WO2009030540A1

WO2009030540A1 - Method and apparatus for determining faulty components in coupled active chains

Info

Publication number: WO2009030540A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/058638
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joerg Dieter Huber
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2007-09-03
Filing date: 2008-07-04
Publication date: 2009-03-12
Also published as: DE102007041848A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a diagnostic method and a diagnostic apparatus for determining faulty components in coupled active chains (WK1, WK2) having a plurality of components (K1 - K6) which are respectively functionally related to one another; having the following steps of: a) providing (S1) a statement relating to a faulty function; b) determining (S2) involved components for performing the faulty function by referring to a component/function matrix using the provided statement relating to the faulty function, wherein the component/function matrix shows function coupling of active chains of components; c) selecting (S3) test functions from the functions shown in the component/function matrix, with the result that those functions in the component/function matrix which use one or more of the involved components determined are determined as selected test functions; d) performing (S5) the selected test functions; e) providing (S7) a test result statement which states, for each of the test functions performed, whether said function can be performed in a fault-free manner or whether it is faulty; f) determining components which are suspected of having faults using the test result statement.

Description

description

Title METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING

WIRES CHAINED BY INCORRECT COMPONENTS

Technical area

The invention relates to a diagnostic method and a diagnostic device for determining faulty components of coupled chains of action, in particular of components in a motor vehicle.

State of the art

The number of electronic and electrical components in a motor vehicle is steadily increasing. Furthermore, the degree of internal coupling of the functional scope and the proportion increases exclusively by software realized functions. This makes it more and more complicated to know or recognize the functional relationships as a whole. In particular, due to the fact that the functionality and the diagnosis of the components are in separate lines of development, troubleshooting is usually difficult due to ignorance of the relationships. As a result, errors in the generation of diagnostic processes are often considered isolated and no cross-couplings are taken into account. So far, the diagnosis is made in the event of an error on the basis of the description of a symptom in the workshop, the error can be detected usually by experience of the workshop personnel or due to entries in fault memories, if any.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a diagnostic apparatus and method for operating the diagnostic apparatus, wherein debugging is supported in a multi-component system without requiring a user, such as a user. a workshop employee must have knowledge of all functional relationships between the components.

Disclosure of the invention

The above object is achieved by the diagnostic device according to claim 1 and by the method for operating a diagnostic device according to the independent claim.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a diagnostic method is provided for detecting faulty components of coupled action chains having a plurality of components each in functional relationship with each other. The diagnostic method includes the steps of providing an indication of a malfunctioning function; determining components of the component to perform the erroneous function by referring to a component-function matrix based on the provided indication of the malfunction, the component-function matrix mapping function-associations of effect chains of components; the selection of test functions from the functions mapped in the component-function matrix, so that as selected test functions those functions in the component Function matrix are determined, which use one or more of the detected components involved; performing the selected test functions; providing a test result indication indicating, for each of the executed test functions, whether it is executable or faulty; and the determination of suspect components based on the test results.

With the aid of the diagnostic method provided, it is possible to select those functions as test functions in the event of a malfunction with the aid of the diagnostic method with which individual components which can be the cause of the malfunction can be tested via other functions which do not use all the components of the malfunction. so as to limit the possible defective components. The entire functions are provided via the component function matrix. In the simplified case, the functions provided may be special diagnostic functions which allow a single component to be checked with regard to its correctness.

Furthermore, when selecting the test functions, one or more test functions may be selected so as to minimize the number of selected test functions, with all the components involved in total used in performing the selected test functions. In particular, when selecting the test functions, the one or more test functions may be selected to have a complementary degree of coverage with respect to the components involved in the corresponding test function.

According to one embodiment, the steps of selecting test functions from the functions mapped in the component-function matrix are provided; performing the selected test functions; providing the test result indication; and the determination of suspect components on the basis of the test result indication with the suspect components as involved components. In particular, can be provided be repeated until the number of suspected components can not be further reduced.

According to one embodiment, the provision of a test result information is performed by determining for each of the executed test functions manually by user input and / or automatically by a feedback of one of the components involved the action chain defined by the test function, whether the test function is error-free executable or is faulty.

Furthermore, the provision of the indication of the faulty function can be carried out by reading out a fault memory from a control component or manually by inputting a user.

According to a further aspect, a diagnostic device is provided for use in determining faulty components of coupled action chains having a plurality of respective functionally related components. The diagnostic device comprises a memory for providing indications of a component-function matrix and a control unit that is configured to determine components involved for performing the function by reference to a component-function matrix on the basis of a provided information about a malfunctioning function, wherein the component function matrix maps function associations of effect chains of components; in order to select test functions from the functions mapped in the component-function matrix such that the functions selected in the component-function matrix that use one or more of the determined components involved are determined as selected test functions; to perform the selected test functions and to provide a test result indication indicating, for each of the executed test functions, whether it is error-free executable or erroneous; and to identify suspect components based on the test results. Furthermore, the diagnostic device can be provided with an interface for connection to a communication system having a plurality of components.

According to a further aspect, a use of a diagnostic device in a communication system of a motor vehicle is provided.

Brief description of the drawings

Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of knitting chains having a series of functional elements coupled together;

FIG. 2 shows a representation of two chains of action for the description of the method according to the invention on the basis of a concrete example; FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a system of coupled components in a motor vehicle connected using a diagnostic device according to the present invention;

4 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating a diagnostic device according to an embodiment of the invention; and FIG. 5 is an illustration of a component function matrix for use in the method of FIG. 4.

Disclosure of the invention

Fig. 1 shows in general the coupling of chains of action, as it increasingly occurs in a motor vehicle. To provide functionality, components are coupled together to provide the driver with a particular functionality. The individual components are suitably connected to one another in order to realize a desired function. With linked chains of action, the case arises that single or multiple components are needed for multiple chains of action. In Fig. 1, two chains of action WK1 and WK2 are shown having components K1 - K6. In Fig. 1, a coupling of the chains of action WK1 and WK2 is shown, in which the component K2 of the first chain of action WK1 is also used for the second chain of action WK2, while the remaining components K1 and K3 of the chain of action WK1 and the components K4, K5 and K6 the chain of action WK2 can only be used in the relevant chain of action in order to provide the corresponding functionality.

This is illustrated by an example in FIG. The first chain of action relates to the turn signal function, in which a driver of the vehicle can activate a turn signal lamp 12 by actuating the turn signal lever 10. The turn signal lever 10 is for this purpose coupled to a control unit 11, which in turn controls the turn signal lamp 12 so that a flashing takes place. The second chain of action relates to a radio-controlled central locking, in which a remote control key 15 sends a signal, which is received by an antenna 16 in the rear window of the vehicle, to the control unit 11. The control unit recognizes the signal as a signal of the radio central locking and controls both the turn signal lamp 12 and an electric lock 17 of the central locking. The coupling of the two chains of action is that in both chains of action, the control module 11 takes over the function of driving the turn signal lamp 12.

FIG. 3 shows, by way of example, a block diagram illustrating the coupling of a diagnostic device 23 to a communication system in the vehicle. The communication system includes a bus 20 to which individual components 21 of the vehicle are coupled to communicate with other components according to the functions to be performed in a particular manner. The communication bus 20 has an interface 22, via which a diagnostic device 23 can be coupled to the communication bus 20. Alternatively, the diagnostic device 23 may also be permanently connected to the communication bus 10 or located in one of the components 11. FIG. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating the operation of the diagnostic device 23. In a step S1, the diagnostic device 23 is provided with information about an error that has occurred. This can be done, for example, by manual input, eg via a connectable or connected input device via the readout of a fault memory or by other notification about a malfunction that has occurred.

The diagnostic device 23 is then activated manually or automatically to detect the faulty component (s), e.g. by connecting the diagnostic device to a communication system and the like to have corresponding test functions performed. For this purpose, the faulty function is first analyzed in step S2 and the components of the overall system involved in the execution of the function are identified. This identification of the involved components takes place e.g. using a component function matrix in which the components involved can be read out for each implemented function. An example of such a matrix is shown in FIG. The matrix points at the interfaces between component lines KL and the function lines FL indicate that the component in question is required to perform the function in question. If there is no point at the interface between a component line KL and a function line FL, this means that the relevant component is not required for the execution of the relevant function. Function lines that only contain an interface with a component line mean either one

Function that can be displayed on the basis of a single component or a specific diagnostic function for this single component, ie a special test function, which after execution allows a clear statement on the accuracy of a component. If the components involved in the execution of the faulty function are identified by means of the component-function matrix, it is further determined in step S3 with the aid of the matrix which test functions could be carried out which activate at least one of the identified components , In a next step S4, the test functions are sorted and selected according to the degree of coverage of the individual components. That is, the number of test functions to be executed is reduced so that only those test functions are performed so that all identified components are tested at least once using a test function. It is thereby achieved that the number of test functions to be performed is minimized, the test functions being selected (step S9) such that their components complement each other, whereby each of the identified components is tested at least once by one of the selected test functions.

In a next step S5, the selected test functions are executed and for each of the test functions, the occurrence of a fault or error freedom is detected (step S6). This can be done automatically or manually.

