JP2014234100A - Vehicle failure diagnosis system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system diagnosing a failure by communication between an on-vehicle communication device and an information center, capable of notifying effective information to a user even if a failure of communication connection between the on-vehicle communication device and the information center occurs.SOLUTION: An on-vehicle communication device 3 receives advice information including types of abnormalities likely to occur to a vehicle 2 and handling methods therefor by communication with an information center 5, and stores the received advice information in a memory management unit 11. A CPU 6 transmits abnormality information to the information center 5 and receives a failure diagnosis result from the information center 5 if an operation abnormality occurs to any of on-vehicle devices. At that time, if a failure of communication connection with the information center 5 is determined as the operation abnormality, the advice information corresponding to the type of the occurring abnormality is read from the memory management unit 11 and notified to a user.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle fault diagnosis system including an in-vehicle communication device mounted on a vehicle and an information center configured to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle communication device.

  In recent years, vehicles such as automobiles are provided with many ECUs (electronic control units) such as an engine ECU, a brake ECU, a meter ECU, an air conditioner ECU, and a navigation ECU, and these ECUs perform electronic control. ing. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system in which various ECUs (slave ECUs) are provided with a self-diagnosis function, and a master ECU connected to the slave ECUs via an in-vehicle LAN monitors and controls each slave ECU.

  In the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the master ECU diagnoses whether or not an abnormality (failure) has occurred from the self-diagnosis information of each slave ECU and diagnoses the occurrence of the failure, the master ECU responds to the importance of the failure. In this manner, it is configured to notify the user. This system also discloses that when an abnormality (failure) occurrence is detected, the master ECU transmits the failure information to the information center.

JP 2009-126299 A

  As in the above configuration, in-vehicle master ECU diagnoses whether abnormality (failure) has occurred from self-diagnosis information of each slave ECU, information for failure diagnosis is stored in a large-capacity memory. In addition to the necessity, there is a situation in which the burden of failure diagnosis processing increases. Therefore, when an operation abnormality is detected in various ECUs mounted on the vehicle, the in-vehicle communication device transmits abnormality information to the information center, and the information center performs a failure diagnosis from the abnormality information and the diagnosis result is A failure diagnosis service system is considered in which a vehicle-mounted communication device sends a response to the vehicle-mounted communication device, and the vehicle-mounted communication device notifies a diagnosis result on a display in the vehicle.

  However, in the above-described failure diagnosis service system, the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center must always be performed satisfactorily. Therefore, when the in-vehicle communication device (vehicle) is out of the communication range, or when the wireless communication unit is out of order, the information center cannot be notified, and the user is notified of the failure diagnosis result. Inconvenience that cannot be done.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is a system for performing failure diagnosis by communication between an in-vehicle communication device and an information center, and communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center. Therefore, the present invention provides a vehicle fault diagnosis system that can provide useful notification to a user even when a failure occurs.

  In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle fault diagnosis system according to the present invention is a system that performs fault diagnosis by communication between an in-vehicle communication device and an information center, and the information center corresponds to the communication with the in-vehicle communication device. And an in-vehicle communication device that stores an abnormality type and advice information transmitted from the information center, and includes an advice information transmission unit that transmits the type of abnormality likely to occur in the vehicle and the advice information corresponding to the abnormality type. A connection failure detecting means for determining whether or not communication connection with the information center is possible when an abnormal operation occurs in various in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle and the abnormality information is transmitted to the information center; When communication failure is determined by the failure detection means, advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred is read from the storage means. Characterized in place and a notification means for informing the user by (the invention of claim 1).

  According to the above configuration, when an operation abnormality occurs in various in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle, the in-vehicle communication device transmits abnormality information to the information center. At this time, when the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center is successfully performed, the information center performs a failure diagnosis from the abnormality information transmitted from the in-vehicle communication device and sends the diagnosis result to the in-vehicle communication device. Reply to the communication device. As a result, the in-vehicle communication device notifies the diagnosis result, so that the user can take appropriate measures for the abnormality that has occurred. In this case, since the failure diagnosis is performed on the information center side, the memory capacity and processing burden on the in-vehicle device side can be reduced.

