Distributed vehicle service method and system

• US 7,917,259 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: TT IP LLC (IPNav)
• Original Assignee: Snap-On Technologies Incorporated (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gill, George M., De Bellefeuille, Jean, Kling, Mike, Baird, Michael L., Rogers, Steven W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Edwards; Jerrah
• Application Number:
  US10/937,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20050113991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,391 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33, 701/29, 701/35, 701/31, 702/113, 332/031.8, 709/220, 709/221
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for conducting a vehicle service comprises the steps of receiving signals representative of vehicle parameters, accessing data and/or software necessary for performing the vehicle service from at least one remote computer over a data transmission network, and performing signal processing related to the vehicle service based on the signals representative of the vehicle parameters and the accessed data and/or software. Since the data and/or software necessary for conducting the vehicle diagnostic analysis is distributed in different systems that are connected via a data communication network, an automotive service system can minimize the size of software stored locally and can access most of the information and/or algorithm required for conducting the vehicle diagnostic analysis from a remote system.

Claims

1. In an automotive wheel alignment system linked to a data transmission network, a host computer of the wheel alignment system configured to service a vehicle and transfer data over the data transmission network and for storing a first plurality of vehicle wheel alignment data sets, and a computer remote from the wheel alignment system configured to transfer data over the data transmission network and for storing a second plurality of vehicle wheel alignment data sets, an improvement comprising:

the host computer further configured to generate a request for at least one specific vehicle wheel alignment data set from the remote computer;

the remote computer configured as a web server to respond to the request from the host computer to dynamically generate at least one customized web page containing the at least one specific vehicle wheel alignment data set from the second plurality of vehicle wheel alignment data sets for transfer to the host computer over the data transmission network; and

wherein the host computer is further configured to incorporate the at least one specific vehicle wheel alignment data set into the first plurality of vehicle wheel alignment data sets for use with subsequent vehicle wheel alignment procedure.

2. The improved automotive wheel alignment system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one sensing device for obtaining vehicle wheel alignment parameters,

wherein the host computer is further configured to receive signals representing the vehicle wheel alignment parameters from the at least one sensing device and to process the received signals based on the at least one specific vehicle wheel alignment data set.

3. The improved automotive wheel alignment system of claim 2, wherein the at least one specific wheel alignment data set includes vehicle specifications.

4. The improved automotive wheel alignment system of claim 1, wherein the at least one specific vehicle wheel alignment data set is an updated version of an original vehicle data set included in the first plurality of vehicle wheel alignment data sets.