VEHICLE INFORMATION STORAGE APPARATUS

• US 20100268415A1
• Filed: 12/04/2008
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Tomoyasu
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A vehicle information storage apparatus capable of storing necessary information dataset helpful for diagnosis. The vehicle information storage apparatus includes a status information acquiring unit acquiring a dataset of status information items of a vehicle; and a controlling unit determining a time point when the malfunction started based on the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit, and further determines the malfunction-cause-investigation information data to be used for investigating the cause of the malfunction from among the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit based on the specified time point when the malfunction started, and stores the determined malfunction-cause-investigation information data in a prescribed storage medium.

Claims

1. A vehicle information storage apparatus comprising:

a status information acquiring unit acquiring a dataset of status information items of a vehicle;

a controlling unit determining information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction based on the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit and storing the determined information data in a prescribed storage medium; and

a range table storage unit storing a range table describing a range of the information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction, the range being determined based on when the malfunction started and the information data being determined from the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit, wherein

the controlling unit determines a time point at which the malfunction started in the vehicle, the time point being a predetermined time period before a time point when the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit have been within a predetermined range for a predetermined period of time and further determines the information data to be used for investigating the cause of the malfunction from among the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit based on the determined time point when the malfunction started and data of the range table.

2. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the range table describes a range of the information data specified based on when the malfunction started, the range being determined based on the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit with respect to each type of malfunction, and

the controlling unit determines the information data to be used for investigating the cause of the malfunction based on the dataset of information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit by referring to the range table based on different criteria depending on a type of the malfunction.

3. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a temporary storage unit storing the dataset of status information items acquired by the status 20 information acquiring unit, wherein

the controlling unit specifies the information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction from among the dataset of status information items stored in the temporary storage unit and stores the specified information data into the prescribed storage medium by copying the specified information data from the temporary storage unit to the prescribed storage medium.

4. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit are successively stored in the prescribed storage medium, and

the controlling unit specifies the information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction from among the dataset of status information item stored in the prescribed storage medium and stores the specified information data into the prescribed storage medium while deleting information data other than the specified information data from the prescribed storage medium.

5. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a temporary storage unit storing the dataset of status information items acquired by the status 20 information acquiring unit, wherein

the controlling unit specifies the information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction from among the dataset of status information items stored in the temporary storage unit and stores the specified information data into the prescribed storage medium by copying the specified information data from the temporary storage unit to the prescribed storage medium.

6. The vehicle information storage apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the dataset of status information items acquired by the status information acquiring unit are successively stored in the prescribed storage medium, and

the controlling unit specifies the information data to be used for investigating a cause of a malfunction from among the dataset of status information item stored in the prescribed storage medium and stores the specified information data into the prescribed storage medium while deleting information data other than the specified information data from the prescribed storage medium.