Vehicle information communication system and method capable of communicating with external management station

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• a battery for supplying electric power;
• a diagnosing unit connectable to the battery for diagnosing conditions of a vehicle-mounted device;
• a position detecting unit connectable to the battery for detecting a present position of the vehicle;
• a communication unit connectable to the diagnosing unit via a communication line for transmitting a diagnosis result acquired from the diagnosing unit to the management station outside of the vehicle in response to a transmission request from the management station;
• and
• supply state setting means, when a state in which the electric power necessary for an ordinary operation is supplied is changed to a state where no electric power is supplied, for continuing the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation of the diagnosing unit is supplied from the battery to the diagnosing unit for a predetermined period since the time point of the change, and after that, for switching to the state where no electric power is supplied,
• wherein the diagnosing unit acquires present position information from the position detecting unit at the time point, and outputs the diagnosis result together with the acquired present position information to the communication unit in a predetermined period since the time point the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied is changed to the state where no electric power is supplied, and
• the communication unit stores the present position information and diagnosis result outputted from the diagnosing unit into a memory unit in the communication unit and, when a transmission request is received from the management station in the state where the no electric power is supplied, the communication unit transmits the diagnosis result and the present position information stored in the memory unit in the communication unit to the management station.

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of a radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• a battery for supplying electric power;
• an diagnosing unit connectable to the battery for diagnosing conditions of a vehicle-mounted device;
• a communication unit connectable to the battery and connected to the diagnosing unit via a communication line and transmits a diagnosis result acquired from the diagnosing unit to the management station outside of the vehicle in response to a transmission request from the management station;
• and
• supply state setting means, when a state where the electric power necessary for an ordinary operation is supplied is changed to a state where no electric power is supplied, for continuing the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation of the diagnosing unit is supplied from the battery to the diagnosing unit for a predetermined period since the time point of the change, and after that, for switching the electric power supply state to the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied,
• wherein during the predetermined period since the time point when the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied is changed to the state where no electric power is supplied, the diagnosing unit stores present position information at the time point into a memory unit in the diagnosing unit,
• in the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied, the diagnosing unit switches to a sleep state where only an interruption request can be received from the communication unit, when the interruption request is received from the communication unit, temporarily activates the whole unit to output the present position information stored in the memory unit in the diagnosing unit to the communication unit, and then returns to the sleep state, and
• the communication unit sends the interruption request to the diagnosing unit when a transmission request is received from the management station in the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied, and transmits the diagnosis result and the present position information outputted from the diagnosing unit to the management station in response to the request.

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• a battery for supplying electric power;
• a diagnosing unit connectable to the battery for diagnosing conditions of a vehicle-mounted device;
• a position detecting unit connectable to the battery for detecting a present position of the vehicle;
• a communication unit connectable to the battery and connected to the diagnosing unit via a communication line for transmitting a diagnosis result acquired from the diagnosing unit to the management station outside of the vehicle in response to a transmission request from the management station;
• and
• supply state setting means, when the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied is changed to the state where no electric power is supplied from the battery to the diagnosing unit, for continuing the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation of the diagnosing unit is supplied from the battery for a predetermined time since the time point of the change, and after that, for switching to the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied,
• wherein during the predetermined period since the time point the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied is changed to the state where no electric power is supplied, the diagnosing unit acquires the present position information at the time point from the position detecting unit, and stores the diagnosis result together with the acquired present position information into a memory unit in the diagnosing unit,
• in the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied, the diagnosing unit switches the state to a sleep state where only an interruption request can be received from the communication unit, when the interruption request is received from the communication unit, temporarily activates the whole unit to output the diagnosis result stored in the memory unit in the diagnosing unit together with the present position information to the communication unit, and returns to the sleep state, and
• the communication unit sends the interruption request to the diagnosing unit when a transmission request is received from the management station in the state where no electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied, and transmits the diagnosis result and the present position information outputted from the diagnosing unit to the management station in response to the request.

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• a battery for supplying electric power;
• a control unit connectable to the battery for controlling various devices mounted on the vehicle, diagnosing conditions of the various devices, and storing diagnosis result;
• a communication unit connectable to the battery and connected to the control unit via a communication line and transmits the diagnosis result acquired from the control unit to the management station outside of the vehicle;
• and
• supply state setting means which switches between a state where the electric power necessary for an ordinary operation is supplied from the battery to the control unit and a state where no electric power is supplied;
• wherein the supply state setting means sets the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied when the diagnosis result which shows an abnormality and has not been outputted is stored in the control unit and sets the state where no electric power is supplied when the diagnosis result which indicates an abnormality and has not been outputted is not stored in the control unit.

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of a radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• diagnosis information communicating means for transmitting abnormality diagnosis information acquired by a self-diagnosis of the vehicle to the management station outside of the vehicle by a radio communication at a predetermined timing;
• abnormality repair detecting means for detecting repair of the abnormality corresponding to the abnormality diagnosis information;
• and
• abnormality repair information communicating means for transmitting the abnormality repair information to the management station when the repair of the abnormality is detected by the abnormality repair detecting means.

A diagnosis system for a vehicle capable of a radio communication with an external management station, comprising:

• diagnosis information communicating means for transmitting abnormality diagnosis information acquired by a self-diagnosis of the vehicle to the management station outside of the vehicle by a radio communication at a predetermined timing;
• abnormality repair detecting means for detecting repair of the abnormality based on the contents of an instruction from the management station corresponding to the abnormality diagnosis information;
• and
• abnormality repair information communicating means for transmitting the abnormality repair information to the management station by a radio communication when the repair of the abnormality is detected by the abnormality repair detecting means.

A method of communication between a vehicle and an external site of communication outside of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

• supplying electric power from a battery to a computer mounted on the vehicle during a period of vehicle operation;
• supplying the electric power from the battery to a radio communication unit mounted on the vehicle irrespective of the vehicle operation;
• transmitting a vehicle information from the computer to the radio communication unit through a communication line when the computer is supplied with the electric power from the battery;
• and
• communicating the transmitted vehicle information from the radio communication unit to the external site of communication in response to a request of the information form the external site of communication irrespective of a supply of the electric power to the computer.