Multi-purpose plug-in monitor for vehicles

• US 6,629,029 B1
• Filed: 03/28/2001
• Issued: 09/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Davis Instruments Corporation (Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Jacqueline A. Giles
• Inventors: Giles, Jacqueline A
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MANCHO, RONNIE M
• Application Number:
  US09/820,286
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/36, 701/48, 701/49, 701/33, 701/114, 701/35, 370/245, 370/252, 709/251, 709/230, 734/321, 731/16, 731/172, 731/173, 702/183, 702/185
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence

Abstract

Modem passenger vehicles have many electronic control modules linked by a serial data bus. The control modules provide a large, continuous stream of driving and vehicle parameters which are available at a federally mandated data port located under the dashboard. With no other circuitry or sensors, the new electronic monitor is plugged into the data port to obtain real-time driving and vehicle data. This real-time data can be used to instruct and improve safety related driving behavior, improve fuel efficiency related driving behavior, aid in diagnosing vehicle problems, fleet use monitoring, and customized monitoring. The specific software programmed into the monitor is tailored to the specific desires of the vehicle owner, vehicle operator, vehicle driver or possible future governmental regulations. Also, with an optional key-fob like device, certain other software can be engaged or disengaged during use of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for troubleshooting intermittent or “

No trouble found”

problems while driving down the road that does not require a service technician, the method comprising;

using a vehicle'"'"'s remote key-fob or plug-in monitor system fob for indicating when to establish a trigger point for flight recording,

capturing a window of data from both before and after the vehicle driver triggers flight recording,

indication to the driver that flight recording has begun, and also when it has ended,

capturing subsequent windows of data from both before and after the vehicle driver subsequently triggers flight recording, and

the ability to upload all recorded instances of anomaly flight recordings for further analysis in a service bay environment.

2. A Plug-in monitor system comprised of:

a first connector that mates to a vehicle diagnostic communications port connector located within a cab of a passenger or commercial vehicle that provides electrical power and the ability to monitor data transmitted on the vehicle data communications bus,

a second connector that mates to a remote machine to allow for bi-directional transmission for the purpose of programming the plug-in monitor to perform a plurality of functions and to accept data from the plug-in monitor,

a power jack for powering the plug-in monitor while being programmed or uploading data remote from the vehicle,

a microcontroller based circuitry to perform a set of operations programmed into non-volatile, electrically modifiable program memory,

a radio frequency receiver to accept driver identification and triggering information and provide this information to the microcontroller,

a bank of non-volatile, flash memory for operational or program code,

a bank of non-volatile, flash memory for monitored data storage, and

at least one vehicle communications protocol transceiver and protocol controller that interfaces with the microcontroller for retrieving data from the vehicle communications bus.

3. A method for monitoring, training and improving driver behavior which is based on a fuzzy logic, or learning process, using historical, and ongoing data to establish and maintain safe driving parameters, the method including three approaches to improving driver behavior comprising:

immediate indication to the driver when data associated with safe driving falls outside a maintained safe driving parameter'"'"'s envelope,

uploading a driving parameter history to a computer or data base for further analysis and plotting, and

providing proportional indication on prior driver'"'"'s safe driving behavior upon Ingition-ON occurrence using indicators on a plug-in module.

4. A method to allow an end-user of a plug-in to customize the plug-in monitor, comprising an interface to the plug-in monitor through a supervisory system, including a personal computer and software running on the supervisory system, the end-user having the ability to select any available parameters for monitoring and storage, after the plug-in monitor is programmed by the end-user, installed in a vehicle, and operated as a custom parameter monitor, the monitored data being uploadable to the supervisory system for end-user analysis.