Method and system for retrieving diagnostic information

• US 20130054082A1
• Filed: 10/20/2012
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitchell Repair Information Company, LLC (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mitchell Repair Information Company, LLC (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Inventors: Costantino, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29.6
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata

Abstract

A system, method, and apparatus for retrieving trouble codes from a motor vehicle and retrieving only relevant diagnostic information relative to the returned codes from one or more remote diagnostic libraries. An electronic diagnostic library contains generalized diagnostic vehicle information tagged with trouble code identification ID'"'"'s at a first location, and a diagnostic tool at a second location requests only relevant diagnostic information from the electronic library that is tagged with trouble code identification ID'"'"'s corresponding to the retrieved trouble codes. The diagnostic tool receives the specific diagnostic vehicle information at the first location and may store the specific vehicle information locally prior to displaying an index to the information to a repair technician.

Claims

1. A system for retrieving specific diagnostic information comprising:

a first computing system at a first location, the first computing system including an electronic library of diagnostic information tagged with trouble code identification ID'"'"'s stored in a first electronic medium;

a second computing system at a second location, the second computing system including to a first interface for retrieving diagnostic trouble codes from a second electronic storage medium within an equipment under diagnosis, the second computing system also having a second interface for connecting with the first computing system and having a display for providing information to a user of the second computing system;

wherein the second computing system is configured to, upon retrieval of the diagnostic trouble codes, request specific diagnostic information from the electronic library at the first location tagged with the trouble code identification ID'"'"'s corresponding to the trouble codes received from the equipment under diagnosis, store the specific diagnostic information, and populate the display to the user with an index to the retrieved specific diagnostic information.

2. The system set forth in claim 1, wherein the specific diagnostic information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of wiring diagrams, images of equipment components, suggested diagnostic testing steps, equipment component removal and installation instructions, and component specification data.

3. The system set forth in claim 1, wherein the electronic library and the second computing device are connected to the Internet, and the second computing system requests the specific diagnostic information from the electronic library at the first location via the Internet.

4. The system set forth in claim 3, wherein the second computing device also retrieves year, make, and model information or unique equipment identification number (BIN) information from the second electronic storage medium within the equipment under diagnosis, and sends the year, make, and model information or EIN information along—

with the retrieved trouble codes to the electronic library at the first location.

5. The system set forth in claim 3, wherein the equipment under diagnosis is a motor vehicle or a portion of a motor vehicle, and the electronic library of tagged diagnostic information is motor vehicle diagnostic information.

6. A computing device for retrieving and storing only specific diagnostic information comprising:

a computing device at a first location having a first electronic storage medium, the computing system including a first interface for retrieving diagnostic trouble codes from a second electronic storage medium within an equipment under diagnosis, and having a second interface for connecting with a remote computing system at a second location via a network connection, the computing device including a display for providing information to a user of the second computing system;

wherein the computing system is configured to, upon retrieval of the diagnostic trouble codes from the equipment under diagnosis, request only specific diagnostic information from an electronic library at the first location that is tagged with trouble code identification ID'"'"'s corresponding to the trouble codes received from the equipment under diagnosis, store the specific diagnostic information in the first electronic storage medium, and populate the display to the user with an index to the retrieved specific diagnostic information.

7. The computing device set forth in claim 6, wherein the specific diagnostic information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of wiring diagrams, images of equipment components, suggested diagnostic testing steps, equipment component removal and installation instructions, and component specification data.

8. The computing device set forth in claim 6, wherein the computing device and remote computing system are connected to the Internet, and the computing device at the first location requests the specific diagnostic information from the electronic library at the second location via the Internet.

9. The computing device set forth in claim 8, wherein the computing device also retrieves year, make, and model information or unique equipment identification number (BIN) information from the second electronic storage medium within the equipment under diagnosis, and sends the year, make, and model information or BIN information along with the retrieved trouble codes to the electronic library at the second location.

10. The computing device set forth in claim 6, wherein the equipment under diagnosis is a motor vehicle or a portion of a motor vehicle, and the electronic library of tagged diagnostic information is motor vehicle diagnostic information.

11. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for retrieving specific diagnostic information, said method comprising:

retrieving one or more diagnostic trouble codes from an equipment under diagnosis;

requesting only specific diagnostic information corresponding to the trouble codes received from the first electronic storage medium from a remote electronic library containing a library of diagnostic information tagged with trouble code identification ID'"'"'s;

receiving only the specific diagnostic information from the remote electronic library;

storing the specific diagnostic information in a local data store; and

populating a display to a user with an index to the retrieved specific diagnostic information.

