Auto diagnostic method and device

A vehicle monitoring system designed for use by vehicle owners comprising a hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device including

• (a) a first data link connectable to a data port of a vehicle for retrieving data from an onboard computer of the vehicle;
• (b) a second data link connectable to a global computer network communicable device, the global computer network communicable device comprising a personal computer capable of communicating through a global computer network;
• and
• (c) a data capture and memory unit capable only of retrieving unprocessed data from the vehicle via the first data link, storing the unprocessed data for a time period, and transferring the unprocessed data to the global computer network communicable device, through the second data link,
• wherein the hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device lacks sufficient data processing capability to fully process the unprocessed data into human-useable information, and
• a remotely located server capable of communicating, over a global computer network, with the personal computer, the server containing a database of information relating to a wide variety of vehicles and a processor having sufficient processing capability for processing the unprocessed data transmitted by the personal computer into natural language information, and transmitting the natural language information back to the personal computer for presentation to a user.

A method of monitoring a vehicle having a data port comprising

• (1) retrieving unprocessed data from a data port of a vehicle by employing a hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device for use by vehicle owners, the data acquisition and transfer device comprising:
• (a) a first data link connectable to a data port of a vehicle for retrieving unprocessed data from an onboard computer of a vehicle,
• (b) a second data link connectable to a global computer network communicable device;
• and
• (c) a data capture and memory unit capable of retrieving unprocessed data from the vehicle via the first data link, storing the unprocessed data to the global computer network, through the second data link, wherein the hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device lacks sufficient data processing capability to fully process the unprocessed data into human-useable diagnostic information;
• (2) transferring the data from the data acquisition and transfer unit to a global computer network communicable device.
• (3) transferring the data, via a global computer network, from the global computer network communicable device to a server,
• (4) providing a remote server including software having information necessary to identify, from the unprocessed data, information about the operation of the vehicle,
• (5) using the remote server to process the unprocessed data and to prepare a vehicle operation report in a natural language;
• and
• (6) transferring the vehicle operation report, via a global computer network, to a global computer network communicable device, for displaying the vehicle operation report in a natural language thereon.

A vehicle monitoring device capable of being connected to a data port of a vehicle, for the monitoring of the vehicle, the monitoring device comprising a hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device including

• (a) a first data link connectable to a data port of a vehicle for retrieving data from a vehicle onboard computer;
• (b) a second data link connectable to a global computer network communicable device;
• and
• (c) a data capture and memory unit capable generally only of retrieving uprocessed data containing information from the vehicle via the first data link, storing the unprocessed data for a time period, and transferring the unprocessed data to the global computer network communicable device located remotely from the vehicle through the second data link, wherein the global computer network communicable device is capable of communicating, over a global computer network, with a remotely located server containing a processor and a database of vehicle related information for processing the unprocessed data into natural language diagnostic information and transferring the natural language information back to the global computer network communicable device for display thereon, and
• wherein the hand holdable data acquisition and transfer device lacks sufficient data processing capability to fully process the unprocessed data into human-useable diagnostic information.