Checking of repairs for electronic vehicle systems

• US 8,090,495 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2005
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Inventors: Fink, Bernhard, Irkes, Peter, Scholz, Markus, Weiss, Klaus
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, DREW J
• Application Number:
  US11/792,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20080221751A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,324 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/35, 701/66, 701/97, 701/32, 701/33, 701/30, 340/439, 340/459, 340/825.15, 340/931
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/007 using microprocessors or computers
• 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

The invention relates to a computer-based diagnostic tester which can exchange information with the control devices installed in the motor vehicle using a diagnostic program via a diagnostic interface and via data lines. A method for improved checking of repairs is also presented with the diagnostic tester. The motor vehicle-mounted control devices have program routines for self-diagnostics of the control devices and are capable of storing identified faults in the form of fault codes in reserved memory areas. The diagnostic program which is implemented in the diagnostic tester reads the fault codes out from the reserved memory areas, interprets the fault codes and displays them on a display together with the interpretations. In order to check to what extent repairs which have been performed have been successfully concluded, status polling is carried out using the diagnostic program implemented in the diagnostic tester. During this status polling, the status information of all the fault codes known in the system is interrogated and evaluated. In the process, all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions have either been tested positively or whose test requirements were not present in order to be able to carry out a test are displayed. The fault codes which are to be displayed are firstly stored here in one or more primary first fault memories, read out and then copied into a secondary, second fault memory. This permits the use of the total reset of the primary fault memories which is prescribed in the USA for diagnostic systems without information which is relevant to the checking of repairs in the second fault memory being lost.

Claims

1. A computer-based diagnostic tester with a diagnostic program and a diagnostic interface for connecting the diagnostic tester to a group of control devices on which diagnostics are to be performed, wherein:

fault codes and status information relating to fault codes are read out and evaluated from primary fault memories (A), in particular from the control devices, using the diagnostic program,

all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions are met or additionally all the fault codes whose status information indicates that the respective fault codes have not been checked are stored in a secondary fault memory (B) and displayed using the diagnostic tester,

a clear command cears the diagnostic information in the primary fault memories while the secondary fault memory remains untouched by said clear command, and

the secondary fault memory is updated by reconciliation with subsequent data from the primary fault memories.

2. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fault codes in the secondary fault memory (B) are cleared only if a status check has yielded that a successful diagnostic run has taken place for the fault codes to be cleared.

3. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein the status information of selectable fault codes can be interrogated during a repair.

4. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein the status check is triggered on a timed basis.

5. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fault codes in the primary fault memories (A) are cleared by means of a general clear command.

6. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein after a repair and after a subsequently executed diagnostic run the content of the secondary fault memory (B) is updated with the contents of the primary fault memories (A).

7. The diagnostic tester as claimed in claim 1, wherein both the active fault codes from the primary fault memories and the fault codes stored in the secondary fault memory are displayed together on the display of the diagnostic tester.

8. A diagnostic system for checking motor vehicle control devices, the motor vehicle control devices having self-diagnostic routines which, in the event of malfunctions, store fault codes in motor vehicle-mounted primary fault memories (A), and these primary fault memories can be connected to an external diagnostic tester via a diagnostic interface, a diagnostic program being implemented in the diagnostic tester, wherein:

fault codes and status information relating to fault codes are read out from the primary fault memories and evaluated using the diagnostic program,

all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions are met or additionally all the fault codes whose status information indicates that the respective fault codes have not been checked are stored in a secondary fault memory (B) and displayed using the diagnostic tester,

a clear command dears the diagnostic information in the primary fault memories while the secondary fault memory remains untouched by said clear command, and

the secondary fault memory is updated by reconciliation with subsequent data from the primary fault memories.

9. The diagnostic system as claimed in claim 8, wherein fault codes in the secondary fault memory (B) are cleared only if a status check has yielded that a successful diagnostic run has taken place for the fault codes to be cleared.

10. The diagnostic system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the status information of selectable fault codes can be interrogated during a repair.

11. The diagnostic system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the status check is triggered on a timed basis.

12. The diagnostic system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the fault codes in the primary fault memories (A) are cleared by means of a general clear command.

13. The diagnostic system as claimed in claim 8, wherein after a repair and after a subsequently executed diagnostic run the content of the secondary fault memory (B) is updated with the contents of the primary fault memories (A).

14. Diagnostics as claimed in claim 8, wherein both the active fault codes from the primary fault memories and the fault codes stored in the secondary fault memory are displayed on the display of the diagnostic tester.

15. A method for improved checking of repairs, in which firstly fault codes are determined using self-diagnostic routines of control devices and are stored in at least one primary fault memory (A), wherein:

the fault codes which are determined are displayed on the display of the diagnostic tester and at least a partial repair is carried out by means of the fault codes which are determined,

in a further method step after a repair has been carried out, the fault codes which are determined are copied into a secondary fault memory (B) from the primary fault memories (A),

after this copying process, the primary fault memories are cleared,

in a further method step using the self-diagnostic routines of the control devices, a further diagnostic run is started, and

after the further diagnostic run, the content of the secondary fault memory (B) is reconciled with the contents of the primary fault memories (A) by clearing from the secondary fault memory (B) those fault codes which have been tested by the self-diagnostic routines of the control devices.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the fault codes which are determined all comprise active fault codes.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the fault codes which are determined additionally comprise those fault codes whose status polling has yielded the status “

not tested”

.

18. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein, after a further diagnostic run, both the active fault codes from the primary fault memories (A) and the non-cleared fault codes from the secondary fault memory (B) are displayed on the diagnostic tester.