Apparatus and Method of Error Monitoring with a Diagnostic Module

• US 20160189441A1
• Filed: 03/03/2016
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Elzein, Hadi, Ostrowski, Jeffrey Raymond, Elliott, Doron M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,002,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0787 Storage of error reports, e.g. persistent data storage, storage using memory protection
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A vehicle computer system configured to communicate with a mobile device, comprising a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the mobile device. The vehicle computer system also includes a processor in communication with the wireless transceiver and memory. The processor is configured to monitor activity occurring at the wireless transceiver, receive a message from the wireless transceiver that includes information related to one or more software states of the wireless transceiver, determine an error has occurred at the wireless transceiver, save the information related to the one or more software states of the wireless transceiver in the memory, and send the information related to the one or more software states.

Claims

1. A vehicle computer system (VCS), comprising:

processor of the vehicle computer system configured to;

1.) monitor communication activity between a mobile device and a wireless transceiver in a vehicle;

2.) receive a message, that includes software information related to communication activity with the wireless transceiver, from the wireless transceiver;

3.) save the software information in a vehicle memory; and

4.) output the software information to an error log.

2. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to monitor activity occurring at the wireless transceiver by requesting information related to one or more software states of the wireless transceiver.

3. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to send software state information of the wireless transceiver to an off-board server via the wireless transceiver.

4. The vehicle computer system configured of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to send software state information of the wireless transceiver to an off-board server via a long-range wireless transceiver.

5. The vehicle computer system of claim 4, wherein the long-range transceiver is a cellular modem.

6. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to send the information related to one or more software states to an external memory device via a short-range transceiver.

7. The vehicle computer system of claim 6, wherein the short-range transceiver is a universal serial bus (USB) transceiver.

8. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to monitor activity occurring at the wireless transceiver based upon receiving an input to activate a diagnostic mode, the diagnostic mode defining the activity that is monitored at the wireless transceiver.

9. The vehicle computer system of claim 8, wherein the diagnostic mode defining the activity includes a trouble-shooting mode.

10. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the software information includes data regarding error behavior and valid behavior of the wireless transceiver.

11. A method of monitoring communication activity between a mobile device a wireless transceiver of a vehicle computer system, comprising:

monitoring communication activity occurring at the wireless transceiver;

receiving a message from the wireless transceiver that includes information related to one or more software states of the wireless transceiver;

determine an error has occurred at the wireless transceiver based on the software states; and

outputting the information related to the software states.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the outputting the information includes outputting to an off-board server via the wireless transceiver.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information includes an error log identifying software state errors.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless transceiver is a cellular modem.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the method includes the step of sending the information related to the one or more software states to an external memory device via a short-range transceiver.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the short-range transceiver is a universal serial bus (USB) transceiver.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with a mobile device;

a processor in communication with the wireless transceiver, the processor configured to;

receive a message from the wireless transceiver that includes information related to one or more software states of the wireless transceiver;

determine an error has occurred at the wireless transceiver based on the information; and

output the information to an error log.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to send the error log to an off-board server via a long-range wireless transceiver.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the long-range transceiver is a cellular modem.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to send the information related to the one or more software states to an external memory device via a short-range transceiver.