  On the other hand, when a failure occurs in the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center, it is impossible to perform a failure diagnosis at the information center and receive the diagnosis result. However, the in-vehicle communication device stores in the storage means the type of abnormality likely to occur in the corresponding vehicle and advice information corresponding to the abnormality type transmitted by the advice information transmission means during past communication with the information center. doing. When the connection failure detection means determines a communication connection failure between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center, the notifying means reads out the advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred from the storage means. And notified to the user.

  Therefore, the user can take appropriate measures for the abnormality that has occurred by following the advice information. In this case, it is considered that the abnormality that actually occurs in various in-vehicle devices and the type of abnormality that is the target of the advice information stored in advance in the storage unit can be matched with considerable certainty. As a result, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the user cannot be notified of the advice information due to the poor communication connection with the information center, and between the in-vehicle communication device and the information center. Even when the communication connection failure occurs, sufficiently useful notification can be given to the user.

The block diagram which shows one Example of this invention and shows the hardware constitutions of the whole system roughly Flowchart showing processing procedure when abnormality occurs in in-vehicle communication device

  Hereinafter, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a hardware configuration of a vehicle fault diagnosis system 1 according to this embodiment. Here, the vehicle 2 such as an automobile is provided with an in-vehicle communication device 3 called, for example, a DCM (Data Communication Module). The in-vehicle communication device 3 is a communication network such as a mobile communication network and the Internet, for example. 4, communication connection with the information center 5 is possible.

  Although detailed explanation is omitted, the user of the vehicle 2 can receive various information services (telematics service) from the information center 5 by registering as a member. The above information service includes not only the delivery of traffic information, but also emergency notifications such as when an airbag is activated or stolen. include. Therefore, there are a large number of users (vehicles 2), and a large number of in-vehicle communication devices 3 can be connected to the information center 5.

  The in-vehicle communication device 3 includes a CPU 6 that controls the overall operation of the in-vehicle communication device 3, and a GPS positioning unit 7, a wireless communication unit 8, a timer management unit 9, a power control unit 10, and a memory connected to the CPU 6. A management unit 11, an audio processing unit 12, a collision detection unit 13, and a peripheral device processing unit 14 are provided. The CPU 6 is connected to a vehicle LAN 16 such as a CAN (Car Area Network) via the vehicle LAN control unit 15.

  Among them, the GPS positioning unit 7 detects the current position, the current time, and the like of the host vehicle 2 based on receiving a transmission radio wave from a GPS satellite, as is well known. The wireless communication unit 8 controls wireless communication performed with the information center 3 through the network 4 and enables execution of data communication and the like with the information center 3. The timer management unit 9 manages a timer based on a command from the CPU 5. The power supply control unit 10 supplies power supplied from the vehicle battery 17 mounted on the vehicle 2 as operating power to each unit of the in-vehicle communication device 3.

  The memory management unit 11 stores and manages various types of memory information such as user information, vehicle information, and vehicle position acquired by the GPS positioning unit 7 described above. At this time, as will be described later, the memory management unit 11 stores the type of abnormality transmitted and advice information corresponding thereto in the memory, and functions as a storage unit.

  The voice processing unit 12 performs voice processing on the transmitted voice input by the microphone 18 and voice processing on the received voice output from the speaker 19. The collision detection unit 13 detects a collision of the host vehicle 2. Although not shown, the peripheral device processing unit 14 is connected to various in-vehicle ECUs such as an airbag ECU, a Mayday switch, a power switch, and a pre-crash safety ECU, and monitors signals from them. It is like that.

  A navigation device 20 (navigation ECU), a meter device 21 (meter ECU), an audio device 22 (audio ECU), an engine control device 23 (engine control ECU), and the like are connected to the vehicle LAN 16. The microphone 18 and the speaker 19 are connected to the audio device 22. For example, the navigation device 20 includes a display provided at the center of an instrument panel in a passenger compartment. As will be described later, this display functions as a part of notification means for notifying the user of advice information. In the present embodiment, the speaker 19 also functions as a notification unit.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6) performs processing for receiving traffic information, etc. by communication with the information center 5, executing an emergency notification function in the event of an accident or theft, etc. In addition to the above, fault diagnosis processing is executed. This failure diagnosis function is realized as follows. That is, the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6) constantly monitors the occurrence of abnormal operation in various in-vehicle devices (various ECUs) provided in the vehicle 2 via the vehicle LAN 16. When an operation abnormality occurs in any of the in-vehicle devices, the in-vehicle communication device 3 transmits abnormality information such as an abnormality location, an abnormality type and a state to the information center 5. The abnormality information transmitted from the in-vehicle communication device 3 includes a diagnosis code indicating the type (state) of the abnormality (failure).

  Then, the information center 5 performs a failure diagnosis from the transmitted abnormality information and returns the diagnosis result to the in-vehicle communication device 3. In this case, the information of the failure diagnosis result includes a message (including whether the vehicle is allowed to run) for a corresponding abnormality (failure) type (state) together with a diagnosis code. When receiving the information of the failure diagnosis result from the information center 5, the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6) notifies the user of the diagnosis result by the display on the display and the synthesized voice output from the speaker 19.

  As will be described later in the explanation of the operation (flow chart explanation), in this embodiment, the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6) communicates with the information center 5 periodically, for example, by the software configuration. In addition to receiving traffic information distribution, etc., it also receives advice information. The CPU 6 causes the memory management unit 11 to store (update) advice information (including abnormal type information) transmitted from the information center 5 once a day, for example, when the first ignition switch of the day is turned on. It has become.

  The advice information includes the type of abnormality (diag code) that is likely to occur (easy to occur) in the vehicle 2 and data on a countermeasure to be performed by the user when the abnormality occurs. In this case, the information center 5 generates a type of abnormality likely to occur in the vehicle 2 and advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality from the transmitted vehicle type information and usage conditions during communication with the in-vehicle communication device 3. And send. Therefore, the information center 5 has a function as advice information transmission means.

  An example of the advice information is as follows. For example, when a serious abnormality such as overheating occurs and the engine needs to be stopped, “Please turn off the engine and contact the dealer”. It becomes. Also, in the case of a relatively mild abnormality such as a small lamp burnout, “Please drive and bring the vehicle to the dealer”.

  As described above, the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6) transmits abnormality information to the information center 5 when an operation abnormality occurs in any of the in-vehicle devices. At that time, the information center 5 It is determined whether or not communication connection is possible between the two (whether the connection is good). At this time, when it is determined that the communication connection is poor, the CPU 6 reads the advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred from the memory management unit 11, and displays the display and the synthesized voice output from the speaker 19. , Notify the user. Therefore, the CPU 6 realizes functions as a connection failure detection unit and a notification unit.

  At this time, in generating the advice information in the information center 5, the types of abnormalities that are likely to occur in the vehicle 2 are narrowed down from the vehicle type information of the vehicle 2 and the use conditions of the vehicle 2. Specifically, for example, the types of abnormalities (failures) that are likely to occur from the statistical information of the vehicle type of the vehicle 2 are narrowed, the types of abnormalities (failures) that are likely to occur from the years of use of the relevant vehicle 2 are narrowed, The types of abnormalities (failures) that are likely to occur are narrowed down.

  Also, narrow down the types of abnormalities (failures) that are likely to occur from the area where the vehicle 2 is used (cold region, hot region, desert region, etc.), and the climate (rain, snow, etc.) The types of abnormalities (failures) that are likely to occur are narrowed down. Advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality (failure) thus narrowed down is generated. Furthermore, when there is a history of past abnormalities (failures) occurrence, repair, replacement of parts, etc. of the vehicle 2, the abnormal type is estimated with reference to the history, and advice information is generated.

  In this embodiment, when the CPU 6 determines a communication connection failure as described above, if the advice information corresponding to the corresponding abnormality type does not exist in the memory management unit 11, the CPU 6 determines in advance. The instruction information is notified to the user. The instruction information is, for example, information such as “Stop the car in a safe place, turn off the engine, and contact a dealer (repair shop)”.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the determination of poor communication connection in the CPU 6 is performed in the following three modes. That is, as a first aspect, when the CPU 6 detects a failure of the wireless communication unit 8, it determines that the communication connection is poor. As a 2nd aspect, when the communication state (radio wave environment) by the wireless communication part 8 of the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 3 detects that it is out of a communication range, it determines with communication connection failure. As a third aspect, the connection to the information center 5 by the wireless communication unit 8 of the in-vehicle communication device 3 was not successful within a predetermined time even though it was not out of the communication range (successfully failed more than once). In this case, it is determined that the communication connection is poor.

