METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A REMOTE TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20020003474A1
• Filed: 02/05/1999
• Published: 01/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensata Technologies Incorporated (Sensata Technologies Holding Plc)
• Original Assignee: Schrader-Bridgeport International Incorporated (Pacific Industrial Company Limited)
• Inventors: MCCLELLAND, THOMAS DAVID STEPHEN, PORTER, DAVID SAMUEL, JOHNSTON, ALASTAIR THOMAS
• Granted Patent: US 6,710,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/442
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0413 Wireless charging of active radio frequency circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0442 the transmitted signal comprises further information, e.g. instruction codes, sensor characteristics or identification data
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0472 to manually allocate ID codes or mounting positions, e.g. by service technicians

Abstract

A tire characteristic monitoring method allows automatic programming of tire position information in a remote tire pressure monitoring system (10). The method includes, from a remotely located exciter (16) using a primary coil (18) to transmit a relatively low frequency signal to a secondary coil (L1) of a tire monitor (12) associated with a tire of a vehicle. The method further includes the step of, at the tire monitor, in response to the relatively low frequency signal, transmitting a relatively high transmitting signal to convey data. The data are received at the exciter and subsequently loaded into a receiving unit (14) of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A tire characteristic monitoring method, the method comprising the steps of:

at a remotely located exciter, using a primary coil to transmit a relatively low frequency signal to a secondary coil of a tire monitor associated with a tire of a vehicle;

at the tire monitor, in response to the relatively low-frequency signal, transmitting a relatively high frequency signal to convey data; and

at the exciter, receiving the data.

9. A tire characteristic monitoring method comprising steps of:

(a) transmitting an excitation signal from a remote exciter;

(b) at a tire monitor associated with a tire of a vehicle, receiving the excitation signal and, in response, communicating data indicative of a tire characteristic to the remote exciter;

(c) repeating step (b) for at least one additional tire of the vehicle; and

(d) conveying the data and associated tire identification information to a controller mounted on the vehicle, the controller being configured to provide to a user tire characteristic information for each tire of the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

communicating identification information for the tire monitor to the remote exciter; and

associating the identification information with a position of the tire on the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein step (d) comprises the step of displaying the tire characteristic information and the associated position of the tire on the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of positioning the exciter proximate the tire monitor and communicating the data at a relatively low power level to minimize interference.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of providing at the exciter a receiver having a relatively low receiver sensitivity and positioning the exciter proximate the tire monitor for reception of the data to minimize interference.

14. A method for operating a remote tire pressure monitoring system, the system including a plurality of tire monitors associated with tires of a vehicle and a controller mounted on the vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) programming at least some tire monitors by

(a1) activating a tire monitor with a relatively low frequency signal from a remotely located exciter;

(a2) in response to the low frequency signal, communicating identification information from the tire monitor;

(a3) associating the identification information with position of a tire associated with the tire monitor on the vehicle;

(b) subsequently, detecting a tire characteristic of the tire; and

(c) conveying data indicative of the tire characteristic to the controller by communicating a relatively high frequency signal for reception by the controller.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of providing a remote exciter having a communication circuit and positioning the remote exciter proximate the tire monitor for activating the tire monitor by communicating the relatively low frequency signal from the transmit circuit.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of providing a receive circuit at the remote exciter and receiving the identification information at the receive circuit.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of electrically coupling the remote exciter to the controller and conveying the position of the tire and the identification information to the controller from the remote exciter.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of communicating the identification information comprises communicating a relatively low frequency signal when programming the at least some tire monitors.

19. A system for monitoring a tire characteristic of tires of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a plurality of tire monitors, each tire monitor associated with a tire of the vehicle and including a sensor which produces data indicative of a tire characteristic and a transmitter circuit coupled to the sensor and configured to transmit a relatively high frequency signal in response to an activation signal;

a controller for providing tire characteristic information to a user, the controller including a receiver circuit configured to receive the relatively high frequency signal; and

a plurality of exciters electrically coupled to the controller, each exciter located on the vehicle near an associated tire monitor, each exciter including a transmission circuit configured to transmit, in response to a control signal from the controller, a relatively low frequency signal as the activation signal for the associated tire monitor.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein each tire monitor comprises an identifier containing identification information and wherein the transmitter circuit is configured to transmit the identification information in response to the activation signal.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the receiver circuit of the controller is configured to receive the identification information and provide the tire characteristic in association with the identification information for each tire monitor of the plurality of tire monitors.

22. A tire monitor configured to be mounted on a tire of a vehicle, the tire monitor comprising:

a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the tire and producing a signal;

a high frequency communication circuit configured to communicate a relatively high frequency signal in response to an activation signal; and

a detection circuit coupled to the high frequency communication circuit and configured to detect a low frequency signal as the activation signal.

