Telematics-based vehicle data acquisition architecture

• US 20050182534A1
• Filed: 12/31/2003
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teradyne Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Teradyne Incorporated
• Inventors: Legate, Ian, Stott, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level

Abstract

A method of acquiring vehicle data from a vehicle data bus is disclosed. The method is responsive to the execution of a telematics application on a local telematics unit. The method comprises first accessing a local vehicle library, in response to vehicle data requests from the application. The local vehicle library then carries out steps comprising: retrieving vehicle data bus information from a database; using the vehicle data bus information to extract vehicle data from the vehicle data bus, the vehicle data corresponding to the requests for vehicle parameter data; interpreting the retrieved vehicle data; and providing the interpreted data to the telematics application to satisfy the request for vehicle data.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring vehicle data from a vehicle data bus, the method responsive to the execution of a telematics application on a local telematics unit, the application including requests for vehicle parameter data, the method comprising the steps:

accessing a local vehicle library, in response to the request for vehicle data, the local vehicle library carrying out the steps comprising

retrieving vehicle data bus information from a database;

extracting vehicle data from the vehicle data bus using the vehicle data bus information, the vehicle data corresponding to the requests for vehicle parameter data;

interpreting the retrieved vehicle data; and

providing the interpreted data to the telematics application to satisfy the request for vehicle data.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of retrieving comprises:

establishing a wireless link to a remote server;

accessing a vehicle database with the remote server; and

downloading vehicle data bus information to the local vehicle library from the remote database.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the step of using further comprises passing the vehicle data bus information to a protocal driver.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein:

the application program comprises a vehicle diagnostics application program.

5. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which, when executed, cause a telematics control unit to:

retrieve vehicle data bus information from a remote database;

use the vehicle data bus information to extract vehicle data from the vehicle data bus, the vehicle data corresponding to telematics application requests for vehicle parameter data;

interpret the retrieved vehicle data; and

provide the interpreted data to the telematics application to satisfy the request for vehicle data.

6. A vehicle data acquisition system for extracting vehicle data from a vehicle data bus for telematics applications, the vehicle data acquisition system comprising:

a remote telematics unit comprising

a server; and

a vehicle database running on the server, the vehicle database comprising vehicle-specific data bus architecture information,

a local telematics unit, the local telematics unit comprising

a controller,

an application program running on the controller and comprising at least one vehicle data request,

at least one library interposed between the application program and the vehicle data bus, each library comprising

a data retriever,

a data interpreter, and

a wireless link responsive to the data retriever for establishing a network connection to the remote server, the link providing a data download path for transferring the data bus architecture information to the local telematics unit.

7. A vehicle data acquisition system according to claim 6 wherein:

the retriever is operative, in response to the data bus information, to retrieve vehicle data responsive to the generic vehicle data request and pass the retrived data to the data interpreter, the data interpreter operative to translate the retrieved data into a format useable by the application program.

8. A vehicle data acquisition system according to claim 6 wherein the application program comprises:

a vehicle diagnostics application program.