Cooperative vehicle disgnosis system

Abstract

Operational data generated and used in a vehicle to control various vehicular systems is temporarily stored in a data buffer in the vehicle. A processor in the vehicle is configured to detect anomalous conditions, which can be based on predefined fault codes or user defined conditions (based on a single parameter or a combination of parameters). Whenever such an anomaly is detected, a diagnostic log is conveyed from the vehicle to a remote location. Such a log will include the detected anomaly, and buffered operational data. In at least one embodiment, the diagnostic log includes buffered operational data collected both before and after the anomaly. The diagnostic log is analyzed at the remote location to diagnose the cause of the anomalous condition, so a decision can be made as to whether the vehicle requires immediate repair, or whether the repair can be scheduled at a later time.

1 . A method, comprising:
 defining a ring buffer in a memory of an onboard vehicle data collection device;   collecting operational data passed through a plurality of vehicle data inputs;   storing the operational data in the ring buffer such that current operational data written into the ring buffer overwrites previous operational data previously written into the ring buffer;   detecting when operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crosses a threshold;   based on the detecting:
 asserting a fault code corresponding to a vehicle-based device that generated at least some of the operational data and corresponding to the threshold; 
 communicating, via a wireless data link, fault code data associated with the asserted fault code to a remote computing device; and 
 communicating, via the wireless data link, a predetermined amount of operational data from the ring buffer to the remote computing device, the predetermined amount of operational data including operational data associated with the asserted fault code and operational data not associated with the asserted fault code, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data includes a first amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer before the fault code was asserted and a second amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer after the fault code was asserted; 
 wherein the onboard vehicle data collection device is remotely reconfigurable to define what constitutes an anomaly that triggers sending a diagnostic log to the remote computing device for diagnosis. 
   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 operating a vehicle having the onboard vehicle data collection device while detecting when operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crosses the threshold and while communicating with the remote computing device.   
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 with the remote computing device, diagnosing a cause for the operational data passed through at least one of the plurality of vehicle data inputs crossing the threshold.   
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the fault code is a fault code predefined by a manufacturer. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is a user-definable amount of data. 
     
     
         6 . At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon, the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform acts comprising:
 defining a ring buffer in a memory;   directing storage of operational data passed through a plurality of vehicle data inputs into the ring buffer;   detecting an anomalous vehicle condition, the anomalous vehicle condition indicating that at least one operational data value has crossed an associated threshold;   in response to detection of the anomalous vehicle condition:
 communicating, via a wireless data link device, fault code data to a remote computing device; and 
 communicating, via the wireless data link device, a predetermined amount of operational data from the ring buffer to the remote computing device, the predetermined amount of operational data including operational data associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition and operational data not associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition, wherein the predetermined amount of operational data includes a first amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer before the fault code was asserted and a second amount of data that was stored in the ring buffer after the fault code was asserted; 
 wherein the onboard vehicle data collection device is remotely reconfigurable to define what constitutes an anomaly that triggers sending a diagnostic log to the remote computing device for diagnosis. 
   
     
     
         7 . At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to  claim 6 , wherein the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform further acts comprising:
 with the remote computing device, analyzing operational data associated with the detected anomalous vehicle condition; and   based on analyzing the operational data, diagnosing a cause of the anomalous vehicle condition.   
     
     
         8 . At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to  claim 6 , wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is a user-definable amount of data. 
     
     
         9 . At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to  claim 6 , wherein the predetermined amount of operational data is all of the operational data stored in the ring buffer. 
     
     
         10 . At least one non-transitory memory medium having machine instructions stored thereon according to  claim 6 , wherein the machine instructions, when executed by at least one processor, perform further acts comprising:
 updating the predetermined amount of operational data that will be communicated to the remote computing device.