Patent ID: 8694982

Claim:
A method of updating software on a vehicle diagnostic tool, comprising: storing a plurality of available versions of one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles on a diagnostic tool memory, the vehicle scan tool memory including previously available versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles; updating at least one previously available version of the stored one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles using the plurality of currently available versions of said one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored on the vehicle scan tool memory; purchasing versions of the updated at least one previously available version of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored on the vehicle scan tool memory; authorizing the purchased versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored onto the diagnostic tool memory for use by the diagnostic tool; displaying on a display of the diagnostic tool both the authorized purchased versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored onto the diagnostic tool memory and unauthorized versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored on the diagnostic tool memory, wherein the unauthorized versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles are greyed out or include a lock icon; and allowing access to the authorized versions of the one or more vehicle diagnostic applications for domestic and foreign vehicles stored on the diagnostic tool memory, while not allowing access to the unauthorized versions of the one or more applications stored onto the diagnostic tool memory of the diagnostic tool.