JPH01197145A - Vehicle diagnosing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a trouble indication from being overlooked due to accustoming, in a vehicle which transmits a trouble detection signal to a trouble diagnosing station outboard of the vehicle upon occurrence of a trouble, by providing an indicator for indicating only a trouble which is determined as a highly serious trouble on the vehicle side. CONSTITUTION:A trouble detecting section incorporated in a control unit 4 installed on an automobile compares output signals from sensors for detecting a vehicle speed, a throttle opening degree, a turbine rotation speed of a torque converter and the like, and control signals for various control solenoids with data or the like previously stored in memory so as to determine whether anyone of the signals is abnormal or not. Further, diagnosing data is transmitted to a trouble diagnosing station 3 outboard of the automobile through a communication control unit 6. In this arrangement, the trouble diagnosing station 3 is provided therein with a seriousness determining means for classifying troubles into a highly serious trouble group and a low serious trouble group. Control is made in such a way that a highly serious trouble is alone indicated on an indicator on the vehicle side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a fault diagnosis device for a vehicle, in particular, when a fault occurs, only the most important items are displayed on a display inside the vehicle according to instructions from a fault diagnosis station outside the vehicle. The present invention relates to a failure diagnosis device configured to perform the following operations.

(Prior art) Recently, with the advancement of mobile communication technology, for example,
An automobile failure diagnosis device as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 1-89144 has been developed.

The diagnostic device disclosed in this publication includes a microcomputer with a memory section installed in the vehicle, and transmits signal data from sensors, actuators, etc. of various control systems installed in the vehicle to the memory in the microcomputer. The occurrence of a failure is predicted by comparing it with the data stored in the vehicle, and when the occurrence of a failure is predicted, a failure warning is displayed on a failure warning display installed in the vehicle, and this failure information is The information is sent to a fault diagnosis computer at a service company using the telephone line of a car telephone installed in the car, and the fault diagnosis is performed by the computer. According to this, the failure diagnosis of the automobile can be performed quickly.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, according to the failure diagnosis device described in the above publication, all failures are displayed on the warning display inside the car, regardless of the importance of the failure. In this case, the number of failure warning displays increases, causing a sense of unease among the passengers.
This may result in a loss of reliability of the vehicle, or people may become accustomed to failure warning displays, and may easily overlook even highly important failure warning displays.

Therefore, the present invention transmits all data related to the failure to a failure diagnosis station outside the vehicle to perform the necessary failure diagnosis, while displaying only the minimum necessary failure indication on the display installed in the vehicle. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fault diagnosis device for vehicles that does not cause passengers to feel uneasy or otherwise lose the reliability of the vehicle, and that does not allow people to overlook highly important faults due to getting used to the fault display. The purpose is to provide.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a fault diagnosis device according to the present invention is characterized by being configured as follows.

That is, a failure detection means for detecting a failure of in-vehicle equipment;
and transmitting means for transmitting an output signal from the fault detecting means to a fault diagnosis station outside the vehicle when a fault occurs, the signal being detected by the fault detecting means mounted on the vehicle and transmitted by the transmitting means to the fault diagnosis station. The vehicle is equipped with an importance determining means for classifying the detected failures into high-importance failures and low-importance failures, and displays only the failures determined to be high-importance failures by the determining means on a display provided in the vehicle. and display control means for controlling the display.

(Function) According to the above configuration, all data related to failures of in-vehicle equipment is automatically transmitted to a failure diagnosis station outside the vehicle, regardless of its level of importance, and the failure diagnosis station determines the importance of failures. degree is determined. In particular, only the failures determined to be of high importance are displayed on the display provided in the vehicle. In other words, failure indications on the display device installed in the vehicle will be limited to the minimum necessary.Therefore, frequent failure indications will no longer cause passengers to feel anxious or distrustful, and It is possible to reliably notify the occupants of serious malfunctions, thereby eliminating the possibility of such malfunctions being overlooked.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to examples.

First, the outline of the vehicle fault diagnosis device according to the present embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.
and a fault diagnosis station 3 outside the vehicle. The in-vehicle device 2 includes a control unit 4 that controls various in-vehicle devices and systems and detects their failures, a display device 5 connected to the control unit 4, and a failure diagnosis station 3 outside the vehicle between the control unit 4 and the control unit 4. It is composed of a communication control unit 6 that controls communication between the communication control unit 6 and an antenna 7 that transmits and receives communication signals from this unit 6. Furthermore, the out-of-vehicle fault diagnosis station 3 includes an antenna 8 that transmits and receives the communication signal to and from the vehicle, and a communication control unit 9 that is connected to the antenna 8 and controls communication with the in-vehicle device 2. and a fault diagnosis unit 10 that performs fault diagnosis based on the signals received by the unit 9.

Next, the control unit 4 in the vehicle-mounted device 2 will be explained with reference to FIG.

This control unit 4 controls the automatic transmission mounted on the vehicle, and includes a vehicle speed sensor 11 that detects the vehicle speed, a throttle sensor 12 that detects the throttle opening of the engine, and a torque converter. A turbine sensor 13 that detects the turbine rotation speed, an idle switch 14 that detects the idle state of the engine, etc. are connected, and output signals 11a, 12a, 13a, and 14a from these sensors 11, 12, 13, and 14 are input. The computer 16 in the control unit 4 via the processing circuit 15
is input.

This computer 16 includes a control section 16a and a failure detection section 1.
6b, and a memory section 17 (R
, AM). Then, the control section 16a,
Input signals 11a to 14a from each of the above sensors 11 to 14
and a predetermined program stored in the memory section 17, the first shift solenoid 18, the second shift solenoid 19,
Output processing circuit 21 for lock-up solenoid 20, etc.
The control signals 18a to 20a are outputted via the control signals 18a to 20a, thereby controlling the operation of the automatic transmission. The failure detection unit 16b also receives input signals 11a to 14a from the sensors 11 to 14 and control signals 18a to 20a.
The presence or absence of an abnormality in these signals is determined by comparing these signals with data or programs stored in the memory section 17, thereby detecting the occurrence of a failure in the automatic transmission or its control system. When a predetermined abnormality occurs, a warning lamp 22 is turned on via the output processing circuit 21.

In addition to the above configuration, this control unit 4 also includes:
A transmission/reception data processing circuit 23 and a display selection circuit 24 are provided, of which the transmission/reception data processing circuit 23
performs data exchange between the control unit 4 and the communication control unit 6, and a display selection circuit 24 performs control to selectively display diagnostic data from the failure diagnosis station 3, which will be described later, on the display device 5. I do.

The communication control unit 6 also includes a receiving circuit 25 that receives a diagnostic data signal from the failure diagnosis station 3 via the antenna 7, and a receiving circuit 25 that converts the signal received by the circuit 25 into a signal that is easy to process. a demodulation circuit 26;
It has a reception data buffer 27 that stores this demodulated signal, a transmission data buffer 28 that stores the failure data signal output from the control unit 4, and a transmission data modulation that converts this data signal into a signal that is easy to transmit. circuit 29 and a transmitting circuit 30 for transmitting this modulated fault data signal from the antenna 7 to the fault diagnosis station 3.
It is composed of. In addition, this communication control unit 6
The transmitting/receiving data processing circuit 2 in the control unit 4 controls the flow of the received signal and the transmitted signal as described above.
The receiver has a communication control circuit 31 for passing between the receiver and the receiver.

Furthermore, the display device 5 is! A signal conversion circuit 32 that converts the signal output from the display selection circuit 24 of the II control unit 4 into a signal that is easy to display, and a display 33 made of a CRT or the like.
It is composed of.

Next, the configuration of the failure diagnosis station 3 will be explained with reference to FIG. A receiving circuit 34 receives the transmitted fault data signal via the antenna 8, a receiving data demodulation circuit 35 converts the received signal into a signal that is easy to process, and a receiving data buffer 36 stores the processed signal. and a transmission data buffer 37 for storing a diagnostic data signal output from the failure diagnosis unit 10, which will be described later, and a transmission data modulation circuit 38'' for converting this signal into a signal suitable for transmission, and for transmitting this signal. This communication control unit 9 also includes a communication system 94 circuit 40 that controls the flow of received signals and transmitted signals and transfers them to and from the fault diagnosis unit 10. There is.

Further, the fault diagnosis unit 10 has a fault inference circuit 41 which is a host computer, and a rule database file 42 in which processing methods for fault data signals from the in-vehicle device 2 are stored. The failure inference circuit 41 includes a display 44 for displaying failure data and inference results from the in-vehicle device 2 via an interface 43, and a keyboard for inputting necessary data and messages for the vehicle. 45 is connected thereto, and an output circuit 46 for outputting diagnostic data from the failure inference circuit 41 to the communication control unit 9 is provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4, focusing on the operation of the computer 16 in the control unit 4 in the vehicle-mounted device 2.

First, in step S1, input signals 11a to 14 from each sensor 11 to 14 used for controlling the automatic transmission are
a and control signal 1 output to each solenoid 18 to 20
8a to 20a are input to the failure detection section 16b of the computer 16, and the presence or absence of a failure is detected based on a program stored in the memory section 17. If it is determined in step S2 that there is a failure, an identification code representing the details of the failure is added to the front of the failure data, and in step S3, it is determined whether or not the warning lamp 22 needs to be lit based on the identification code. If it is necessary to light up the warning lamp 22, a lighting signal is output to the warning lamp 22 in step S4, and the lamp 22 is turned on.Next, in step S5, the failure data is communicated as a transmission signal. It is transmitted from the control unit 6 to a fault diagnosis station 3 such as a service factory outside the vehicle. This fault data signal is received by the communication control unit 9 in the fault diagnosis station 3, inputted to the fault inference circuit 41 of the fault diagnosis unit 10, and set in the rule database file 42 by the fault inference circuit 41 in step S6. Fault diagnosis is performed according to the processing method. and,
Depending on the importance of the failure, it is determined whether or not to display it on the display device 5 of the in-vehicle device 2, and this diagnostic data is given an identification code and sent to the communication control unit 9.
from the vehicle to the vehicle in question.

Further, this diagnostic data signal is received by the control unit 4 of the in-vehicle device 2 via the communication control unit 6 in step S7. Then, in step S8, this diagnostic data is temporarily stored in the memory unit 17 together with the related information data, and then, in step S9, the diagnostic result for the failure is displayed based on the identification code prefixed to this diagnostic data. It is determined whether or not the information is displayed, and if it is necessary to display it, it is displayed on the display 33 provided in the vehicle in step SIO.

Note that even if it is determined in step S3 that it is not necessary to turn on the warning lamp 22, the failure data is sent to the failure diagnosis station 3 according to steps 85 and subsequent steps.
The necessity of display is determined as described above.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the input signal 11 from each sensor 11 to 14 used in controlling the automatic transmission is
The presence or absence of a failure in the control system is detected based on the control signals 18a to 20a outputted to a to 14a and the solenoids 18 to 20, and when a failure occurs, the failure data is transmitted to the failure diagnosis station 3. , its importance is determined. Then, only in the case of a failure with a high degree of importance, it will be displayed on the in-vehicle display device 5.
This prevents the occupants from feeling uneasy or losing confidence in the vehicle or the failure display, which would be the case if all fault indications were displayed.

Here, if the warning lamp 22 is lit but not displayed on the display 33, it may give the occupants a feeling of anxiety. Therefore, in this embodiment, the manual switch 47 is turned off as shown in FIG. By operating this manual switch 47, the diagnosis results made at the failure diagnosis station 3 can be displayed on the display device 5 inside the vehicle.

Note that although the above embodiment is an application of the present invention to a control system for an automatic transmission, the present invention may also be applied to other in-vehicle control systems, such as the anti-skid brake system 48 and the electronic fuel injection system 49. In that case, if a multiplex transmission system is adopted between these systems, the in-vehicle communication control unit 6 shown in FIG.
can be shared.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the vehicle fault diagnosis device according to the present invention, instead of displaying all the faults in the vehicle on the display inside the vehicle, the importance of the fault is displayed at the fault diagnosis station outside the vehicle. Since only those with a high degree of importance are displayed on the display, this type of failure display is performed only for the minimum necessary number of failures. This eliminates unnecessary failure indications that cause passengers to feel uneasy or distrustful, and also prevents them from overlooking important failures due to familiarity with failure indications, improving the reliability of failure indications. I will do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of a vehicle failure diagnosis device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the on-vehicle device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the failure diagnosis station. The block diagram shown in FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the failure diagnosis operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vehicle failure diagnosis device, 3... Failure diagnosis station, 6... Transmission means (communication control unit), 16
. . . Failure detection means (computer), 33 . . . Display device, 41 . . . Importance determination means (failure inference circuit).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A fault diagnosis device for a vehicle, comprising a fault detection means for detecting a fault in an on-vehicle device, and a transmission means for transmitting an output signal from the fault detection means to a fault diagnosis station outside the vehicle when a fault occurs, the above-mentioned a severity determination means, which is provided in the failure diagnosis station and classifies the failures detected by the failure detection means into high-importance failures and low-importance failures; and failures determined to be high-importance failures by the determination means. A fault diagnosis device for a vehicle, characterized in that it has a display control means for displaying only the information on a display device provided in the vehicle.