Motor vehicle on-board diagnostics to distinguish degradation from tampering
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJohn Paul Bogema, Peter Mitchell Lyon, Bret Alan Zimmerman, Todd Fagerman, Todd Crompton
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Abstract
A method for responding to conditions detected in an on-board diagnostic unit of a motor vehicle and signaling degradation of a component of the motor vehicle. The method includes providing a first response if the conditions signal degradation of the component due to tampering, and providing a second response if the conditions signal degradation of the component not due to tampering.
Claims6
A method comprising:
- receiving data from first and second vehicle sensors;
- determining, in an on-board diagnostic unit of the vehicle, whether conditions signal degradation of a vehicle component during tampering based on the data, said determining yielding a boolean result indicating tampering when affirmative;
- debouncing the result asymmetrically;
- providing a first response when the conditions signal degradation due to tampering;
- and
- providing a second response when the conditions signal degradation not due to tampering.
An on-board diagnostic unit for a motor vehicle comprising memory that encodes instructions readable by a processor and causes the processor to:
- receive data from a sensor arranged downstream of an SCR stage in the vehicle;
- compare the data to a threshold above which degradation of a component is sufficient in degree to be caused by tampering;
- determine whether the degradation sufficient in degree to be caused by tampering occurred during circumstances consistent with tampering;
- provide a first response when the degradation is sufficient in degree to be caused by tampering and occurred during circumstances consistent with tampering;
- and
- provide a second response when the degradation is insufficient in degree to be caused by tampering or occurred during circumstances not consistent with tampering.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.