ELECTRONIC CONTROL SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES

• US 20090281689A1
• Filed: 05/05/2009
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: SUGANUMA, Takeshi, Enomoto, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/006 Identification G06F11/2289 takes precedence

Abstract

In an electronic control system for a vehicle, an ECU performs diagnosis, and attaches a flag to abnormality data DTC upon detection of abnormality. The flag value is 0 or 1, when a specified condition is not satisfied and satisfied, respectively. When an ignition switch is turned off, the DTC with the attached flag is stored in an EEPROM. The flag value is switched in response to a specified condition that arises between completion of assembly of the ECU to a vehicle and use of the vehicle by a user. The specified condition is set to correspond to start of telematics service to the vehicle.

Claims

1. An electronic control system for a vehicle comprising:

a nonvolatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data;

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

abnormality data storing means configured to store abnormality data indicating abnormality detected by the diagnosis means in the nonvolatile memory;

condition check means configured to check whether a specified condition is satisfied, the specified condition being set to arise after completion of assembly of the vehicle; and

identification data attaching means configured to attach identification data to the abnormality data of the diagnosis means based on a check result of the condition check means, the identification data being pre-condition data or post-condition data indicating whether the abnormality is detected before or after the specified condition,

wherein the abnormality data storing means is configured to store also the identification data with the abnormality data.

2. The electronic control system according to claim 1, further comprising:

abnormality data response means configured to transmit the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory to an external failure diagnosis device in response to an abnormality data readout request from the external failure diagnosis device,

wherein all of the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory are transmitted before the specified condition, and only the abnormality data selected based on the identification data are transmitted after the specified condition.

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

the nonvolatile memory includes an abnormality data memory area for storing the abnormality data; and

the abnormality data storing means is configured to overwrite the abnormality data attached with the pre-condition data with the abnormality data attached with the post-condition data in storing the abnormality data attached with the post-condition data in the abnormality data memory area, when the abnormality data memory area is unavailable for storing the abnormality data attached with the post-condition data.

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

a data erasure condition for erasing the abnormality data attached with the pre-condition data is set to be lower than a data erasure condition for erasing the abnormality data attached with the post-condition data.

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

the abnormality data attached with the pre-condition data among the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory is erased under a first condition that a diagnosis item corresponding to the abnormality data has been determined to be normal before the specified condition;

the abnormality data attached with the post-condition data among the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory is erased under a second condition that a diagnosis item corresponding to the abnormality data has been determined to be normal after the specified condition; and

a normality determination condition for determining that the diagnosis item is normal in the first condition is set to be lower than in the second condition.

6. An electronic control system comprising:

a nonvolatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data;

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

abnormality data storing means configured to store abnormality data indicating abnormality detected by the diagnosis means in the nonvolatile memory;

condition check means configured to check whether a specified condition is satisfied, the specified condition being set to arise after completion of assembly of the vehicle; and

lump erasure means configured to erase all the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory when the specified condition is satisfied.

7. An electronic control system comprising:

a nonvolatile memory assembled to the vehicle and rewritable with data;

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

abnormality data storing means configured to store abnormality data indicating abnormality detected by the diagnosis means in the nonvolatile memory; and

identification data attaching means configured to attach an identification data to the abnormality data, the identification data indicating whether the abnormality is detected in a function check mode for performing a function check or in a normal mode for performing normal control operation,

wherein the abnormality data storing means is configured to store the abnormality data attached with the identification data.

8. The electronic control system according to claim 7, further comprising:

response means configured to select the abnormality data, which is stored in the nonvolatile memory, based on the identification data and transmit selected abnormality data to an external failure diagnosis device, when an abnormality data readout request is received from the external failure diagnosis device,

wherein the abnormality data selected and transmitted to the external failure diagnosis device are abnormality data stored in the function check mode and in the normal mode, when the abnormality data readout request is received in the function check mode and in the normal mode, respectively.

9. The electronic control system according to claim 8, wherein:

the response means is configured to transmit additionally the abnormality data stored in the normal mode, when the abnormality data readout request is received in the function check mode.

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

the nonvolatile memory includes an abnormality data memory area for storing the abnormality data; and

the abnormality data storing means is configured to overwrite the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the function check mode with the abnormality data attached with identification data of the normal mode in storing the abnormality data attached with identification data of the normal operation data in the abnormality data memory area, when the abnormality data memory area is unavailable and the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the function check mode is stored.

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

a data erasure condition for erasing the abnormality data attached with identification data of the function check mode is set to be lower than a data erasure condition for erasing the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the normal operation mode.

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

the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the function check mode among the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory is erased under a first condition that a diagnosis item corresponding to the abnormality data has been determined to be normal in the function check mode;

the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the normal mode among the abnormality data stored in the nonvolatile memory is erased under a second condition that a diagnosis item corresponding to the abnormality data has been determined to be normal in the normal mode; and

a normality determination condition for determining that the diagnosis item is normal in the function check mode is set to be lower than in the normal mode.

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

the abnormality data attached with the identification data of the function check mode is erased, when an operation mode is switched from the function check mode to the normal mode.