Electronic control system and method for vehicle diagnosis
First Claim
1. An electronic control unit for vehicle diagnosis comprising:
- a rewritable nonvolatile memory;
diagnosing means for diagnosing a vehicle device mounted in a vehicle based on a signal from the vehicle device and store in the rewritable nonvolatile memory a diagnosis result indicating abnormality of the vehicle device;
control data storing means for storing control data indicating whether storage of the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory is permitted;
navigation means for detecting and providing position data of the vehicle;
checking means for checking whether the vehicle has moved out of a specified region based on the position data of the navigation means;
permission switching means for changing the control data from non-permission to permission upon detecting that the vehicle has moved out of the specified region by the checking means; and
storage permitting means for permitting the diagnosing means to store the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory only when the control data within the control data storing means is indicative of the permission, the storage permitting means maintaining the diagnosis result stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory irrespective of power supply to the nonvolatile memory.
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Abstract
A vehicle diagnosis system includes an electronic control unit, which executes a diagnosing process for determining whether any abnormality is present in a vehicle based on signals from vehicle devices. When any abnormality is detected, the electronic control unit stores in an EEPROM a diagnosis result indicative of the abnormality when a storage permission flag in the EEPROM is in the on-state. The storage permission flag is turned on from the off-state when receiving a storage permission command from an external unit. Thus, the storage of the diagnosis result into the EEPROM may be permitted at the time of transmitting the storage permission command externally to the ECU.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An electronic control unit for vehicle diagnosis comprising:
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a rewritable nonvolatile memory; diagnosing means for diagnosing a vehicle device mounted in a vehicle based on a signal from the vehicle device and store in the rewritable nonvolatile memory a diagnosis result indicating abnormality of the vehicle device; control data storing means for storing control data indicating whether storage of the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory is permitted; navigation means for detecting and providing position data of the vehicle; checking means for checking whether the vehicle has moved out of a specified region based on the position data of the navigation means; permission switching means for changing the control data from non-permission to permission upon detecting that the vehicle has moved out of the specified region by the checking means; and storage permitting means for permitting the diagnosing means to store the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory only when the control data within the control data storing means is indicative of the permission, the storage permitting means maintaining the diagnosis result stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory irrespective of power supply to the nonvolatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17)
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8. An electronic control unit for vehicle diagnosis comprising:
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a rewritable nonvolatile memory; a navigation device configured to detect and provide position data of a vehicle; a checking device configured to check whether the vehicle has moved out of a specified region based on the position data of the navigation device; and a processing unit configured to diagnose a vehicle device mounted in the vehicle based on a signal from the vehicle device and store in the rewritable nonvolatile memory a diagnosis result indicating abnormality of the vehicle device, wherein the processing unit is further configured to change a control data from non-permission to permission upon detecting that the vehicle has moved out of the specified region by the checking device, the control data indicating whether storage of the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory is permitted, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to permit storing of the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory only when the control data is indicative of the permission and maintain the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory irrespective of power supply to the nonvolatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 18, 19)
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12. A method for controlling storage of data in a rewritable nonvolatile memory of an electronic control unit for a vehicle, the method comprising:
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diagnosing a vehicle device mounted in the vehicle based on a signal from the vehicle device; storing control data indicating whether a diagnosis result indicating abnormality of the vehicle device is permitted to be stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory; detecting and providing position data of the vehicle; checking whether the vehicle has moved out of a specified region based on the position data of the vehicle; changing the control data from non-permission to permission upon detecting that the vehicle leaves the specified region; and storing the diagnosis result in the rewritable nonvolatile memory, only when the control data is indicative of the permission; and maintaining the diagnosis result stored in the rewritable nonvolatile memory irrespective of power supply to the nonvolatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 20)
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Specification