Method and apparatus for matching vehicle ECU programming to current vehicle operating conditions
First Claim
1. A method of matching the fuel map of a vehicle controller that controls at least one performance characteristic of a vehicle, travelling a projected route, to current vehicle operational requirements, comprising the steps of:
- (a) during vehicle operation, automatically collecting vehicle operational data;
(b) using a processor to analyze the vehicle operational data in real-time to determine if a different fuel map would lead to improved performance over the current road condition;
(c) if the analysis so indicates, automatically requesting approval, from a computing device having computer readable memory and that has the projected route stored in memory, and that analyzes the projected route to determine if approval is warranted, to change the fuel map of the vehicle controller, the approval being dependent on the length of the route segment for which a benefit would be obtained by switching to the different fuel map; and
(d) if the approval is granted, automatically changing the fuel map of the vehicle controller to improve the performance of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are techniques for implementing vehicle ECU reprograming, so the ECU programming, which plays a large role in vehicle performance characteristics, is tailored to current operational requirements, which may be different than the operational characteristics selected by the manufacturer when initially programming the vehicle ECU (or ECUs) with specific instruction sets, such as fuel maps. In one embodiment, a controller monitors the current operational characteristics of the vehicle, determines the current ECU programming, and determines if a different programming set would better suited to the current operating conditions. In the event that the current programming set should be replaced, the controller implements the ECU reprogramming. In a related embodiment, users are enabled to specify the ECU programming to change, such as changing speed limiter settings.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of matching the fuel map of a vehicle controller that controls at least one performance characteristic of a vehicle, travelling a projected route, to current vehicle operational requirements, comprising the steps of:
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(a) during vehicle operation, automatically collecting vehicle operational data; (b) using a processor to analyze the vehicle operational data in real-time to determine if a different fuel map would lead to improved performance over the current road condition; (c) if the analysis so indicates, automatically requesting approval, from a computing device having computer readable memory and that has the projected route stored in memory, and that analyzes the projected route to determine if approval is warranted, to change the fuel map of the vehicle controller, the approval being dependent on the length of the route segment for which a benefit would be obtained by switching to the different fuel map; and (d) if the approval is granted, automatically changing the fuel map of the vehicle controller to improve the performance of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20)
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9. A system for analyzing the fuel map of a vehicle controller that controls at least two performance characteristics of a vehicle, driving on a projected route, in light of current vehicle operating conditions, the system comprising:
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(a) vehicle operational data generating components; (b) an approval agent in the form of a computing device which has a computer readable memory in which is stored a projected route for the vehicle; and (b) at least one processor, the at least one processor implementing the functions of; (i) analyzing the vehicle operational data in real-time, and using information of differing predefined fuel maps to determine if a different fuel map would lead to improved performance; (ii) if the analysis so indicates, automatically requesting approval to change the fuel map of the vehicle controller from the approval agent, which evaluates the route length for which a benefit would be gained by switching to a different fuel map, in reaching an approval decision; and (iii) if approval is received, automatically changing the fuel map of the vehicle controller to a different predefined fuel map to improve the performance of the vehicle when such change would result in improved performance. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21)
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Specification