DESC:“METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROTECTING ENGINE HOUR AND VEHICLE ODO DATA”
Field of invention
The present invention relates to protection of engine hour and odometer value, and more specifically, the present invention relates to system and method for protecting engine hour and odometer value whenever there is any mishandling/ damage to the instrument cluster or engine electronic control unit.
Background of the invention
There is instrument cluster and engine electronic control unit (ECU) in vehicle level. The instrument cluster of the prior art used to calculate ODO and engine hour. The ODO and engine hour data remains saved in the instrument cluster and same is used for display. But whenever there is any damage/mishandling of the instrument cluster or the engine ECU, the ODO and the engine hour value/data gets lost and a new count starts from fresh zero value if either of the system is replaced, which is a problem during the servicing of the vehicle in warranty.
Another US Patent Application No. 20050256681A1 discloses a metering device which is configured to generate and store engine hour data.
Yet another US Patent Application No.20140176345 discloses a system and method for monitoring and alerting on equipment errors. The method includes receiving data on a periodic basis, analyzing a quality issue associated with the received data, determining a type of the quality issue and generating a warning message including an indication of the quality issue and the type of the quality issue.
One more US Patent No US4258421 discloses on-board vehicle monitoring and recording of operating engine parameters. The system comprises a plurality of sensors for sensing operating parameters of the engine and for generating data signals. Further this data is processed through data processing unit and selectively displayed on on-board of a computer.
Another US Patent No. 6980923 B1 discloses system and method to prevent odometer fraud in a vehicle. The method comprises determining vehicle driven period of time, counting number of pulses on an input to the odometer during the predetermined period of time and determining fraud condition based on the number of pulses.
Yet another US Patent No. 7610128 B2 discloses securely calculating and storing odometer data associated with a vehicle. The method discloses to check the integrity of data. The method further includes receiving a first and second engine odometer values for an engine. Then, these odometer values are compared to determine whether data indicative of tampering was received. In this regard, if data indicative of tampering was received, aspects of the present invention adjust the official vehicle odometer value to account for the tampering.
One more US Patent Application No. 20140176345 discloses a system and method is for monitoring and alerting on equipment errors. The method includes receiving data on a periodic basis, analyzing a quality issue associated with the received data, determining a type of the quality issue and generating a warning message including an indication of the quality issue and the type of the quality issue.
The above cited prior art patent/patent applications are related to monitoring, recording the engine hour and vehicle ODO data with various methods and complex logic. The prior art methods do not provide a method for protecting the engine hour and vehicle odo data loss, in case of damage/mishandling of the instrument cluster or the engine ECU.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide a method for protecting engine hour and vehicle ODO data loss, which overcomes drawbacks of the prior art.
Objects of the present invention
An object of the present invention is to save ODO and engine hour value in case of failure of an instrument cluster or engine electronic control unit (EECU).
Another object of the present invention is to automatically retrieve past history, engine hour or ODO value even though someone replaces the EECU or instrument cluster from a running vehicle.
Summary of the invention
Accordingly in an aspect, the present invention provides a system for protecting vehicle odo and engine hour data in case of failure of the instrument cluster or engine electronic control unit (EECU). The vehicle odo and engine hour reading is saved in the electronically erasable read-only memory unit (EEPROM) of the instrument cluster. Every time the instrument cluster receives the vehicle odo and engine hour reading, it is compared with the last saved reading. In case there is manipulation in the reading or the instrument cluster is replaced, the current reading comes out to be less than the last stored reading. In such case, the difference between two consecutive readings is added to the last stored reading to get the real time, absolute reading. In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for protecting vehicle odo and engine hour data.
Brief description of the figures
The objectives and features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein,
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the system for protecting engine hour and vehicle ODO data loss, in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 2 shows a flow chard of the method for protecting engine hour and vehicle ODO data loss, in accordance with the present invention.
Detailed description of the present invention:
The foregoing objects of the present invention are accomplished and the problems and shortcomings associated with the prior art, techniques and approaches are overcome by the present invention as described below in the preferred embodiment.
The present invention provides a system for protecting vehicle odo and engine hour data in case of failure of the instrument cluster or engine electronic control unit (EECU). The system comprises of an instrument cluster; a plurality of engine control modules including an engine management system, a RPM controller, dosing control unit, etc; and a vehicle network bus. The vehicle network bus is for the communication between the instrument cluster and the engine control modules without a host computer. The vehicle odo and engine hour data is stored in the electronically erasable read-only memory unit (EEPROM) of the instrument cluster. When the system receives the new vehicle odo and engine hour reading, it is compared with the last stored vehicle odo and engine hour reading. If there is no manipulation in the reading, the current reading will always be greater than the last stored odo reading. In such case, the new reading will be stored in the EEPROM unit. In case there is some manipulation in engine data or replacement of instrument cluster, the current or new reading will be less than the last saved reading of the EEPROM unit. In such case, the system records difference between two new consequent readings and adds the difference to the last recorded EEPROM reading. This the absolute and real time reading is displayed even in case of manipulation or instrument cluster replacement.
The present invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which reference numbers indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. These reference numbers are shown in bracket in the following description.
