Method and device for visualizing a vehicle repairing

• US 7,263,418 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Issued: 08/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Goek, Birsen, Rachholz, Ralf, Kulessa, Martin, Hoess, Bernhard, Steinmeier, Eckhard
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US11/201,112
• Publication Number:
  US 20050273229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701 31- 34, 700 95- 98, 700/103, 700108-110, 700/28, 700/11, 700/17, 700/23, 700/26, 702/33, 702 35- 36, 702150-153, 705/1, 705/29
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/20 3D [Three Dimensional] animation

Abstract

A method is provided for providing image data for visualizing a defective part and/or a repair process and/or a maintenance service of a road-bound vehicle, in particular a car or motorcycle. The aim is to reduce the translation costs for repair manuals. The method is characterized by the following: digital data is provided for at least two vehicle parts, in particular CAD data, vector data or another form of digital data suitable for visualizing is provided; digital data on the location of said two vehicle parts with respect to each other is also provided; a first selection element is provided for selecting a first repair operation from a plurality thereof, data, i.e., image data of the first stage of said first repair operation is provided, afterwards image data of the second stage of the first repair operation is provided.

Claims

1. A method of providing image data for visualizing at least one of a defective part, a repair sequence, and a maintenance service sequence of a road-bound vehicle, the method comprising the acts of:

providing digitized data of at least two components of the vehicle, said digitized data being capable of being visualized;

providing digitized data of an arrangement of the at least two components of the vehicle relative to one another, said digitized data being capable of being visualized;

operating a first selection element for selecting a first procedural sequence from a plurality of procedural sequences; and

based on the operating act, providing image data of a first step of the first procedural sequence and, subsequently, providing image data of a second step of the first procedural sequence,

wherein the first procedural sequence includes at least one repair sequence, which includes;

illustrating on a display the removal of a defective first electronic component;

detecting a correct installation of a new first electronic component via the vehicle'"'"'s diagnostic system;

transmitting the detection of the correct installation of a new first electronic component to a data processing system; and

displaying the correct installation by checking the operation of the new first electronic component by the diagnostic system and transmitting the information to the data processing system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said digitized data is CAD or vector data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said road-bound vehicle is a car or a motorcycle.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

detecting a condition or operational readiness of at least a first electronic component of the vehicle using a vehicle'"'"'s diagnostic system;

communicating the condition for operational readiness from the diagnostic system to the data processing system via a hard-wired or wireless connection; and

processing fault and condition data, provided by the diagnostic system, in the data processing system and, as a function of the fault or condition data, providing at least a first repair sequence for display.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the fault or condition data provided by the diagnostic system indicates a particular vehicle type involved, and further wherein the first repair sequence for the particular vehicle type involved is provided for display.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein during the act of providing the image data, the method further comprises the act of highlighting at least one of the at least two components in a visible manner in contrast to at least one other of the at least two components.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the act of highlighting is performed by providing at least one a detailed representation of the at least one component, a representation having a larger resolution of the at least one component, and an enlarged representation displayed to the user.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

displaying image data of at least a first tool for implementation of the first step, and

displaying image data of at least a second tool for implementation of the second step.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the image data and the first selection element are represented on a touch-sensitive monitor operably configured with the data processing system, and the first selection element is selected by a user manually touching the touch-sensitive monitor.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data processing system includes a manually operable selection element for changing a viewing angle onto the at least two components shown in the first procedure sequence for display.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data processing system includes a manually operable selection element for a complete or partial masking-out of at least one of the at least two components shown in the first procedure for display.