APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TIRE LOCALIZATION TECHNICAL FIELD

• US 20130328674A1
• Filed: 06/06/2012
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems US Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Inventors: McINTYRE, MATTHEW D., DENIAU, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE, FARRELL, BRIAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,469,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/442
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/007 having multiple wheels arranged side by side
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0488 Movement sensor, e.g. for sensing angular speed, acceleration or centripetal force

Abstract

Localization of a tire pressure monitor is achieved. The tire pressure monitor is disposed at one of the tires on a vehicle equipped with dualies. A message is received from a tire pressure monitor and the message has an associated received signal strength. The message includes information indicating a direction of rotation of a tire and a tire identifier from the tire pressure monitor sensor. The tire pressure monitor is disposed at one of the tires of a vehicle equipped with dualies.

Claims

1. A method of determining the location of a tire pressure monitor, the tire pressure monitor being disposed at one of the tires on a vehicle equipped with dualies, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a tire pressure monitor, the message having an associated received signal strength, the message including information indicating a direction of rotation of a tire and an tire identifier from a tire pressure monitor sensor;

determining whether a wireless signal initiator has been activated and has transmitted an initiation signal;

based upon the received signal strength of the message, determining whether the tire is a front tire or rear tire, and when the tire is determined to be a front tire, determining whether the tire is a left front tire or right front tire based upon the direction of rotation;

when the received signal strength indicates that the tire is a rear tire, based upon whether the initiator has been activated, determining whether the tire is in a left dualie or in a right dualie, and then based upon direction of rotation, determining whether the tire is an outer tire of the dualie or an inner tire of the dualie.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the initiator is a low frequency (LF) initiator.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the message comprises tire pressure information.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising presenting the tire pressure information to a user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the information is presented on a graphical display.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising determining whether the tire pressure is below a predetermined threshold.

7. An apparatus that is configured to determine the location of a tire pressure monitor, the tire pressure monitor being disposed at one of the tires on a vehicle equipped with dualies, the apparatus comprising:

an interface having an input and an output, the input configured to receive a message from a tire pressure monitor, the message having an associated received signal strength, the message including information indicating a direction of rotation of a tire and an tire identifier from a tire pressure monitor sensor;

a controller, the controller coupled to the interface, the controller configured to determine whether a wireless signal initiator has been activated and has transmitted an initiation signal, the controller configured to, based upon the received signal strength of the message, determine whether the tire is a front tire or rear tire, and when the tire is determined to be a front tire, to determine whether the tire is a left front tire or right front tire based upon the direction of rotation, the controller being further configured to when the received signal strength indicates that the tire is a rear tire, based upon whether the initiator has been activated, determine whether the tire is in a left dualie or in a right dualie, and then based upon direction of rotation, determine whether the tire is an outer tire of the dualie or an inner tire of the dualie.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the initiator is a low frequency (LF) initiator.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the message comprises tire pressure information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the controller is configured to present the tire pressure information to a user at the output of the interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the information is presented on a graphical display.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the tire pressure is below a predetermined threshold.

13. A computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method of determining the location of a tire pressure monitor, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a tire pressure monitor, the message having an associated received signal strength, the message including information indicating a direction of rotation of a tire and an tire identifier from a tire pressure monitor sensor, the tire pressure monitor being disposed at one of the tires of a vehicle equipped with dualies;

determining whether a wireless signal initiator has been activated and has transmitted an initiation signal;

based upon the received signal strength of the message, determining whether the tire is a front tire or rear tire, and when the tire is determined to be a front tire, determining whether the tire is a left front tire or right front tire based upon the direction of rotation;

when the received signal strength indicates that the tire is a rear tire, based upon whether the initiator has been activated, determining whether the tire is in a left dualie or in a right dualie, and then based upon direction of rotation, determining whether the tire is an outer tire of the dualie or an inner tire of the dualie.

14. The computer usable medium of claim 13 wherein the initiator is a low frequency (LF) initiator.

15. The computer usable medium of claim 13 wherein the message comprises tire pressure information.

16. The computer usable medium of claim 15 further comprising presenting the tire pressure information to a user.

17. The computer usable medium of claim 16 wherein the information is presented on a graphical display.

18. The computer usable medium of claim 15 further comprising determining whether the tire pressure is below a predetermined threshold.