Device and assembly for detecting tire parameters of transiting vehicles

• US 10,358,004 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ste Industries S.r.l.
• Original Assignee: S.T.E. srl
• Inventors: Moiraghi, Paolo Maria, Cortese, Mauro
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard, Patrick N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hughes, Eboni N
• Application Number:
  US15/023,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20160214446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,127 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0433 Radio signals
• 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 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A device for detecting tire parameters of transiting vehicles, comprising an electronic unit for processing radio signals that carry measurements of at least one parameter of at least one tire of a vehicle, such as the pressure, and further comprising a detector of the transit of vehicles for the activation of the processing of the radio signals.

Claims

1. An assembly comprising a master unit and at least one slave unit configured to be arranged in fixed positions on at least one side of a drivable path;

said master unit comprising a detection device for detecting tire parameters of transiting vehicles that transit on said drivable path, said detection device comprising electronic components which include an electronic unit for processing radio signals that carry measurements of at least one parameter of at least one tire of a vehicle, said detection device further comprising a magnetometer for an activation of said electronic unit for processing radio signals, wherein said electronic components of said detection device are normally in a sleep or low power consumption state and are configured to be activated by an internal activation signal generated by said magnetometer;

said electronic processing unit comprising at least one communication port for connection to the at least one slave unit and adapted to receive from said at least one slave unit additional measurements of said tire parameters of transiting vehicles;

said at least one slave unit comprising a respective unit for receiving and processing said radio signals that carry said measurements, said master unit and said at least one slave unit being mutually connected by means of a local communications network, said slave unit being configured to transmit said measurements to said master unit by means of said local communications network so that the same measurements can be received and processed by both the slave unit and the master unit;

said magnetometer being configured to detect the presence of approaching metallic masses, so as to generate said internal activation signal for said electronic components in said sleep or low power consumption state when said vehicle approaches said drivable path, wherein said master unit is configured to generate an external activation signal when said electronic components are activated by said internal activation signal and to transmit said external activation signal to said at least one slave unit via said local communications network and said at least one slave unit is configured to keep the respective electronic components of said at least one slave unit in a state of sleep or low power consumption and to activate them with the reception of said external activation signal, so that all said electronic components of said at least one slave unit and of said master unit are activated when said vehicle approaches said drivable path.

2. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said electronic processing unit comprises, or is connected to, a receiver of said radio signals, which are pulsed radio signals with PPM modulation of words that correspond to measurement values.

3. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said electronic processing unit comprises, or is connected to, a communication module that is adapted to transmit to a remote processing unit information on said measurements received by means of said radio signals and/or via said communication port according to the preceding claim.

4. The assembly according to claim 3, wherein said communications module is a communications module on a mobile telephone network.

5. The detection assembly according to claim 1, wherein said local communication network is a wireless network, operating at a frequency in the ISM or SRD system band.

6. The detection assembly according to claim 1, wherein said master unit and said at least one slave unit are arranged on mutually opposite sides of said drivable path.

7. The detection assembly according to claim 1, wherein said master unit and said at least one slave unit are configured to make the respective electronic components return to the sleep or low power consumption state.

8. The detection assembly according to claim 7, wherein said master unit is configured so as to verify, by means of said magnetometer, whether at the end of a first preset time interval there are other transiting vehicles and so as to generate, if there are, said additional external activation signal.

9. The detection assembly according to claim 1, wherein said at least one slave unit comprises a transmission unit connected to said local communications network and adapted to transmit to said master unit, via said local communications network, the measurements carried by said radio signals received from the respective reception unit of said at least one slave unit.

10. The detection assembly according to claim 9, wherein said external activation signal comprises a data collection message, said at least one slave unit being configured to transmit to said master unit said measurements following the reception of said data collection message.

11. The detection assembly according to claim 8, wherein said electronic processing unit of the master unit is configured to transmit to a remote processing unit, within a second preset time interval and via said communications module, the measurements of the radio signals received by said master unit and the measurements of said at least one slave unit received by the master unit via said local communications network.

12. The detection assembly according to claim 11, wherein said electronic processing unit of the master unit is configured additionally to perform a comparison, with at least one threshold value, of the measurements of the radio signals received by said master unit and/or of the measurements of said at least one slave unit received by the master unit via said local communications network and to transmit said measurements to the remote processing unit via said communications module as soon as said comparison yields a negative result.