Referring to figures 1 and 2, a detailed view of a system (100) and method (200) for protecting engine hour and vehicle ODO data loss in accordance with the present invention is shown. The system (100) for protecting engine hour and vehicle odo data comprises of an instrument cluster (30) configured with an electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) (10) for storing engine hour and vehicle odo reading, at least one microcontroller, and a visual display (20) The system (100) also comprises a plurality of engine electronic control units, each configured with at least one microcontroller. The plurality of electronic engine control modules includes an engine management system (40), a RPM controller (60) and a dosing control unit (DCU) (50). DCU (50) is the electronic controller which manages the exhaust after treatment system. The system (100) further comprises a vehicle network bus (70) for establishing communication between the instrument cluster (30) and the plurality of electronic engine control modules. Vehicle network bus (70) is a controller area network (CAN) designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other in applications without a host computer. It may be evident to those skilled in the art to use any other communication means known in the art for establishing communication between the instrument cluster and the engine ECU.
The instrument cluster (30) sends a request to the engine management system and receives the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) in response. The reading (Y) is compared with the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X). In case, when (Y) is greater than or equal to (X), the new reading (Y) is stored in memory unit EEPROM (10).
In case, when current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is less than the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X), the current reading (Y) is not stored in the EEPROM (10). Instead, the next subsequent odo and engine hour reading (Y’) is recorded and the difference between two new consequent readings (Y’ minus Y) is calculated and the difference (Y’ minus Y) is added to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X). The new reading {X plus (Y’ minus Y)} is now stored in the memory unit EEPROM (10).
The present invention provides a method (200) (hereinafter, method (200)) for protecting engine hour and vehicle odo data. The method (200) includes:
sending a request for current odo and engine hour reading (Y) to the engine management system (40);
receiving the current odo and engine hour reading (Y); from engine management system (40) into the EEPROM (10) of the instrument cluster (30);
comparing the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) with the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X) from EEPROM (10);
saving the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) in the memory unit EEPROM (10), in case when the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is greater than or equal to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X); and
adding the difference between two subsequent vehicle odo readings (Y -Y) to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X) and storing the output {X +(Y’- Y)} as the final odo and engine hour reading, in case when the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is less than the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X).
Final odo and engine hour readings are displayed on the odo value display (20).
Thus when there is any manipulation in the odo and engine hour data, or in case instrument cluster or engine control units are replaced, the system retrieves the past history and the engine hour and odo data is protected. In case of Instrument cluster failure, the new instrument cluster will retrieve the data from engine control unit and display the value. In case of engine control unit failure the Instrument cluster will retrieve the last stored data from its EEPROM. So in both the conditions Odo and engine hour data is not lost
Advantages of the invention
1. The system (100) saves the ODO and Engine Hour value whenever there is any kind of failure of Instrument Cluster or EECU.
2. The system (100) automatically retrieves the past history Engine hour or ODO value and starts display, even though someone replaces the EECU or the instrument Cluster from a running vehicle, because of the above algorithm,
3. Entire calculation is based on the real time digital data available on CAN and hence even delta of 0.5 km can be protected.
The foregoing objects of the invention are accomplished and the problems and shortcomings associated with prior art techniques and approaches are overcome by the present invention described in the present embodiment. Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein; however, it is to be understood that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure, or matter. The embodiments of the invention as described above and the methods disclosed herein will suggest further modification and alterations to those skilled in the art. Such further modifications and alterations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A system (100) for protecting vehicle odo and engine hour data, the system (100) comprising
an instrument cluster (30) configured with a memory unit (10) for storing vehicle odo value, at least one microcontroller, and a visual display (20);
a plurality of electronic engine control modules, each configured with at least one microcontroller; the plurality of electronic engine control modules including an engine management system (40), a RPM controller (60) and a dosing control unit (50); and
a vehicle network bus (70) for establishing communication between the instrument cluster (30) and the plurality of electronic engine control modules; wherein,
the instrument cluster (30) sends a request to the engine management system (40) and receives the current odo and engine hour reading (Y); the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is compared with the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X) and,
if the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is greater than or equal to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X), then (Y) is stored as the final odo and engine hour reading in memory unit (10) and displayed on the display (20), and
if the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is less than the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X), the difference between next two subsequent odo and engine hour reading (Y’ – Y) is added to (X) and the output [X + (Y’– Y)] is stored as the final odo and engine hour reading in memory unit (10) and displayed on the display (20).
2. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle network bus (70) is a vehicle bus standard controller area network designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
3. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory unit (10) is the electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) unit.
4. A method (200) for protecting vehicle odo data, the method (200) comprising:
sending a request for current odo and engine hour reading (Y) to the engine management system (40) though a vehicle network bus (70);
receiving the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) from engine management system (40) though a vehicle network bus (70), into the memory unit (10) of the instrument cluster (30);
comparing the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) with the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X) from memory unit (10);
saving the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) in the memory unit (10), if the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is greater than or equal to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X); and
adding the difference between next two subsequent vehicle odo and engine hour readings (Y’ and Y) to the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X) and storing the output {X + (Y’ - Y)} as the final odo and engine hour reading, if the current odo and engine hour reading (Y) is less than the last stored odo and engine hour reading (X); and
displaying the final odo and engine hour readings on the display (20).
5. The method (200) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the vehicle network bus (70) is a vehicle bus standard controller area network designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
6. The method (200) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the memory unit (10) is the electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) unit.
Dated this 29th day of June, 2017 Ashwini Kelkar
(Agent for Applicant)
IN-PA/2461