Method and system for automatically inspecting and registering automotive exhaust emission data

• US 7,668,643 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: 02mirco Incorporated, 92micro, Inc., Maishi Electronic (Shanghai) Limited
• Original Assignee: O2 Micro International Limited (O2 Micro Incorporated)
• Inventors: Yu, Xiaoguang, Peng, Xinsheng, Sui, Geen
• Primary Examiner(s): WOLFE JR, WILLIS RAY
• Application Number:
  US11/731,067
• Publication Number:
  US 20080236141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 701 29- 33, 701101-105, 701/114, 701/115, 701/1, 701/22, 701/2, 340/438, 340/439, 123/480, 123/672, 123/688, 180/65.2, 180/65.3, 702/127, 702/182, 702/183, 702/22, 702/27, 702/30, 702/187, 702/188
• US Class Current: 701/114
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 11/00 Monitoring or diagnostic devices for exhaust-gas treatment apparatus , e.g. for catalytic activity safety, indicating or supervising devices for internal combustion engines F02B77/08; testing of machines G01M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/228 Warning displays
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

An exhaust emission data processing system for inspecting automatically exhaust emission of the vehicle and wirelessly transmitting exhaust emission inspection data to a remote server is provided. The system includes an exhaust emission processing module, a wireless connection module, and a remote server. The exhaust emission processing module receives OBD data indicating the exhaust emission inspection data from an OBD system embedded in the vehicle via an OBD connector. The exhaust emission processing module creates an exhaust emission inspection package with the vehicle identification and the exhaust emission inspection data. The exhaust emission processing module transmits the package to the remote server for further diagnosis through the wireless connection module. The remote server sends the diagnosis reports back to the vehicle through the wireless connection module.

Claims

1. A system for automatically inspecting exhaust emission data of a vehicle and wirelessly transmitting the data to a remote server, comprising:

an exhaust emission processing module for collecting exhaust emission data of the vehicle, said exhaust emission processing module being capable of providing an identification data of the vehicle, said exhaust emission processing module further being capable of packing said exhaust emission data with said identification data into a data package with a predetermined format; and

a wireless connection module for establishing a wireless connection channel for said exhaust emission processing module to transmit said exhaust emission data to said remote server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said exhaust emission processing module transmits said data package to said remote server through said wireless connection module.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said exhaust emission processing module further comprising:

a display system for displaying said emission data of said vehicle and displaying emission diagnosis reports from said remote server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said remote server further comprises a data management unit, said data management unit comprises a control module for receiving task orders from said exhaust emission module and a standard evaluation module for evaluating the exhaust emission data sent from the exhaust emission module.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said exhaust emission processing module comprising:

an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) system embedded in the vehicle for inspecting the exhaust emission data for said vehicle;

a control unit for communication between said OBD system and said remote server; and

a wireless TX/RX module for establishing the wireless connection channel between said control unit and said wireless connection module.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said control unit comprising:

an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) connector for receiving OBD data from said OBD system;

a Microprocessor Unit (MPU) in communication with said OBD system through said OBD connector, said control unit being capable of extracting automotive exhaust emission data from said OBD data;

a first storage coupled with said control unit for storing identification data of the vehicle;

a second storage coupled with said control unit for storing the exhaust emission data; and

a wireless TX/RX connector for communicating with said wireless TX/RX module.

7. A method for automatically processing and wirelessly transmitting exhaust emission data of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

downloading OBD data from an OBD system embedded in said vehicle;

extracting exhaust emission data from said OBD data;

obtaining identification data of said vehicle;

packing the exhaust emission data and the identification data into at least one data packet; and

transmitting said data packets to a remote server for diagnosis.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of obtaining identification data of said vehicle further comprising the step of accessing said identification data from a storage unit located within said vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a previous diagnosis reports from said remote server when said exhaust emission module sends an inquiry into said remote server;

extracting exhaust emission data from said diagnosis reports; and

displaying said exhaust emission data on a display system located in said vehicle.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

generating an exhaust emission diagnosis report at said remote server based on said exhaust emission data and said identification data included in said data packets; and

transmitting said diagnosis reports from said remote server to said vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

displaying said diagnosis reports on a display system located within said vehicle.

12. A server for processing exhaust emission data received from a remote vehicle comprising:

a data management unit for diagnosing exhaust emission data from a vehicle and generating exhaust emission reports;

a control module coupled to said data management for controlling said data management unit; and

at least one storage coupled to said control module for storing the exhaust emission reports,

wherein the server further being capable of calculating a deadline for next exhaust emission inspection date for said vehicle.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the control unit further being capable of:

registering said exhaust emission data in said storage;

evaluating said exhaust emission data;

generating an exhaust emission report package; and

sending said exhaust emission report package back to said remote vehicle for display.

14. The server of claim 12 further comprises a wireless RX/TX module for receiving an exhaust emission data package from a wireless network and transmitting the exhaust emission report package to the remote vehicle through the wireless network.

15. The server of claim 12, wherein the control module further being capable of processing task orders received from the remote vehicle and an evaluation module for evaluating the exhaust emission data of the remote vehicle.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein said task orders comprise registration and inquire.