Diagnostic system for sensing and displaying functions of a moto

Details Diagnostic system for sensing and displaying functions of a moto Diagnostic system for sensing and displaying functions of a moto

1997-04-24

1998-08-18

Hofsass, Jeffery

Communications: electrical

Land vehicle alarms or indicators

Internal alarm or indicator responsive to a condition of the...

340461, 340525, 364424034, 237 2A, G60Q 100

Patent

active

057963320

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a diagnostic system for sensing and displaying the manner in which functions are performed, in particular malfunctions, in a heating apparatus, especially an additional heating apparatus, installed in a vehicle, including a controller for controlling the functions of the heating apparatus, a monitoring means for monitoring the correctness of the functions and for issuing malfunction signals in case of improper functions, a diagnosis memory for storing at least the occurrence of malfunction signals, and a display device for displaying malfunction signals stored in said diagnosis memory.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The electronic system controlling the functions of the heating apparatus is also responsive to malfunctions. The heating apparatus is usually put out of operation then. To this end, there is provided a monitoring means monitoring the functions of the heating apparatus with respect to the correctness thereof or with respect to the occurrence of malfunctions. Malfunction signals indicating the occurrence of malfunctions are usually stored in a diagnosis memory, in the form of error codes. In case the diagnosis memory is composed with an EEPROM, the error codes are permanently stored in the diagnosis memory. For motor vehicles of more recent construction dates, there are diagnostic systems which are used by motor vehicle garages for finding malfunctions of the motor vehicle, in particular of the engine and the electronic system of the engine. The motor vehicle electronic system is provided with a diagnostic connector through which a diagnostic apparatus may be connected. The diagnostic apparatus comprises a display device by means of which malfunctions of the motor vehicle can be displayed. Additional heating apparatus for motor vehicles are thus usually equipped with controllers permitting communication of the diagnosis memory of the heating apparatus with the diagnostic apparatus used for inspection of the motor vehicle.
Different motor vehicle manufacturers employ different data transfer methods for reading out information, in particular malfunction information, through the respective diagnostic apparatus connectable thereto. The diagnostic apparatus usable in each particular case must be matched to the data protocol corresponding to the respective specific data transfer method employed. For rendering the diagnostic information of the heating apparatus displayable via the diagnostic apparatus used for a particular motor vehicle, the controller of the heating apparatus must be matched individually to the data transfer method used for a particular vehicle type, or it must be matchable thereto by selection. In order to avoid that a plurality of different heating apparatus with corresponding individually matched controllers have to be provided, but to allow instead the use of just one single type of heating apparatus, the controller of the heating apparatus has to be provided with a multiplicity of data transfer methods along with the associated data protocols which may be retrieved selectively in order to permit cooperation of the diagnostic system of the heating apparatus with the diagnostic apparatus usable for a specific motor vehicle type. This entails a considerable circuit expenditure in the controller of the heating apparatus, along with a correspondingly high expenditure of components and costs.
A possibility of getting away from this problem consists in providing in the motor vehicle a display lamp which, in accordance with the particular malfunction to be displayed, indicates an error code by way of a specific blinking sequence. The user must be capable of interpreting and evaluating the error code indicated by the blinking sequence. This may easily result in interpretation errors, even when the blinking code is employed in a garage authorized to repair the heating apparatus. This risk is particularly high when a larger number of malfunctions can be diagnosed and displayed. For reducing the frequency of misinterpretations in this respect,

REFERENCES:
patent: 4497057 (1985-01-01), Kato et al.
patent: 4773588 (1988-09-01), Okada
patent: 4906970 (1990-03-01), Momura
patent: 5063513 (1991-11-01), Shank et al.
patent: 5369584 (1994-11-01), Kajiwara
patent: 5638060 (1997-06-01), Kataoka et al.

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