COOPERATIVE VEHICLE DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM

• US 20160342456A1
• Filed: 08/08/2016
• Published: 11/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: McQuade, Charles Michael, Brinton, Brett, Colvin, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 11,080,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0656 Data buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• 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 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/00 Electric signal transmission systems G08C17/00 takes precedence

Abstract

Operational data generated and used in a vehicle to control various vehicular systems is temporarily stored in a data buffer in the vehicle. A processor in the vehicle is configured to detect anomalous conditions, which can be based on predefined fault codes or user defined conditions (based on a single parameter or a combination of parameters). Whenever such an anomaly is detected, a diagnostic log is conveyed from the vehicle to a remote location. Such a log will include the detected anomaly, and buffered operational data. In at least one embodiment, the diagnostic log includes buffered operational data collected both before and after the anomaly. The diagnostic log is analyzed at the remote location to diagnose the cause of the anomalous condition, so a decision can be made as to whether the vehicle requires immediate repair, or whether the repair can be scheduled at a later time.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a remote computing device and an onboard vehicle data collection device, the onboard vehicle data collection device including;

a vehicle data bus interface to pass operational data generated by a plurality of vehicle-based sensor devices;

a ring buffer arranged in a memory to store the operational data;

a fault detection mechanism arranged to assert a fault code when data passed via the vehicle data bus indicates a predefined fault; and

a wireless data link device, the wireless data link device arranged to communicate fault code data and a predetermined amount of operational data from the ring buffer to the remote computing device, the predetermined amount of operational data including operational data associated with the asserted fault code and operational data not associated with the asserted fault code.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the data passed via the vehicle data bus indicates the predefined fault after at least one datum of the operational data crosses a threshold.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring buffer is a first-in, first-out buffer.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring buffer is arranged in at least 128 MB of the memory.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring buffer is arranged in no more than 256 MB of the memory.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is a user-definable amount of data.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is all of the operational data stored in the ring buffer.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data includes a first amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer before the fault code was asserted and a second amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer after the fault code was asserted.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the fault code corresponds to a fault code defined by a vehicle manufacturer.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the fault code corresponds to a user defined fault code.

11. A system according to claim 1, wherein at the remote computing device is arranged to communicate a plurality of fault codes and at least one threshold associated with each of the plurality of fault codes to the onboard vehicle data collection device.

13. A method according to claim 11, comprising:

operating a vehicle having the onboard vehicle data collection device while detecting when operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crosses the threshold and while communicating with the remote computing device.

15. A method according to claim 11, wherein the fault code is a fault code predefined by a manufacturer.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is a user-definable amount of data.

18. At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to claim 16, wherein the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform further acts comprising:

with the remote computing device, analyzing operational data associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition; and

based on analyzing the operational data, diagnosing a cause of the anomalous vehicle condition.

19. At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is a user-definable amount of data.

20. At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is all of the operational data stored in the ring buffer.

21. At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to claim 16, wherein the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform further acts comprising:

updating the predetermined amount of operational data that will be communicated to the remote computing device.

12. A method, comprising:

defining a ring buffer in a memory of an onboard vehicle data collection device;

collecting operational data passed through a plurality of vehicle data inputs;

storing the operational data in the ring buffer such that current operational data written into the ring buffer overwrites previous operational data previously written into the ring buffer;

detecting when operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crosses a threshold;

based on the detecting;

asserting a fault code corresponding to a vehicle-based device that generated at least some of the operational data and corresponding to the threshold;

communicating, via a wireless data link, fault code data associated with the asserted fault code to a remote computing device; and

communicating, via the wireless data link, a predetermined amount of operational data from the ring buffer to the remote computing device, the predetermined amount of operational data including operational data associated with the asserted fault code and operational data not associated with the asserted fault code.

14. A method according to claim 12, comprising:

with the remote computing device, diagnosing a cause for the operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crossing the threshold.

17. At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon, the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform acts comprising:

defining a ring buffer in a memory;

directing storage of operational data passed through a plurality of vehicle data inputs into the ring buffer;

detecting an anomalous vehicle condition, the anomalous vehicle condition indicating that at least one operational data value has crossed an associated threshold;

in response to detection of the anomalous vehicle condition;

communicating, via a wireless data link device, fault code data to a remote computing device; and

communicating, via the wireless data link device, a predetermined amount of operational data from the ring buffer to the remote computing device, the predetermined amount of operational data including operational data associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition and operational data not associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition.