JP2006064651A - Remote failure diagnosis system and method, and information center - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of times of communication between a vehicle and an information center required for acquiring a plurality of diagnosis results following a procedure, concerning a remote failure diagnosis system, a remote failure diagnosis method and the information center. <P>SOLUTION: In this system, the information center selects a diagnosis procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for specifying a failure portion on the basis of failure information of the vehicle, and transmits information for showing the diagnosis procedure collectively to the vehicle side. The vehicle side performs the plurality of diagnoses following the diagnosis procedure transmitted as the information from the information center, and transmits a plurality of diagnosis results collectively to the information center. The information center specifies the failure portion of the vehicle on the basis of the plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote failure diagnosis system, a remote failure diagnosis method, and an information center, and in particular, a remote failure diagnosis system and a remote failure diagnosis suitable for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information between the vehicle and the information center. The present invention relates to a method and an information center.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a system that transmits an item of failure details of a vehicle when transmitting information on the occurrence of the failure from the vehicle to the center (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this system, when a failure content item is transmitted from the vehicle, the center selects an item necessary for determining the cause of the failure based on the information and requests it from the vehicle side. Then, the vehicle side transmits information to the center in accordance with a request from the center. Therefore, according to the system described above, it is possible for the center to obtain only information necessary for the cause of the failure of the vehicle from the vehicle.
JP 2002-109690 A

  By the way, in order to improve the diagnosis accuracy of a vehicle failure and accurately identify a vehicle failure site, it is possible to perform a plurality of failure diagnosis in an optimal order and obtain a plurality of diagnosis results following the procedure. It may be necessary. In such a case, if a plurality of failure diagnoses are requested from the center to the vehicle one by one, and the diagnosis results in the subsequent vehicles are transmitted one by one from the vehicle to the center, the vehicle and the center are Communication is repeated, resulting in inconvenience that much communication time and communication cost are required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is capable of reducing the number of times of communication between the vehicle and the information center necessary for obtaining a plurality of diagnostic results following the procedure. An object is to provide a diagnostic system.

  The above object is a remote failure diagnosis system for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information between a vehicle and an information center as described in claim 1, wherein the information center is based on vehicle failure information. A procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for identifying a faulty part of the vehicle is selected, and the procedure information is transmitted to the vehicle. The vehicle performs the plurality of diagnoses according to the procedure transmitted from the information center. The plurality of diagnosis results are transmitted to the information center, and the information center is achieved by a remote failure diagnosis system that identifies a faulty part of the vehicle based on the plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remote failure diagnosis method for diagnosing a vehicle failure by exchanging information between the vehicle and the information center. Selecting a procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for specifying a faulty part of the vehicle, transmitting the procedure information to the vehicle, and causing the vehicle to transmit the plurality of diagnoses according to the procedure transmitted from the information center. And a plurality of diagnosis results are transmitted to the information center, and the information center is specified by the remote failure diagnosis method that identifies the faulty part of the vehicle based on the plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle. .

  Further, the above object is an information center for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information with a vehicle, as specified in claim 6, and identifying a vehicle failure site based on vehicle failure information. A procedure selection / transmission unit for selecting a procedure for executing a plurality of necessary diagnoses and transmitting the procedure information to the vehicle, and identifying a faulty part of the vehicle based on the results of the plurality of diagnoses transmitted from the vehicle And an information center including a failure part specifying means.

  In the present invention, when the information center is provided with vehicle failure information, the information center transmits information on procedures for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for specifying a vehicle failure site to the vehicle. In such a configuration, since a plurality of diagnoses should be collectively transmitted from the information center to the vehicle, the number of times of communication is smaller than a configuration in which a plurality of diagnoses should be individually transmitted from the information center to the vehicle. Reduction is planned. The vehicle performs a plurality of diagnoses according to the procedure transmitted from the information center, and transmits the results to the information center. Then, the information center specifies a faulty part of the vehicle based on a plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of times of communication between the vehicle and the information center necessary for acquiring a plurality of diagnostic results following the procedure.

  In this case, as described in claim 2, in the remote failure diagnosis system according to claim 1, if the vehicle transmits the plurality of diagnosis results to the information center all together, As described above, in the remote failure diagnosis method according to claim 4, if the vehicle is caused to transmit the plurality of diagnosis results to the information center at a time, the plurality of diagnosis results are individually transmitted from the vehicle to the information center. The number of communications can be reduced as compared with the transmission configuration.

  Note that, as described in claim 3, in the remote failure diagnosis system according to claim 1 or 2, information transmitted between the vehicle and the information center is converted into a predetermined encryption code. For example, the security of communication data between the vehicle and the information center can be improved.

  According to the first to sixth aspects of the invention, it is possible to reduce the number of times of communication between the vehicle and the information center necessary for acquiring a plurality of diagnostic results following the procedure.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a remote fault diagnosis system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system according to the present embodiment includes an in-vehicle device 10 mounted on a vehicle and an information center 12 that exchanges information with the in-vehicle device 10. The remote failure diagnosis system according to the present embodiment is a system for diagnosing a failure occurring in a vehicle by bidirectional information exchange between the in-vehicle device 10 and the information center 12.

  The in-vehicle device 10 includes an in-vehicle electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as an in-vehicle ECU) 20 mainly composed of a computer. The in-vehicle ECU 20 has a storage device that stores identification information including the telephone number of the host vehicle and the telephone number of the information center 12 described above. A transceiver 22 is connected to the in-vehicle ECU 20. The transceiver 22 can perform wireless communication with the information center 12 through a predetermined communication network. The transceiver 22 has a function of transmitting information of the in-vehicle device 10 to the information center 12 via the communication network, and a function of receiving information transmitted from the information center 12 via the communication network to the in-vehicle device 10. ing. The in-vehicle ECU 20 has a function of encrypting and decrypting data, and exchanges transmission data and reception data with the transceiver 22.

A sensor unit 24, an actuator unit 26, and a recording device 28 are connected to the in-vehicle ECU 20. Sensor 24, various sensors for detecting the status of the vehicle each part (e.g., an engine O ₂ sensor and a battery voltage sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, G sensor, vehicle interior temperature sensor, an outside air temperature sensor, an engine coolant temperature sensor, etc.) is constituted by ing. The in-vehicle ECU 20 detects the status of each part of the vehicle based on output signals from various sensors of the sensor unit 24. Vehicle ECU20 in advance predetermined vehicle damage or problems with various sensors of the sensor unit 24 described above according to a program (e.g., failure of failure or air conditioning of the engine O ₂ sensor, functional deterioration of the battery, a failure of the braking system Etc.) has a failure diagnosis function.

  The actuator unit 26 includes various actuators (for example, an engine throttle actuator, an on / off actuator for an air conditioner, a headlight on / off actuator, a shift actuator for an automatic transmission, etc.) for driving each part of the vehicle. As will be described in detail later, the in-vehicle ECU 20 automatically drives an appropriate actuator to perform vehicle diagnosis according to the procedure when receiving information on a procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses transmitted from the information center 12.

  The recording device 28 is configured by a magnetic recording device or a semiconductor recording device, and records the sensor output of the sensor unit 24 when an appropriate actuator of the actuator unit 26 is driven. The in-vehicle ECU 20 records the sensor output in the recording device 28 at an appropriate timing, reads out the sensor output from the recording device 28 at an appropriate timing, and transmits the sensor output from the transceiver 22 to the information center 12.

  The information center 12 includes a host computer 30 capable of high-speed calculation. A large capacity database 32 is connected to the host computer 30. The database 32 stores customer information such as identification information of a regular user of a vehicle who is a user who uses the information center 12, vehicle identification information, and telephone number. The database 32 stores diagnostic procedure information indicating a series of procedures for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for identifying a faulty part that causes a fault for each type of fault that may occur in the vehicle. Yes. The stored information may be different for each vehicle type. In this case, optimum information is stored for each vehicle type.

