DISTRIBUTED VEHICLE SERVICE METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20110153151A1
• Filed: 03/03/2011
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap-On Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Snap-On Incorporated
• Inventors: ROGERS, Steven W., Bellefeuille, Jean De, Gill, George M., Kling, Mike, Baird, Michael L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,577,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for conducting a vehicle service comprises the steps of receiving signals representative of vehicle parameters, accessing data and/or software necessary for performing the vehicle service from at least one remote computer over a data transmission network, and performing signal processing related to the vehicle service based on the signals representative of the vehicle parameters and the accessed data and/or software. Since the data and/or software necessary for conducting the vehicle diagnostic analysis is distributed in different systems that are connected via a data communication network, an automotive service system can minimize the size of software stored locally and can access most of the information and/or algorithm required for conducting the vehicle diagnostic analysis from a remote system.

Claims

1-35. -35. (canceled)

36. A method for supplementing vehicle information stored in a host computer of a vehicle service system having a local database of vehicle information, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a vehicle to be measured by the service system;

establishing a communications link between the host computer of the vehicle service system and at least one remote computer system;

retrieving from the at least one remote computer system, via the communications link, a dynamically generated data packet containing vehicle service data associated with the identified vehicle;

extracting the vehicle service data from the data packet; and

utilizing the extracted vehicle service data in a service measurement of the identified vehicle.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising the step of storing the vehicle service data in the host computer of the vehicle service system for subsequent access.

38. A method for providing automotive vehicle information from a remote system configured as a web server, to a vehicle service system having a host computer, through a data transmission network, the method comprising the steps of:

communicating a request for at least one vehicle service data set from the remote system, over the data transmission network;

at the remote system, dynamically generating at least one data packet containing the at least one vehicle service data set;

transferring the at least one dynamically generated data packet containing the at least one vehicle service data set from the remote system to the host computer of the vehicle service system over the data transmission network;

extracting the at least one vehicle service data set from the at least one transferred data packet; and

utilizing the extracted vehicle service data set in a service measurement of an automotive vehicle.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the at least one vehicle service data set includes vehicle service specifications.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising the step of storing the extracted vehicle service data set in the host computer of the vehicle service system for subsequent access.

41. A method for providing automotive vehicle information from a remote system to a vehicle service device through a communications link, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the vehicle service device with vehicle identifying information;

directing the vehicle service device to utilize the vehicle identifying information to obtain automotive vehicle data from the remote system over the communications link;

providing from the remote system to the vehicle service device over the communications link, an index identifying automotive vehicle data available from the remote system;

selecting, through the vehicle service device, at least one set of automotive vehicle data from among the automotive vehicle data available from the remote system, based on the vehicle identifying information;

transferring from the vehicle service device to the remote system at least one packet of statistical information related to the vehicle service device following the selecting of at least one set of automotive vehicle data;

analyzing, at the remote computer, the transferred at least one packet of statistical information;

providing from the remote system, access to the automotive vehicle data available from the remote system over the communications link;

acquiring the at least one selected set of automotive vehicle data from the remote system over the communications link;

storing the acquired set of vehicle data in the vehicle service device for subsequent access; and

utilizing the stored set of automotive vehicle data in the service of an automotive vehicle;

wherein the step of analyzing the transferred at least one packet of statistical information includes identifying the configuration of the vehicle service device.

42. A method for providing automotive vehicle information from a remote system to a vehicle service device through a communications link, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the vehicle service device with vehicle identifying information;

directing the vehicle service device to utilize the vehicle identifying information to obtain automotive vehicle data from the remote system over the communications link;

acquiring at least one set of automotive vehicle data associated with the vehicle identifying information from the remote system over the communications link;

compiling tracking data at the remote system, associated with the access to selected sets of automotive vehicle data;

storing the acquired set of vehicle data for subsequent access;

utilizing the acquired set of automotive vehicle data in the service of an automotive vehicle; and

utilizing the compiled tracking data at the remote computer to identify statistical information including at least one frequency of access to individual vehicle specification sets.

43. A vehicle service system having at least one sensing device for acquiring service data of a vehicle, interface circuitry in communication with the at least one sensing device for generating data representative of the acquired service data, and a general purpose computer configured to utilize the generated data and input vehicle identification data to provide a representation of vehicle service to an operator, an improvement comprising:

the general purpose computer programmed to;

communicate over a data transmission network to at least one remote information database a request for remote vehicle data associated with the input vehicle identification data;

receive a generated data packet containing the remote vehicle data associated with the input vehicle identification data from the at least one remote information database;

extract the remote vehicle data from the data packet; and

utilize the extracted remote vehicle data to provide the representation of vehicle alignment to the operator.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the general purpose computer is further programmed to store the extracted remote vehicle data for subsequent access.

45. In an automotive service system, the system including:

a service host computer configured to communicate data over a data transmission network and for storing a first software object for use in a service operation, and

a remote computer configured to transfer data over the data transmission network and for storing a second software object for use in a service operation,

the improvement comprising;

the service host computer further configured to generate a request for the second software object from the remote computer;

the remote computer configured as a web server to respond to the request from the host computer to transfer the second software object to the service host computer over the data transmission network; and

the service host computer is further configured to alter the first software object based on the transferred second software object.

46. The improved automotive service system of claim 45, further comprising at least one sensing device for obtaining vehicle service parameters, wherein the host computer is further configured to receive signals representing the vehicle service parameters from the at least one sensing device, and to process the received signals based on the first software object.

47. The improved automotive service system of claim 45, wherein the first software object and the second software object include at least one of a data set and an instruction set for performing the vehicle service.