  In this embodiment, when the communication connection with the information center 5 is recovered after the CPU 6 determines that the communication connection is poor, the abnormal information of the abnormality that has occurred in the information center 5 is transmitted and transmitted from the information center 5. The failure diagnosis result is re-notified to the user by display on the display and synthesized voice output from the speaker 19 instead of the already advised advice information.

  Next, the operation of the vehicle fault diagnosis system 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the memory management unit 11 of the in-vehicle communication device 3 stores advice information corresponding to an abnormality type that is likely to occur in the vehicle 2 based on communication with the information center 5. Here, the flowchart of FIG. 2 relates to communication with the information center 5 and notification to the user when the occurrence of an abnormal operation is detected in any of the in-vehicle devices, which is executed by the in-vehicle communication device 3 (CPU 6). The processing procedure is shown.

  That is, when an abnormality occurs in the in-vehicle device, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the state of the wireless communication unit 8 is normal. If the state of wireless communication unit 8 is normal (Yes in step S1), it is determined in step S2 whether the radio wave state is within the communication range. If the radio wave state is within the communication range (Yes in step S2), the process proceeds to step S3, and connection with the information center 5 by the wireless communication unit 8 is started.

  In the next step S4, it is determined whether or not the connection with the information center 5 is successful within a predetermined time. If the connection with the information center 5 is successful within the predetermined time (Yes in step S4), the process proceeds to normal failure diagnosis processing from step S5. On the other hand, when an abnormality is detected in the state of the wireless communication unit 8 (No in step S1), the radio wave state is out of the communication range (No in step S2), or the connection fails In (No in step S4), it is determined that there is a communication connection failure, and the process proceeds to the case of communication connection failure from step S10 described later.

  In the normal failure diagnosis process, first, abnormality information is notified from the in-vehicle communication device 3 to the information center 5 in step S5. Then, as described above, the information center 5 performs a failure diagnosis from the transmitted abnormality information and returns the diagnosis result to the in-vehicle communication device 3. When the in-vehicle communication device 3 receives the diagnosis result information transmitted from the information center 5 in step S6, the in-vehicle communication device 3 ends the communication connection with the information center 5 in step S7. In step S8, the failure diagnosis result (response message) from the information center 5 is displayed on the display. At the same time, in step S9, the failure diagnosis result (response message) from the information center 5 is voiced from the speaker 19. Output. Thus, the diagnosis result is notified to the user, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, in the case of poor communication connection (No in step S1, No in step S2, or No in step S4), in step S10, advice corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred is given from the memory management unit 11. Information is retrieved. In step S11, it is determined whether there is advice information that matches the abnormality type. If there is matching advice information (Yes in step S11), the advice information read from the memory management unit 11 is displayed on the display in step S12, and the advice information is voiced from the speaker 19 in step S13. Output.

  On the other hand, when the matching advice information does not exist in the memory management unit 11 in step S11 (No in step S11), the process proceeds to step S14, and predetermined instruction information is displayed on the display. In step S15, the instruction information is output as voice from the speaker 19.

  Thus, even if the user cannot receive a failure diagnosis result from the information center 5 because a communication connection failure has occurred when the abnormality of the vehicle 2 occurs, the user is stored in advance in the memory management unit 11. Advice information or instruction information can be notified to the user. The user is not at a loss as to what to do with the abnormality, and can perform certain appropriate processing by following the advice information (or instruction information).

  As described above, according to the vehicle fault diagnosis system 1 of the present embodiment, when an operation abnormality occurs in various in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle 2, the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the information center 5 is established. If it is successfully performed, a failure diagnosis is performed at the information center 5 and the diagnosis result is returned to the in-vehicle communication device 3. Thereby, the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 3 alert | reports the diagnosis result, and the user can perform the appropriate countermeasure with respect to the abnormality which generate | occur | produced. In this case, since the failure diagnosis is performed on the information center 5 side, the memory capacity and the processing load on the in-vehicle communication device 3 side can be suppressed to be small.