If no error occurs, the components involved are classified as error-free. If, on the other hand, an error occurs, if only one component is involved, it is classified as defective (step S7). If several components are involved, they are classified as suspect, since it is not possible to clearly determine which of the components involved is faulty, or whether more than one of the components or all are faulty. The suspect components (step S10), which are also part of the identified components (in

Step S2), step S3 is again supplied, test functions being selected to identify the suspect components detected in step S7 as being error-free or erroneous. For this purpose, steps S3 to S7, S9 and S10 are carried out again until it has been established for each of the components involved whether it is error-free or faulty or whether the above-mentioned recursion no longer results in further resolution of the specific components suspect allows. In other words, the loop of steps S3 to S7, S9 and S10 is repeated until the number of suspect components can not be further reduced. In this case, the suspected components are output via a suitable output device (step S8) so that these components can either be replaced or subjected to further test procedures not to be performed by the diagnostic device 23 or by means of the special test functions for testing individual components either by the diagnostic device or be checked by the operator.

The core of the diagnostic device 23 consists in the matrix in which chains of action of the components involved in the execution of the function are assigned. This matrix can be provided in a variety of ways in a diagnostic device 23 and stored in a memory available there in a suitable manner or be accessible via a communication link of the diagnostic device.

The diagnostic device may comprise a microprocessor which realizes the functions of the diagnostic device or the diagnostic method by executing a corresponding computer program, e.g. on a suitable data carrier or memory is provided to the microprocessor.

It is a core of the invention that the relationships are function-oriented and not component-oriented. This simplifies assignment of the function-related customer complaint to a necessary diagnostic activity. The result of a diagnostic activity is therefore traceable and less dependent on the experience of the workshop employee. The knowledge of networking and dependencies of functions among each other is available in the diagnostic tester and repair successes are no longer dependent solely on the experience of the workshop staff.

Claims

claims

1. Diagnostic method for determining faulty or suspect

Components of linked chains of action (WK1, WK2), which have a plurality of components (K1-) which are in each case functionally related to one another.

K6); comprising the steps of: a) providing an indication of a malfunctioning function; b) determining (S2) involved components for performing the erroneous function by reference to a component-function matrix on the basis of the provided information about the faulty function, wherein the component-function matrix functions-couplings of effect chains of components (K1 - K6); c) selecting (S3) test functions from the functions mapped in the component function matrix such that the selected test functions are those functions in the component function matrix that use one or more of the determined components involved; d) executing the selected test functions (S5); e) providing (S7) a test result indication that indicates for each of the executed test functions whether it is error-free executable or is faulty; f) Determining faulty or suspect components based on the test results.

The diagnostic method of claim 1, wherein upon selecting (S3) the test functions, one or more test functions are selected to minimize the number of selected test functions, all in all using components involved in performing the selected test functions.

3. A diagnostic method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when selecting the

Test functions the one or more test functions selected be (S9) that they have a complementary degree of coverage with respect to the components involved in the corresponding test function.

4. A diagnostic method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the steps c), d), e) and f) with the suspect components as involved

Components are repeated.

5. A diagnostic method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the steps c), d), e) and f) are repeated with the suspect components as involved components until the number of error suspect components can not be further reduced ,

6. The diagnostic method according to claim 1, wherein the provision of a test result indication is performed by determining for each of the executed test functions manually by a user input and / or automatically by a feedback of one of the components involved the action chain defined by the test function the test function is error-free executable or is faulty.

A diagnostic method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein providing the indication of the erroneous function is performed by reading a fault memory from a control component or manually by inputting a user.

8. A diagnostic device (23) for use in determining faulty components of coupled chains of action having a plurality of each other functionally related components, comprising: - a memory for providing indications of a component

Function matrix; a control unit that is designed

to determine involved components for performing the function by referring to a component-function matrix on the basis of a provided information about a faulty function (S2), wherein the component-function-matrix functions-couplings of effects maps of components;

to select test functions from the functions mapped in the component-function matrix (S3), such that the functions selected in the component-function matrix that use one or more of the determined components involved are determined as selected test functions;

to perform the selected test functions (S5) and to provide a test result indication (S7) indicating, for each of the executed test functions, whether it is error-free executable or erroneous; and

- to identify suspect components based on the test result information.

9. diagnostic device (23) according to claim 8 with an interface for connection to a communication system with a plurality of components.

10. Use of a diagnostic device (23) according to one of claims 8 or 9 in a communication system of a motor vehicle.

A computer program product with program code for performing the diagnostic method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, when the program is executed in a data processing unit.