APPARATUS, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS FOR TESTING CONNECTED SERVICES IN A VEHICLE

• US 20120029762A1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Ubik, Henry Thomas, Dwan, Patrick Joseph, DiMeo, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/32
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2205/02 using a vehicle scan tool
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

Various embodiments include tools and methods for diagnosing connected services in a vehicle. Communication with a vehicle computing system in a vehicle may be established. A diagnostic connection to a diagnostics server may also be established. Vehicle information and diagnostic data from one or more connected services may be received from the vehicle computing system and transmitted via a diagnostic connection to the diagnostics server. A connected services diagnostic status for the vehicle may be determined based on the vehicle information and the diagnostic data. The connected services diagnostic status may be received from the server and output to a user.

Claims

1. A diagnostic system for diagnosing one or more connected services in a vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one connected services diagnostic computer comprising diagnostic software for diagnosing one or more connected services of a vehicle, the at least one connected services diagnostic computer being configured to;

establish communication with a vehicle computing system in the vehicle;

establish a diagnostic connection to a diagnostics server;

receive from the vehicle computing system (1) vehicle information and (2) diagnostic data from the one or more connected services;

transmit the vehicle information and the diagnostic data via the diagnostic connection to the diagnostics server to determine a connected services diagnostic status for the vehicle based on the vehicle information and the diagnostic data;

receive via the diagnostic connection the connected services diagnostic status from the server; and

output the connected services diagnostic status to a user.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the connected services include at least one of a WiFi service, a BLUETOOTH service, a storage media service, an in-vehicle memory card reader service, and an audio service.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a diagnostics database communicating with the diagnostics server, the diagnostics database having diagnostic information for determining the connected services diagnostic status.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the server is configured to:

receive a query of the diagnostics database using the vehicle information and the diagnostic data;

receive from the diagnostics database the diagnostic information for the vehicle based on the query;

generate a diagnostic status based on the diagnostic information; and

transmit the connected services diagnostic status to the connected services diagnostic computer.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the diagnostic connection is a wireless connection.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the wireless connection includes at least one of a cellular, WiFi and WiMax connection.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the communication with the vehicle computing system is wired, wireless, or both.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the wired connection includes a serial, parallel, or USB connection.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the wireless connection is at least one of a WiFi, WiMax, or Bluetooth wireless connection.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the connected services diagnostic computer is a handheld computer.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the handheld computer has at least one of a display and one or more speakers from which the connected services diagnostic status is output.

12. A computer program product for diagnosing one or more connected services in a vehicle, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and having computer readable instructions for:

establishing communication with a vehicle computing system in the vehicle;

establishing a diagnostic connection to a diagnostics server;

receiving from the vehicle computing system (1) vehicle information and (2) diagnostic data from one or more connected services;

transmitting the vehicle information and the diagnostic data via the diagnostic connection to the diagnostics server to determine a connected services diagnostic status for the vehicle based on the vehicle information and the diagnostic data;

receiving the connected services diagnostic status via the diagnostic connection from the server; and

outputting the connected services diagnostic status to a user.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the instructions for outputting the connected services diagnostic status further includes instructions for outputting a pass/fail status.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising instructions for outputting an identification of a cause of a connected services failure if the diagnostic status is a fail status.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising instructions for outputting a location of the failure among the one or more connected services.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the communication with the vehicle communication system and the diagnostic connection is wireless or wired.

17. A method comprising:

establishing vehicle communication via a vehicle connection and diagnostic communication via a diagnostics connection;

receiving via the vehicle connection vehicle information and connected services diagnostic data for a vehicle;

transmitting the vehicle information and the diagnostic data via the diagnostic connection to a server to determine a connected services diagnostic status using the vehicle information and the diagnostic data;

receiving the diagnostic status; and

outputting the diagnostic status to a user.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising communicating with a diagnostics database, wherein receiving the diagnostic status includes performing a lookup of the diagnostics database using the vehicle information and the diagnostic data, wherein the vehicle information is used to identify a vehicle and the diagnostic data is used to determine the diagnostic status.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the vehicle information is a vehicle identification number (VIN).

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the method is performed on a handheld computer and outputting the diagnostic status to a user includes illuminating one or more LED lights on the handheld computer to signify the diagnostic status.