Method and Apparatus for Reading and Erasing Diagnostic Trouble Codes from a Vehicle

• US 20110257837A1
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bosch Automotive Service Solutions LLC (SPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SPX Corporation
• Inventors: Bertosa, Thomas, Gessner, Michael, Namaky, Hamid
• Granted Patent: US 9,008,897 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided that allows a technician to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and remove any duplicates. The diagnostic tool can retrieve DTCs from the various diagnostic systems in the vehicle, remove any duplicates and display a unique list of DTCs. The diagnostic tool can also erase all DTCs including any duplicates from the vehicle after repairs have been completed. The tool can retrieve the DTCs without the user selecting the system to retrieve from.

Claims

1. A diagnostic tool for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a processor operably coupled to a memory;

a display operably coupled to the processor;

an input device operably coupled to the processor for inputting information; and

a communication device operably coupled to the processor and communicates in multiple communication protocols, wherein the communication device is configured to communicate with vehicle onboard computer systems and the processor is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from multiple vehicle onboard computer systems in the vehicle using multiple communication protocols and remove any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes before displaying the diagnostic trouble codes to a user on the display.

2. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor retrieves diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard computer systems.

3. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor automatically retrieves and removes duplicate diagnostic trouble codes when a button of the input device is pressed or menu selection is selected.

4. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor generates a list of all diagnostic trouble codes before the duplicate diagnostic trouble codes are removed.

5. The tool of claim 1, wherein the processor clears diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard computer systems.

6. The tool of claim 5, wherein the processor automatically retrieves and clears diagnostic trouble codes from the vehicle onboard computer systems when a button of the input device pressed or menu selection is selected.

7. The tool of claim 1, wherein the communication device communicates in at least one of the following SAE J1850 (VPM), SAE J1850 (PWM), ISO 9141-2, ISO 14230-4 (“

Keyword 2000”

), and Controller Area Network (ISO 15765-4) protocols.

8. A diagnostic tool for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a processor operably coupled to a memory;

an input device operably coupled to the processor for inputting information; and

a communication device operably coupled to the processor and communicates with all vehicle onboard computer systems in multiple communication protocols, wherein the processor is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols and delete any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes and wherein the processor further configured to clear diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard computer systems.

9. The tool of claim 8, wherein the processor automatically retrieves and clears diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard computer systems when a button of the input device is pressed or a menu selection is selected.

10. A method of producing a unique list of diagnostic trouble codes from a vehicle on a computing device, comprising:

communicating with vehicle onboard computer systems, via a communication circuit that uses multiple communication protocols;

retrieving, via a processor, diagnostic trouble codes stored in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems;

determining, via the processor, whether duplicate diagnostic trouble codes exists;

removing, via the processor, any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes to create the unique list of diagnostic trouble codes; and

displaying the unique list of diagnostic trouble codes on a display.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating a list of vehicle onboard computer systems to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising selecting vehicle onboard computer systems from which to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising selecting a vehicle from a list of vehicles, wherein the communicating, retrieving, determining, removing and displaying are done in response to a single operation of pressing a button or a menu selection is selected on a diagnostic tool.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising clearing, via the processor, diagnostic trouble codes from the multiple vehicle onboard computer systems.

15. A method of erasing duplicate diagnostic trouble codes from a vehicle with a computing device, comprising:

communicating with vehicle onboard computer systems via a communication circuit;

retrieving, via a processor, diagnostic trouble codes stored in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols;

determining, via the processor, whether duplicate diagnostic trouble codes exists; and

clearing, via the processor, all diagnostic trouble codes including any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes in multiple vehicle onboard computer systems using multiple communication protocols, wherein the communicating, retrieving, determining and clearing are done in response to a single operation of pressing a button or a menu selection is selected on the computing device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting, via an input device, vehicle onboard computer systems from which to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of clearing diagnostic trouble codes further comprises selecting all vehicle onboard computer systems from which to erase codes.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of clearing diagnostic trouble codes further comprises a user selecting vehicle onboard computer systems from which to erase codes.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the communication protocol includes at least one of the following SAE J1850 (VPM), SAE J1850 (PWM), ISO 9141-2, ISO 14230-4 (“

Keyword 2000”

), and Controller Area Network (ISO 15765-4) protocols.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting, via an input device, a vehicle from a list of vehicles.

21. A diagnostic tool system for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

a means for processing diagnostic trouble codes operably coupled to a means for storing;

a means for inputting information operably coupled to the means for processing;

a means for communicating with vehicle onboard computer systems operably coupled to the means for processing; and

a means for housing the means for processing, the means for storing, the means for inputting and the means for communicating, wherein the means for processing is configured to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard systems using multiple communication protocols and delete any duplicate diagnostic trouble codes before displaying to a user on a means for displaying.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for processing is further configured to delete all diagnostic trouble codes from all vehicle onboard systems and any duplicates.