Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-22
2004-07-20
Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
C701S050000, C340S438000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766231
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a monitor system for a work vehicle and more particularly to a monitor system well suited for use in construction machinery such as bulldozers.
BACKGROUND ART
A known construction machine vehicle such as bulldozers requires a system which enables alternation of the vehicle body performance of each individual vehicle according to its operating site. Concretely, the alternation includes: alternation of various control parameters; adjustment of variations in braking and clutching; and alternation of a setting for a replacement time indicative of when a maintenance part etc. of the vehicle is due for replacement.
Such a demand may be met by changing a program for the controller mounted on the vehicle, but, this method is not suitable for mass production. Therefore, one method is usually taken, in which various control parameters etc. are stored in a nonvolatile ROM and an adjuster (service man) rewrites them, using a personal computer or the like.
Apart from the alternation of the vehicle body performance described above, adjustment and setting items (e.g., monitor screen brightness adjustment and liquid crystal contrast adjustment) associated with convenience and comfortability for the operator in operating the vehicle are adjusted by the operator's turning an exclusive switch provided for each item.
It has, however, been found that the operation for the adjustment, in which the adjuster changes vehicle body performance by rewriting by use of a tool such as computers, is extremely troublesome. In addition, the adjustment made by the operator's turning the exclusive switch provided for every adjustment or setting item also presents the problem that the number of switches increases as the number of adjustment/setting items increases, which results in not only troublesome adjustment/setting operations but also a complicated structure of the operation panel.
The invention is directed to overcoming the above problems and a primary object of the invention is therefore to provide a monitor system for a work vehicle, wherein adjustment and setting operations carried out by a service man having a good knowledge of the vehicle and adjustment and setting operations carried out by an operator are executed on the same monitor panel surface and wherein various adjustment and setting operations can be easily carried out in compliance with the operator's taste while various adjustment and setting operations on the service side can be readily carried out without use of a special input device.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The above object can be accomplished by a monitor system for a work vehicle, the monitor system comprising a display panel section for displaying various items of information on the work vehicle and a switching and adjustment switch section for executing various switching and adjustment operations including switching of the display content of the display panel section,
wherein the display panel section includes a message display section for displaying, by switching, various messages,
the message displaying section being switchable among a normal mode for displaying the normal operating condition of the work vehicle; a user information mode for displaying, by switching, a plurality of functions selectable by an operator who operates the work vehicle; and a service information mode for displaying, by switching, a plurality of functions selectable by an adjuster who is in charge of adjustment operation for the work vehicle.
According to the invention, since the adjustment and setting operations carried out by the services man having a good knowledge of the vehicle and the adjustment and setting operations carried out by the operator are executed on the same display panel surface, so that not only various adjustment and setting operations on the service side such as vehicle performance adjustment can be readily carried out without use of a special input device, but also various adjustment and setting operations for improving convenience and comfortability for the operator can be readily carried out according to the operator's taste. In addition, the number of switches etc. does not increase as the number of adjustment items increase, so that a simplified system configuration can be achieved for the monitor system.
Preferably, in the present invention, the user information mode has a maintenance mode for displaying maintenance information on the work vehicle or a user adjustment mode for setting and adjusting the visibility of the display panel section. Displaying of the maintenance information allows the operator to readily grasp a replacement time indicative of, for instance, when the oil filter or oil is due for replacement, which provides more convenience. Further, the visibility of the display panel section can be readily adjusted in accordance with the operator's taste so that comfortability when the operator is driving the vehicle can be improved.
Preferably, in the maintenance mode, a maintenance item, a maintenance time and a maintenance history are displayed.
Further, it is preferable that the brightness and strength of a backlight for the display panel section be adjusted in the user adjustment mode.
In the invention, the service information mode preferably has a maintenance service mode for altering a setting for a maintenance time displayed in the maintenance mode; a load memory mode for storing and displaying the load condition of the vehicle; or a real time monitoring mode for displaying the present operating condition of the vehicle. The provision of the maintenance service mode allows alteration of a setting for a maintenance time for each individual vehicle according to its operating site, so that a vehicle which satisfies user's needs can be attained. Additionally, the provision of the real time monitoring mode allows the service man to know the continually changing condition of the vehicle in real time, which further facilitates operations such as adjustment and setting.
In this case, the real time monitoring mode is preferably designed to display the operating condition of the item corresponding to an identification code which has been input, being selected from identification codes preset for display items respectively. With this arrangement, the item corresponding to an identification code which has been input can be immediately selected from many display items. This results in an improvement in the efficiency of the operation carried out by the service man.
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Nakagawa Tomohiro
Suzuki Kazuyuki
Yamamoto Shigeru
Komatsu Ltd.
Marc-Coleman Marthe Y.
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
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