Method and system for locating tires using RFID

• US 20060290484A1
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Marmigere, Gerard, Clement, Jean-Yves, Bauchot, Frederic, Secondo, Pierre
• Granted Patent: US 7,474,214 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/442
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0437 Means for detecting electromagnetic field changes not being part of the signal transmission per se, e.g. strength, direction, propagation or masking
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0444 Antenna structures, control or arrangements thereof, e.g. for directional antennas, diversity antenna, antenna multiplexing or antennas integrated in fenders
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0449 Passive transducers, e.g. using surface acoustic waves, backscatter technology or pressure sensitive resonators near field passive transducers B60C23/0428

Abstract

A method and system for locating tires is disclosed. According to the invention, an RFID reader antenna is positioned at a predetermined location such that the distances between the reader antenna and the tires are different. Each tire embeds at least one RFID tag. The distance between the reader antenna and each RFID tag is determined by measuring the delay required for the signal to be reflected by the RFID tag. Since all the distances between the reader antenna and the RFID tags are predetermined, knowing the distance between the reader antenna and a particular RFID tag allows the determination of the position of the particular RFID tag and of the tire.

Claims

1. A method for determining the position of a plurality of tires having embedded Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags, using at least one RFID reader antenna positioned at a predetermined distance from the plurality of tires, the distances between the RFID reader antenna and each of the tires to locate being different, the method comprising the steps of:

for each identifier of RFID tags,

measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the RFID reader antenna to be reflected by the RFID tag having the identifier;

storing the measured delay if it is smaller than a previous measured delay corresponding to the identifier;

repeating the step of measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the RFID tag having the identifier until a threshold value is reached;

ordering the stored delay stored for each of the RFID tags; and

,

determining the position of each of the plurality of tires according to the predetermined distances between the RFID reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires to be located.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

predetermining the distance between the RFID reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires; and

,

associating the predetermined distances with the location of each of the plurality of tires.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of predetermining the distance between the reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires comprises the steps of:

selecting RFID tags identifying the position of each of the plurality of tires;

for each identifier of the selected tags,

measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the selected tag having the identifier;

storing the measured delay if it is smaller than a previous measured delay corresponding to the identifier; and

,

repeating the step of measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the selected tag having the identifier until a threshold value is reached.

4. The method of claim 3 including the step of implementing the method within a vehicle.

5. The method of claim 3 including the step of implementing the method in a fixed location.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of implementing is performed in a garage.

7. An apparatus for determining the position of a plurality of tires having embedded Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags, using at least one RFID reader antenna positioned at a predetermined distance from the plurality of tires, the distances between the RFID reader antenna and each of the tires to locate being different, the apparatus comprising:

an identifier of each of the RFID tags,

means for measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the RFID reader antenna to be reflected by the RFID tag having the identifier;

means for storing the measured delay if it is smaller than a previous measured delay corresponding to the identifier;

means for repeating the step of measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the RFID tag having the identifier until a threshold value is reached;

means for ordering the stored delay stored for each of the RFID tags; and

,

means for determining the position of each of the plurality of tires according to the predetermined distances between the RFID reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires to be located.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

means for predetermining the distance between the RFID reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires; and

,

means for associating the predetermined distances with the location of each of the plurality of tires.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein means for predetermining the distance between the reader antenna and each of the plurality of tires comprises:

means for selecting RFID tags identifying the position of each of the plurality of tires;

for each identifier of the selected tags,

means for measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the selected tag having the identifier;

means for storing the measured delay if it is smaller than a previous measured delay corresponding to the identifier; and

,

means for repeating the step of measuring the delay required for a signal emitted by the reader antenna to be reflected by the selected tag having the identifier until a threshold value is reached.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein at least one of the RFID tags comprises a surface acoustic wave RFID tag.

11. The apparatus of any claim 9 wherein at least one of the RFID tags comprises an electronic tag.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one of the electric tags is passive, semi-passive, or active.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one of the electronic tags is a high frequency RFID tag.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the high frequency RFID tag is an ultra high frequency RFID tag.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein at least one of the RFID tags includes a sensor.