Method and System for Monitoring Tire Pressure

• US 20110041596A1
• Filed: 08/05/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huf Baolong Electronics Bretten GmbH (Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Borgwarner BERU Systems GmbH (BorgWarner Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sandrock, Karsten, Wagner, Markus
• Granted Patent: US 8,109,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/146.5
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/044 Near field triggers, e.g. magnets or triggers with 125 KHz
• 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 23/045 Means for detecting electromagnetic field changes being not part of the signal transmission per se, e.g. strength, direction, propagation or masking
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0454 Means for changing operation mode, e.g. sleep mode, factory mode or energy save mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0461 externally triggered, e.g. by wireless request signal, magnet or manual switch
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0462 Structure of transmission protocol

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for monitoring air pressure in vehicle tires using wheel electronics, which comprise a pressure sensor for measuring the air pressure present in the tire, a transmitter for transmitting pressure information, and a receiver for receiving interrogation signals, wherein a transmission activity of the wheel electronics is triggered by the reception of an interrogation signal, which is transmitted as a pulse train comprising a command section that encodes a transmission instruction for the wheel electronics. According to the invention, the pulse train comprises an adjustment section having several pulses before the command section.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring air pressure in vehicle tires using wheel electronics, the method comprising:

measuring air pressure present in the tire;

transmitting pressure information; and

receiving interrogation signals, a transmission activity of the wheel electronics being triggered by reception of an interrogation signal, transmitted as a pulse train comprising a command section encoding a transmission instruction for the wheel electronics,

wherein the pulse train comprises an adjustment section having several pulses before the command section.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the command section comprises pulses which are longer than the pulses present in the adjustment section.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the command section comprises pulses which are at least twice as long than the pulses of the adjustment section.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the command section comprises a bit string in the form of short and long pulses.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the adjustment section is formed as a train of short pulses, the lengths of which correspond to the short pulses of the command section.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment section comprises three to ten, preferably three to seven pulses.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein, between the adjustment section and the command section, the pulse train comprises a start pulse, which is at least twice as long, preferably at least three times as long, in particular at least four times as long, as the pulses present in the adjustment section.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the start pulse is longer than the pulses present in the command section.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the start pulse is at least as long as the sum of the pulse durations of a pulse of the adjustment section and a pulse of the command section.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein the start pulse is three to ten times as long as a pulse of the adjustment section, preferably four to six times as long as a pulse of the adjustment section.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the pulse train comprises a wake-up pulse before the adjustment section.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the wake-up pulse is longer than the adjustment section.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the wake-up pulse is longer than the command section.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the wake-up pulse is longer than the sum of the durations of the command section and the adjustment section.

15. A method according to claim 11, wherein the duration of the wake-up pulse accounts for more than half of the duration of the pulse train.

16. A tire pressure monitoring system, comprising:

wheel electronics having a pressure sensor for measuring the air pressure present in the tire;

a transmitter for transmitting pressure information;

a receiver for receiving interrogation signals;

an interrogation transmitter for emitting interrogation signals, and

a receiver for receiving pressure information, a transmission activity of the wheel electronics being triggered by reception of an interrogation signal, transmitted as a pulse train comprising a command section encoding a transmission instruction for the wheel electronics,

wherein the pulse train comprises an adjustment section having several pulses preceding the command section.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the receiver of the wheel electronics comprises an amplifier, and wherein the pulses present in the adjustment section are used to adjust an amplification factor required for evaluating the command section.