  A transceiver 34 is connected to the host computer 30. The transceiver 34 can perform wireless communication with the in-vehicle device 10 through a predetermined communication network. The transceiver 34 has a function of transmitting information of the information center 12 to the vehicle-mounted device 10 via the communication network, and a function of receiving information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 10 via the communication network to the information center 12. ing. The host computer 30 of the information center 12 has a function of encrypting and decrypting data predetermined for each vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle, and exchanges transmission data and reception data with the transceiver 34. .

  Hereinafter, the operation of the remote fault diagnosis system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example of a control routine executed in the remote failure diagnosis system of the present embodiment. In this remote failure diagnosis system, each of the in-vehicle device 10 and the information center 12 has a program for realizing the following functions in a ROM or the like, and operates according to the program. These programs can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD, a DVD, or a hard disk.

In this embodiment, when the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle detects a vehicle failure by a failure diagnosis function using various sensors or the like of the sensor unit 24, the details of the vehicle failure (for example, a failure of the engine O ₂ sensor or an in-vehicle battery) The failure information specifying the function deterioration, the failure of the brake system, etc.) is notified to the information center 12 using the transceiver 22 together with its own vehicle identification information. And the failure information of the vehicle notified from the vehicle equipment 10 is received by the information center 12 (step 100).

  Upon receiving notification of failure information from the vehicle side, the information center 12 extracts the details of the vehicle failure from the notification information, and extracts based on the relationship between the vehicle failure stored in the database 32 and the diagnostic procedure information. A diagnostic procedure matching the content of the vehicle failure is searched and selected (step 102). Then, the information indicating the selected diagnostic procedure is encrypted into a code uniquely determined in advance with the vehicle and transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle using the transceiver 34 (step 104).

FIG. 3 shows an example of a diagnosis procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses for a vehicle failure. FIG. 3A shows a diagnostic procedure when a failure of the engine O ₂ sensor is detected as a vehicle failure, and FIG. 3B shows a diagnostic procedure when an air conditioner is detected as a vehicle failure. , Respectively.

For example, the failure of the engine O ₂ sensor is caused by various failure sites such as a failure of the sensor itself, a disconnection or connection failure of the wire harness between the sensor and a computer that performs signal processing of the sensor, and a failure of the computer. is there. When the engine O ₂ sensor is normal, its output shows a normal value (for example, a value approximately between 0V and 5V) when the engine that is the vehicle power is warmed up, while the engine is cold. In the state, it may show an abnormal value fixed at approximately 0V. Therefore, in order to perform a failure diagnosis of the engine O ₂ sensor, it is necessary to first warm up the in-vehicle engine. If the engine O ₂ sensor is normal, the output change occurs before and after the engine speed changes (transient state). If the sensor itself is faulty, the output changes before and after the engine speed change. Does not occur. Further, when the wire harness is disconnected, the sensor output is fixed at 0V.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3A, the diagnosis procedure for the engine O ₂ sensor failure is as follows: (1) Whether the vehicle is stopped using the vehicle speed sensor or the shift position sensor and the shift position is in the parking range. (2) To warm up the engine, the throttle actuator is forcibly driven to maintain the rotational speed at a predetermined rotational speed (for example, 2500 rpm) for a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes). The output of the engine O ₂ sensor is recorded in the recording device 28 at a predetermined time interval (for example, every 0.1 second) for a time (for example, 1 minute), and (4) the average value / maximum value / minimum value of the output The frequency is measured and recorded in the recording device 28.

