Dynamic Presentation of Vehicular-Reference Information

• US 20170323497A1
• Filed: 07/21/2017
• Published: 11/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitchell Repair Information Company, LLC (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mitchell Repair Information Company, LLC (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Inventors: Costantino, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,424,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus for dynamically presenting desired vehicular-reference information for a motor vehicle under evaluation is provided. In one aspect, an example method includes: (a) a computing system receiving, via a user interface, (i) vehicular-reference data indicating at least one vehicle parameter, and (ii) first information-presentation data indicating at least one information-presentation preference; (b) the computing system selecting at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data; (c) the computing system selecting a presentation window based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data; and (d) the computing system causing a visual depiction of (i) the selected vehicular-reference information and (ii) the selected presentation window to be displayed on a graphical display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a computing system receiving, via a user interface, (i) vehicular-reference data indicating at least one vehicle parameter, and (ii) first information-presentation data indicating at least one information-presentation preference;

the computing system selecting at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data;

the computing system selecting a presentation window based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data; and

the computing system causing a visual depiction of (i) the selected vehicular-reference information and (ii) the selected presentation window to be displayed on a graphical display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle parameter comprises at least one of (a) a vehicle make, (b) a vehicle model, (c) a vehicle year, (d) a vehicle engine, (e) a vehicle mileage, (f) a vehicle component, (g) a vehicle identification number (VIN), (h) a vehicle unit number, (i) a vehicle error code, and (j) a vehicle symptom.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information-presentation preference is one of (a) maintenance information, (b) repair information, (c) diagnostic information, or (d) collision information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information-presentation preference is maintenance information, and wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting one of (a) an interval window, (b) a lifetime-services window, (c) a locator window, (d) a procedure window, (e) a specification window, and (f) a maintenance-reminder-reset window.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

the computing system receiving second information-presentation data indicating one of (a) the interval window, (b) the lifetime-services window, (c) the locator window, (d) the procedure window, (e) the specification window, and (f) the maintenance-reminder-reset window, wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting the at least one presentation window based on at least the received second information-presentation data.

5-1. The method of claim 3, wherein the information preference is repair information, and wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting one of (a) a description window, (b) a locator window, (c) a procedures window, (d) a diagram window, and (e) a specification window.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

the computing system receiving second information-presentation data indicating one of (a) a description window, (b) a locator window, (c) a procedures window, (d) a diagram window, and (e) a specification window, wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting the at least one presentation window based on at least the received second information-presentation data.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the information preference is diagnostic information, and wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting one of (a) a description window, (b) a diagram window, (c) a connector-view window, (d) a locator window, (e) a testing window, (f) a procedures window, (g) a specification window, and (h) a history window.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the computing system receiving second information-presentation data indicating one of (a) the description window, (b) the diagram window, (c) the connector-view window, (d) a locator window, (e) the testing window, (f) the procedures window, (g) the specification window, and (h) the history window, wherein selecting the at least one presentation window comprises selecting the at least one presentation window based on at least the received second information-presentation data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicular-reference information is at least one of (a) manufacturer'"'"'s information, (b) experience-based information, and (c) miscellaneous information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicular-reference information is manufacturer'"'"'s information, and wherein selecting the at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information comprises selecting one of (a) owner-manual information, (b) maintenance-manual information, (c) diagnostic-manual information, (d) training-manual information, and (e) repair-manual information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicular-reference information is experience-based information, and wherein selecting the at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information comprises selecting one of (a) user-input information, (b) computing-system-monitoring information, and (c) community-based information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicular-reference information is miscellaneous information, and wherein selecting the at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information comprises selecting one of (a) recall information, (b) history information, (c) prognostic information, (d) technical-service-bulletin (TSB) information, and (e) community-alert information.

13. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

based on at least the received vehicular-reference data, the computing system selecting at least one alert, wherein the alert is one of (a) a recall alert, (b) a technical-service-bulletin (TSB) alert, and (c) a community-dialog alert; and

causing a visual depiction of the at least one selected alert to be displayed on the graphical display.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein causing the visual depiction of the at least one selected alert to be displayed on the graphical display comprises:

causing the visual depiction of the at least one selected alert to be displayed within the selected presentation window.

15. The method of claim 13, the method further comprising:

providing an audible indication of the at least one selected alert.

16. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

after the computing system receives the vehicular-reference data indicating at least one vehicle parameter, the computing system receiving, via the user interface, a search term;

the computing system selecting at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least the received search term; and

the computing system causing a visual depiction of the at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information to be displayed on a graphical display.

17. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

the computing system maintaining a vehicular-reference-information database comprising vehicular-reference-information-type data for the vehicular-reference information, wherein the vehicular-reference-information-type data for a given one of the vehicular-reference information specifies one or more vehicular-reference-information types associated with the given vehicular-reference information.

18. The method of claim 17, the method further comprising:

causing a visual indication that the at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information is of the one or more vehicular-reference-information types associated with the at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein selecting the at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least the received search term comprises selecting the at least one second piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least (a) the received search term and (b) the at least one vehicle parameter.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by a processor cause a computing system to carry out functions including:

receiving, via a user interface, (i) vehicular-reference data indicating at least one vehicle parameter, and (ii) first information-presentation data indicating at least one information-presentation preference;

selecting at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data;

selecting a presentation window based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data; and

causing a visual depiction of (i) the selected vehicular-reference information and (ii) the selected presentation window to be displayed on a graphical display.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, the functions further including:

based on at least the received vehicular-reference data, selecting at least one alert, wherein the alert is one of (a) a recall alert, (b) a technical-service-bulletin (TSB) alert, and (c) a community-dialog alert; and

causing a visual depiction of the at least one selected alert to be displayed on the graphical display.

22. A computing system comprising:

a user interface;

a graphical display;

a processor; and

non-transitory data storage comprising program instructions executable by the processor for causing the computing system to carry out functions including;

receiving, via the user interface, (i) vehicular-reference data indicating at least one vehicle parameter, and (ii) first information-presentation data indicating at least one information-presentation preference;

selecting at least one first piece of vehicular-reference information based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data;

selecting a presentation window based on at least one of the received vehicular-reference data and the received first information-presentation data; and

causing a visual depiction of (i) the selected vehicular-reference information and (ii) the selected presentation window to be displayed on a graphical display.

24. The computing system of claim 23, wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions to:

based on at least the received vehicular-reference data, select at least one alert, wherein the alert is one of (a) a recall alert, (b) a technical-service-bulletin (TSB) alert, and (c) a community-dialog alert; and

cause a visual depiction of the at least one selected alert to be displayed on the graphical to display.