Data gathering system for fleet management

• US 7,944,346 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Original Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Inventors: De Castro, Jose Orlando Gomes, Moreno, Airton Domingos
• Primary Examiner(s): BLOUNT, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US12/055,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20080238678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• Field of Search: 3405721-5728, 340/10.1, 340/539.13, 340/539.1, 340/500, 340/442, 235/375, 235/385, 73146-1468
• US Class Current: 340/442
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0408 transmitting the signals by non-mechanical means from the wheel or tyre to a vehicle body mounted receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0479 Communicating with external units being not part of the vehicle, e.g. tools for diagnostic, mobile phones, electronic keys or service stations
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A system for a vehicle fleet management comprises a transponder (1) located in the interior of a tire (2) or being integrated into a tire (2); a control unit (3) installed at the vehicle, the control unit (3) being configured to be able to read or receive and at least temporarily store data of the vehicle and/or data of the tire (2); a data providing means (5) which is configured to be able to provide tire pressure data and/or the tire groove deepness data of the tire (2); and a data gathering means (4) being configured to be able to read or receive data from the transponder (1), said data being present data and/or historical data of the tire (2). The data gathering means (4) is further configured to be able to read or receive tire pressure data and/or tire groove deepness data from the data providing means (5), and to provide data received from the transponder (1) and data received from the data providing means (5) to the control unit (3) and to a remote database (6).

Claims

1. Data gathering means which is configured to be able to wirelessly read or receive data from a transponder (1), said data being present data and/or historical data of a tire (2), and which configured to be able to receive tire pressure data and/or the tire groove deepness data from a data providing means (5), said data providing means (5) being integrated into or associated with said data gathering means (4), wherein the data gathering means (4) is configured to be able to provide the data received from the transponder (1) and the data received from the data providing means (5) to a control unit (3) associated with a vehicle, and wherein the data gathering means (4) is configured to be able to wirelessly provide data received from the transponder (1) and data received from the data providing means (5) to a remote database (6).

2. The data gathering means of claim 1 being configured to wirelessly provide data received from the transponder (1) and data received from the data providing means (5) to the control unit (3).

3. The data gathering means of claim 1 wherein the data providing means (5) is configured to be able to measure a tire pressure and/or a tire groove deepness.

4. The data gathering means of claim 1 comprising a GPRS modem (40) which is configured to be able to send data to the remote database (6) using a TCP/IP internet connection.