Autonomous vehicle maintenance and repair system

• US 8,190,322 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2009
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lin, William C., Litkouhi, Bakhtiar Brian, Alrabady, Ansaf I., Murty, Balarama V., Zhang, Xiaodong, Holland, Steven W., Salman, Mutasim A., Debouk, Rami I., Chin, Yuen-Kwok W
• Primary Examiner(s): Jayne, Darnell
• Assistant Examiner(s): Varghese, Sasha T
• Application Number:
  US12/353,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20100179720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,232 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/33, 701/35, 701/29.1, 701/29.3, 701/31.4, 701/31.5, 701/31.6, 701/32.9, 701/34.3
• US Class Current: 701/31.5
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A system and method for providing autonomous and remote vehicle maintenance and repair. The system employs an on-board diagnosis and prognosis module that monitors one or more vehicle buses to identify trouble codes and other information indicating a vehicle problem. The on-board module causes a telematic device on the vehicle to broadcast a message including a problem code that identifies the problem the vehicle is having. A remote repair center may receive the message and may identify a software upgrade patch associated with the problem that can be transmitted to the vehicle to upgrade its software to correct the problem. Also, the message may be received by another vehicle that is part of a broadcast network that has previously received the software upgrade patch to fix a problem on that vehicle, where the receiving vehicle may transmit the software upgrade patch to the vehicle having the problem.

Claims

1. A method for transferring repair messages between vehicles and a service center in a vehicle communications network, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of vehicles in the vehicle network measuring a speed of each of the plurality of vehicles;

identifying a peer vehicle group in the network based on the measured vehicle speeds for transmitting messages between the vehicles so as to prevent a vehicle involved in a software patch download from moving out of a communications range;

providing the service center in wireless communication with the vehicles in the network;

providing an on-board module on at least one of the vehicles in the network;

using the on-board module to monitor vehicle system buses to identify vehicle problems;

transmitting a problem code identifying a problem into the network; and

downloading a software upgrade patch to the vehicle with the problem to correct the problem by messages transmitted through the network.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein downloading the software upgrade patch to the vehicle with the problem includes downloading the software upgrade patch directly from the service center.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein downloading the software upgrade patch to the vehicle with the problem includes downloading the software upgrade patch directly from another vehicle in the network that has the software patch stored in a database on the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein downloading the software upgrade patch to the vehicle with the problem includes downloading the software upgrade patch from the service center through other vehicles in the network.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein downloading the software upgrade patch to the vehicle with the problem includes downloading the software upgrade patch from a vehicle in the network that has the software patch stored in a database on the vehicle through other vehicles in the network.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the service center includes an expert system that includes an algorithm for identifying the problem code and an associated software upgrade for that problem code.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising storing the upgraded software patch in a database on the vehicle that included the problem.

8. A method for transferring repair messages between and among vehicles and a service center in a vehicle communications network, said method comprising:

measuring the speed of each vehicle;

identifying a peer vehicle group in the network based on the measured vehicle speeds for transmitting messages between the vehicles so as to prevent a vehicle involved in a software patch download from moving out of a communications range;

identifying a problem on one of the vehicles and identifying a problem code for that problem;

wirelessly transmitting a message from the vehicle with the problem including a request for a software upgrade patch that will correct the problem associated with the problem code;

passing the message between and among the vehicles and the service center; and

receiving a message with the software upgrade patch at the vehicle with the problem through the vehicle network.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting the message with the request and receiving the message with the software upgrade patch includes transmitting the message directly to the service center and receiving the software upgrade patch directly back from the service center.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting the message with the request and receiving the message with the software upgrade patch includes transmitting the message through a plurality of vehicles to the service center and receiving the software upgrade patch back from the service center through a plurality of vehicles.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting the message with the request and receiving the message with the software upgrade patch includes transmitting the message directly to one of the vehicles and receiving the software patch directly back from the one vehicle.

12. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting the message with the request and receiving the message with the software upgrade patch includes transmitting the message through a plurality of vehicles to one vehicle that includes the software upgrade patch and receiving the software upgrade patch from the one vehicle through a plurality of vehicles.

13. A system for transferring repair messages between vehicles and a service center in a vehicle communications network, said method comprising:

a plurality of vehicles associated with the vehicle network wherein the speed of each vehicle is measured and the network identifies a peer vehicle group based on the measured vehicle speeds for transmitting messages between the vehicles so as to prevent a vehicle involved in a software patch download from moving out of a communications range;

a service center in wireless communication with at least a plurality of the plurality of vehicles in the network;

an on-board module on at least one of the vehicles in the network, said on-board module monitoring vehicle system buses to identify problems; and

a telematics unit that transmits a message requesting a software upgrade patch for an identified problem where the message includes a problem code identifying the problem, said unit receiving the software upgrade patch code.

14. The system according to claim 13 wherein the transmitted message is directly received by the service center and the software upgrade patch is directly received back from the service center.

15. The system according to claim 13 wherein the message is transmitted through a plurality of vehicles to the service center and the received software upgrade patch is received back from the service center through a plurality of vehicles.

16. The system according to claim 13 wherein the transmitted message is received directly by one of the vehicles in the network and the software upgrade patch is received directly back from the one vehicle.

17. The system according to claim 13 wherein the transmitted message is transmitted through a plurality of vehicles to one vehicle that includes the software upgrade patch and the software upgrade patch is received from the one vehicle through a plurality of vehicles.