Reverse Failure Analysis Method and Apparatus for Diagnostic Testing
First Claim
1. A diagnostic tool for performing a reverse failure analysis, comprising:
- a diagnostic test selector module configured to select a first diagnostic test related to a component of a vehicle from a pool of diagnostic tests;
a symptom to component associator module configured to associate a first symptom with the component based on the first diagnostic test;
an observed symptoms receiving module configured to receive a plurality of observed symptoms of a test subject vehicle; and
a symptom to component correlator module configured to correlate the observed symptoms to the component based on the observed symptoms corresponding to at least the first symptom, wherein the diagnostic test selector module is further configured to select a second diagnostic test related to the component from the pool of diagnostic tests and the symptom to component associator module is further configured to associate a second symptom with the component based on the second diagnostic test.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A reverse failure analyzer determines a group of diagnostic test procedures related to a particular vehicle component from a pool of diagnostic procedures, and then identifies the specific failure modes of each of the diagnostic test procedures. The reverse failure analyzer further associates the specific failure modes with the respective vehicle component associated with each of the diagnostic test procedures, and the symptoms associated with each of the diagnostic test procedures to the correlated vehicle components and failure modes. In addition, the reverse failure analyzer can cross-reference various vehicle components that can be the root cause of a particular symptom or a vehicle operational problem. Furthermore, the reverse failure analyzer can receive observed symptoms regarding a particular test subject vehicle and correlate the observed symptoms to the vehicle components that can cause the symptoms based on the results of reverse failure analyses.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A diagnostic tool for performing a reverse failure analysis, comprising:
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a diagnostic test selector module configured to select a first diagnostic test related to a component of a vehicle from a pool of diagnostic tests; a symptom to component associator module configured to associate a first symptom with the component based on the first diagnostic test; an observed symptoms receiving module configured to receive a plurality of observed symptoms of a test subject vehicle; and a symptom to component correlator module configured to correlate the observed symptoms to the component based on the observed symptoms corresponding to at least the first symptom, wherein the diagnostic test selector module is further configured to select a second diagnostic test related to the component from the pool of diagnostic tests and the symptom to component associator module is further configured to associate a second symptom with the component based on the second diagnostic test. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer implement method of reverse failure analysis, comprising the steps of:
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selecting a first and a second component to test using the reverse failure analysis; selecting diagnostic tests from a group of diagnostic tests related to the first and second component; associating symptoms that are generated by the diagnostic tests appropriately with the first and second component; and cross referencing the first and second component with each other if they have related symptoms. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A diagnostic tool for performing a reverse failure analysis, comprising:
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a diagnostic test selector module configured to select a first diagnostic test related to a first component of a vehicle from a pool of diagnostic tests; a symptom to component associator module configured to associate a first symptom with the first component based on the first diagnostic test; and a component cross referencer module configured to cross reference the first component with a plurality of components based on the first component and the plurality of components being associated with the first symptom. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification