VEHICULAR DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM

• US 20120173121A1
• Filed: 03/16/2012
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dasan Invest Co., Ltd. (Min-Woo Nam)
• Original Assignee: Tantalum Innovations Ltd.
• Inventors: Willard, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 8,843,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/102
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0235 in relation with the state of the exhaust gas treating apparatus control of exhaust gas treating apparatus per se F01N
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1495 Detection of abnormalities in the air/fuel ratio feedback system
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/2403 using essentially up/down counters
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

The present invention provides an onboard system for determining vehicle emissions. The emissions are determined in real-time and may be transmitted to a remote terminal for storage and/or analysis. Data is supplied solely to an emissions unit from a vehicle diagnostic system: the vehicle diagnostic system receives vehicle data from vehicle systems and sub-systems.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a circuit within a vehicle,

communicating with a vehicle diagnostics system to obtain data relating to the operation of the vehicle from the vehicle diagnostics system while the vehicle is being driven via driver control inputs,

using the obtained data to determine operational characteristic data including at least one of emissions data and data characterizing a prediction of actual fuel used, and

using the determined operational characteristic data to generate data that characterizes a driver control input that influences at least one of emissions or fuel use.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further including using position data from a GPS receiver to characterize a driver control input relating to routes that the vehicle has travelled.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein characterizing a driver control input includes communicating data from the vehicle to a remote terminal, the data including information characterizing at least one of the emissions and fuel use, driver control inputs and routes travelled, and

further including providing a feedback output from the remote terminal to a driver of the vehicle while the vehicle is being driven by the driver, based on the data communicated from the vehicle to the remote terminal.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein communicating data from the vehicle to the remote terminal includes communicating the data for access at a terminal that is remote from the vehicle, via a communications interface and a wireless communications network.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further including, at the remote terminal, storing the at least one of the emissions and fuel use data, driver control inputs, and routes travelled.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein generating data that characterizes a driver control input includes generating data based upon data characterizing at least one of:

time spent with the engine at or close to full load,

time spent with the engine at high loads when the engine is cold,

time spent with the engine in top gear at light loads,

time spent with the engine running and vehicle stationary, and

number of short journeys.

7. An apparatus for predicting actual fuel used by a vehicle having an engine controller that controls at least one fuel-based operational characteristic of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

an emissions unit communicatively coupled to a vehicle diagnostic unit and configured and arranged to receive data characterizing fuel-based operational characteristics of the vehicle from the vehicle diagnostic unit; and

a processing unit configured and arranged to use the data received from the vehicle diagnostic unit to determine the fuel consumption of the vehicle, independently from any calculations done inside the engine controller.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the emissions unit is configured and arranged to,

in a calibration mode, measure the vehicle emissions across a wide range of engine speeds, engine loads, and environmental conditions, and

correlate the data received from the vehicle diagnostic unit and directly from the plurality of vehicle systems and sub-systems with the vehicle emissions measured in the calibration mode, and record the correlated data, and

the processing unit is configured and arranged to determine the fuel consumption based solely upon the recorded correlated data received from the vehicle diagnostic system.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further including a vehicle location unit that determines the location of the vehicle.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the vehicle location unit is a GPS receiver configured and arranged to provide position data to the emissions unit to indicate speed, time and distance travelled by the vehicle.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processing unit is configured and arranged to use the determined operational characteristic to generate data that characterizes a deriver control input based upon an output from the vehicle location unit indicative of a location of the vehicle and at least one of:

time spent with the engine at or close to full load,

time spent with the engine at high loads when the engine is cold,

time spent with the engine in top gear at light loads,

time spent with the engine running and vehicle stationary, and

number of short journeys.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a vehicle communications interface communicatively coupled with the emissions unit and configured and arranged to communicate with a remote terminal over a wireless communications network.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured and arranged to use the determined operational characteristic to generate data that characterizes a driver control input based upon at least one of:

time spent with the engine at or close to full load,

time spent with the engine at high loads when the engine is cold,

time spent with the engine in top gear at light loads,

time spent with the engine running and vehicle stationary, and

number of short journeys.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the emissions unit is connected to at least one vehicle system having an output that is not available through the vehicle diagnostics unit, and

the processing unit is configured and arranged to use an output from the at least one vehicle system as received via the emissions unit.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured and arranged to retrieve data from at least one look-up table and to use the retrieved data to determine the fuel consumption, in response to the data in the at least one look-up table being otherwise unavailable from the vehicle diagnostics unit.

16. A method of analyzing driving inputs provided for operating a vehicle having a vehicle diagnostics system connected to a GPS receiver, the method comprising:

obtaining data relating to the operation of the vehicle from the vehicle diagnostics system and the GPS receiver while the vehicle is being driven,

using the obtained data on-board the vehicle to identify and use at least one of the speed, time and distance travelled with data received via the vehicle diagnostics system and the GPS receiver to detect a characteristic of the driving inputs and routes travelled to provide data for monitoring usage of the vehicle.

17. An apparatus for characterizing driver-inputs for operating a vehicle independent from any calculations done in a vehicle engine controller, the apparatus comprising:

an emissions unit configured and arranged to couple to a vehicle diagnostic unit via a diagnostic port and to obtain information pertaining to the operation of the vehicle from the vehicle diagnostics unit;

a GPS receiver connected to the vehicle diagnostics unit; and

an on-board processing unit configured and arranged to interpret data received from the vehicle diagnostic unit via the emissions unit, the interpreted data characterizing the driver-inputs, and to transmit the interpreted data for access by a remote terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing unit is configured and arranged to interpret data by processing emissions data together with data received via the GPS receiver to correlate position data with changes in emissions data corresponding to the driver-inputs.