Patent ID: 8301333
Filing Date: 2012-10-30
Classification: G07C

Abstract:
1. A method for diagnosing causes of faults in vehicle systems, said method comprising: defining a plurality of diagnostic trouble codes which are applicable to various fault conditions in a vehicle's systems, criteria for triggering each diagnostic trouble code, and a list of parameter identification data which should be captured for each diagnostic trouble code; providing a controller onboard a vehicle which is programmed with the diagnostic trouble codes and the criteria for triggering each diagnostic trouble code, and which is also programmed with the list of parameter identification data which should be captured for each diagnostic trouble code; providing sensors onboard the vehicle as needed to capture the parameter identification data; capturing the diagnostic trouble code and parameter identification data by the controller when a fault condition occurs in a vehicle system, where each fault condition occurrence is known as a fault event; downloading the diagnostic trouble code and parameter identification data from the controller on the vehicle to a central computer; storing diagnostic trouble code and parameter identification data for fault events from multiple vehicles on the central computer, where each fault event has an actual failure mode attributed to it; analyzing the diagnostic trouble code and parameter identification data from the fault events stored on the central computer using mathematical models which can learn to correlate features in the data with the actual failure mode for each fault event, including a training phase and a testing phase; and using the mathematical models to diagnose a failure mode for additional fault events, including downloading the mathematical models after the training and testing phases to a computer at a vehicle repair service center, and using the mathematical models to diagnose a failure mode for fault events on vehicles which are brought to the vehicle repair service center for diagnosis.