WO2008075827A1 - Device and method for detecting and repairing malfunction of electrical devices in a vehicle through ecu - Google Patents

Device and method for detecting and repairing malfunction of electrical devices in a vehicle through ecu Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008075827A1
WO2008075827A1 PCT/KR2007/004782 KR2007004782W WO2008075827A1 WO 2008075827 A1 WO2008075827 A1 WO 2008075827A1 KR 2007004782 W KR2007004782 W KR 2007004782W WO 2008075827 A1 WO2008075827 A1 WO 2008075827A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
data
vehicle
ecu
electronic equipments
repairing
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/KR2007/004782
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Choung Seo Park
Original Assignee
Choung Seo Park
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Choung Seo Park filed Critical Choung Seo Park
Publication of WO2008075827A1 publication Critical patent/WO2008075827A1/en

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02D—CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES
    • F02D41/00—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents
    • F02D41/22—Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02D—CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES
    • F02D41/00—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents
    • F02D41/24—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents characterised by the use of digital means
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02D—CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES
    • F02D41/00—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents
    • F02D41/24—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents characterised by the use of digital means
    • F02D41/26—Electrical control of supply of combustible mixture or its constituents characterised by the use of digital means using computer, e.g. microprocessor
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02D—CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES
    • F02D2200/00—Input parameters for engine control
    • F02D2200/70—Input parameters for engine control said parameters being related to the vehicle exterior
    • F02D2200/701—Information about vehicle position, e.g. from navigation system or GPS signal
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T10/00—Road transport of goods or passengers
    • Y02T10/10—Internal combustion engine [ICE] based vehicles
    • Y02T10/40—Engine management systems

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a device and method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle.
  • ECU electronice control unit
  • a vehicle such as a car, includes various electronic equipments which are electronic controllable parts.
  • An electronic control unit controls the various electronic equipments of the vehicle.
  • an engine tester to the ECU of the vehicle and downloads data related to the abnormal states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle from the ECU.
  • the engine tester diagnoses the abnormal states of various electronic equipments such as an engine based on the received state data, downloads vaccine data for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments from a management system of a related vehicle manufacturer, and transmits the received vaccine data to the ECU.
  • the ECU repairs the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner using the vaccine data transmitted from the engine tester.
  • Embodiments have been proposed in order to enable a user to detect a malfunction state of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner without physically visiting an auto shop for preventing the user from wasting time and cost.
  • Technical Solution [5]
  • a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle includes a data receiver, a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and the data transmitter.
  • the data receiver receives state data from the ECU through data communication with the ECU in the vehicle, where the state data is information related to states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle.
  • the wireless transmitter wirelessly transmits the received state data to an external server, and the wireless receiver wirelessly receives vaccine data from the external server for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments.
  • the data transmitter transmits the received vaccine data to the ECU through data communication with the ECU.
  • the device may further include a location data generator for generating location data which is information about a location of the vehicle.
  • the wireless transmitter may transmit the generated location data to the external server with the state data.
  • the location data generator may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving GPS signals from external GPS signal transmitting systems and generating the location data based on the received GPS signals.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • the device may further include a vehicle data storing unit for storing vehicle data which is information about a type of the vehicle.
  • the wireless transmitter may transmit the stored vehicle data to the external server with the state data.
  • the device may further include an identification number storing unit for storing unique identification numbers.
  • the wireless transmitter may transmit the stored unique identification numbers to the external server with the state data.
  • the wireless transmitter may transmit information about detected abnormal states or results of repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments to predetermined user terminals.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present embodiment can automatically detect the malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments without requiring a driver to physically drive the vehicle into an auto shop for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present embodiment minimizes the driver's time, cost, and effort.
  • Embodiments also provide a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle.
  • an external server receives state data from a malfunction detecting and repairing device.
  • a vaccine providing server receives the state data from the external server, diagnoses a malfunction state of the vehicle based on the received state data, and transmits vaccine data related to the diagnosed malfunction state to the external server, and the external server transmits the vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device.
  • a malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present invention enable a user to detect malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments if the detected malfunction can be repaired in software manner. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present invention can prevent a user from wasting unnecessary time, cost, and effort.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a malfunction detecting and repairing system including the device of Fig. 1 and a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an ECU in the vehicle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle in accordance with embodiments.
  • ECU electronice control unit
  • a malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits and receives data for detecting a malfunction state of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) 10 installed in a vehicle.
  • ECU electronice control unit
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 may be manufactured in a chip and installed adjacent to the ECU 10.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 includes a data transmitting/ receiving unit 21, a wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23, and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver 25.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • the data transmitting/receiving unit 21 is an data interface that is directly connected to the ECU 10 for transmitting and receiving data to/from the ECU 10.
  • the ECU 10 creates state data by collecting information about states of electronic equipments in a vehicle.
  • the data transmitting/receiving unit 21 also receives the state data from the ECU 10 and transmits vaccine data, whcih will be described below, to the ECU 10.
  • the data transmitting/receiving unit 21 may be divided into a data receiver for receiving the state data from the ECU 10 and a data transmitter for transmitting the state data to the ECU 10.
  • the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 wirelessly transmits and receives data to/from a predetermined external service.
  • the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 may transmit and receive data based on technologies related to Bluetooth, wireless broadband (WiB ro), and wireless Internet.
  • the wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 may perform data communication through the network of a mobile communication service provider based on a CDMA scheme.
  • the wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 wirelessly transmits the state data received from the data transmitting/receiving unit 21 to an external server.
  • the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 also wirelessly receives vaccine data from the external server in order to repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle through the ECU.
  • the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 may be divided into a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver.
  • the GPS receiver 25 generates location data which is information about a location of a vehicle having the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20. That is, the GPS receiver 25 receives GPS signals from external GPS signal transmitting systems (not shown) and generates the location data of a vehicle. The location data is transferred to the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 and transmitted to the external server with the state data.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a malfunction detecting and repairing system including the device of Fig. 1 and a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an ECU in the vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • a malfunction detecting and repairing system includes the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 of Fig. 1, a service providing server 30, and a vehicle manufacturer server 40.
  • the service providing server 30 is an external server for receiving the state data of the ECU 10 from the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 and transmitting the received state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40. Also, the service providing server 30 receives the vaccine data from the vehicle manufacturer server 40 and transmits the received vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20.
  • the vehicle manufacturer server 40 is a vaccine providing server that receives the state data from the service providing server 30, diagnoses abnormal states of the ECU 10, and transmits vaccine data for repairing the detected abnormal state to the service providing server 30. Since a vehicle manufacturer generally produces and distributes vaccine data for malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle, the vehicle manufacturer server is exemplary shown as an example of a vaccine providing server. If a predetermined company produces vaccine data for repairing predetermined electronic equipments in a vehicle instead of the vehicle manufacturer server 40, a server managed by the predetermined company may be used as the vaccine providing server.
  • the vaccine data include all types of data for repairing the malfunction states of the electronic equipments, which are detected based on the state data transmitted from the ECU 10.
  • the vaccine data according to the present embodiment is not vaccine produced for handling a typical virus program.
  • the vaccine data may be an upgraded version of software produced for repairing bugs of predetermined software for controlling predetermined electronic equipments in a vehicle.
  • the vaccine data may be any data for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 receives state data of various electronic equipments in a vehicle, which are collected by an ECU 10 of a vehicle, from the ECU 10 at step SlO.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits the received state data to the service providing server 30 through wireless data communication at step S20.
  • the service providing server 30 retransmits the received state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 at step S30.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits location data of a vehicle, generated through the GPS receiver 25, with the state data at step S20.
  • the vehicle manufacturer server 40 detects the malfunction states of electronic equipments such as an engine by comparing the received state data with information about normal states of the electronic equipments at step S40. If the vehicle manufacturer server 40 detects the malfunction states, the vehicle manufacturer server 40 fetches predetermined vaccine data and transmits the fetched vaccine data to the service providing server 30 at step S50.
  • the service providing server 30 transmits the received vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 through wireless data communication at step S60.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 repairs the malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle by transmitting the received vaccine data to the ECU 10 at step S70.
  • the service providing server 30 is already aware of the location of the vehicle because the service providing server 30 receives the location data of the vehicle at the step S60 as described above. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 can easily wirelessly transmit data to the target vehicle based on the location data of the vehicle.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present embodiment can automatically detect the malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments without requiring a driver to physically drive the vehicle into an auto shop for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present embodiment minimizes the driver' s time, cost, and effort.
  • the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 may further transmit information about a type of a vehicle with the state data thereof at step S20.
  • the malfunction det ecting and repairing device 20 further includes a vehicle data storing unit for storing vehicle data which is information about a type of a vehicle having the corresponding malfunction detecting and repairing device 20.
  • the vehicle data storing unit may be a memory.
  • the service providing server 30 transmits the vehicle data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40. Accordingly, the vehicle manufacturer server 40 uses the receive vehicle information to accurately select vaccine data according to the result of detecting the malfunction states of a corresponding vehicle based on the state data.
  • a unique identification number may be assigned to each malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 in order to use the vehicle information when the malfunction state is detected and vaccine data is selected.
  • the vehicle manufacturer stores the unique identification number assigned to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 installed at an ECU 10 of a vehicle when the vehicle is manufactured. Then, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits the identification number to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 instead of the vehicle data at steps S20 and S30.
  • the vehicle manufacturer server 40 identifies a type of a vehicle corresponding to the receive identification number based on its database. It is preferable to store such an identification number in an identification number storage unit separately provided in the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20.
  • the identification number storage unit may be a memory.
  • the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 transmits the state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 as described above. However, it is preferable that the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 transmits a result of detecting malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle or information about how to repair related to the detected malfunction states to a predetermined user terminal such as a mobile phone of a predetermined user. For example, a telephone number of a user is previously stored in an additional memory of the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20, and the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 informs a user of the malfunction state of a vehicle through a short message service (SMS) when the malfunction state is detected.
  • SMS short message service
  • the wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 informs a user of the repairing result of the malfunctioned electronic equipment. Therefore, a user can be informed about the result of detecting malfunction states of electronic equipments and the result of repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. If the malfunctioned electronic equipments of the vehicle are not repaired, a user may drive the vehicle into an auto shop to repair based on the informed information.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Vehicle Cleaning, Maintenance, Repair, Refitting, And Outriggers (AREA)
  • Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)

Abstract

Provided is a device and method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. The device includes a data receiver, a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and the data transmitter. The data receiver receives state data from the ECU through data communication with the ECU in the vehicle, where the state data is information related to states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle. The wireless transmitter wirelessly transmits the received state data to an external server, and the wireless receiver wirelessly receives vaccine data from the external server for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments. The data transmitter transmits the received vaccine data to the ECU through data communication with the ECU.

Description

Description
DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING AND REPAIRING MALFUNCTION OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES IN A VEHICLE
THROUGH ECU
Technical Field
[1] The present invention relates to a device and method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. Background Art
[2] A vehicle, such as a car, includes various electronic equipments which are electronic controllable parts. An electronic control unit (ECU) controls the various electronic equipments of the vehicle. When a driver of a vehicle detects an abnormal state of the vehicle due to the malfunction of electronic equipments, the driver must visit an auto shop to repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments. In the auto shop, a repair man generally connects an engine tester to the ECU of the vehicle and downloads data related to the abnormal states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle from the ECU. The engine tester diagnoses the abnormal states of various electronic equipments such as an engine based on the received state data, downloads vaccine data for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments from a management system of a related vehicle manufacturer, and transmits the received vaccine data to the ECU. The ECU repairs the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner using the vaccine data transmitted from the engine tester.
[3] Such a method for detecting a malfunction state of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments according to the related art requires a driver to physically visit an auto shop although the malfunctioned electronic equipments may be simply repaired by downloading vaccine data. That is, the driver wastes a time and a cost for detecting and repairing the malfunction of electronic equipments of a vehicle. It is annoying to the driver. Disclosure of Invention
Technical Problem
[4] Embodiments have been proposed in order to enable a user to detect a malfunction state of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner without physically visiting an auto shop for preventing the user from wasting time and cost. Technical Solution [5] In order to solve the above problems, embodiments provide a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle includes a data receiver, a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and the data transmitter. The data receiver receives state data from the ECU through data communication with the ECU in the vehicle, where the state data is information related to states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle. The wireless transmitter wirelessly transmits the received state data to an external server, and the wireless receiver wirelessly receives vaccine data from the external server for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments. The data transmitter transmits the received vaccine data to the ECU through data communication with the ECU.
[6] The device may further include a location data generator for generating location data which is information about a location of the vehicle. The wireless transmitter may transmit the generated location data to the external server with the state data.
[7] The location data generator may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving GPS signals from external GPS signal transmitting systems and generating the location data based on the received GPS signals.
[8] The device may further include a vehicle data storing unit for storing vehicle data which is information about a type of the vehicle. The wireless transmitter may transmit the stored vehicle data to the external server with the state data.
[9] The device may further include an identification number storing unit for storing unique identification numbers. The wireless transmitter may transmit the stored unique identification numbers to the external server with the state data.
[10] The wireless transmitter may transmit information about detected abnormal states or results of repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments to predetermined user terminals.
[11] As described above, the malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present embodiment can automatically detect the malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments without requiring a driver to physically drive the vehicle into an auto shop for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present embodiment minimizes the driver's time, cost, and effort.
[12] Embodiments also provide a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. In the method, an external server receives state data from a malfunction detecting and repairing device. Then, a vaccine providing server receives the state data from the external server, diagnoses a malfunction state of the vehicle based on the received state data, and transmits vaccine data related to the diagnosed malfunction state to the external server, and the external server transmits the vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device. Advantageous Effects
[13] A malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present invention enable a user to detect malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments if the detected malfunction can be repaired in software manner. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present invention can prevent a user from wasting unnecessary time, cost, and effort. Brief Description of the Drawings
[14] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a malfunction detecting and repairing system including the device of Fig. 1 and a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an ECU in the vehicle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
[15] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[16] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle in accordance with embodiments.
[17] Referring to Fig. 1, a malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 according to an exemplary embodiment of present embodiment transmits and receives data for detecting a malfunction state of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) 10 installed in a vehicle. Preferably, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 may be manufactured in a chip and installed adjacent to the ECU 10.
[18] The malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 includes a data transmitting/ receiving unit 21, a wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23, and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver 25.
[19] The data transmitting/receiving unit 21 is an data interface that is directly connected to the ECU 10 for transmitting and receiving data to/from the ECU 10. The ECU 10 creates state data by collecting information about states of electronic equipments in a vehicle. The data transmitting/receiving unit 21 also receives the state data from the ECU 10 and transmits vaccine data, whcih will be described below, to the ECU 10. The data transmitting/receiving unit 21 may be divided into a data receiver for receiving the state data from the ECU 10 and a data transmitter for transmitting the state data to the ECU 10.
[20] The wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 wirelessly transmits and receives data to/from a predetermined external service. The wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 may transmit and receive data based on technologies related to Bluetooth, wireless broadband (WiB ro), and wireless Internet. For example, the wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 may perform data communication through the network of a mobile communication service provider based on a CDMA scheme. The wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 wirelessly transmits the state data received from the data transmitting/receiving unit 21 to an external server. The wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 also wirelessly receives vaccine data from the external server in order to repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle through the ECU. The wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 may be divided into a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver.
[21] The GPS receiver 25 generates location data which is information about a location of a vehicle having the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20. That is, the GPS receiver 25 receives GPS signals from external GPS signal transmitting systems (not shown) and generates the location data of a vehicle. The location data is transferred to the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 and transmitted to the external server with the state data.
[22] Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a malfunction detecting and repairing system including the device of Fig. 1 and a method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an ECU in the vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
[23] Referring to Fig. 2, a malfunction detecting and repairing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present embodiment includes the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 of Fig. 1, a service providing server 30, and a vehicle manufacturer server 40.
[24] The service providing server 30 is an external server for receiving the state data of the ECU 10 from the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 and transmitting the received state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40. Also, the service providing server 30 receives the vaccine data from the vehicle manufacturer server 40 and transmits the received vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20.
[25] The vehicle manufacturer server 40 is a vaccine providing server that receives the state data from the service providing server 30, diagnoses abnormal states of the ECU 10, and transmits vaccine data for repairing the detected abnormal state to the service providing server 30. Since a vehicle manufacturer generally produces and distributes vaccine data for malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle, the vehicle manufacturer server is exemplary shown as an example of a vaccine providing server. If a predetermined company produces vaccine data for repairing predetermined electronic equipments in a vehicle instead of the vehicle manufacturer server 40, a server managed by the predetermined company may be used as the vaccine providing server.
[26] Throughout the specification, the vaccine data include all types of data for repairing the malfunction states of the electronic equipments, which are detected based on the state data transmitted from the ECU 10. The vaccine data according to the present embodiment is not vaccine produced for handling a typical virus program. The vaccine data may be an upgraded version of software produced for repairing bugs of predetermined software for controlling predetermined electronic equipments in a vehicle. Furthermore, the vaccine data may be any data for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments in software manner.
[27] The operation of the malfunction detecting and repairing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2.
[28] At first, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 receives state data of various electronic equipments in a vehicle, which are collected by an ECU 10 of a vehicle, from the ECU 10 at step SlO. The malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits the received state data to the service providing server 30 through wireless data communication at step S20. The service providing server 30 retransmits the received state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 at step S30. Here, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits location data of a vehicle, generated through the GPS receiver 25, with the state data at step S20.
[29] The vehicle manufacturer server 40 detects the malfunction states of electronic equipments such as an engine by comparing the received state data with information about normal states of the electronic equipments at step S40. If the vehicle manufacturer server 40 detects the malfunction states, the vehicle manufacturer server 40 fetches predetermined vaccine data and transmits the fetched vaccine data to the service providing server 30 at step S50.
[30] The service providing server 30 transmits the received vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 through wireless data communication at step S60. The malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 repairs the malfunctioned electronic equipments in a vehicle by transmitting the received vaccine data to the ECU 10 at step S70. Here, the service providing server 30 is already aware of the location of the vehicle because the service providing server 30 receives the location data of the vehicle at the step S60 as described above. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 can easily wirelessly transmit data to the target vehicle based on the location data of the vehicle.
[31] As described above, the malfunction detecting and repairing device and method according to the present embodiment can automatically detect the malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repair the malfunctioned electronic equipments without requiring a driver to physically drive the vehicle into an auto shop for repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. Therefore, the malfunction detecting and repairing device according to the present embodiment minimizes the driver' s time, cost, and effort.
[32] The malfunction detecting and repairing method according to the present embodiment can be modified in various ways as follows.
[33] The malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 may further transmit information about a type of a vehicle with the state data thereof at step S20. In order to transmit the information about the vehicle type, it is preferable that the malfunction det ecting and repairing device 20 further includes a vehicle data storing unit for storing vehicle data which is information about a type of a vehicle having the corresponding malfunction detecting and repairing device 20. The vehicle data storing unit may be a memory. The service providing server 30 transmits the vehicle data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40. Accordingly, the vehicle manufacturer server 40 uses the receive vehicle information to accurately select vaccine data according to the result of detecting the malfunction states of a corresponding vehicle based on the state data.
[34] As another method for using the vehicle information, a unique identification number may be assigned to each malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 in order to use the vehicle information when the malfunction state is detected and vaccine data is selected. The vehicle manufacturer stores the unique identification number assigned to the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 installed at an ECU 10 of a vehicle when the vehicle is manufactured. Then, the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20 transmits the identification number to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 instead of the vehicle data at steps S20 and S30. The vehicle manufacturer server 40 identifies a type of a vehicle corresponding to the receive identification number based on its database. It is preferable to store such an identification number in an identification number storage unit separately provided in the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20. The identification number storage unit may be a memory.
[35] In the present embodiment, the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 transmits the state data to the vehicle manufacturer server 40 as described above. However, it is preferable that the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 transmits a result of detecting malfunction states of electronic equipments in a vehicle or information about how to repair related to the detected malfunction states to a predetermined user terminal such as a mobile phone of a predetermined user. For example, a telephone number of a user is previously stored in an additional memory of the malfunction detecting and repairing device 20, and the wireless transmitting/receiving unit 23 informs a user of the malfunction state of a vehicle through a short message service (SMS) when the malfunction state is detected. Furthermore, the wireless transmitting/ receiving unit 23 informs a user of the repairing result of the malfunctioned electronic equipment. Therefore, a user can be informed about the result of detecting malfunction states of electronic equipments and the result of repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments. If the malfunctioned electronic equipments of the vehicle are not repaired, a user may drive the vehicle into an auto shop to repair based on the informed information. [36] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed embodients. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

Claims
[1] An device for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle, comprising: a data receiver for receiving state data from the ECU through data communication with the ECU in the vehicle, where the state data is information related to states of the electronic equipments in the vehicle; a wireless transmitter for wirelessly transmitting the received state data to an external server; a wireless receiver for wirelessly receiving vaccine data from the external server for repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments; and a data transmitter for transmitting the received vaccine data to the ECU through data communication with the ECU.
[2] The device of claim 1, further comprising: a location data generator for generating location data which is information about a location of the vehicle, wherein the wireless transmitter transmits the generated location data to the external server with the state data.
[3] The device of claim 2, wherein the location data generator includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving GPS signals from external GPS signal transmitting systems and generating the location data based on the received GPS signals.
[4] The device of claim 1, further comprising: a vehicle data storing unit for storing vehicle data which is information about a type of the vehicle, wherein the wireless transmitter transmits the stored vehicle data to the external server with the state data.
[5] The device of claim 1, further comprising: an identification number storing unit for storing unique identification numbers, wherein the wireless transmitter transmits the stored unique identification number to the external server with the state data.
[6] The device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmitter transmits information about detected abnormal states or results of repairing malfunctioned electronic equipments to predetermined user terminals.
[7] A method for detecting malfunction of electronic equipments in a vehicle and repairing the malfunctioned electronic equipments through an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle, comprising: at an external server, receiving state data from a malfunction detecting and repairing device of anyone of claims 1 to 6; at a vaccine providing server, receiving the state data from the external server, diagnosing a malfunction state of the vehicle based on the received state data, and transmitting vaccine data related to the diagnosed malfunction state to the external server; and at the external server, transmitting the vaccine data to the malfunction detecting and repairing device.
PCT/KR2007/004782 2006-12-20 2007-10-01 Device and method for detecting and repairing malfunction of electrical devices in a vehicle through ecu WO2008075827A1 (en)

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