APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING A TIRE INFORMATION SENSOR WITH A TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL BASED ON VEHICLE TRIGGER CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20170036499A1
• Filed: 08/01/2016
• Published: 02/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: McIntyre, Matthew D., Deniau, Jean-Christophe, Farrell, Brian, Gad, Yasser, Vijayan, Dhivya
• Granted Patent: US 10,220,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 23/0461 externally triggered, e.g. by wireless request signal, magnet or manual switch
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0462 Structure of transmission protocol
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0471 System initialisation, e.g. upload or calibration of operating parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

In a vehicle tire pressure sensor, a wireless, low frequency (LF) receiver identifies a particular type of signal protocol that was used to form a first message that is sent to the sensor by the vehicle. Using the identification of the protocol used to form the first message, the sensor determines a type of signal protocol to be used to transmit information to the vehicle, such as an identifier for the tire pressure sensor in a second message.

Claims

1. A tire pressure sensor comprising:

a wireless receiver configured to;

receive a first wireless message, which is formed using one of a plurality of different types of first wireless message protocols;

identify a particular type of message protocol that was used to form the received first wireless message; and

generate an output message, which identifies the protocol by which the received first wireless message was formed; and

a wireless transmitter coupled to the wireless receiver, the wireless transmitter being configured to transmit an identifier for the tire pressure sensor, responsive to the generation of the output message by the first wireless receiver.

2. The tire pressure sensor of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter is configure to transmit the identifier autonomously.

3. The tire pressure sensor of claim 1, further comprising a tire operating condition sensing device operatively coupled to the wireless transmitter, the tire operating condition sensing device providing signals that represent an operating condition of a tire, wherein the wireless transmitter is configured to receive information from the operating condition sensing device and to transmit the information on a radio frequency (RF) signal, which is formed using the a message protocol identified by said first wireless message from the wireless receiver.

4. The tire pressure sensor of claim 3, wherein the wireless transmitter transmits the operating condition information on a second radio frequency band, using the protocol identified by the wireless receiver and only as often as is required by a manufacturer of the vehicle.

5. The tire pressure sensor of claim 1, wherein the wireless receiver is additionally configured to receive a second wireless signal, which is formed using one of a plurality of different types of protocols and upon receipt of said second wireless signal, initialize said wireless transmitter.

6. The tire pressure sensor of claim 1, wherein the wireless receiver is a low-frequency, short-range wireless signal receiver, the first wireless signal is a short-range, low-frequency signal and wherein wireless transmitter is a high-frequency radio frequency transmitter.

8. The configurable tire pressure sensor of claim 6, wherein the program instructions cause the second type of protocol to be determined from the first type of protocol.

9. The configurable tire pressure sensor of claim 6, wherein additional program instructions cause the processor to instruct the transmitter to send the signal carrying the unique identifier for the configurable tire pressure sensor, autonomously and responsive to the determination of the first type of protocol and only as often as is required by a manufacturer of the vehicle.

10. The configurable tire pressure sensor of claim 6, wherein the first and second types of protocols are different from each other.

13. The monitor of claim 9, wherein the first protocol corresponds to and identifies a manufacturer of the vehicle.

14. The monitor for the tire pressure sensor of claim 9, further comprising a processor and a plurality of selectively operable antennas coupled to the wireless transmitter, at least one antenna being proximate to each wheel of the vehicle, the wireless transmitter and antennas being configured, arranged and controlled to selectively send wireless signals to and receive wireless signals from a first tire pressure sensor coupled to a corresponding tire for each wheel.

7. A configurable tire pressure sensor comprising:

a wireless receiver, configured to receive signals in a first frequency band;

a wireless transmitter configured to transmit signals in a second and different frequency band;

a processor coupled to the wireless receiver and coupled to the wireless transmitter;

a memory device coupled to the processor and storing program instructions, which when executed cause the processor to;

receive information from the wireless receiver and determine therefrom a first type of protocol used on wireless signals received by the wireless receiver, the first type of protocol identifying a type of vehicle with which the configurable tire pressure sensor is to be used with; and

control the wireless transmitter to transmit a signal carrying a unique identifier for the configurable tire pressure sensor, the unique identifier being transmitted on a radio frequency signal using a second type of protocol.

11. The configurable tire pressure sensor further comprising:

a memory device coupled to the processor and storing program instructions, which when executed cause the processor to receive a reconfigure signal from the wireless receiver and which cause the processor to initialize the wireless transmitter.

15. The monitor for the tire pressure sensor of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to:

couple a first antenna to the wireless transmitter for a first time period, the first antenna being proximate to a first wheel of the vehicle;

control the wireless transmitter to broadcast a poll signal from the first antenna during the first time period;

receive a response to the first poll during the first time period; and

couple a second antenna to the wireless transmitter for a second time period, the second antenna being proximate to a second and different wheel of the vehicle;

control the wireless transmitter to broadcast a polling signal from the second antenna during the second time period;

receive a response to the second poll during the second time period.

16. The monitor of claim 11, wherein the processor is additionally configured to selectively receive information-bearing signals from the first and second antennas and display information obtained from said received signals on a display device located in the vehicle.

17. The monitor of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to control the wireless transmitter to cause it to selectively transmit from an antenna, a re-configuration signal, which when received by a tire pressure sensor (TPS), causes the TPS device to relearn a vehicle TPS configuration.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of transmitting an identifier for the wireless tire pressure monitor in a second and different frequency band responsive to the identification of the protocol used to form the first signal, additionally comprises modulating the identifier information onto a carrier using a predetermined protocol selected from a plurality of different protocols responsive to identifying the type of modulation used to form the first signal.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving tire operating condition information from a sensor;

transmitting the tire operating condition information in the second frequency band using a predetermined protocol; and

thereafter,

transmitting tire operating information only as required by a vehicle'"'"'s manufacturer specification.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a predetermined re-configuration signal in the first frequency band;

and relearning a vehicle tire pressure monitor configuration.

12. A monitor for a wheel-located tire pressure sensor device, the monitor being attached to a vehicle and comprising:

a wireless transmitter configured to transmit a first wireless signal in a first frequency band, the first wireless signal being formed using only a first protocol;

and

a wireless receiver coupled to the wireless transmitter, the wireless receiver being configured to receive a second wireless signal in a second frequency band, the second signal being formed by a tire pressure sensor using a second protocol and carrying an identifier for a tire pressure sensor on a vehicle, the second signal being received after the first wireless signal has been transmitted and the first protocol recognized.

18. A method of configuring a wireless tire pressure sensor, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal in a first frequency band, the first signal being formed using at least one of a plurality of different types of protocols;

identifying the protocol used to form the first signal;

transmitting an identifier for the wireless tire pressure monitor in a second and different frequency band responsive to the identification of the protocol used to form the first signal.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of transmitting the tire operating condition additionally comprises transmitting the tire operating condition using essentially only the predetermined protocol, as often as is required by a vehicle manufacturer.