System and Method for Preventing Theft of Vehicle Diagnostic Equipment
First Claim
1. A vehicle diagnostic device for diagnosing a vehicle under test, comprising:
- a processor;
data storage;
a vehicle interface configured to interface with the vehicle under test and obtain diagnostic data from the vehicle; and
a wireless communications interface configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more other diagnostic devices;
wherein the processor is configured to;
monitor a status of the wireless communications interface; and
responsive to detecting a break in wireless connectivity with the one or more other diagnostic devices, execute an anti-theft response.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are systems and methods for detecting and responding to a potential theft of a display device and/or vehicle diagnostic device in a modular vehicle diagnostic system. Display devices and/or vehicle diagnostic devices may monitor a status of a wireless communications link between them and, responsive to detecting a break in the link, execute one or more anti-theft responses. Furthermore, a display device may maintain a whitelist and/or be in communications with an authentication and anti-theft server, and may determine whether to execute an anti-theft response and/or accept a connection request from a new vehicle diagnostic device based on the whitelist contents and/or based on a response from the server. Anti-theft responses may include sounding an alarm, ceasing function and/or locking up, reporting a potential theft, transmitting a location of the potentially stolen device, or other responses.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A vehicle diagnostic device for diagnosing a vehicle under test, comprising:
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a processor; data storage; a vehicle interface configured to interface with the vehicle under test and obtain diagnostic data from the vehicle; and a wireless communications interface configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more other diagnostic devices; wherein the processor is configured to; monitor a status of the wireless communications interface; and responsive to detecting a break in wireless connectivity with the one or more other diagnostic devices, execute an anti-theft response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of preventing theft of a first vehicle diagnostic device comprising:
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the first diagnostic device retrieving diagnostic data from a vehicle under test and transmitting the diagnostic data to one or more second diagnostic devices via a wireless communications link; the first diagnostic device monitoring a status of the wireless communications link with the one or more second diagnostic devices; responsive to detecting a break in wireless connectivity with the one or more second diagnostic devices, the first diagnostic device executing an anti-theft response. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A vehicle diagnostic device for diagnosing a vehicle under test, comprising:
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a processor; data storage; an input interface; a vehicle interface configured to interface with the vehicle under test and obtain diagnostic data; and a wireless communications interface configured to communicate with one or more second diagnostic devices; wherein the processor is configured to; detect that one or more available second diagnostic devices are within communication range of the vehicle diagnostic device; transmit a connection request to one of the second diagnostic devices via the wireless communications interface; responsive to the transmission, receive a challenge request from the one of the second diagnostic devices via the wireless communications interface and responsively prompt a user to enter a password via the input interface; and transmit the entered password to the one of the second diagnostic devices via the wireless communications interface. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of preventing theft of a vehicle diagnostic device comprising:
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the vehicle diagnostic device detecting that one or more second diagnostic devices are within wireless communication range of the vehicle diagnostic device; the vehicle diagnostic device transmitting a connection request to at least one of the second diagnostic devices; responsive to the transmission, the vehicle diagnostic device receiving a challenge request from the at least one second diagnostic device via a wireless communications interface and responsively prompting a user to enter a password via an input interface provided at the vehicle diagnostic device; and the vehicle diagnostic device transmitting the entered password to the at least one second diagnostic device via the wireless communications interface. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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Specification