Method of detecting a vehicle tire theft
First Claim
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1. A method for detecting and responding to a potential tire theft, comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving an identification number corresponding to a sensor unit associated with a vehicle tire and comparing the received identification number to one or more stored identification numbers corresponding to one or more known sensor units associated with one or more tires of a particular vehicle;
(b) detecting that the received identification number does not correspond to a known sensor unit of the vehicle and that a tire is missing from the vehicle when the received identification number does not match at least one of the one or more stored identification numbers to which it was compared;
wherein the received identification number corresponds to a sensor unit not associated with the particular vehicle; and
(c) providing a notification of the missing tire via a wireless communication sent from a telematics unit on the vehicle, wherein wireless communication is sent automatically by the telematics unit in response to the detection.
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Abstract
A system and method for detecting a missing vehicle tire and notifying a user of the vehicle about a potential vehicle tire theft. The method carried out by the system involves detecting that a tire is missing from a vehicle using a vehicle tire pressure monitoring (TPM) system and thereafter providing a notification of the missing tire via a wireless communication sent from a telematics unit on the vehicle. The wireless communication can be sent automatically by the telematics unit in response to the detection. Identification numbers or other data reported by sensors used in the TPM system can be used to determine if a tire is missing.
21 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for detecting and responding to a potential tire theft, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an identification number corresponding to a sensor unit associated with a vehicle tire and comparing the received identification number to one or more stored identification numbers corresponding to one or more known sensor units associated with one or more tires of a particular vehicle; (b) detecting that the received identification number does not correspond to a known sensor unit of the vehicle and that a tire is missing from the vehicle when the received identification number does not match at least one of the one or more stored identification numbers to which it was compared;
wherein the received identification number corresponds to a sensor unit not associated with the particular vehicle; and(c) providing a notification of the missing tire via a wireless communication sent from a telematics unit on the vehicle, wherein wireless communication is sent automatically by the telematics unit in response to the detection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for detecting and responding to a potential tire theft, comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a vehicle having a TPM system that includes a TPM sensor attached to each of a number of the vehicle'"'"'s tires, each TPM sensor having a respective identification number corresponding thereto; (b) determining an operational status of the vehicle; (c) in response to the determined operational status, receiving a plurality of identification numbers, comparing each received identification number to one or more stored identification numbers corresponding to the TPM sensors of the vehicle, and detecting that at least one of the received identification numbers does not correspond to any of the TPM sensors of the vehicle and that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s tires is missing based on a failure of at least one of the received identification numbers to match at least one of the stored identification numbers;
wherein the at least one of the received identification number corresponds to a TPM sensor not associated with the vehicle; and(d) sending a notification of the one or more missing tires. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification