Patent ID: 8589018

Claim:
A diagnostic tool for a vehicle configured to automatically identify different types of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) on-board the vehicle and automatically launch software applications for interacting with the ECUs, the diagnostic tool comprising: a connector connectable to a data port of the vehicle; a data processor; and a data storage device configured to store a list of installed software applications for interacting with respectively associated ECU types on-board the vehicle, wherein: the data processor automatically initiates communications with the ECUs on-board the vehicle using a first communication protocol and if the data processor receives a response comporting to the first communication protocol, the data processor determines that a first ECU on-board the vehicle is using the first communication protocol, uses the first communication protocol to communicate with the first ECU and, based on the communication with the first ECU, automatically launches one of the installed software applications associated with the first ECU, and the data processor automatically initiates communications with the ECUs on-board the vehicle using a second communication protocol and if the data processor receives a response comporting to the second communication protocol, the data processor determines that a second ECU on-board the vehicle is using the second communication protocol, uses the second communication protocol to communicate with the second ECU and, based on the communication with the second ECU, automatically launches one of the installed software applications associated with the second ECU; wherein the installed software applications are different from the first and second communication protocols.