System, data carriers, reader and method for determining the peripheral wheel speed and distance

• US 7,782,183 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2005
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Wieser, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): EUSTAQUIO, CAL J
• Application Number:
  US11/721,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20090224899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,728 Days
• Field of Search: 340/445, 340/10.1
• US Class Current: 340/447
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0433 Radio signals
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0437 Means for detecting electromagnetic field changes not being part of the signal transmission per se, e.g. strength, direction, propagation or masking
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/48 by measuring frequency of generated current or voltage in general G01R23/00

Abstract

A system comprises at least one contactless readable data carrier (1) which can be attached to a wheel (100) of a vehicle and a reader (10) which can be arranged on the vehicle to receive electromagnetic signals (ES) emitted by the data carrier (1). The reader (10) is designed to determine the revolutions of the wheel (100) from the field strength fluctuation of the received electromagnetic signals (ES), the reader (10) having calculation means (19) designed to calculate from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference value (RU) determined by the reader and allocated to the wheel (100), such as circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and/or values derivable therefrom such as the peripheral speed (UV) of the wheel (100).

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data carrier that is mounted on a wheel of a vehicle and emits an electromagnetic signal;

a reader that receives the electromagnetic signal emitted by the data carrier, the reader determining the wheel revolutions of the vehicle from the field strength fluctuations of the received electromagnetic signal, wherein the reader further comprises;

a threshold value discriminator that produces a detection signal whenever a field strength of the received electromagnetic signal exceeds a threshold; and

a calculation means that determines a duration of a period of the wheel revolutions based on a temporal difference between the reception of two successive detection signals, and calculates, from the revolutions and a wheel periphery reference value that is allocated to the wheel comprising a wheel circumference, diameter or radius, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and a peripheral speed of the wheel;

wherein the data carrier sends said wheel periphery reference value in the electromagnetic signal, the reader extracts the wheel periphery reference value from the received electromagnetic signal and provides the extracted value to the calculation means.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the reader further comprises:

a data memory communicating with the calculation means to store at least one wheel periphery reference value and reference codes allocated to the at least one wheel periphery reference value.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the reader further comprises:

a user interface for input of the at least one wheel periphery reference value and the reference codes for storage in the data memory.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the reference codes comprise unique identification codes of the data carrier.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the reference codes comprise pressure values and the data carrier determines tire pressure of an associated tire and sends the determined tire pressure as the reference code to the reader.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the reader sends to the data carrier data derivable from a distance covered by a point on a wheel periphery or a peripheral speed of the wheel.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the reader determines a distance traveled from the distance covered by the point on the wheel periphery or the peripheral speed of the wheel, and determines tire wear from the distance traveled, and stores the determined tire wear in the data memory.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the reader communicates with a wheel load sensor which senses a wheel load caused by a weight of the vehicle and its load, the calculation means of the reader sends the sensed wheel load to the data carrier, and calculates from a deformation of the wheel caused by the wheel load an associated change in effective wheel diameter, while taking into account a distance covered by a point on a wheel periphery or a peripheral speed of the wheel.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the reader is integrated in a mobile phone.

10. A contactless readable data carrier mounted on a tire of a wheel, wherein the data carrier comprises:

a tire pressure sensor that measures a pressure of the tire;

a non-volatile memory that stores a table comprising allocations of tire pressures to wheel periphery reference values comprising a wheel circumference, diameter, or radius; and

a controller that transmits the measured pressure and the wheel periphery reference values as an electromagnetic signal to a reader, wherein the reader produces a detection signal whenever a field strength of the electromagnetic signal exceeds a threshold and determines a period of revolution of the wheel based on a temporal difference between reception of two successive detection signals;

wherein the reader calculates the peripheral speed of the wheel based on the wheel periphery reference value corresponding to the measured tire pressure and the period of revolution.

11. A reader that receives electromagnetic signals emitted by a contactless readable data carrier attached to a wheel of a vehicle, the data carrier storing a wheel periphery reference value comprising a wheel circumference, diameter or radius, the reader determining revolutions of the wheel from a field strength fluctuation of the received electromagnetic signals, wherein the reader comprises:

a threshold value discriminator that produces a detection signal whenever a field strength of the received electromagnetic signals exceeds a threshold; and

,

a calculation means that determines a duration of a period of the wheel revolutions based on a temporal difference between reception of two successive detection signals; and

a data read means which extract a wheel periphery reference value from the received electromagnetic signals and present the extracted wheel periphery reference value to the calculation means;

wherein the calculation means calculates, from the revolutions, the duration and the extracted wheel periphery reference value, a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and the peripheral speed of the wheel.

12. The reader of claim 11, further comprising:

a data memory communicating with the calculation means to store at least one wheel periphery reference value and reference codes allocated to the at least one wheel periphery reference value.

13. The reader of claim 12, further comprising:

a user interface receiving input of the at least one wheel periphery reference value and the reference codes and storing the received input in the data memory.

14. The reader of claim 12, wherein the reference codes comprise:

one or more unique identification codes of the contactless readable data carrier, tire pressure values, and wear values.

15. The reader of claim 11, wherein the calculation means sends to the contactless readable data carrier data derivable from a distance covered by a point on a wheel periphery or a peripheral speed of the wheel.

16. The reader of claim 15, wherein the calculation means determines a distance traveled from the distance covered by the point on the wheel periphery or the peripheral speed of the wheel, determines tire wear from the distance traveled, and stores the determined tire wear in the contactless readable data carrier.

17. The reader of claim 11, further comprising:

a wheel load sensor that senses a wheel load caused by a weight of the vehicle and its load and transmits the sensed wheel load to the calculation means, wherein the calculation means sends the transmitted wheel load to a data carrier and calculates from a deformation of the wheel caused by the wheel load an associated change in an effective wheel diameter, while taking into account in a distance covered by a point on a wheel periphery or a peripheral speed of the wheel.

18. The reader of claim 11, wherein the reader is integrated in a mobile telephone.

19. A method for determining a distance covered by a point on a periphery of a wheel of a vehicle and a peripheral speed of a wheel, the method comprising:

attaching a contactless readable data carrier to the wheel, wherein the contactless readable data carrier emits electromagnetic signals;

receiving the emitted electromagnetic signals with a reader;

determining, with the reader, a field strength fluctuation, caused by rotation of the wheel, in the received electromagnetic signals;

determining, with the reader, revolutions of the wheel by using the determined field strength fluctuation;

determining, with the reader, a wheel periphery reference value allocated to the wheel, comprising a wheel circumference, diameter, or radius;

producing, with the reader, a detection signal whenever a field strength of the received electromagnetic signals exceeds a threshold;

determining, with the reader, a duration of a period of wheel revolutions based on a temporal difference between reception of two successive detection signals; and

from the revolutions, the duration, and the wheel periphery reference value, calculating the distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and the peripheral speed of the wheel.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

emitting, with the contactless readable data carrier, a wheel periphery reference value of the wheel in the electromagnetic signals.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing, with the reader, at least one wheel peripheral reference value and a reference code allocated to the wheel.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the reference code comprises a unique identification code of the contactless readable data carrier.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

sensing, with a wheel load sensor in the reader, a wheel load caused by a weight of the vehicle and its load; and

calculating, with the reader, an associated change in effective wheel diameter based on a deformation of the wheel caused by the wheel load, while taking into account a distance covered by a point on the wheel periphery and a peripheral speed of the wheel.