METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MATCHING VEHICLE ECU PROGRAMMING TO CURRENT VEHICLE OPERATING CONDITIONS
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring the programming of a vehicle controller that controls at least one performance characteristic of a vehicle to current vehicle operational requirements, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) during vehicle operation, automatically collecting vehicle operational data; and
(b) using a processor to analyze the vehicle operational data in real-time to determine if different programming would lead to improved performance.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are techniques for implementing vehicle ECU reprograming, so the ECU programming, which plays a large role in vehicle performance characteristics, is tailored to current operational requirements, which may be different than the operational characteristics selected by the manufacturer when initially programming the vehicle ECU (or ECUs) with specific instruction sets, such as fuel maps. In one embodiment, a controller monitors the current operational characteristics of the vehicle, determines the current ECU programming, and determines if a different programming set would better suited to the current operating conditions. In the event that the current programming set should be replaced, the controller implements the ECU reprogramming. In a related embodiment, users are enabled to specify the ECU programming to change, such as changing speed limiter settings.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring the programming of a vehicle controller that controls at least one performance characteristic of a vehicle to current vehicle operational requirements, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) during vehicle operation, automatically collecting vehicle operational data; and (b) using a processor to analyze the vehicle operational data in real-time to determine if different programming would lead to improved performance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification