of the non-volatile memory and set a history data, when the abnormality is detected in the function check mode; and

the memory area switching means is configured to store the abnormality data in the first memory area and a second memory area of the plurality of the memory areas of the non-volatile memory, when the history data is not set and is set at time the abnormality is detected in the normal mode, respectively.

8. The electronic control system according to claim 5, wherein the non-volatile memory is configured to store data indicating a memory area of the plurality of memory areas of the non-volatile memory in which the abnormality data of abnormality detected in the normal mode is stored.

9. An electronic control system for a vehicle comprising:

a non-volatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data in a plurality of memory areas thereof;

diagnosis means configured to perform diagnosis based on data from devices mounted on the vehicle; and

memory area switching means configured to store in the non-volatile memory abnormality data detected by the diagnosis means,

wherein the memory area switching means is configured to switch the memory area for storing the abnormality data based on a command received from an external tool.

10. The electronic control system according to claim 9, wherein the non-volatile memory is configured to store data indicating a memory area of the plurality of memory area of the non-volatile memory in which the abnormality data to be outputted to the external tool in response to a request for reading out the abnormality data from the external tool.