Vehicle maintenance system

Abstract

A vehicle maintenance system comprises: at least one customer's terminal; at least one dealer's terminal; a customer vehicle terminal associated with the customer's terminal; and a maintenance center terminal including a control server, all terminals mutually connected via a communication network to exchange maintenance-related information among the terminals. Accordingly, maintenance-related information including maintenance information, repair shop (dealer) information, and maintenance-reservation management information can be comprehensively unified. Thus, the customer is enabled to make a maintenance reservation without preliminarily getting any dealer information (e.g. regular closing day, location, contact address, how much the service garage is tied up, etc.).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an arrangement of a relevant part of a vehicle maintenance system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an exemplary data processing procedure executed by a customer vehicle terminal.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an exemplary data processing procedure executed by a customer's terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an exemplary data processing procedure executed by a management system of a dealer's terminal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an exemplary data processing procedure executed by a dealer's maintenance terminal.

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary display screens of a customer's terminal.

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary display screens of a maintenance terminal.

Claims

1. A vehicle maintenance system, comprising: at least one customer's terminal; at least one dealer's terminal; a customer vehicle terminal associated with said customer's terminal; and a center terminal having a control server, all terminals mutually connected via a communication network to exchange maintenance-related information among said terminals.

2. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein each of said customer's terminal and dealer's terminal has dedicated communication means connectible to said customer vehicle terminal.

3. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said customer's terminal has means for receiving a resultant diagnosis of the customer's vehicle from said customer vehicle terminal, and is capable of transmitting to said center terminal a request for a maintenance reservation, based on the resultant diagnosis and his preferences.

4. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said customer's terminal has means for transferring the information on the dealer's location received from said center terminal to the car navigation system of the customer's vehicle via said customer vehicle terminal.

5. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said dealer's terminal has communication means for obtaining a maintenance request from a customer and the maintenance history of said customer's vehicle to transmit the maintenance information on said customer's vehicle to said center terminal.

6. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said dealer's terminal has means for transmitting maintenance criteria for a vehicle of interest to said center terminal to obtain proper maintenance techniques and the most efficient maintenance procedure for that vehicle from said center terminal.

7. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said customer's terminal has means for obtaining from said center terminal a message notifying the items that require regular maintenance.

8. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said customer's terminal has mean for performing a self-diagnosis of the customer's vehicle via said customer vehicle terminal in cycles at an arbitrary period, or performing a self-diagnosis at a time the customer wishes it, and for displaying the resultant self-diagnosis.

9. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein said customer vehicle terminal has means for automatically providing said customer's terminal with the information regarding an alarming and/or emergent condition that has occurred to said customer's vehicle.

10. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 2, wherein said customer's terminal has means for receiving a resultant diagnosis of the customer's vehicle from said customer vehicle terminal, and is capable of transmitting to said center terminal a request for a maintenance reservation, based on the resultant diagnosis and his preferences.

11. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 3, wherein said customer's terminal has means for transferring the information on the dealer's location received from said center terminal to the car navigation system of the customer's vehicle via said customer vehicle terminal.

12. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 4, wherein said dealer's terminal has communication means for obtaining a maintenance request of a customer and the maintenance history of said customer's vehicle to transmit the maintenance information on said customer's vehicle to said center terminal.

13. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 4, wherein said customer's terminal is a mobile communications terminal equipped with a GPS and is adapted to provide as said dealer's location the location of a recommended nearby repair shop obtained on the basis of GPS information.

14. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 4, wherein said customer's terminal is a television receiver having either one of a set top box and a built-in receiver unit capable of receiving a digital broadcasting signal, and is adapted to provide as said dealer's location the location of a recommended nearby repair shop obtained on the basis of the set up information for said receiver unit.

15. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 5, wherein said dealer's terminal has means for transmitting maintenance criteria for a vehicle of interest to said center terminal to obtain proper maintenance techniques and the most efficient maintenance procedure for that vehicle from said center terminal.

16. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 6, wherein said customer's terminal has means for obtaining from said center terminal a massage notifying maintenance items that require regular maintenance.

17. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein said customer's terminal 1 has mean for performing a self-diagnosis of the customer's vehicle via said customer vehicle terminal in cycles at an arbitrary period, or performing a self-diagnosis at a time the customer wishes it, and for displaying the resultant self-diagnosis.

18. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 8, wherein said customer vehicle terminal has means for automatically providing said customer's terminal with the information regarding an alarming and/or emergent condition that has occurred to said customer's vehicle.

19. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 13, adapted to recommend a nearby repair shop based on manually inputted arbitrary locational information, irrespective of said GPS information.

20. The vehicle maintenance system according to claim 14, adapted to recommend, irrespectively of said GPS information, a nearby repair shop based on manually inputted arbitrary locational information.