Diagnostic process for home electronic devices

• US 9,026,400 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2012
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innova Electronics Corporation (Innova Telematics Solutions)
• Original Assignee: Innova Electronics Corporation (Innova Telematics Solutions)
• Inventors: Chen, Ieon C., Madison, Robert, Andreasen, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, John H
• Application Number:
  US13/461,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 702/119, 702/123, 702/182, 702/183, 702/59, 701/29.6, 701/31.6, 701/33
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

A method of processing system diagnostic data is provided for identifying likely device fix(s) associated with a diagnostic data, and identifying a repair procedure(s) for correcting the likely fix(s). The process receiving diagnostic data from a system onboard computer at a remote diagnostic database, the database being arranged to map system diagnostic data to possible vehicle fix(s). The possible device fix(s) are prioritized in accordance with ranked matches of the received diagnostic data to combinations of diagnostic data stored in a prior experience database. The prior experience database having an identified fix associated with each stored combination of diagnostic data. The fix associated with the highest ranked combination of diagnostic data is identified as the most likely fix. The most likely fix is mapped to a system repair database, the most likely fix being directly mapped to an associated repair procedure for repairing the most likely fix.

Claims

1. A method of processing diagnostic data from a defective home electronic device to identify the most likely fix associated with the diagnostic data, the process comprising:

receiving at a hand held scan tool a combined set of diagnostic data downloaded from an electronic control unit disposed within the device; and

generating, on a diagnostics assessment system independent of the hand held scan tool, a prioritized set of possible fix(es) in accordance with ranked matching, by a prioritizer, of the downloaded combined set of diagnostic data to combined sets of diagnostic data stored in a prior experience database, the prior experience database having at least one possible fix associated with each combined set of stored diagnostic data, the possible fix associated with the highest ranked set of stored diagnostic data being identified as the most likely fix among the prioritized set of possible fix(es).

2. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of generating the prioritized set of possible fix(es) further comprises the step of identifying the stored set of diagnostic trouble codes having the greatest number of the diagnostic trouble codes that correspond to the set of diagnostic trouble codes downloaded from the device electronic control unit, and identifying the stored set of diagnostic trouble codes having the least number of diagnostic trouble codes that do not correspond to the set of diagnostic trouble codes downloaded from the system computer.

3. The process as recited in claim 2 wherein the step of generating the prioritized set of possible fix(es) further comprises the step of identifying the stored set of diagnostic trouble codes having the highest successful fix count associated therewith.

4. The process as recited in claim 3 wherein the step of generating the prioritized set of possible fix(es) further comprises the step of ranking the stored set of diagnostic trouble codes having the lowest cost of repair associated therewith.

5. The process as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

i. accessing repair procedures database for repairing a range of defective conditions;

ii. linking the most likely fix(es) to a selected repair procedure(s) in the repair procedures database, the selected repair procedure(s) being effective to implement the most likely fix(es); and

iii. accessing the selected repair procedure(s) effective to implement the most likely fix(es).

6. The process as set forth in claim 5 comprising the step of communicating information concerning the most likely fix(es) and the associated repair procedure to the scan tool.

7. The process as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from a hand held scan tool to a personal computer, wherein the personal computer is a part of the diagnostics assessment system, and then communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the personal computer to the prior experience database for prioritizing possible fix(es).

8. The process as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the scan tool to a personal computer, wherein the personal computer is a part of the diagnostics assessment system; and

communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the personal computer to the prior experience database.

9. The process as recited in claim 8 wherein the step of communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the scan tool to the personal computer comprises wirelessly communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the scan tool to the personal computer.

10. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein the diagnostic data is wirelessly downloaded from the home electronic device to the scan tool.

11. The process as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

wirelessly communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the scan tool to a cellphone, wherein the cellphone is a part of the diagnostics assessment system; and

wirelessly communicating the downloaded set of diagnostic data from the cellphone to the prior experience database.

12. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein the downloaded set of diagnostic data includes information identifying operating characteristics of the home electronic device.