Vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus and wheel information processing apparatus

• US 20030179082A1
• Filed: 03/17/2003
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ide, Nobuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 6,919,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0408 transmitting the signals by non-mechanical means from the wheel or tyre to a vehicle body mounted receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0415 Automatically identifying wheel mounted units, e.g. after replacement or exchange of wheels

Abstract

A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus for obtaining wheel information relating to a wheel of a vehicle. The apparatus includes: (a) a wheel state detector which detects a state of the wheel; (b) a transmitter which is provided on the wheel and which transmits a wheel data set containing a wheel state data representing the detected state of the wheel and a wheel identification data identifying the wheel; (c) a receiver which is provided on a vehicle body and which receives the wheel data set transmitted by the transmitter; (d) a data processor which processes the wheel data set received by the receiver; and (e) a communication-intensity reducing device which reduces a transmission strength of the transmitter or/and a reception sensitivity of the receiver, such that the transmission strength or/and the reception sensitivity is lower when the data processor is in an identification-data registering mode, than when the data processor is in a wheel-state data obtaining mode.

Claims

1. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus for obtaining wheel information relating to a wheel of a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:

a wheel state detector which is provided on the wheel and which detects a state of the wheel;

a transmitter which is provided on the wheel and which transmits a wheel data set, as said wheel information, containing a wheel state data representing the detected state of the wheel and a wheel identification data identifying the wheel;

a receiver which is provided on a body of the vehicle and which receives said wheel data set transmitted by said transmitter;

a data processor which processes said wheel data set received by said receiver, said data processor having an identification-data registering mode for registering said wheel identification data contained in said wheel data set, and a wheel-state data obtaining mode for obtaining said wheel state data contained in said wheel data set; and

a communication-intensity reducing device which reduces at least one of a transmission strength of said transmitter and a reception sensitivity of said receiver, such that said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity is lower when said data processor is in said identification-data registering mode, than when said data processor is in said wheel-state data obtaining mode.

2. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication-intensity reducing device reduces said reception sensitivity of said receiver, such that said reception sensitivity is lower when said data processor is in said identification-data registering mode, than when said data processor is in said wheel-state data obtaining mode.

3. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a communication-intensity increasing device which is operable when registration of said wheel identification data is completed, to increase said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity that has been reduced by said communication-intensity reducing device.

4. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein each of at least one of said transmitter and said receiver is placed in a selected one of a plurality of different operation modes,

and wherein said plurality of different operating modes include a relatively high intensity mode in which at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity is relatively high, and a relatively low intensity mode in which at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity is relatively low.

5. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication-intensity reducing device reduces each of said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity, to a minimum level required to enable said wheel data set to be received by said receiver when a rotational speed of the wheel is not higher than a predetermined value.

6. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication-intensity reducing device reduces each of said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity, to a minimum level required to enable said wheel data set to be received by said receiver when said receiver does not receive a noise whose level is higher than a predetermined value.

7. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication-intensity reducing device reduces each of said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity, to a level that enables said receiver to receive said wheel data set transmitted from the wheel of the vehicle and that disables said receiver to receive a wheel data set transmitted from a wheel of another vehicle.

8. A vehicle wheel information obtaining apparatus for obtaining wheel information relating to a wheel of a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:

a wheel state detector which is provided on the wheel and which detects a state of the wheel;

a transmitter which is provided on the wheel and which transmits a wheel data set, as said wheel information, containing a wheel state data representing the detected state of the wheel and a wheel identification data identifying the wheel;

a receiver which is provided on a body of the vehicle and which receives said wheel data set transmitted by said transmitter;

a data processor which processes said wheel data set received by said receiver, said data processor having an identification-data registering mode for registering said wheel identification data contained in said wheel data set, and a wheel-state data obtaining mode for obtaining said wheel state data contained in said wheel data set; and

a communication-intensity changing device which changes at least one of a transmission strength of said transmitter and a reception sensitivity of said receiver, such that said at least one of said transmission strength and said reception sensitivity varies depending upon whether said data processor is in said identification-data registering mode or in said wheel-state data obtaining mode.

9. A vehicle wheel information processing apparatus for processing wheel information relating to a wheel of a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver which is provided on a body of the vehicle and which receives a wheel data set, as said wheel information, containing a wheel state data representing a state of the wheel and a wheel identification data identifying the wheel;

a data processor which processes said wheel data set received by said receiver, said data processor having an identification-data registering mode for registering said wheel identification data contained in said wheel data set, and a wheel-state data obtaining mode for obtaining said wheel state data contained in said wheel data set; and

a reception-sensitivity reducing device which reduces a reception sensitivity of said receiver, such that said reception sensitivity is lower when said data processor is in said identification-data registering mode, than when said data processor is in said wheel-state data obtaining mode.

10. A vehicle wheel information processing apparatus for processing wheel information relating to a wheel of a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver which is provided on a body of the vehicle and which receives a wheel data set, as said wheel information, containing a wheel state data representing a state of the wheel and a wheel identification data identifying the wheel;

a data processor which processes said wheel data set received by said receiver; and

a reception-sensitivity reducing device which reduces a reception sensitivity of said receiver, such that said reception sensitivity is lower when a rotational speed of the wheel is not higher than a predetermined value, than when the rotational speed of the wheel is higher than the predetermined value.