Method and apparatus for a remote tire pressure monitoring system
First Claim
1. A tire characteristic monitoring method for reducing interference in a tire monitor system, the method comprising:
- at a remotely located exciter, using a relatively low frequency signal having a frequency below 3 MHz to energize a secondary coil of a tire monitor associated with a tire of a vehicle;
at the tire monitor, in response to the secondary coil being energized, transmitting a relatively high frequency signal having a frequency above 3 MHz to convey tire data; and
receiving the tire data at a receiving unit located on the vehicle remotely from the tire monitor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tire characteristic monitoring method allows automatic programming of tire position information in a remote tire pressure monitoring system (10). The method includes, from a remotely located exciter (16) using a primary coil (18) to transmit a relatively low frequency signal to a secondary coil (L1) of a tire monitor (12) associated with a tire of a vehicle. The method further includes the step of, at the tire monitor, in response to the relatively low frequency signal, transmitting a relatively high transmitting signal to convey data. The data are received at the exciter and subsequently loaded into a receiving unit (14) of the vehicle.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A tire characteristic monitoring method for reducing interference in a tire monitor system, the method comprising:
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at a remotely located exciter, using a relatively low frequency signal having a frequency below 3 MHz to energize a secondary coil of a tire monitor associated with a tire of a vehicle; at the tire monitor, in response to the secondary coil being energized, transmitting a relatively high frequency signal having a frequency above 3 MHz to convey tire data; and receiving the tire data at a receiving unit located on the vehicle remotely from the tire monitor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A tire characteristic monitoring method comprising acts of:
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(a) transmitting an excitation signal including a relatively low frequency signal having a frequency less than 3 MHz from a remote exciter; (b) at a tire monitor associated with a tire of a vehicle, in response to the excitation signal, communicating data indicative of a tire characteristic to a receiver of the remote exciter using a signal having a frequency different from the relatively low frequency signal; (c) repeating act (b) for at least one additional tire of the vehicle; and (d) conveying the data and associated tire identification information from the exciter to a controller mounted on the vehicle, the controller being configured to subsequently provide to a user tire characteristic information based on the data for each tire of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for operating a remote tire pressure monitoring system, the system including a plurality of tire monitors associated with tires of a vehicle and a controller mounted on the vehicle, the method comprising:
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(a) programming at least some tire monitors by (a1) activating a tire monitor with only a relatively low frequency signal having a frequency below 3 MHz from a remotely located exciter; (a2) in response to the low frequency signal, transmitting identification information from the tire monitor; and (a3) associating the identification information with position of a tire associated with the tire monitor on the vehicle; (b) subsequently, at the tire monitor detecting a tire characteristic of the tire; and (c) conveying data indicative of the tire characteristic from the tire monitor directly to the controller by communicating a relatively high frequency signal having a frequency above 3 MHz for reception by a receiver of the controller. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for monitoring a tire characteristic of tires of a vehicles with reduced interference and crosstalk, the system comprising:
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a plurality of tire monitors, each tire monitor associated with a tire of the vehicle and including a sensor which produces data indicative of a tire characteristic and a transmitter circuit to transmit a relatively high frequency signal in response to an activation signal, the relatively high frequency signal having a frequency greater than 3 MHz; a controller for providing tire characteristic information to a user, the controller including a receiver circuit configured to receive the relatively high frequency signal; and a plurality of exciters electrically coupled to the controller, each exciter located on the vehicle near an associated tire monitor, each exciter including a transmission circuit configured to transmit, in response to a control signal from the controller, only a relatively low frequency signal as the activation signal for the associated tire monitor, the relatively low frequency signal having a frequency less than 3 MHz. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A method for determining position of a tire monitor in a remote tire monitoring system with reduced interference and crosstalk, the tire monitor being associated with a tire of a vehicle, the method comprising:
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(a) transmitting a radio signal from an exciter to a tire monitor at a first frequency, the first frequency having a frequency less than 3 MHz; (b) detecting the radio signal at the tire monitor and, in response thereto, transmitting a tire monitor radio signal at a second frequency, the second frequency being different from the first frequency, the second frequency being greater than 3 MHz; and (c) receiving at a remote location the tire monitor radio signal and position information for the tire monitor and associating the position information and the tire monitor radio signal. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification