RADIO SYSTEM ADJUSTMENT WITH TPMS AND SMART ENTRY SYSTEM

• US 20110304454A1
• Filed: 08/05/2010
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Lickfelt, Brian K., Strock, Nicky
• Granted Patent: US 8,497,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/447
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0418 Sharing hardware components like housing, antenna, receiver or signal transmission line with other vehicle systems like keyless entry or brake control units
• 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 23/0444 Antenna structures, control or arrangements thereof, e.g. for directional antennas, diversity antenna, antenna multiplexing or antennas integrated in fenders
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0445 Means for changing operating mode, e.g. sleep mode, factory mode or energy saving mode
• 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 23/0452 Antenna structure, control or arrangement vehicle tyre mounted antennas H01Q1/2241
• 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

A tire pressure monitoring system includes tire sensors mounted in, on or adjacent respective tires of the vehicle, LF antennas mounted on the vehicle, and an ECU. Each tire sensor is configured to transmit an RF signal and to detect an LF field. Each antenna is configured to transmit an LF field to wake up the tire sensors. The ECU is in communication with the antenna, the tire sensors and a radio configured to receive AM broadcast signals. The ECU can communicate with the radio to inhibit speakers in communication with the radio from emitting sound while each LF field to wake up the tire sensors is being transmitted.

Claims

1. A tire pressure monitoring system comprising:

tire sensors mounted in, on or adjacent respective tires of a vehicle, each tire sensor being configured to transmit an RF signal and to detect an LF field;

LF antennas mounted on the vehicle, the antennas being configured to transmit a low frequency (“

LF”

) tire sensor wake up field to wake up respective tire sensors; and

an electronic control unit (“

ECU”

) in communication with the antennas, the tire sensors and a radio configured to receive AM broadcast signals, wherein the ECU communicates with the radio to inhibit speakers in communication with the radio from emitting sound while the LF tire sensor wake up fields are being transmitted.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the radio is configured to boot up in response to the radio being ON and an ignition of the car being ON, wherein a time period for booting up the radio is enlarged during transmission of the LF wake up fields.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the ECU detects whether the radio is set to an AM mode, and where the radio is set to an AM mode the ECU communicates with the radio to enlarge the time period for booting up the radio to allow for transmission of the LF wake up fields before sounds are emitted from the speakers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the ECU detects whether the radio is set to an AM mode, and where the radio is set to an AM mode the ECU communicates with the radio to mute output from the speakers while the LF tire sensor wake up fields are being transmitted.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the LF wake up fields are capable of being picked up by an AM antenna for the radio.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the LF antenna is configured to transmit an LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field to wake up a portable transmission/reception unit for keyless entry of the vehicle and the LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field is capable of being picked up by an AM antenna for the radio.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the ECU detects whether the radio is set to an AM mode, and where the radio is set to an AM mode the ECU communicates with the radio to mute output from the speakers while the portable transmission/reception unit for keyless entry of the vehicle is being transmitted.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the LF antennas include a left front LF antenna mounted near a left front corner of the vehicle, a left rear LF antenna mounted near a left rear corner of the vehicle, a right front LF antenna mounted near a right front corner of the vehicle, and a right rear LF antenna mounted near a right rear corner of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the tire sensors include a left front tire sensor, a left rear tire sensor, a right front tire sensor and a right rear tire sensor, wherein the left front antenna is configured to transmit a left front LF field to wake up the front tire sensors, the left rear antenna is configured to transmit a left rear LF field to wake up the rear tire sensors, the right front antenna is configured to transmit a right front LF field to wake up the front tire sensors, and the right rear antenna is configured to transmit a right rear LF field to wake up the rear tire sensors.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the LF antennas include a front LF antenna mounted towards a front of the vehicle, a rear LF antenna mounted towards a rear of the vehicle, a left side LF antenna mounted adjacent, in or on a left door of the vehicle, and a right side LF antenna mounted adjacent, in or on a right door of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the tire sensors include a left front tire sensor, a left rear tire sensor, a right front tire sensor and a right rear tire sensor, wherein the front antenna is configured to transmit a front LF field to wake up the front tire sensors, the rear antenna is configured to transmit a rear LF field to wake up the rear tire sensors, the left antenna is configured to transmit a left LF field to wake up the left tire sensors, and the right antenna is configured to transmit a right LF field to wake up the right tire sensors.

12. A tire pressure monitoring system (“

TPMS”

) comprising;

tire sensors mounted in, on or adjacent respective tires of a vehicle, each tire sensor being configured to transmit an RF signal and to detect an LF field;

LF antennas mounted on the vehicle, the antennas being configured to transmit a low frequency (“

LF”

) tire sensor wake up field to wake up respective tire sensors;

an electronic control unit (“

ECU”

) in communication with the antennas, the tire sensors and a radio configured to receive AM broadcast signals, wherein the ECU is configured to randomly generate signals to the LF antennas to transmit respective tire sensor wake up fields.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a random number generator in communication with the ECU, wherein the random number generator is a hardware random number generator or a software random number generator, wherein the ECU is configured to randomly generate signals to the LF antennas to transmit respective tire sensor wake up fields based on output received from the random number generator.

14. A method for operating a tire pressure monitoring system and a vehicle radio, the method comprising:

transmitting a low frequency (“

LF”

) tire sensor wake up field to wake up tire sensors disposed within tires mounted on a vehicle; and

inhibiting sound from being emitted from speakers receiving signals from a vehicle radio while transmitting the LF tire sensor wake up field.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein inhibiting sound includes delaying boot up of the radio at ignition ON while transmitting the LF tire sensor wake up field.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein inhibiting sound includes muting the speakers in communication with radio while transmitting the LF tire sensor wake up field.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting an LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field to wake up a portable transmission/reception unit for keyless entry of the vehicle, wherein inhibiting sound includes inhibiting sound from being emitted from speakers receiving signals from a vehicle radio while transmitting the LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein inhibiting sound includes delaying boot up of the radio at ignition ON while transmitting the LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field to wake up a portable transmission/reception unit for keyless entry of the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein inhibiting sound includes muting the speakers in communication with radio while transmitting the LF portable transmission/reception unit wake up field to wake up a portable transmission/reception unit for keyless entry of the vehicle.

20. A method for operating a tire pressure monitoring system and a vehicle radio, the method comprising:

receiving output from a random number generator in communication with an electronic control unit;

randomly transmitting low frequency (“

LF”

) tire sensor wake up fields to wake up tire sensors disposed within tires mounted on a vehicle based on output received from the random number generator.