Method for data transfer in vehicle electrical test system
First Claim
1. A method for data transfer during electrical testing of vehicles during assembly, comprising the steps of:
- entering into a tester a vehicle identification number (VIN) associated with a vehicle having an electrical system;
transmitting the VIN via radiofrequency (RF) from the tester to a system computer;
at the system computer, correlating the VIN to salescode information pertaining to the electrical system of the vehicle;
transmitting the salescode information to the tester via RF;
correlating the salescode data at the tester to a test protocol; and
transferring the test protocol to a translator engageable with a test receptacle of the vehicle.
21 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for testing the electrical components of vehicles during manufacturing includes a hand held tester to which a translator unit can be detachably engaged and with which the tester is in RF communication. The translator unit can be detached from the tester and plugged into a test receptacle under a vehicle'"'"'s dashboard to communicate with the vehicle by translating computer formatted data from the tester to vehicle bus-formatted data, and vice-versa. Then, the vehicle'"'"'s VIN is scanned into the tester or manually input into the tester, and the tester transmits the VIN via an RF link in the assembly plant to a computer in the plant. Based on the VIN, the computer determines the electric equipment that the vehicle has, and the computer transmits this information back to the tester. The tester then determines which tests to execute, and the tester causes the translator unit to undertake these tests. The translator transmits the test results back to the tester which in turn transmits the results to the computer. A portable current module can be provided that monitors the current drawn from the vehicle'"'"'s battery during the testing and for communicating this data to the tester via RF link.
108 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for data transfer during electrical testing of vehicles during assembly, comprising the steps of:
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entering into a tester a vehicle identification number (VIN) associated with a vehicle having an electrical system; transmitting the VIN via radiofrequency (RF) from the tester to a system computer; at the system computer, correlating the VIN to salescode information pertaining to the electrical system of the vehicle; transmitting the salescode information to the tester via RF; correlating the salescode data at the tester to a test protocol; and transferring the test protocol to a translator engageable with a test receptacle of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for data transfer during testing of an electrical system of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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generating a query at a portable tester adjacent the vehicle; transmitting the query via RF to a system computer; in response to the query, transmitting information pertaining to the vehicle to the tester via RF; correlating the information to a test protocol at the tester; executing the test protocol to generate test results; wherein the query is a VIN, the information is salescode information, and the method further comprises; transferring the test protocol to a translator engageable with a test receptacle of the vehicle to execute the test protocol; and transferring the test results to the system computer. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer program product tangibly embodying a series of computer-executable instructions on one or more data storage devices in computer usable form, the one or more storage devices including:
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computer code read means for generating a query at a portable tester adjacent the vehicle; computer readable code means for transmitting the query via RF to a system computer; computer readable code means for, in response to the query, transmitting information pertaining to the vehicle to the tester via RF; computer readable code means for correlating the information to a test protocol at the tester; computer readable code means for transferring the test protocol to a translator engageable with a test receptacle of the vehicle to execute the test protocol; computer readable code means fore executing the test protocol to generate test results; and computer readable code means for transferring the test results to the system computer. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification