Vehicle information storage apparatus

• US 8,219,280 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2008
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Tomoyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US12/741,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268415A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/35, 701/33, 701/30, 701/32, 180/65.8, 180/65.21, 180/65.22, 714/25, 714/42, 455/556.1, 455/414.1, 340/438, 705/305
• US Class Current: 701/34.4
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A vehicle information storage apparatus capable of storing necessary information dataset helpful for diagnosis. The vehicle information storage apparatus includes a status information acquiring unit acquiring a dataset of status information items of a vehicle; and a controlling unit determining a time point when the malfunction started based on the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit, and further determines the malfunction-cause-investigation information data to be used for investigating the cause of the malfunction from among the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit based on the specified time point when the malfunction started, and stores the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data in a prescribed storage medium.

Claims

1. A vehicle information storage apparatus comprising:

a status information acquiring unit configured to acquire a dataset of status information items of a vehicle;

a controlling unit configured to acquire malfunction-cause-investigation information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction based on the dataset of information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit, and to store the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data in a prescribed storage medium; and

a malfunction-cause-investigation information range determination table configured to specify a determination condition to determine an occurrence of a malfunction and a start recording time and a stop recording time of a recording range of the malfunction-cause-investigation information data which are before and after a time when the malfunction started based on the time when the malfunction started with respect to each type of malfunctions,

wherein the controlling unit is configured to determine a time point when the malfunction started in the vehicle based on the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit and the determination condition to determine the occurrence of the malfunction specified by the malfunction-cause-investigation information range determination table, and further determine the malfunction-cause-investigation information data to be used for investigating the cause of the malfunction from among the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit based on the specified time point when the malfunction started and the start recording time and the stop recording time of the recording range of the malfunction-cause-investigation information data specified by the malfunction-cause-investigation information range determination table.

2. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the controlling unit is configured to determine that a time point which is a prescribed time period before a time period when the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit has been constant for a certain period of time is the time point when the malfunction started.

3. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a temporary storage unit configured to store the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit,

wherein the controlling unit is configured to determine the malfunction-cause-investigation information data from among the dataset of status information items stored in the temporary storage unit, copy the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data from the temporary storage unit to the prescribed storage medium, and store the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data into the prescribed storage medium.

4. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit are successively stored in the prescribed storage medium, and

wherein the controlling unit is configured to determine the malfunction-cause-investigation information data from among the dataset of status information item stored in the prescribed storage medium, delete the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data other than the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data from the prescribed storage medium and store the malfunction-cause-investigation information data into the prescribed storage medium.

5. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a temporary storage unit configured to store the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit, wherein the controlling unit is configured to determine the malfunction-cause-investigation information data from among the dataset of status information items stored in the temporary storage unit, copy the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data from the temporary storage unit to the prescribed storage medium, and store the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data into the prescribed storage medium.

6. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit are successively stored in the prescribed storage medium, and

wherein the controlling unit is configured to determine the malfunction-cause-investigation information data from among the dataset of status information items stored in the temporary storage unit, delete the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data other than the determined malfunction-cause investigation information data from the prescribed storage medium, and store the malfunction-cause-investigation information data into the prescribed storage medium.