Communications system for vehicle wheel alignment apparatus
First Claim
1. Vehicle wheel alignment apparatus comprising:
- a wheel alignment sensor removably mountable to a vehicle wheel for providing alignment data;
a controller responsive to data from the wheel alignment sensor for determining wheel alignment characteristics of the wheel under test;
a first radio frequency sensor receiver, disposed at the sensor, for receiving radio frequency signals;
a first radio frequency sensor transmitter, disposed at the sensor and operatively connected thereto, for transmitting radio frequency signals carrying alignment data from the sensor;
at least first and second radio frequency controller receiver circuits, disposed at the controller and operatively connected thereto, for receiving signals from the sensor transmitter;
at least first and second radio frequency controller transmitter circuits, disposed at the controller and operatively connected thereto, for transmitting signals to the sensor receiver;
said sensor receiver being tuned to receive signals transmitted by the controller transmitter circuits for communication between the controller and the sensor receiver;
each of said first and second controller receiver circuits being tuned to receive signals transmitted by the sensor transmitter for communication of wheel alignment data from the sensor transmitter to the controller.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Communication system for vehicle wheel alignment apparatus includes transceivers for each wheel sensor and a plurality of transceivers disposed at a control console or control remote unit. Communication is accomplished with any particular sensor transceiver by switching among the control transceivers as follows: (1) If the sensor transceiver does not respond, switch the transmitter portions of the control transceivers sequentially until the sensor transceiver does respond, and (2) if the signal from the sensor transceiver is garbled, switch the receiver portions of the control transceivers sequentially until the message is ungarbled. The transmitter and receiver portions of the control transceivers are controlled independently, so that for a particular message transmission may use a first control transceiver and reception may use a second control transceiver. The communication between sensor transceivers and the control transceivers is cross-band, with all sensor transceivers using the same transmission frequency and a second, different reception frequency. Each transceiver uses the receiver mixer stage as the final, power amplification stage for the transmitter. Transmission is via an AM modulated FM subcarrier.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. Vehicle wheel alignment apparatus comprising:
-
a wheel alignment sensor removably mountable to a vehicle wheel for providing alignment data; a controller responsive to data from the wheel alignment sensor for determining wheel alignment characteristics of the wheel under test; a first radio frequency sensor receiver, disposed at the sensor, for receiving radio frequency signals; a first radio frequency sensor transmitter, disposed at the sensor and operatively connected thereto, for transmitting radio frequency signals carrying alignment data from the sensor; at least first and second radio frequency controller receiver circuits, disposed at the controller and operatively connected thereto, for receiving signals from the sensor transmitter; at least first and second radio frequency controller transmitter circuits, disposed at the controller and operatively connected thereto, for transmitting signals to the sensor receiver; said sensor receiver being tuned to receive signals transmitted by the controller transmitter circuits for communication between the controller and the sensor receiver; each of said first and second controller receiver circuits being tuned to receive signals transmitted by the sensor transmitter for communication of wheel alignment data from the sensor transmitter to the controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method of communicating between at least one vehicle wheel alignment sensor and a controller of vehicle wheel alignment apparatus, comprising:
-
providing a sensor transceiver operatively connected to a wheel alignment sensor; providing a first controller transceiver circuit operatively connected to a controller, said controller being responsive to data from the wheel alignment sensor for determining wheel alignment characteristics of the wheel under test; providing at least a second controller transceiver circuit operatively connected to the controller; switching between controller transceiver circuits for signal transmission when the sensor transceiver does not respond, and switching between controller transceiver circuits for signal reception when the received signal is garbled. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
-
Specification