Method and apparatus for information transfer in vehicle service systems

• US 20050154497A1
• Filed: 03/08/2005
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hunter Engineering Company
• Original Assignee: Hunter Engineering Company
• Inventors: Voeller, David A., Strege, Timothy A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,359,775 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/279
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/26 for testing wheel alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 2210/26 Algorithms, instructions, databases, computerized methods and graphical user interfaces employed by a user in conjunction with the wheel aligner
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40013 Details regarding a bus controller
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40176 involving redundancy error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in interconnections G06F11/2002; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in storage systems using spares or by reconfiguring G06F11/2053

Abstract

A vehicle service system having a vehicle service computer which is configured for communication with at least one on-board vehicle computer of a vehicle undergoing a vehicle service procedure via a vehicle fault tolerant communication bus, to retrieve or access information stored in a memory associated with the vehicle computer, to modify or store information in the vehicle computer associated memory, or to enable vehicle service system control of at least one vehicle component.

Claims

1. An improved vehicle wheel alignment system having a computing device, an associated display, and at least one vehicle wheel alignment sensor configured for communicating wheel alignment data to the computing device, said improvement comprising:

a communication means for operatively coupling said computing device to a communication bus of a vehicle to enable an exchange of data between the computing device and at least one vehicle component operatively coupled to said communication bus.

2. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means is configured for operatively coupling said computing device to a FlexRay communication bus of an automotive vehicle.

3. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means is configured for operatively coupling said computing device to a TTCAN communication bus of an automotive vehicle.

4. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means is configured for operatively coupling said computing device to a TTP communication bus of an automotive vehicle.

5. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means is configured for operatively coupling said computing device to a Byteflight communication bus of an automotive vehicle.

6. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured with a software application to control said at least one vehicle component through said communication means.

7. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured with a software application to set at least one operating parameter for at least one vehicle component through said communication means.

8. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means includes at least one wireless communications transceiver configured to establish a wireless communications link with at least one additional wireless communications transceiver operatively coupled to said communication bus.

9. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said computing device is configured to utilize said communication bus to:

selectively receive data from at least one vehicle component,

to selectively store updated data in a memory associated with at least one vehicle component, and

to selectively control an operation of at least one vehicle component.

10. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said computing device is further configured to exchange AutoSAR-standard data with at least one vehicle component via said communications means.

11. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said computing device is further configured with at least one AutoSAR software interface for communicating with at least one vehicle component coupled to said communication bus.

12. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 1 wherein said communication means includes an electronic control module operatively coupled to the computing device and operatively coupled to said communication bus, said electronic control module configured to enable an exchange of data between the computing device and at least one vehicle component operatively coupled to said communication bus.

13. The improved vehicle wheel alignment system of claim 12 wherein said electronic control module is further configured with at least one AutoSAR software interface.

14. A method for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle operatively coupled to an in-vehicle communications network comprising:

establishing a communications link between said vehicle service system and said in-vehicle communications network;

identifying said at least one electronic component on said in-vehicle communications network; and

transferring, on said in-vehicle communications network, information between said at least one electronic component and said vehicle service system.

15. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein the step of establishing a communications link includes establishing a wireless communications link between said vehicle service system and said in-vehicle communications network.

16. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle further including the step of formatting said information to an AutoSAR interface standard prior to transferring said information between said at least one electronic component and said vehicle service system.

17. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said step of establishing a communications link further includes operatively coupling said vehicle service system to an access point associated with said in-vehicle communications network.

18. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said information includes at least one command to direct an operation of said electronic component.

19. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said information includes at least one data value acquired by said electronic component.

20. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said electronic component is a vehicle steering system control unit.

21. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said electronic component is a vehicle brake system control unit.

22. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said electronic component is a vehicle stability system control unit.

23. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said electronic component is a tire pressure monitoring system module.

24. The method of claim 14 for transferring information between a vehicle service system and at least one electronic component of a vehicle wherein said electronic component is a sensor operatively coupled to measure a parameter associated with the vehicle.

25. An improved vehicle service system having a computing device configured with at least one vehicle service software application, the improvement comprising:

a communication interface operatively coupled to the computing device, said communication interface configured to operatively couple the computing device to a communication bus associated with a vehicle; and

wherein the computing device is further configured with at least one software application to communicate with at least one component of the vehicle coupled to said communication bus through said communication interface.

26. A method for communicating between a vehicle service system and at least one component of a vehicle operatively coupled to a vehicle communication bus, comprising;

establishing a communication link between the vehicle service system and the vehicle communication bus;

transferring data between the vehicle service system and the at least one vehicle component utilizing said established communication link and said vehicle communication bus.

27. An improved vehicle service device having a computing device configured with at least one vehicle service software application, the improvement comprising:

a communication means for operatively coupling the computing device to a communication bus on a vehicle undergoing service; and

wherein the computing device is further configured with a software interface adapted to facilitate, through said communication means, an exchange of data with at least one component of a vehicle coupled to a vehicle communication bus utilizing a communication format which is independent of a specific hardware configuration of said vehicle component.