  Further, for example, an air conditioner failure is caused by various failure sites such as a power transmission failure from the engine to the air conditioner, a compressor failure, and a blower failure. When the engine is cold, the air conditioner may show an abnormal state because power is not transmitted effectively. Therefore, in order to perform failure diagnosis of an air conditioner, it is necessary to first warm up the vehicle-mounted engine. In addition, if the power transmission unit is normal, the engine speed changes due to load fluctuations before and after the air conditioner is switched on / off. However, if the power transmission unit is defective, before and after the air conditioner is switched on / off. The engine speed does not change. Further, if the blower is normal, the engine speed changes due to load fluctuations before and after the blower switch is switched. However, if a blower failure occurs, the engine speed does not change before and after the blower switch is switched. Further, when the compressor of the air conditioner itself is broken, even if the actual temperature in the vehicle differs from the set temperature, the actual temperature does not approach the set temperature and hardly changes.

  Therefore, as a procedure for diagnosing an air conditioner failure, as shown in FIG. 3B, (1) using a vehicle speed sensor or a shift position sensor, it is confirmed whether the vehicle is stopped and the shift position is in the parking range. (2) The engine is warmed up to forcibly drive the throttle actuator to maintain the rotational speed at a predetermined rotational speed (for example, 2500 rpm) for a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes). Is switched from OFF to ON, and the change in engine speed before and after that is measured and recorded in the recording device 28. (4) Next, the change in engine speed before and after the change is made by switching the blower switch from OFF to ON. Recorded in the recording device 28, and finally, (5) Using the vehicle room temperature sensor, the change in the temperature inside the vehicle after the main switch of the air conditioner is turned on is measured. It is recorded in the recording device 28, and becomes.

  Information indicating the procedure of such a failure diagnosis is transmitted from the information center 12 to the in-vehicle device 10 of the vehicle in a lump so that the series of procedures is performed in the vehicle. When the vehicle-mounted device 10 notifies the information center 12 of vehicle failure information and then receives information indicating a failure diagnosis procedure from the information center 12, the vehicle-mounted device 10 decodes the information with the information center 12 using a predetermined code. Then, a process of performing a plurality of diagnoses is performed according to the diagnostic procedure indicated by the information (step 106).

For example, when the vehicle failure is an engine O ₂ sensor failure, the in-vehicle device 10 (1) first uses a vehicle speed sensor or a shift position sensor to determine whether the vehicle is stopped and the shift position is in the parking range. Confirm. When such a condition is not satisfied and the confirmation cannot be taken, the process is terminated without performing the next diagnosis, or a process for prompting the driver to perform the condition for the vehicle driver is executed. On the other hand, when such a condition is established and confirmed, (2) for warming up the engine, the throttle actuator is forcibly driven to maintain its rotational speed at a predetermined rotational speed. When this state continues for a predetermined time, (3) the output of the engine O ₂ sensor is recorded in the recording device 28 at predetermined time intervals, and (4) the average value, maximum value, minimum value, and frequency of the output are measured. To the recording device 28.

  For example, when the vehicle failure is an air conditioner failure, the in-vehicle device 10 (1) first confirms whether the vehicle is stopped and the shift position is in the parking range using a vehicle speed sensor and a shift position sensor. I do. When such a condition is not satisfied and the confirmation cannot be taken, the process is terminated without performing the next diagnosis, or a process for prompting the driver to perform the condition for the vehicle driver is executed. On the other hand, when such a condition is established and confirmed, (2) for warming up the engine, the throttle actuator is forcibly driven to maintain its rotational speed at a predetermined rotational speed. When this state continues for a predetermined time, (3) the main switch of the air conditioner is forcibly switched from off to on, the change in the engine speed before and after that is measured and recorded in the recording device 28, and (4) next the blower The change of the engine speed before and after the switch is switched from off to on is measured and recorded in the recording device 28. Finally, (5) the vehicle interior temperature after the main switch of the air conditioner is turned on using the vehicle room temperature sensor. The change is measured and recorded in the recording device 28.

