Smart phone app-based VIN decoding and symptomatic diagnostic system and method
First Claim
1. A system for providing vehicle specific diagnostics for a vehicle using a smart phone, the system comprising:
- a vehicle decoder disposable in communication with the smart phone and configured to determine vehicle characteristic information based on vehicle identification information received from the smart phone, the vehicle characteristic information including the vehicle year, make and model;
a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data, the diagnostic database being organized according to vehicle characteristic information; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium downloadable onto the smart phone for configuring the smart phone to;
display a symptomatic question sequence for the user;
store symptomatic data received from the user; and
communicate the symptomatic data to the diagnostic database;
the diagnostic database being configured to match symptomatic data received from the smart phone with a diagnostic solution corresponding to the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle; and
wherein at least one of the vehicle decoder and the computer readable medium is configured to extract the vehicle identification information from a photograph of a vehicle identification number (VIN) received from the smart phone.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of diagnosing a vehicle using a smart phone to collect symptomatic data from the user/driver. The symptomatic data is received by the user in response to symptomatic questions displayed on the user'"'"'s smart phone. The symptomatic questions are generated in response to deriving vehicle characteristic information (i.e., year, make, model, engine) from vehicle identification information (i.e., the vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate information). In this regard, vehicle-specific symptomatic questions may be presented to the user so as to ask pertinent questions based on a history of diagnoses of vehicles sharing similar vehicle characteristics.
160 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A system for providing vehicle specific diagnostics for a vehicle using a smart phone, the system comprising:
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a vehicle decoder disposable in communication with the smart phone and configured to determine vehicle characteristic information based on vehicle identification information received from the smart phone, the vehicle characteristic information including the vehicle year, make and model; a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data, the diagnostic database being organized according to vehicle characteristic information; and a non-transitory computer readable medium downloadable onto the smart phone for configuring the smart phone to; display a symptomatic question sequence for the user; store symptomatic data received from the user; and communicate the symptomatic data to the diagnostic database; the diagnostic database being configured to match symptomatic data received from the smart phone with a diagnostic solution corresponding to the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle; and wherein at least one of the vehicle decoder and the computer readable medium is configured to extract the vehicle identification information from a photograph of a vehicle identification number (VIN) received from the smart phone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of diagnosing a vehicle using a smart phone, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving vehicle identification information from a smart phone; determining vehicle characteristic information from the vehicle identification information, the vehicle characteristic information including year, make, and model of the vehicle; generating a symptomatic question sequence associated with the vehicle characteristic information; receiving symptomatic data from the user, wherein the symptomatic data corresponds to the symptomatic questions sequence; communicating the symptomatic data to a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data, the diagnostic database being organized according to vehicle characteristic information; matching the symptomatic data with diagnostic solutions corresponding to vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle; and wherein the step of receiving vehicle identification information includes receiving a digital file from the smart phone, the digital file corresponding to a photograph including the vehicle identification information. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for providing vehicle specific diagnostics for a vehicle using a smart phone, the system comprising:
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a vehicle decoder disposable in communication with the smart phone and configured to determine vehicle characteristic information based on vehicle identification information received from the smart phone, the vehicle characteristic information including the vehicle year, make and model; a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data, the diagnostic database being organized according to vehicle characteristic information; and a non-transitory computer readable medium downloadable onto the smart phone for configuring the smart phone to; display a symptomatic question sequence for the user; store symptomatic data received from the user; and communicate the symptomatic data to the diagnostic database; the diagnostic database being configured to match symptomatic data received from the smart phone with a diagnostic solution corresponding to the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle; and wherein the vehicle decoder is configured to extract the vehicle identification information from a photograph of a vehicle license plate received from the smart phone. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for providing vehicle specific diagnostics for a vehicle using a smart phone, the system comprising:
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a vehicle decoder disposable in communication with the smart phone and configured to determine vehicle characteristic information based on vehicle identification information received from the smart phone, the vehicle characteristic information including the vehicle year, make and model; a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data, the diagnostic database being organized according to vehicle characteristic information; and a non-transitory computer readable medium downloadable onto the smart phone for configuring the smart phone to; display a symptomatic question sequence for the user; store symptomatic data received from the user; and communicate the symptomatic data to the diagnostic database; the diagnostic database being configured to match symptomatic data received from the smart phone with a diagnostic solution corresponding to the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle; a defect database having information related to defects that have occurred in different vehicles and a reference mileage at which such defects occurred; a defect predictor in communication with the vehicle decoder and the defect database and configured to identify defects listed in the defect database corresponding to vehicles having characteristic information similar to that of the vehicle; a defect database includes the reference mileage associated with each identified associated defect; and wherein the computer readable medium further configures the smart phone to prompt the user to enter the current mileage of the vehicle and to communicate the entered mileage to the defect predictor. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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Specification