Controller for vehicle with self-diagnostic function and recording medium

• US 6,477,453 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2001
• Issued: 11/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Maki, Yoshiyuki, Oi, Masaya
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/024,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 319 Days
• Field of Search: 701/31, 701/33, 701/34, 701/35, 701/36, 701/29, 340/438
• US Class Current: 701/31
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24054 Self diagnostic
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2637 Vehicle, car, auto, wheelchair

Abstract

To enable easier change of a self-diagnostic program for making a contribution towards improvement in quality of the same program, even if it is required to correct an execution condition for fault detection due to the change of a diagnosis object, a diagnostic drive determination object is provided to determine the execution condition of a fault detection object driven from a diagnostic scheduler object. The diagnostic scheduler object determines the fault detection object of the drive object and requests the drive acknowledgment to the diagnostic drive determination object. Upon issuance of the drive acknowledgment request, the diagnostic drive determination object obtains the information required for the execution condition determination and notifies a drive acknowledgment/non-acknowledgment message. Only when the acknowledgment message is notified, does the diagnostic scheduler object issue a drive instruction to the fault detection object of the diagnostic object.

Claims

1. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the controller comprising:

a self-diagnostic program for realizing a self-diagnostic function, the program being object-oriented designed and structured in units of objects that can be reused;

a fault detection object that is prepared for every unit, in relation to the diagnosis object, to detect a fault as the diagnosis object;

a scheduler object for determining the fault detection object as a drive object based on an external timing signal wherein a drive of the fault detection object is instructed when the drive is permissible; and

a drive determination object for determining whether the fault detection object, as a drive object determined with the scheduler object, should be driven or not, and then notifying, based on a determination result, a drive permission to the scheduler object.

2. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 1, wherein the drive determination object determines whether the fault detection object as the drive object should be driven or not, in consideration of a relationship of the fault detection among the fault detection objects.

3. A controller for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein determination in consideration of a relationship of the fault detection should be made based on at least one factor of the fault detection result of another fault detection object in relation to the fault detection objet as a drive object and a fault detection execution record.

4. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 3, wherein the drive determination object determines whether the fault detection object as the drive object should be driven or not in consideration of a common pre-condition of the fault detection among the fault detection objects.

5. A controller for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the determination in consideration of the pre-condition of fault detection should be made based on at least one factor of voltage of an on-board battery and time passage after starting a vehicle engine.

6. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 5, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

7. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 4, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

8. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 3, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

9. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 2, wherein the drive determination object determines whether the fault detection object as the drive object should be driven or not in consideration of a common pre-condition of the fault detection among the fault detection objects.

10. A controller for a vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the determination in consideration of the pre-condition of fault detection should be made based on at least one factor of voltage of an on-board battery and time passage after starting a vehicle engine.

11. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 10, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

12. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 9, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

13. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 2, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

14. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 1, wherein the drive determination object determines whether the fault detection object as the drive object should be driven or not in consideration of a common pre-condition of the fault detection among the fault detection objects.

15. A controller for a vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the determination in consideration of the pre-condition of fault detection should be made based on at least one factor of voltage of an on-board battery and time passage after starting a vehicle engine.

16. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 15, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

17. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 14, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

18. A controller for a vehicle with a self-diagnostic function according to claim 1, wherein the scheduler object has a correspondence table describing the fault detection object as the drive object corresponding to the external timing signal and determines the fault detection object as the drive object by referring to the correspondence table.

19. A vehicle controller apparatus having a self-diagnostic function in a self-diagnosis program for automatically detecting fault of a diagnosis object, the controller comprising:

a determination logic of execution conditions for detecting a failure of a diagnosed object; and

a fault detection logic based on an external timing signal for checking execution conditions used to perform the corresponding determination logic, wherein the determination logic and the fault detection logic are separately executed.

20. A vehicle controller apparatus having a self-diagnostic function for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the controller comprising:

a self-diagnostic program to realize a self-diagnostic function, wherein the self-diagnosing program is object-oriented designed and structured in units of objects that can be reused;

a fault detection object that is prepared for a unit in relation to the diagnosis object, to detect a fault as the diagnosis object;

a scheduler object for determining the fault detection object as a drive object based on an external timing signal, wherein a drive of the fault detection object is instructed when the drive is permissible; and

a drive determination object that determines whether the fault detection object, as a drive object determined with the scheduler object, should be driven or not, wherein a drive permission is instructed to the scheduler object, based on a determination result of the drive determination object.

21. A vehicle controller apparatus having a self-diagnostic function of a self-diagnostic program for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the controller comprising:

a fault detection object;

a diagnosis scheduler object that executes a drive program so that the fault detection object can be determined;

a diagnostic drive determination object for receiving the fault detection object, wherein before the fault detection object detects a fault as a diagnosis object, the diagnosis drive determination object issues an acknowledgment if it is satisfied with the drive acknowledgment request or a non-acknowledgment if the diagnosis drive determination object is unsatisfied with the drive acknowledgment request; and

a memory portion for storing a fault detection result of the self-diagnostic program.

22. A method of controlling a vehicle having a self-diagnostic function of a self-diagnostic program for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the method comprising:

utilizing a diagnosis scheduler object to determine a fault detection object and to send a drive acknowledgment request to a diagnosis drive determination object;

obtaining information utilizing the diagnosis drive determination object and providing a drive acknowledgment or a non-acknowledgment message from the diagnosis drive determination object to the diagnosis scheduler object based on the obtained information;

providing a drive instruction from the diagnosis scheduler object to the fault detection object when an acknowledgment message is provided from the diagnostic drive determination object to the diagnosis scheduler object.

23. A method of operating a diagnosis scheduler object of a vehicle controller apparatus having a self-diagnostic function of a self-diagnostic program for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the method comprising:

executing a drive process so that a fault detection object can be determined;

issuing and transmitting a drive acknowledgment request to a diagnosis drive determination object;

receiving a drive acknowledgment or a drive non-acknowledgment from the diagnosis drive determination object depending on whether the diagnosis drive determination object is satisfied or unsatisfied with the drive acknowledgment request;

receiving the drive acknowledgment or the drive non-acknowledgment from the diagnosis drive determination object; and

providing a drive instruction to the fault detection object only when a drive acknowledgment is received from the diagnosis drive determination object.

24. A method of controlling a vehicle having a self-diagnostic function of self-diagnostic program for automatically detecting a fault as a diagnosis object, the method comprising:

utilizing a scheduler object to determine a fault detection object as a drive object;

determining whether the fault detection object, as a drive object determined by the scheduler object, should be driven or not utilizing a drive determination object;

enabling the drive determination object to provide a drive permission message or a drive non-permission message to the scheduler object; and

enabling the scheduler object to determine whether to send a drive instruction to the fault detection object based on whether a drive permission message or a drive non-permission message was received from the drive determination object.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the scheduler object transmits a drive instruction to the fault detection object if a drive permission message is received from the drive determination object.