  When all the diagnoses are performed according to the failure diagnosis procedure sent from the information center 12, the in-vehicle device 10 determines the diagnosis result / measurement result recorded in the recording device 28 in each diagnosis with the information center 12 in advance. The code is encrypted and sent to the information center 12 together with its own vehicle identification information using the transceiver 22 (step 108). The information center 12 transmits to the in-vehicle device 10 information indicating a series of diagnostic procedures for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for identifying the failure part that caused the failure in response to the vehicle failure notification from the vehicle side. After receiving the information indicating the diagnosis result / measurement result from the in-vehicle device 10, the information is decoded with a code uniquely determined with the vehicle, and predetermined based on the diagnosis result / measurement result. According to the determined logic, the faulty part causing the vehicle fault is specified (step 110).

The information center 12 determines that the wire harness between the sensor and the computer is disconnected when the state where the sensor output is fixed at 0 V continues when the vehicle failure is an engine O ₂ sensor failure, for example. To do. Further, when the sensor output is not 0V but there is almost no difference between the maximum value and the minimum value, it is determined that the sensor itself has failed. Further, when the sensor output shows irregularly large fluctuations, it is determined that the sensor itself or the computer has failed.

  Also, for example, when the vehicle failure is an air conditioner failure and the engine speed hardly changes before and after the main switch of the air conditioner is switched on and off, the power transmission unit between the engine and the air conditioner is broken. judge. Further, when the engine speed hardly changes before and after the blower switch is turned on / off, it is determined that the blower has failed. Further, when the vehicle interior temperature does not approach the set temperature even though the main switch of the air conditioner is turned on, it is determined that the compressor itself has failed.

  As described above, in the remote failure diagnosis system according to the present embodiment, a plurality of failure diagnosis necessary for specifying a detailed failure portion where a vehicle failure has occurred is optimally performed by wireless communication between the vehicle and the information center 12. It can be performed in order to obtain all the results of multiple diagnoses following those procedures. In this case, the same diagnosis is performed as when the vehicle occupant brings the vehicle to a service factory or repair shop for repairing the vehicle and is manually performed by a person such as a service person. Therefore, according to the system of the present embodiment, it is possible to improve the diagnosis accuracy of the vehicle failure and accurately identify the failure site without bringing the vehicle into a service factory or the like.

  If the information center 12 can accurately identify the failure part of the vehicle failure, the information center 12 can inquire about the stock status and the arrival status of the vehicle part at a vehicle service factory, etc. The location of the factory can be notified to the vehicle occupant through a portable terminal such as the in-vehicle device 10 or a cellular phone of the vehicle occupant. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to facilitate the convenience in repairing the faulty part of the vehicle as soon as possible.

  Further, in the remote failure diagnosis system of the present embodiment, when information indicating the content of the vehicle failure is transmitted from the vehicle, the information center 12 is a series necessary for identifying the failure site that caused the vehicle failure. The information indicating the diagnostic procedure is collectively transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle, and the vehicle-mounted device 10 is instructed to sequentially execute the series of diagnosis. For this reason, when transmitting information of a series of diagnostic procedures from the information center 12 to the vehicle-mounted device 10 as compared with a configuration in which information indicating each of a series of diagnostic procedures is individually transmitted from the information center 12 to the vehicle-mounted device 10, The number of communications is reduced.

  Similarly, when information indicating a series of diagnostic procedures necessary for specifying a faulty part is collectively transmitted from the information center 12, the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle performs a plurality of diagnoses according to the series of diagnostic procedures. The diagnosis result / measurement result is collectively transmitted to the information center 12 to cause the information center 12 to identify the faulty part of the vehicle. For this reason, compared with the structure which each transmits several diagnostic results from the vehicle equipment 10 to the information center 12, the frequency | count of communication in transmitting several diagnostic results from the vehicle equipment 10 to the information center 12 reduces. Is done.

  Therefore, according to the remote failure diagnosis system of the present embodiment, the number of times of communication between the vehicle and the information center 12 necessary for acquiring a plurality of diagnosis results following the procedure for vehicle failure and specifying the failure part is calculated. This can reduce the communication time and communication cost between the two.

