Wireless Determination of Alignment

• US 20180170127A1
• Filed: 12/19/2016
• Published: 06/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: DeBates, Scott
• Application Number:
  US15/383,493
• Publication Number:
  US 20180170127A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 2019/007 triggered by sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0433 Radio signals

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring tire state or condition use a RFID low power tags embedded in a vehicle tire in conjunction with an RFID reader to determine whether the tire needs alignment, e.g., is misaligned, and whether the tire is over or under inflated. Both objectives may be accomplished by detecting the location of a tag in each tire, the tag spanning substantially the width of the tire. One or more additional tags may be located along the circumference of the tire as well to aid in determining inflation.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a vehicle tire comprising:

emitting a near field radio frequency transmission receivable by two or more antennas embedded in a first vehicle tire and a second vehicle tire respectively, each such antenna being associated with respective radio frequency transmission circuitry;

receiving one or more responsive radio frequency transmissions from respective ones of the two or more antennas;

determining a steering angle of each tire based on the responsive radio frequency transmissions;

determining based on the determined steering angles whether the first and second vehicle tires are misaligned with one another; and

alerting a vehicle user if it is determined that the first and second vehicle tires are misaligned with one another.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising determining based on the responsive radio frequency transmissions that one of the antennas is damaged and in response alerting the vehicle user that one tire has experienced excess tread wear.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising determining based on the responsive radio frequency transmissions that at least one tire is in a state of improper inflation.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein at least one of the one or more antennas is arranged circumferentially in its associated tire, and wherein determining that at least one tire is in a state of improper inflation comprises determining, based on the received one or more responsive radio frequency transmissions, that the tire circumference reflects a state of improper inflation.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising receiving one or more gyroscope signals from the wheel of each tire and wherein determining whether the first and second vehicle tires are misaligned with one another further comprises determining a wheel orientation for each wheel based at least in part on the one or more gyroscope signals.

3-6. -6. (canceled)

10. A system for monitoring a vehicle tire, the system comprising:

an antenna system embedded in each of two vehicle tires, the antenna system being configured to emit a responsive radio frequency (RF) signal when probed by an RF probe signal; and

a monitoring device comprising an RF transceiver and a processor, the processor being configured to emit an RF probe signal receivable by the antenna systems, characterize responsive RF signals received from the antenna systems and identify an angle between the vehicle tires based on the characterization of the responsive RF signals.

11. The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to notify a user that the vehicle tires are misaligned based on the identified angle.

12. The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to determine that one of the tires exhibits excess tread wear based on a characteristic of the responsive RF signal received from the antenna system in the tire.

13. The system in accordance with claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the one of the tires exhibits excess tread wear by determining that a radio frequency signal has not been received from the antenna.

17. The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to determine that one of the tires is improperly inflated based on the characterization of the responsive RF signals.

18. The system in accordance with claim 17 wherein at least one of the one or more antennas is arranged circumferentially in the tire.

14-16. -16. (canceled)

19. A device for monitoring a condition of a vehicle tire having embedded therein at least one RFID antenna, the device comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver;

an RF antenna linked to the RF transceiver; and

a processor configured to emit an RF probe signal from the RF antenna via the RF transceiver, the RF probe signal being receivable by the embedded RFID antenna, to receive a responsive RF signal from the at least one embedded RFID antenna, to characterize the responsive RF signal and to determine an orientation of the vehicle tire based on the responsive RF signal.

20. The device in accordance with claim 19, wherein the at least one RFID antenna includes a first antenna embedded across the tire tread and a second antenna embedded around the tire circumference.