Tire air pressure sensor unit, tire air pressure monitoring system, and method of recording self-identification codes for air tire pressure unit

• US 20040149025A1
• Filed: 11/14/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Inventors: Toyofuku, Masanobu
• Granted Patent: US 6,920,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/146
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0479 Communicating with external units being not part of the vehicle, e.g. tools for diagnostic, mobile phones, electronic keys or service stations

Abstract

A sensor unit body 10 of a tire pressure sensor unit 1 is provided with external signal-importing terminals 22 for rewriting data of self-identification code stored in a ROM 21, so that a complex operation of associating the self-identification code of the sensor unit with its mounting position in the vehicle is eliminated by rewriting the self-identification code of the sensor unit 1 after the replacement to be identical to the self-identification code of the sensor unit 1 before the replacement, when a tire wheel is replaced due to a breakdown of the tire unit or a replacement between a summer tire and a winter tire.

Claims

1. A tire pressure sensor unit having a pressure sensor installed in a tire wheel of a vehicle to sense tire pressure of the tire wheel, a transmitter transmitting information at least about the tire pressure to a pressure monitor provided on the vehicle, and a fixing memory for storing data including data of self-identification code specific for the sensor unit, characterized in that

said tire pressure sensor unit comprises an interface for importing signals input from external sources, and is so configured that storage the data in the fixing memory can be rewritten by the external signal imported from the interface.

2. The tire pressure sensor unit according to claim 1, wherein the interface is consisted of external signal-importing terminals capable of being connected to external input devices by wires.

3. The tire pressure sensor unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information at least about the tire pressure is transmitted to a tire pressure monitor via radio waves.

4. The tire pressure sensor unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a temperature sensor is provided.

5. A tire pressure monitoring system, characterized in that the tire pressure sensor units according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided in a plurality of tire wheels of the vehicle, and that said tire pressure monitoring system comprises a tire pressure monitor receiving information from the tire pressure sensor units and transmitting the information about the tire pressure to a driver.

6. A method of registering a self-identification code for a tire pressure sensor unit, characterized in that when a tire or a tire pressure sensor unit is replaced and the tire is fitted onto a rim, a self-identification code is registered on the tire pressure sensor unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the self-identification code being identical to that of a sensor unit mounted prior to the replacement on the mounting position in the vehicle where the former sensor unit is to be installed.