12. The computer program product set forth in claim 11, wherein the specific diagnostic information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of wiring diagrams, images of equipment components, suggested diagnostic testing steps, equipment component removal and installation instructions, and component specification data.

13. The computer program product set forth in claim 11, wherein the computing program product also retrieves year, make, and model information or unique equipment identification number (BIN) information from the first electronic storage medium within the equipment under diagnosis, and sends the year, make, and model information or EIN identification information along with the retrieved trouble codes to the remote electronic library.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, at a diagnostic tool, a diagnostic trouble code associated with a past or current error condition of a diagnosable equipment;

transmitting, from the diagnostic tool to a communication link, a request for information objects that correspond to the received diagnostic trouble code and the diagnosable equipment, wherein the transmitted request for information objects comprises data identifying the received diagnostic trouble code and data identifying the diagnosable equipment;

receiving, at the diagnostic tool via the communication link, a plurality of information objects transmitted to the diagnostic tool in response to the request for information objects;

displaying, via a display of the diagnostic tool, an index identifying the received plurality of information objects that correspond to the received diagnostic trouble code and the diagnosable equipment; and

receiving, at the diagnostic tool, a selection of an information object identified in the displayed index and responsively displaying, via the display of the diagnostic tool, content of the information object selected from the displayed index and received in response to the request for information objects.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein displaying the index identifying the received plurality of information objects comprises display a code description button, a wiring diagram button, a connector views button, a component locator button, a testing steps button, a removal and installation button, and a specifications button.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the received plurality of information objects comprises (i) a wiring diagram related to the diagnostic trouble code, (ii) a graphical connector view of a connector related to the diagnostic trouble code, (iii) testing steps for diagnosing the diagnostic trouble code, (iv) a graphical component locator view that illustrates where a component is located, (v) instructions for removing and installing a component in diagnosing the diagnostic trouble code, and (vi) specification data for a component being diagnosed in regard to the diagnostic trouble code.

17. The method of claim 14,

wherein each of the received information objects was identified from an article tagged with an article ID associated with the diagnosable equipment and by a respective object ID that corresponds to the diagnostic trouble code received from the diagnosable equipment, and

wherein each of the respective object IDs is contained within the article.

18. A diagnostic tool comprising:

a processor;

a data store storing software code executable by the processor;

a display device;

a first interface arranged for the diagnostic tool to carry out communications with a diagnosable equipment via a first wired or wireless connection; and

a second interface arranged for the diagnostic tool to carry out communications with a diagnostic portal via a second wired or wireless connection,

wherein the communications with the diagnosable equipment comprise a diagnostic trouble code request transmitted to the first wired or wireless connection by the diagnostic tool, and data, received at the first interface, identifying a diagnostic trouble code associated with a past or current error condition of a the diagnosable equipment,

wherein the communications with the diagnostic portal comprise a request for information objects that correspond to the received diagnostic trouble code and the diagnosable equipment transmitted to the second wired or wireless connection by the diagnostic tool, and a plurality of information objects received at the diagnostic tool in response to the request for information objects,

wherein the request for information objects comprises data identifying the received diagnostic trouble code and data identifying the diagnosable equipment, and

wherein the stored software code comprises software code executed by the processor to cause the display device to display an index identifying the received plurality of information objects that correspond to the received diagnostic trouble code and the diagnosable equipment, and, in response to a selection of an information object identified in the displayed index, to cause the display device to display content of the information object selected from the displayed index and received in response to the request for information objects.

19. The diagnostic tool of claim 18, wherein the received plurality of information objects comprises (i) a wiring diagram related to the diagnostic trouble code, (ii) a graphical connector view of a connector related to the diagnostic trouble code, (iii) testing steps for diagnosing the diagnostic trouble code, (iv) a graphical component locator view that illustrates where a component is located, (v) instructions for removing and installing a component in diagnosing the diagnostic trouble code, and (vi) specification data for a component being diagnosed in regard to the diagnostic trouble code.

20. The diagnostic tool of claim 19, wherein the specification data comprises data selected from the group consisting of (i) an electrical specification, (ii) a sealant specification, (iii) a torque specification, (iv) a temperature specification, (v) a pressure specification.

21. The diagnostic tool of claim 18,

wherein the displayed index comprises a summary box configured to display a text summary regarding the diagnostic trouble code, and

wherein the displayed index comprises a clear code button configured to cause a text summary being displayed in the summary box to be removed from the summary box.