Patent ID: 6314422
Filing Date: 2001-11-06
Classification: G05B,G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of operating a vehicle diagnostic system in order to access files in a vehicle information system having at least one client node connected to a server node across a network channel comprising the steps of:establishing a diagnostic session for a motor vehicle, including coupling a diagnostic tool between the vehicle diagnostic system and the motor vehicle;accessing a first file on said client node, said first file having vehicle information for a first type vehicle;identifying vehicle context information associated with said first file, said vehicle context information is indicative of said first type of vehicle;selecting a softlink in said first file, where the softlink is indicative of subject matter information for a second file and the softlink is not a unique file identifier for said second file;determining a unique file identifier for said second file based on said vehicle context information and said subject matter information;retrieving said second file from said server node via said network channel using said unique file identifier;accessing said second file on said client node;saving said vehicle context information and said subject matter information for said second file in a session object, thereby facilitating retrieval of said second file at a later time.