# US 7,613,554 B2 · System and method for demonstrating functionality of on-board diagnostics for vehicles > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,613,554 B2 - Document ID: US7613554B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 11/423,628 - Filed: 2006-06-12 - Published: 2007-12-13 - Granted: 2009-11-03 - Earliest claimed: 2006-06-12 - Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Inventors: John Rollinger; Paul Pietrzyk; John Smiley, III; Duncan Borthwick; Gregory Sapick; Marian Chipa; John Harris; Robert Grant - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7613554B2 ## CPC - F02D 41/222: {relating to the failure of sensors or parameter detection devices} - F02D 41/0235: {in relation with the state of the exhaust gas treating apparatus (control of exhaust gas treating apparatus per se F01N)} - F01N 11/007: {the diagnostic devices measuring oxygen or air concentration downstream of the exhaust apparatus} - F01N 2560/025: for measuring or detecting O2, e.g. lambda sensors - F02D: CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES (vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed B60K31/00; conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function, road vehicle drive control systems for purposes other than the control of a single sub-unit B60W) - F01N: GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES (arrangements in connection with gas exhaust of propulsion units in vehicles B60K13/00; combustion-air intake silencers specially adapted for, or arranged on, internal-combustion engines F02M35/00; protecting against, or damping, noise in general G10K11/16) ## Abstract A system and method for demonstrating or testing operation of on-board diagnostics in a vehicle include imitating performance degradation of a vehicle hardware component and/or associated vehicle system by dynamically modifying at least one control system parameter value associated with the hardware component in response to a request to demonstrate operation of a selected diagnostic function or a specified performance degradation. Embodiments modify at least one control system parameter value associated with the input/output signal of a sensor/actuator to imitate a specified performance degradation. The diagnostics independently monitor operation of various vehicle control systems and operate to detect the degraded performance without knowledge of, or distinguishing between, whether the performance degradation was caused by an actual hardware component, or by the requested modification to the control system parameter value(s) associated with a particular hardware component. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for demonstrating operation of on-board diagnostics in a vehicle, the method comprising: dynamically modifying at least one control system parameter value associated with a vehicle hardware component in response to a request to demonstrate operation of the diagnostics; and controlling the vehicle using the at least one modified parameter value to imitate performance degradation of the vehicle hardware component. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises modifying a time constant associated with processing a signal for the vehicle hardware component. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises adding a predetermined value to the at least one control system parameter value to imitate sensor drift of the vehicle hardware component. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises replacing the at least one control system parameter value with a value specified in the request to demonstrate operation of the diagnostics. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising: connecting a microprocessor-based diagnostic tool to a vehicle control module to communicate the request to demonstrate operation of the diagnostics to the vehicle control module. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5 wherein the diagnostic tool communicates a fixed size data block to the vehicle control module regardless of the performance degradation being imitated. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises modifying a parameter value associated with processing an input signal from a vehicle sensor. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises modifying a parameter value used to generate an output signal for a vehicle actuator. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the request is communicated to a vehicle control module by a microprocessor-based diagnostic tool, the method further comprising communicating a status for the performance degradation being imitated from the vehicle control module to the diagnostic tool. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the request is communicated to a vehicle control module by a microprocessor-based diagnostic tool and wherein dynamically modifying a parameter value and controlling the vehicle in response to the parameter value are disabled when the diagnostic tool loses communication with the vehicle control module. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising: independently monitoring vehicle operation and activating a diagnostic code in response to vehicle operation using the at least one modified parameter value without knowledge of, or distinguishing between, whether degraded performance was caused by degradation of the vehicle hardware component or by the request to demonstrate diagnostic functionality. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically modifying comprises modifying a parameter value associated with at least one of variable cam timing, exhaust gas recirculation, and an exhaust gas oxygen sensor. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising: disabling any diagnostic demonstration feature that provides a status during a predetermined time period after an ignition key cycle, but does not provide a status during each subsequent reporting period; and disabling any diagnostic demonstration feature that does not provide a status during a predetermined time period after an ignition key cycle. ### Claim 14 A system for demonstrating operation of on-board diagnostics in a vehicle having an internal combustion engine, the system comprising: at least one sensor for providing a signal corresponding to a current vehicle operating condition; at least one actuator for positioning a vehicle component; a control module in communication with the at least one sensor and at least one actuator, the control module modifying at least one control system parameter value associated with the at least one sensor and/or the at least one actuator in response to a request to demonstrate operation of the on-board diagnostics, and controlling the vehicle based on the modified value to imitate degraded performance of the at least one sensor and/or at least one actuator. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14 further comprising: a microprocessor-based diagnostic tool connectable to the control module to communicate the request to demonstrate operation of the on-board diagnostics. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14 wherein the control module modifies a parameter value to vary response time of the at least one actuator. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16 wherein the parameter value corresponds to a time constant associated with the at least one sensor. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14 wherein the on-board diagnostics function in response to only vehicle operation independently of any request to demonstrate diagnostic functionality. ### Claim 19 A computer readable storage medium having stored data including instructions executable by a computer to control a vehicle to demonstrate functionality of on-board diagnostics for the vehicle, the computer readable storage medium comprising: instructions for changing vehicle operation in response to a request to demonstrate functionality of the on-board diagnostics by changing at least one parameter value used to control the vehicle such that the vehicle operates similar to operation using a degraded component, the vehicle operation activating the on-board diagnostics to demonstrate functionality. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 wherein the instructions for changing vehicle operation comprise instructions for modifying a vehicle control system parameter value and instructions for controlling the vehicle in response to the modified control system parameter value.