Patent ID: 7630801

Claim:
A method of retrieving and displaying data from an onboard memory of an electronic control unit of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: communicating an identifier number from a scan tool to the electronic control unit, wherein the identifier number is associated with a vehicle component or a vehicle function; communicating, from the electronic control unit to the scan tool, a memory address for a first data structure from a parameter identifier corresponding to the identifier number; communicating, from the electronic control unit to the scan tool, an amount, formats and locations of data in the onboard memory; communicating, from the electronic control unit to the scan tool, a version document number; retrieving the data from the onboard memory to the scan tool; storing a version document corresponding to the version document number in the scan tool; inserting the retrieved data from the onboard memory in the version document; and displaying the version document with the retrieved data inserted therein.