Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-05
2002-04-09
Beaulieu, Jonel (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
C701S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06370455
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to automotive service equipment, and more particularly to a method for remote access to, and diagnosis of, software applications and hardware configurations of a vehicle wheel alignment system computer interconnected via a local or global network, such as the Internet, to a remote computer system to facilitate maintenance, repair, and efficient operation thereof.
As described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/388,730 filed Sep. 2, 1999, herein incorporated by reference, and in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/587,637 filed Jun. 5, 2000, it is desirable that a general purpose computer associated with an automotive diagnostic or service system such as a vehicle wheel alignment system include an operating system which is fully compatible with local and global computer networks such as the Internet to exchange information with remote computers and databases. Examples of such currently available 32-bit operating systems include the Microsoft Windows™ OS family of products, such as Windows 2000 and Windows CE, and Palm Computing's Palm OS products, all capable of running Internet browser software such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape's Communicator. Future operating systems utilizing a 64-bit, 128-bit, or 2″-bit bases are anticipated as suitable logical extensions of current operating systems as computer hardware technology improves. Additional computing products on which vehicle wheel alignment systems having Internet access may be implemented include tablet-type computers and pocket-type computers, both of which would be form factors highly suited for use in an automotive repair shop environment.
Such a vehicle wheel alignment system further should provide improved Internet integration of the automotive diagnostic or wheel alignment system when compared to conventional automotive diagnostic or vehicle wheel alignment systems. For example, a vehicle wheel alignment system utilizing Internet integration should include an ability to utilize Microsoft's standard or compact versions of “dot”-NET (or NET) Web Services, which are building blocks for constructing distributed Internet or web-based applications in a platform, object model, and multi-language manner. These “dot”-NET Web Services are based upon open Internet standards and protocols, such as HTTP and XML, and provide a URL-addressable resource which programmatically returns information to systems who want to use it, without the systems needing to know how the service has been implemented. Specifically, Web Services represents black-box functionality which may be reused without concern for how the service is implemented, by providing well-defined user interfaces, known as “contracts,” which describe the features of the service. In this manner, vehicle wheel alignment applications can be assembled from a variety of components, consisting of remote services accessed via the Internet, local services, and custom software written in an intermediate language, any of several computer languages including C#, Visual Basic, C++, Cobol, Perl, Java, JScript and VBScript, and may utilize component object model (COM) and distributed COM (DCOM) standards. Individual “dot”-NET Web Services and components can be further enhanced by using “inheritance” properties to extend the capabilities of existing components. These remote and local services and custom software may further utilize a standard “dot”-NET framework or information exchange protocol, such as Microsoft's Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to exchange information over the Internet. The SOAP methodology provides a lightweight protocol for the exchange of information in a decentralized and distributed environment, such as the Internet. SOAP is an XML based protocol which consists of three parts, an envelope for defining a framework for the contents of a message and the manner in which it is to be processed, a set of encoding rules for expressing datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses.
In contrast, conventional general purpose computers included in traditional vehicle wheel alignment systems may provide limited access to a network of computers (e.g., LAN) and to the Internet. Traditional vehicle wheel alignment systems generally do not integrate the Internet into associated automotive service, maintenance, repair or inspection software, such as wheel alignment diagnostic software. Instead, the associated computer operates as would any other PC, configured to browse the Internet without fully integrating the Internet into the system software to utilize the availability of remote access and information exchange. Therefore, it is desirable to develop an automotive diagnostic or repair system such as a vehicle wheel alignment system which integrates local or global computer networks such as the Internet into the wheel alignment system software to provide a more efficient and accurate system than is currently available. The integrated Internet application centralizes maintenance of software applications, components, and services, remote system diagnosis, and the remote gathering of useful statistical and logging information.
For example, when a software or hardware failure occurs in a conventional vehicle wheel alignment system, a repair technician cannot determine the operational status of the equipment other than by visiting the location at which the automotive diagnostic or repair system is installed to inspect the machine and to question shop personnel. Additionally, each repair technician is required to bring software replacements and updates to each physical location visited, so as to be able to diagnose and repair problems on a wide variety of vehicle wheel alignment systems without the need for return visits. Finally, there is currently no repository for statistical and status information related to individual units and to groups of vehicle wheel alignment systems. Collections of information such as system usage, configurations, downtime, vehicle wheel alignment procedures performed, and software component applications such as services can be utilized to provide beneficial guidance for the development, maintenance and repair of a variety of different automotive diagnostic and repair systems, as well as increased vehicle repair shop efficiency. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a vehicle wheel alignment system that allows for nearly instantaneous bi-directional, information access via a local or global computer network (e.g., the Internet) so that data and commands such as current status information and statistics, software updates, component objects, and services such as alignment, diagnostic, or repair routines can be readily accessed and utilized by repair technicians at a remote system during the maintenance of the vehicle wheel alignment system.
A system and method for distributed computer automotive service equipment is described in International Application No. WO 99/23783 to Snap-on Technologies, Inc. wherein computerized automotive service equipment is adapted to access one or more remotely located computer systems to retrieve or exchange the data and/or software necessary analyze and diagnose a vehicle undergoing service. For example, in the WO 99/23783 application, raw data from vehicle wheel alignment sensors mounted on a vehicle wheel is received a local computer, and then transmitted to a remote system over a network wherein the raw data is processed and vehicle wheel alignment angles returned over the network to the local computer for display to a technician. Additionally disclosed are similar applications for engine analyzers and brake testers, as well as the transfer and exchange of vehicle OEM specifications from the remote system over the network to the local computers. However, the WO 99/23783 application does not incorporate any features for the col
Brandt Richard L.
Colarelli Nicholas J.
Larson Timothy A.
Strege Timothy A.
Beaulieu Jonel
Folster, Lieder, Woodruff & Lucchesi, LC
Hunter Engineering Company
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