23. The tire monitor of claim 22 further comprising a controller coupled to the sensor, the high frequency communication circuit and the detection circuit for controlling operation of the tire monitor.

24. The tire monitor of claim 23 wherein the controller is configured to receive the signal from the sensor and convey to the high frequency communication circuit data for transmission.

25. The tire monitor of claim 24 further comprising a battery for providing operating power for the tire monitor.

26. The tire monitor of claim 23 further comprising a low frequency communication circuit coupled to the controller and configured to communicate data when the activation signal is received.

27. The tire monitor of claim 26 wherein the low frequency communication circuit comprises a passive duplex data communication circuit.

28. The tire monitor of claim 27 wherein the low frequency communication circuit comprises a coil responsive to an energy field from an adjacent primary coil to produce an induced alternating current (AC) voltage conveying data to the controller, the controller providing a signal to the coil to vary electrical properties of the coil and convey data from the controller.

29. The tire monitor of claim 26 wherein the low frequency communication circuit comprises an active duplex data communication circuit.

30. The tire monitor of claim 29 wherein the low frequency communication circuit comprises a coil responsive to an energy field from an adjacent coil to produce an induced alternating current (AC) voltage conveying data to the controller, the controller providing a signal to the coil to produce an energy field from the coil to the adjacent coil and convey data from the controller.

31. The tire monitor of claim 26 wherein the tire monitor conveys identification information using one of the low frequency transmitter circuit and the high frequency transmitter circuit.

32. The tire monitor of claim 26 wherein the tire monitor conveys identification information in response to the activation signal using the low frequency transmitter circuit and conveys tire characteristic information in response to the signal and the activation signal using the high frequency transmitter circuit.

33. A method for determining position of a tire monitor in a remote tire monitoring system, the tire monitor being associated with a tire of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a radio signal from an exciter to a tire monitor;

(b) receiving the radio signal at the tire monitor and, in response thereto, transmitting a tire monitor radio signal; and

(c) receiving at a remote location the tire monitor radio signal and position information for the tire monitor and associating the position information and the tire monitor radio signal.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of:

(d) repeating steps (a) through (c) for all tires of the vehicle.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the radio signal is transmitted from a single exciter to all tire monitors of the vehicle.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising the steps of:

moving the single exciter proximate each tire monitor prior to transmitting the radio signal; and

maintaining the single exciter proximate the tire until after reception of the tire monitor radio signal.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein the radio signal for each respective tire monitor is transmitted from an exciter associated with the respective tire monitor and located on the vehicle proximate the respective tire monitor.

38. The method of claim 33 wherein transmitting a tire monitor radio signal comprises the step of transmitting identification information for the tire monitor with the tire monitor radio signal.

2. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 1 wherein the data includes identification information for the tire monitor.

3. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 2 further comprising the step of, at the exciter, associating the identification information with a position of the tire on the vehicle.

4. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 3 further comprising the step of downloading the identification information and associated position information to a receiving unit mounted on the vehicle.

5. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

disposing the exciter adjacent an assembly line;

conveying a tire including the tire monitor on the assembly line past the exciter; and

activating the tire monitor by the exciter as the tire passes the exciter.

6. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 5 further comprising the step of assembling the tire along with other tires on a vehicle prior to conveying the vehicle and the tire past the exciter.

7. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 6 further comprising the steps of communicating the data from the exciter to a controller mounted on the vehicle.

8. The tire characteristic monitoring method of claim 6 wherein the data is indicative of a tire characteristic.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein transmitting a tire monitor radio signal further comprises the step of transmitting information about a tire characteristic with the tire monitor radio signal.

40. The method of claim 33 wherein step (c) comprises receiving the tire monitor signal and the position information at the exciter.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising the steps of:

manually entering the position information at the exciter; and

placing the exciter proximate the tire monitor to receive the tire monitor radio signal.

42. The method of claim 38 wherein step (b) comprises transmitting at least data indicative of a tire characteristic as the tire data.

38-1. A method for determining position of tire monitors in a remote tire monitoring system, each tire monitor being associated with a tire of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a radio signal from an exciter of a plurality of exciters to a respective tire monitor of a plurality of tire monitors;

(b) receiving the radio signal at the tire monitor and, in response thereto, transmitting a tire monitor radio signal including tire data; and

(c) receiving at a remote location the tire monitor radio signal and position information for the tire monitor and associating the position information and the tire monitor radio signal.

39-2. The method of claim 38 wherein step (c) comprises the steps of:

(c1) receiving at the exciter the tire monitor radio signal transmitted from a respective tire monitor; and

(c2) conveying the tire data to a central controller mounted on the vehicle.

40-3. The method of claim 38 wherein step (c) comprises receiving the tire monitor radio signal at a central controller mounted on the vehicle.

41-4. The method of claim 38 wherein step (b) comprises transmitting at least tire identification information as the tire data.