Maintenance and repair system for advanced driver assistance features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11414092-B2
Application number	US-201917311777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 28, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A calibration and repair system for advanced driver assistance systems (“ADAS”) and features is configured to provide secure, automated workflow management related to the calibration of User Remote ADAS. Automated workflows include steps and interfaces to aid in preparation of a vehicle for calibration, local-remote collaboration during calibration, customer interactions, workflow and event notification, user authentication, remote system management, and other tasks. The system is also capable of automatically and dynamically adding new and updated calibration specifications that are usable during local-remote collaboration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A distributed calibration system comprising:
(a) a management server in communication with a plurality of hubs that are positioned in a plurality of local environments, the management server configured to operate a workflow engine that enforces a workflow associated with calibration of an advanced driver assistance system (“ADAS”);
(b) a hub positioned at a local environment in the plurality of local environments and configured to provide a dedicated network in the local environment, wherein the dedicated network is configured to only communicate with pre-authorized devices; and
(c) a set of edge devices positioned in the local environment and configured to communicate over the dedicated network, the set of edge devices comprising a local technician device;
wherein the workflow engine is configured to:
(i) receive a calibration request associated with a vehicle and create a calibration workflow for that vehicle in response, wherein the calibration workflow comprises a plurality of steps, and the plurality of steps comprises one or more vehicle preparation steps and one or more vehicle calibration steps;
(ii) in accordance with the calibration workflow, pass control over the one or more vehicle preparation steps to the local technician device in the local environment and receive a preparation dataset in response;
(iii) determine a set of ADAS features of the vehicle that are to be calibrated based on the preparation dataset;
(iv) in accordance with the calibration workflow, pass control over selected ones of the one or more vehicle calibration steps to the local technician device and to a remote technician device, wherein the remote technician device is not positioned in the local environment and communicates with the local technician device through the hub; and
(v) provide data for displaying a first collaborative calibration interface via the local technician device and a second collaborative calibration interface via the remote technician device, where the first collaborative calibration interface and the second collaborative calibration interface are configured to perform the one or more vehicle calibration steps over which the respective device is passed control by the workflow engine.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a diagnostic scanner adapted to communicatively couple with an electrical control unit (“ECU”) of the vehicle, and wherein the one or more vehicle preparation steps comprise a vehicle scan step configured to, when performed with the local technician device:
(i) receive a set of ECU data associated with the vehicle;
(ii) transmit the set of ECU data to the management server as part of the preparation dataset;
(iii) display a calibration selection interface based on the set of ECU data and receive a selection indicating the set of ADAS features; and
(iv) provide the set of ADAS features to the management server as part of the preparation dataset.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the workflow engine is configured to, during performance of one or more vehicle calibration steps:
(i) receive a set of ADAS sensor data from the diagnostic scanner via the hub;
(ii) provide the set of ADAS sensor data to the remote technician device;
(iii) receive an updated ADAS calibration from the remote technician device; and
(iv) write the updated ADAS calibration to the ECU via the diagnostic scanner and the hub.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the workflow engine is configured to, when passing control of a step to a performer device:
(i) identify a next step based upon the calibration workflow;
(ii) pass control of the next step to the performer device by providing a control dataset that is configured to:
(A) cause the performer device to display a description of the next step, and
(B) configure the performer device so that it is usable to perform the next step;

wherein the performer device is one of the local technician device and the remote technician device selected by the workflow engine.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the workflow engine is configured to, after passing control of the step to the performer device:
(i) receive a performance dataset from the performer device that describes a status of the step;
(ii) save the performance dataset and associate the performance dataset with the step;
(iii) receive an indication from the performer device that the step is complete;
(iv) update the calibration workflow to reflect completion of the step; and
(v) identify a subsequent next step based upon the calibration workflow.

6. The system of claim 1 , the set of edge devices further comprising a vehicle calibration station operable to automatically position a target surface relative to the vehicle, wherein the workflow engine is configured to, after providing data for displaying the first and second collaborative calibration interfaces:
(i) pass control of a vehicle staging task to the local technician device and receive a response indicating that the vehicle staging task is complete;
(ii) pass control of a target positioning task to the vehicle calibration station via the hub, wherein the target positioning task is configured to cause the vehicle calibration station to automatically position the target surface and receive a response indicating that the target positioning task is complete;
(iii) pass control of a calibration task to the remote technician device, wherein the calibration task is configured to allow the remote technician device to:
(A) receive diagnostic data from an ADAS feature of the vehicle that is generated based upon the position of the target surface; and
(B) update a calibration of the ADAS feature by transmitting data to the ECU of the vehicle via the management server and the hub.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first collaborative calibration interface on the local technician device comprises an emergency stop feature that, when activated, causes the local technician device to transmit an electronic signal to the vehicle calibration station that is configured to prevent automatic positioning of the target surface.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first collaborative calibration interface on the local technician device comprises a remote connection feature that, when activated, establishes an audio or video communication channel between the local technician device and the remote technician device.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
(i) the hub comprises a hardware security module configured to prevent unauthenticated modifications to configurations of the hub;
(ii) the hub is configured to accept data from the management server and no other device outside the local environment;
(iii) the hub is configured to communicate with devices within the local environment that are configured to execute a hub agent and no other devices within the local environment; and
(iv) each of the set of edge devices is configured to execute the hub agent.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the workflow engine is configured to, prior to passing control for a step to a performer device:
(i) identify a person associated with the performer device and identify a persona dataset associated with the person, wherein the persona dataset is stored by the management server;
(ii) determine whether the person is credentialed to perform the step based on a set of certification data in the persona dataset;
(iii) determine whether the person is restricted from performing the step based on a set of restriction data in the persona dataset; and
(iv) if and only if it has been determined that the person is credentialed and not restricted, pass control for the step to the performer device and enable the performer device

Assignees

• Vehicle Service Group Llc

Inventors

• Patnala Sreedhar
• Pinto Naor
• Swartz Mickey
• Johnson Brent

Classifications

• B60W50/0205

  Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models · CPC title

• G07C5/0808

  Diagnosing performance data (testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005) · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G01S17/931 Primary

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S7/4086

  in a calibrating environment, e.g. anechoic chamber · CPC title