  Furthermore, in the remote failure diagnosis system of the present embodiment, information indicating the diagnosis procedure of failure diagnosis and information indicating the diagnosis result communicated between the vehicle (on-vehicle device 10) and the information center 12 are the vehicle and the information center. 12 is encrypted and decrypted according to a code uniquely determined in advance. For this reason, the reliability of wireless communication between the vehicle and the information center 12 is improved, and the security of data exchanged between them is improved.

  By the way, in the above embodiment, the information center 12 executes the processing of steps 102 and 104 in the routine shown in FIG. By executing the process, the “failure part specifying means” described in the claims is realized.

In the above embodiment, as a series of diagnostic procedures vehicle failure, it cited as the engine O ₂ sensor defect and that of air-defective specifically (see FIG. 3), vehicle failure to other ( The optimal diagnostic procedure may be adopted for each in-vehicle battery function drop or brake system failure. For example, if the vehicle failure is a drop in the function of the on-board battery, the voltage between the battery terminals before and after the vehicle headlight, audio, and air conditioner is switched on and off is recorded. It is good also as specifying the failure part about.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when the information center 12 receives the failure information notified from the in-vehicle device 10 of the vehicle, the content of the vehicle failure is detected. The content of the vehicle failure may be detected not only when the direct notification is received but also when the vehicle occupant indirectly receives a notification that a vehicle failure has occurred.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the vehicle failure is an engine O ₂ sensor failure or an air conditioner failure, a series of diagnoses necessary for identifying a failure part performed in the vehicle are performed, and the vehicle is in a stopped state. This is done when the shift position is in the parking range. For example, when the vehicle failure is a failure of a cruise control system using a laser radar sensor or a millimeter wave radar, a series of failures may occur while the vehicle is running. A diagnosis may be made.

It is a block diagram of the remote failure diagnosis system which is one Example of this invention. It is a flowchart of the control routine performed in the remote failure diagnosis system of a present Example. It is the table | surface which showed the procedure which performs the some diagnosis with respect to vehicle failure.

Explanation of symbols

10 On-vehicle machine 12 Information center 20 On-vehicle ECU
28 Recording device 30 Host computer

Claims (6)

A remote failure diagnosis system for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information between a vehicle and an information center,
The information center selects a procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for specifying a vehicle failure part based on the vehicle failure information, and transmits the procedure information to the vehicle.
The vehicle performs the plurality of diagnoses according to the procedure transmitted from the information center, transmits the plurality of diagnosis results to the information center, and
The information center identifies a faulty part of the vehicle based on the plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle.   The remote failure diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle transmits the plurality of diagnosis results collectively to an information center.   3. The remote fault diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein information transmitted between the vehicle and the information center is converted into a predetermined encryption code. A remote failure diagnosis method for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information between a vehicle and an information center,
The information center is made to select a procedure for executing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for specifying a vehicle failure part based on the vehicle failure information, and the procedure information is transmitted to the vehicle.
Causing the vehicle to perform the plurality of diagnoses according to the procedure transmitted from the information center, and to transmit the plurality of diagnosis results to the information center; and
A remote failure diagnosis method, characterized by causing an information center to identify a failure part of a vehicle based on the plurality of diagnosis results transmitted from the vehicle.   5. The remote failure diagnosis method according to claim 4, wherein the vehicle is caused to transmit the plurality of diagnosis results to the information center in a lump. An information center for performing vehicle failure diagnosis by exchanging information with a vehicle,
Procedure selection / transmission means for selecting a procedure for performing a plurality of diagnoses necessary for identifying a vehicle failure site based on vehicle failure information, and transmitting the procedure information to the vehicle;
A failure part specifying means for specifying a failure part of the vehicle based on the results of the plurality of diagnoses transmitted from the vehicle;
An information center comprising:

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