Vehicle diagnosis system and method

• US 7,590,476 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2006
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Delphi Technologies Ip Limited (BorgWarner Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc. (BorgWarner Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shumate, Dwayne M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amin; Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US11/516,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20080065288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33, 701/29, 701/31, 701/30, 701/35, 701/43, 701/101, 701/34, 340/825.52, 340/428, 340/425.5, 702179-185, 700 28- 34, 714/25, 714/26, 714/33, 714/30, 714/31, 714/36, 714/37, 714/40, 714/41
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0275 Fault isolation and identification, e.g. classify fault; estimate cause or root of failure

Abstract

A method of diagnosing a vehicle fault includes receiving information on a vehicle from a customer regarding an actual vehicle fault and accessing data regarding the actual vehicle fault from the vehicle. A diagnostic program is initiated based on identifying vehicle information, the information received from the customer, and the data accessed from the vehicle. A specific vehicle system is selected for diagnosis and includes a particular vehicle component that may be associated with the actual vehicle fault. A list of diagnostic program results is received that defines multiple probable vehicle component faults for the specific vehicle system that may be associated with the actual vehicle fault. A determination on how to proceed with correcting the actual vehicle fault is made based on the list of diagnostic program results that define multiple probable vehicle component faults. A probable vehicle component fault is selected to evaluate whether it is the source of the actual vehicle fault.

Claims

1. A vehicle diagnosis system for determining one or more actual vehicle faults, said system comprising:

a data storage medium having a sortable list of probable component faults for vehicle systems of multiple vehicles organized by vehicle year, make and model;

a diagnostic program linked to the data storage medium that generates probable component faults from the sortable list based on a particular vehicle year, make and model;

an interface having data fields adapted to receive information from a user that relates to fault information retrieved from a vehicle, vehicle fault information provided by a vehicle owner, as well as year, make and model information;

data output including probable component faults, the best repair option based on the availability of tools for repair, the likelihood that an option is the cause of the vehicle fault, the ease of repair, and the estimated repair time;

an assistance program that allows information entered by a user to be observed by a third party for the purpose of assisting the user to diagnose an actual vehicle fault; and

a tracking program that updates the probability associated with each probable component fault based on information provided by the user.

2. The vehicle diagnosis system of claim 1, wherein:

the data output includes instruction on how to correct at least one of the probable component faults.

3. The vehicle diagnosis system of claim 2, wherein:

the data output is organized by the percent likelihood that a particular component fault is the source of the actual vehicle fault.

4. A method of diagnosing a vehicle fault comprising:

receiving information on a vehicle from a customer regarding an actual vehicle fault;

accessing data regarding the actual vehicle fault from the vehicle;

initiating a diagnostic program based on identifying vehicle information, the information received from the customer, and the data accessed from the vehicle;

selecting for diagnosis a specific vehicle system that includes at least one particular vehicle component that may be associated with the actual vehicle fault;

receiving a list of diagnostic program results that define multiple probable vehicle component faults for the specific vehicle system that may be associated with the actual vehicle fault and which include data pertaining to the best repair option based on the availability of tools for repair, the likelihood that an option is the cause of the vehicle fault, the ease of repair, and the estimated repair time;

making a determination on how to proceed with correcting the actual vehicle fault based on the list of diagnostic program results that define multiple probable vehicle component faults; and

selecting one probable vehicle component fault from the list of diagnostic program results to evaluate whether the probable vehicle component is the source of the actual vehicle fault;

uploading vehicle component fault information to the diagnostic program when an actual vehicle fault has been established;

instructing the diagnostic program to recalculate the percent probability for each probable vehicle component fault; and

providing an updated list of diagnostic program results based on the recalculated percent probability for each probable vehicle component fault for subsequent vehicle fault diagnosing operations.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

validating that the one probable vehicle component fault in the vehicle system is the actual vehicle fault.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

repairing the one probable vehicle component fault thereby correcting the actual vehicle fault.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of selecting a specific vehicle system further comprises:

establishing with a higher likelihood that the one probable vehicle component is the actual vehicle fault by selecting at least one symptom based on the specific vehicle system selected for diagnosis.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of initiating the diagnostic program further comprises the step of:

initiating the diagnostic program based on year, make, and model information.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

inserting diagnostic information into a support queue for assistance by a third party that can view the diagnostic information.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

receiving repair instructions for the repair of one probable vehicle component fault.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of receiving a list of diagnostic program results further comprises:

receiving test methods and a pre-calculated percent probability for each probable vehicle component fault in the list of diagnostic program results.

12. A method of diagnosing a vehicle fault comprising:

obtaining vehicle system data from a vehicle data information system on a vehicle;

obtaining vehicle fault information from the customer;

interpreting the customer information and the vehicle data information;

determining whether an actual vehicle fault can be readily detected;

implementing a system diagnostic program to determine the actual vehicle fault;

initiating the diagnostic program based on the vehicle information, the data obtained from the vehicle, and the information obtained from the customer;

receiving prioritized diagnosis output in the form of a list of probable component faults for a vehicle system program, wherein the list is organized by likelihood of fault and includes the best repair option based on the availability of tools for repair, the ease of repair, and the estimated repair time;

selecting one probable component fault to evaluate based on the prioritized diagnosis options;

validating that the vehicle system associated with the probable component fault that is being evaluated is not functioning properly;

correcting the vehicle component fault if the vehicle system associated with the vehicle component fault is not functioning properly;

uploading vehicle component fault information to the diagnostic program; and

updating the probability for each of the prioritized diagnosis options for subsequent vehicle fault diagnosing operations with the system diagnostic program.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of initiating the diagnostic program further comprises the step of:

increasing the likelihood that the probable component fault is the actual vehicle fault by selecting at least one symptom based on the specific vehicle system selected for diagnosis.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of receiving prioritized diagnosis options further comprises:

receiving instructions on how to repair the vehicle fault.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

inserting diagnostic information into a support queue for assistance by a third party that can view the diagnostic information from a remote location.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

providing an indicator that a probable component fault has already been validated.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

providing a diagnosis code for a suspected component fault and receiving instructions from the diagnostic program on how to repair the suspected component.