Data link tester

• Main Authors: MELVIN STEVEN L, STARKS MATTHEW W, PATTERSON JACK D, SNOW KEVIN D
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.08.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDEDFOR ELSEWHERE; CALCULATING; CHECKING-DEVICES; COMPUTING; CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE ORDIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; COUNTING; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRICITY; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TOTHE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT; TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS

A data link tester comprises a computer capable of a connection with a communications bus in a piece of equipment having at least one component in selective contact with the bus. The computer contains instructions for ( 1 ) building a roster comprising at least one identifier of the component and ( 2 ) then performing a diagnostic step comprising at least one of (i) analyzing communications received from the communications bus to determine the condition of communications with respect to the component, (ii) determining whether a message that contains the identifier has been received from the communications bus within a specified period of time, and (iii) diagnosing at least one fault condition in CAN communications in the communications bus by performing at least one CAN message check comprising determining whether a CAN message has been received from the communications bus and then performing at least one second diagnostic step. In some embodiments, the piece of equipment is a vehicle.