Tire pressure gauge

• US 20050138999A1
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Measurement Ltd (Measurement Ltd., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Measurement Ltd (Measurement Ltd., Inc.)
• Inventors: Petrucelli, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,251,992 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/146
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 17/00 Devices or apparatus for measuring tyre pressure or the pressure in other inflated bodies
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 19/08 Means for indicating or recording, e.g. for remote indication
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 19/083 electrical
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 19/086 for remote indication

Abstract

A handheld tire pressure gauge including: a display; a pressure sensor; a memory; a processor being operatively coupled to the display, pressure sensor and memory; and, code being stored in the memory and operable by the processor to: retrieve at least one value indicative of a target tire pressure from the memory, determine a pressure sensed by the pressure sensor, and, cause the display to present information indicative of the target tire pressure and sensed pressure.

Claims

1. A handheld tire pressure gauge comprising:

a display;

a pressure sensor;

a memory;

a processor being operatively coupled to said display, pressure sensor and memory; and

,

code being stored in said memory and operable by said processor to;

retrieve at least one value indicative of a target tire pressure from said memory, determine a pressure sensed by said pressure sensor, and, cause said display to present information indicative of said target tire pressure and sensed pressure.

2. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to store said at least one value indicative of a target tire pressure.

3. The gauge of claim 2, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to increment and decrement said at least one value indicative of the target pressure.

4. The gauge of claim 2, wherein said at least one value comprises a plurality of values each indicative of a target tire pressure.

5. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to cause said display to indicate whether said measured pressure is below a threshold value indicative of a low pressure condition.

6. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to cause said display to indicate whether said measured pressure is above a threshold value indicative of a high pressure condition high.

7. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to cause said display to indicate whether said measured pressure substantially matches said target tire pressure.

8. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said display comprises a plurality of indicators each indicative of a distinct relation between said measured pressure and target pressure.

9. The gauge of claim 1, further comprising a lighting element.

10. The gauge of claim 9, wherein said lighting element comprises an LED.

11. The gauge of claim 10, wherein said LED is selectively operable by said processor.

12. The gauge of claim 9, wherein said display is backlit with a color substantially matching a color of said lighting element.

13. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said display comprises a graphical indicator of which of a plurality of tires on a vehicle is being measured.

14. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to store a value indicative of said measured pressure in said memory.

15. The gauge of claim 1, further comprising an analog to digital converter coupled to said pressure sensor and processor.

16. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said pressure sensor comprises a plurality of strain gauges.

17. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said presenting information indicative of said target tire pressure and sensed pressure comprises presenting said target tire pressure and sensed pressure.

18. The gauge of claim 1, wherein said presenting information indicative of said target tire pressure and sensed pressure comprises concurrently presenting said target tire pressure and sensed pressure

19. A method for assisting a user to determine whether a tire pressure is within a target range using a handheld digital tire pressure gauge comprising:

retrieving at least one value indicative of said target range;

comparing a measured pressure to said target range using said at least one value; and

,

displaying a measured pressure indicator being indicative of a relation between said measured pressure and said target range dependently upon said comparing.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said displaying comprises selectively activating one of a plurality of indicators.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said plurality of indicators comprise a first indicator indicative of a low tire pressure condition, a second indicator indicative of a target tire pressure condition and a third indicator indicative of a high tire pressure condition.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising prompting said user to input said at least one value indicative of said target range.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising selectively activating a light.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising indicating which of a plurality of tires to check.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing said measured pressure for later retrieval and display using said processor.

26. A handheld tire pressure gauge comprising:

a display;

a pressure sensor;

a memory;

a processor being operatively coupled to said display, pressure sensor and memory; and

, code being stored in said memory and operable by said processor to;

retrieve a value indicative of a target front tire pressure from said memory, determine a front tire pressure sensed by said pressure sensor, and, cause said display to present information indicative of said target front tire pressure and sensed pressure; and

,

retrieve a value indicative of a target rear tire pressure from said memory, determine a rear tire pressure sensed by said pressure sensor, and, cause said display to present information indicative of said target rear tire pressure and sensed pressure.

27. The gauge of claim 26, wherein said code is further operative by said processor to cause said display to selectively prompt a user for the front tire pressure to be measured and rear tire pressure to be measured.

28. The gauge of claim 26, wherein said code is further operable by said processor to increment and decrement said at least values indicative of the target front and rear tire pressures.

29. The gauge of claim 26, wherein said presenting information indicative of said target front and rear tire pressures and sensed pressures comprises presenting said target front and rear tire pressures and sensed pressures.

30. The gauge of claim 26, wherein said presenting information indicative of said target front and rear tire pressures and sensed pressures comprises:

concurrently presenting said target front tire pressure and sensed front tire pressure, and concurrently presenting said target rear tire pressure and sensed rear tire pressure.

31. A handheld tire pressure gauge comprising:

a pressure sensor;

a processor operatively coupled to a display, said pressure sensor, and a memory; and

a user interface in communication with said processor for enabling storing and display of information indicative of;

a sensed tire pressure determined by said pressure sensor in response to user activation, and target tire pressure based on target values stored in said memory, said target values stored in said memory being selectively associated with one or more tires of a given vehicle and retrievable in response to user selection via said interface.

32. The gauge of claim 31, wherein said user interface further comprises a vehicle indicator selection input for enabling user selection of a given one of a plurality of vehicle indicators, each corresponding to a given vehicle, said processor responsive to said input for retrieving from said memory those target values corresponding to said selected vehicle for processing and display to the user.

33. The gauge of claim 32, wherein said information displayed comprises:

a) said sensed tire pressure determined by said pressure sensor; and

b) one or more target pressure values retrieved from said memory corresponding to the sensed tire for said selected vehicle.

34. The gauge of claim 32, wherein said information displayed comprises:

a value indicative of said sensed tire pressure determined by said pressure sensor; and

b) a graphical indicator for identifying one of;

a high pressure condition wherein said sensed pressure is above a first threshold value associated with said target pressure value retrieved from said memory;

a low pressure condition wherein said sensed pressure is below a second threshold value less than the first threshold value associated with said target pressure value retrieved from said memory; and

a nominal pressure condition wherein said sensed pressure is between said first and second threshold values.