Automotive ecu mobile phone interface

Abstract

The invention is a system for interfacing mobile phones with an on-board diagnostic computer in a vehicle, wherein the on-board diagnostic computer monitors a set of operational characteristics of a vehicle. The information derived from this system will be processed on the mobile phone coupled with additional information and displayed on the mobile phones screen, while simultaneously transmitting this information over the internet to be stored in a database.

1 - 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A method of operating a mobile phone to assist in diagnosing a condition in an automobile, the mobile phone comprising a display screen, and wireless communication circuitry adapted for short-range wireless communication and communication via a cellular communication network, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the mobile phone, at least one digital communication comprising data indicating at least one operational characteristic that is indicative of a condition in the automobile, the data having been produced by the automobile;   determining, with the mobile phone, information describing the condition of the automobile corresponding to the at least one operational characteristic; and   displaying, on the display screen of the mobile phone, the information describing the condition.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein receiving the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic comprises receiving data indicating a diagnostic code. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein receiving the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic comprises wirelessly receiving the data via short-range wireless communication using the wireless communication circuitry. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein receiving the data via short-range wireless communication comprises wirelessly receiving the data according to a wireless personal area networking (WPAN) communication protocol. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein receiving the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic comprises receiving the data via a wired connection to the automobile. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 using the wireless communication circuitry, wirelessly exchanging, with a server, second data associated with the condition via a cellular communication network.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 determining, with the mobile phone, a current geographic location of the mobile phone, wherein:
 the second data comprises the at least one operational characteristic; and 
 wirelessly exchanging the data comprises wirelessly transmitting to the server the second data together with location data indicating the current geographic location. 
   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 determining, with the mobile phone, a telephone number associated with the mobile phone,   wherein wirelessly transmitting the second data comprises wirelessly transmitting the second data with the location data and the telephone number associated with the mobile phone.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein:
 the server is a web server; and   wirelessly exchanging data comprises transmitting the second data to the web server via at least one hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) message.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the mobile phone comprises at least one storage medium, the at least one storage medium having encoded thereon a plurality of textual messages corresponding to a plurality of operational characteristics; and   determining the information describing the condition corresponding to the at least one operational characteristic comprises selecting a textual message of the plurality of textual messages.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining the information describing the condition corresponding to the at least one operational characteristic comprises querying an information source for information corresponding to the at least one operational characteristic. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the automobile comprises an OBD port; and   receiving the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic comprises receiving the data from a device removably coupled to the OBD port of the automobile.   
     
     
         25 . A system comprising:
 a mobile phone comprising:
 a display screen, 
 at least one first wireless transceiver, 
 at least one first processor, and 
 at least one first storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, cause the at least one first processor to carry out a first method comprising:
 receiving, via the at least one first wireless transceiver of the mobile phone, data indicating at least one operational characteristic that is indicative of a condition in an automobile; 
 determining, with the mobile phone, a message indicating the condition corresponding to the at least one operational characteristic; 
 displaying, on the display screen of the mobile phone, the message indicating the condition; and 
 wirelessly transmitting the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic to a server via a cellular communication network. 
 
   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , further comprising:
 a device comprising:
 an input to removably couple to an automobile OBD port; 
 a second wireless transceiver; 
 at least one second processor; and 
 at least one second storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, cause the at least one second processor to carry out a second method comprising:
 receiving the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic from the automobile via the input; and 
 wirelessly transmitting the data indicating the at least one operational characteristic to the mobile phone using the second wireless transceiver. 
 
   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein:
 receiving the data from the automobile comprises receiving the data from the automobile in a first format;   wirelessly transmitting the data to the mobile phone comprises wirelessly transmitting the data in a second format; and   the second method further comprises translating the data from the first format to the second format.   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein:
 the first method further comprises determining, with the mobile phone, a current geographic location of the mobile phone; and   wherein wirelessly transmitting the data to the server comprises wirelessly transmitting the data together with location data indicating the current geographic location.   
     
     
         29 . At least one non-transitory storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a mobile phone, cause the at least one processor to carry out a second method of operating the mobile phone to assist in diagnosing a condition in an automobile, the mobile phone comprising a display screen, and the at least one processor, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the mobile phone, data indicating a diagnostic code produced by the automobile that is indicative of a condition in the automobile;   determining, with the mobile phone, information describing the condition corresponding to the diagnostic code; and   displaying, on the display screen of the mobile phone, the information describing the condition.   
     
     
         30 . The at least one storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein receiving the data indicating the diagnostic code comprises wirelessly receiving the data with a wireless transceiver of the mobile phone. 
     
     
         31 . The at least one storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
 using a wireless transceiver of the mobile phone, wirelessly transmitting the data indicating the diagnostic code via a cellular communication network.   
     
     
         32 . The at least one storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining, with the mobile phone, a current geographic location of the mobile phone,   wherein wirelessly transmitting the data comprises wirelessly transmitting the data together with location data indicating the current geographic location.   
     
     
         33 . The at least one storage medium of  claim 32 , wherein:
 wirelessly transmitting the data comprises wirelessly transmitting the data together with the location data and a telephone number of the mobile phone.   
     
     
         34 . The at least one storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein:
 receiving the data indicating the diagnostic code comprises receiving the data from a device coupled to a diagnostic port of the automobile.   
     
     
         35 . A method of operating an automobile service system comprising at least one server coupled to a cellular telephone network, the method comprising:
 receiving over the cellular telephone network at least one message from a mobile phone in communication with a diagnostic port of an automobile, the at least one message comprising information indicating at least one operational characteristic of an automobile; and   based at least in part on the at least one operational characteristic, initiating action associated with providing service to the automobile for a condition indicated by the diagnostic code.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein:
 receiving the at least one communication from the telephone further comprises receiving location information indicating the geographic location of the automobile; and   initiating the action based at least in part on the at least one operational characteristic comprises selecting the action based at least in part on the location information.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein:
 the action comprises transmitting a notification to at least one organization.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein transmitting the notification comprises transmitting the notification to at least one automobile repair organization. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein, the notification comprises an indication of the at least one operational characteristic, the location data, and a telephone number for the mobile phone. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the at least one operational characteristic comprises a diagnostic code output by an OBD system of the automobile. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising:
 receiving a plurality of messages from a plurality of mobile phones, each message including information indicating a diagnostic code; and   analyzing the plurality of messages to determine at least one trend in automobile malfunctions.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein:
 each of the plurality of messages comprises location data; and   analyzing the plurality of messages comprises determining the at least one trend relative to at least one geographic location.