  On the other hand, when a failure occurs in the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the information center 5, there is a situation in which the vehicle 2 cannot receive a failure diagnosis result from the information center 5. . However, the in-vehicle communication device 3 receives an abnormality type likely to occur in its own vehicle 2 and advice information corresponding to the abnormality type in the past communication with the information center 5, and stores them in the memory management unit 11. When a communication connection failure between the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the information center 5 is determined, advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred is read from the memory management unit 11 and notified to the user. .

  Therefore, the user can take appropriate measures for the abnormality that has occurred by following the advice information. In this case, it is considered that the abnormality that actually occurs in various in-vehicle devices and the type of abnormality that is the target of the advice information stored in advance in the memory management unit 11 can be matched with considerable certainty. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the advice information cannot be notified to the user due to the poor communication connection with the information center 5, and the communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the information center 5. Even if this defect occurs, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that sufficiently useful notification can be given to the user.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, when the advice information is generated in the information center 5, the types of abnormalities that are likely to occur in the vehicle 2 are narrowed down according to the vehicle type and usage conditions of the vehicle 2. Can be predicted with sufficient certainty. In particular, in the present embodiment, even when there is no advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred in the memory management unit 11, the predetermined instruction information is notified. It is possible to prevent problems that are completely unknown.

  In the present invention, a method for determining a poor communication connection between the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the information center 5 and a method for predicting the type of abnormality that is likely to occur in the vehicle 2 are implemented with various changes. Is possible. Further, the present invention is limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, such as various modifications can be made to the internal configuration of the in-vehicle communication device 3 and the entire hardware configuration of the vehicle 2 (in-vehicle device). However, the present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range not departing from the gist.

  In the drawings, 1 is a vehicle failure diagnosis system, 2 is a vehicle, 3 is an in-vehicle communication device, 4 is a communication network, 5 is an information center (advice information transmission means), 6 is a CPU (connection failure detection means, notification means), Reference numeral 8 denotes a wireless communication unit, and 11 denotes a memory management unit (storage means).

Claims (7)

An in-vehicle communication device mounted on a vehicle, and an information center capable of communication between the in-vehicle communication device,
The in-vehicle communication device transmits abnormality information to the information center when an operation abnormality occurs in various in-vehicle devices provided in the vehicle, and the information center performs failure diagnosis from the abnormality information and performs the diagnosis. A vehicle fault diagnosis system configured to return a result to the in-vehicle communication device,
The information center includes an advice information transmitting unit that transmits the type of abnormality that is likely to occur in a corresponding vehicle and advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality when communicating with the in-vehicle communication device,
The in-vehicle communication device has storage means for storing the abnormality type and advice information transmitted from the information center;
Connection failure detection means for determining whether or not communication connection with the information center is possible when abnormal operation is detected in the various in-vehicle devices and the abnormality information is transmitted to the information center;
When a communication connection failure is determined by the connection failure detection means, it is provided with notifying means for reading advice information corresponding to the type of abnormality that has occurred from the storage means and notifying the user. A vehicle fault diagnosis system.   The advice information transmitting means narrows down the types of abnormalities that are likely to occur in the vehicle from the vehicle type information of the vehicle on which the in-vehicle communication device is mounted and the use conditions of the vehicle, and transmits advice information related to the abnormal type The vehicle fault diagnosis system according to claim 1.   When the communication failure is determined by the connection failure detection unit, if the advice information corresponding to the corresponding abnormality type does not exist in the storage unit, the notification unit sends predetermined instruction information to the user. The vehicle fault diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle fault diagnosis system is notified.   4. The vehicle failure according to claim 1, wherein the connection failure detection unit determines a communication connection failure when detecting a failure of a wireless communication unit of the in-vehicle communication device. 5. Diagnostic system.   The said connection failure detection means judges that it is a communication connection failure, when the communication state by the radio | wireless communication part of the said vehicle-mounted communication apparatus detects out of a communication range, The communication failure is characterized by the above-mentioned. Vehicle fault diagnosis system.   The connection failure detection means determines a communication connection failure when the connection to the information center by the wireless communication unit of the in-vehicle communication device is not successful within a predetermined time. The vehicle fault diagnosis system according to claim 5.   In the in-vehicle communication device, when the communication connection with the information center is recovered after the communication failure detection means determines that the communication connection is poor, the abnormality information is transmitted to the information center. 7. The vehicle fault diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the fault diagnosis result transmitted from is notified to the user again instead of the advice information. 8.

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