Patent ID: 8560168

Claim:
A vehicle diagnostic device for diagnosing a vehicle under test, comprising: a processor; data storage; a vehicle interface configured to interface with the vehicle under test and obtain diagnostic data; and a wireless communications interface configured to transmit the obtained diagnostic data to one or more display devices; wherein the processor is configured to: determine whether a direct wireless connection with the one or more display devices is available; determine whether an indirect wireless connection with the one or more display devices is available using at least a direct wireless connection with a second separate vehicle diagnostic device; and determine that the second separate vehicle diagnostic device is operating off of an external power source; determine whether less transmission power is required to transmit to the second separate vehicle diagnostic device than to transmit directly to the one or more display devices; and responsive to the processor determining that the second separate vehicle diagnostic device is operating off an external power source and that less transmission power is required, indirectly transmit a first portion of the obtained diagnostic data to the one or more display devices via the second separate vehicle diagnostic device.