Vehicle management system and method thereof

• US 6,553,291 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2001
• Issued: 04/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Original Assignee: Fuji Heavy Industries Limited (Subaru Corp.)
• Inventors: Matsui, Fujio
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/034,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087238A1
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/33, 701/32, 701/35, 701/207, 342/357.09, 370/349
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

In a vehicle management system in accordance with the present invention, initial information of a vehicle and vehicle information of each user'"'"'s vehicle that is put on the market are time-sequentially recorded in a database. A component of a vehicle or the system is diagnosed based on a time-sequential change of a learned value, and a deterioration in the performance of the component or system is grasped based on the initial information of the vehicle. Consequently, before an abnormality actually occurs in a vehicle, a user is notified of the possibility of the occurrence. This leads to improved preventive safety. Moreover, the result of diagnosis is fed back to departments concerned and reflected on quality control or development of a vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle management system for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising:

a database system included in said central information management center for individually storing said data;

a radio communication system mounted on said vehicle for exclusively transmitting said data from said vehicle to said central information management center by wireless communication means in real time; and

a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively for predicting an abnormality in said data after checking whether or not there is an existence of said abnormality in a change of said data and for transmitting said abnormality information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle and to improve driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition.

2. The vehicle management system according to claim 1, wherein said data is at least one of learned values, input/output data, and arithmetic data provided by said controller.

3. The vehicle management system according to claim 1, wherein a communication circuit for performing wireless communication is incorporated in both said wireless communication means and one of said controllers.

4. The vehicle management system according to claim 3, wherein said wireless communication means is a portable telephone that communicates wirelessly with said one of said controllers.

5. A vehicle management system for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising:

a database system included in said central information management center for individually storing an initial value of said data;

a radio communication system mounted on said vehicle for exclusively transmitting said data from said vehicle to said central. information management center by wireless communication means in real time; and

a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively for grasping a deterioration of components mounted on said vehicle from said data after comparing respective data with said initial value and for transmitting said deterioration information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle and to improve driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition.

6. The vehicle management system according to claim 5, wherein said data is at least one of learned values, input/output data, and arithmetic data provided by at least one of said controllers.

7. The vehicle management system according to claim 5, wherein a communication circuit for performing wireless communication is incorporated in both said wireless communication means and one of said controllers.

8. The vehicle management system according to claim 7, wherein said wireless communication means is a portable telephone that communicates wirelessly with said one of said controllers.

9. A vehicle management system for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising:

a database system included in said central information management center for individually storing an initial value of said data;

a radio communication system mounted on said vehicle for exclusively transmitting said data from said vehicle to said central information management center by wireless communication means in real time; and

a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively for re-setting an optimum value of control constants of respective control equations in said controller from said data after analyzing said initial value and for transmitting said optimum value information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto so as to. effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle and to improve driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition.

10. The vehicle management system according to claim 9, wherein said data is at least one of learned values, input/output data, and arithmetic data provided by at least one of said controllers.

11. A vehicle management system for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising:

a database system included in said central information management center for individually storing said data;

a radio communication system mounted on said vehicle for exclusively transmitting said data from said vehicle to said central information management center by wireless communication means in real time; and

a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively for recording an abnormality information after checking whether or not said data is outside of a predetermined range and for transmitting said abnormality information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments having an accessibility thereto so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle and to improve driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition.

12. The vehicle management system according to claim 11, wherein said data is at least one of a learned value of air-fuel ratio offered by an engine, a learned value of ignition tuning, a learned value of idle speed, and a learned value of a throttle opening angle causing a throttle valve to close fully.

13. A vehicle management method for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising the steps of:

storing said data individually in a database system of said central information management center by wireless communication means in real time;

checking whether or not there is an existence of an abnormality in a change of said data;

predicting said abnormality in said data;

transmitting abnormality information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto; and

improving driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition via a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle.

14. A vehicle management method for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising the steps of:

storing an initial value of said data in a database system of said central information management center individually by wireless communication means in real time;

comparing respective data with said initial value;

grasping a deterioration of components of said vehicle from said data;

transmitting deterioration information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto; and

improving driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition via a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle.

15. A vehicle management method for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising the steps of:

storing an initial value of said data in a database system of said central information management center individually by wireless communication means in real time;

re-setting an optimum value of control constants of respective control equations in said controller from said data after analyzing said initial value;

transmitting optimum value information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto; and

improving driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition via a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle.

16. A vehicle management method for controlling a physical condition of a vehicle having a plurality of controllers for controlling various operating conditions of said vehicle and for storing data of said operating conditions and a central information management center connected to various support departments that communicate with each other, comprising the steps of:

storing said data in a database system of said central information management center individually by wireless communication means in real time;

checking whether or not said data is out of a predetermined range;

recording abnormality information of said data;

transmitting the abnormality information from said vehicle to at least one of said support departments with an accessibility thereto; and

improving driving safety of said vehicle in any operating condition via a network system connected to said central information management center and said support departments respectively so as to effectively control a physical condition of said vehicle.