Patent ID: 6988033

Claim:
A method of characterizing a vehicle's fuel efficiency, comprising: (a) wirelessly receiving, by a computer system and from the vehicle, data comprising at least one property or processed property, wherein a property comprises at least one of vehicle speed, odometer calculation, fuel level, engine speed, load, mass air flow, and manifold air pressure, and wherein a processed property is derived from at least one property; (b) analyzing the received data to determine the vehicle's fuel efficiency; (c) outputting the vehicle's fuel efficiency, comprising displaying the fuel efficiency on at least one web page accessible by at least one of a user of the vehicle and a vehicle service entity; (d) displaying at least a portion of the received data on the at least one web page; (e) comparing the vehicle's fuel efficiency to a predetermined parameter; (f) processing the vehicle's fuel efficiency to determine a secondary property of the vehicle, wherein the secondary property is one of tire pressure, status of a fuel injection system, and fuel quality; (g) sending, to a user, the vehicle's fuel efficiency or a property derived therefrom, wherein sending comprises sending an electronic text, data, or voice message to a computer, cellular telephone, or wireless device; (h) sending a message when the vehicle's fuel efficiency falls below a predetermined level; and (i) wirelessly receiving GPS data associated with the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is at a location remote from a service or diagnostic entity, wherein analyzing the received data is performed at a configurable, predetermined or random interval, and wherein the interval is a mileage or time interval, and wherein analyzing the received data includes applying at least one algorithm.