EP1026015A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method and apparatus for a remote tire pressure monitoring system
Assignee: Schrader Bridgeport International Inc
•
Filing: 2000-02-01
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2020-02-01
Abstract
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.
Inventors
- 👤 Thomas David Stephen Mcclelland
- 👤 Alastair Thomas Johnston
- 👤 David Samuel Porter
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 11:28
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60C; B60C23/00; B60C23/02; B60C23/04; B60C23/0408; B60C23/0415; B60C23/0416; B60C23/041; B60C23/0413; B60C23/0422; B60C23/0433; B60C23/0435; B60C23/0438; B60C23/0442; B60C23/0471; B60C23/0472
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 46
Claim 1
Independent Claim
69 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method, the
method comprising the steps of: at a remotely located exciter, using a primary
coil to transmit a relatively low frequency signal to
a secondary coil of a tire monitor associated with a
tire of a vehicle; at the tire monitor, in response to the
relatively low-frequency signal, transmitting a relatively high frequency signal
to convey data; and at the exciter, receiving the data.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
20 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in claim 1, wherein the data includes
identification information for the tire monitor.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in claim 2, further comprising the step of, at
the exciter, associating the identification
information with a position of the tire on the
vehicle.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in claim 3, further comprising the step of
downloading the identification information and
associated position information to a receiving unit
mounted on the vehicle.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
54 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in any of claims 3 to 4, further comprising
the steps of: disposing the exciter adjacent an assembly line; conveying a tire including the tire monitor on
the assembly line past the exciter; and activating the tire monitor by the exciter as the
tire passes the exciter.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in claim 5, further comprising the step of
assembling the tire along with other tires on a
vehicle prior to conveying the vehicle and the tire
past the exciter.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method as
claimed in claim 6, further comprising the steps of
communicating the data from the exciter to a
controller mounted on the vehicle.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
21 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method in
any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the data is indicative
of a tire characteristic.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
95 words
A tire characteristic monitoring method
comprising steps of: (a) transmitting an excitation signal from a
remote exciter; (b) at a tire monitor associated with a tire of
a vehicle, receiving the excitation signal and, in
response, communicating data indicative of a tire
characteristic to the remote exciter; (c) repeating step (b) for at least one
additional tire of the vehicle; and (d) conveying the data and associated tire
identification information to a controller mounted on
the vehicle, the controller being configured to
provide to a user tire characteristic information for
each tire of the vehicle.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method as claimed in claim 9, further
comprising the steps of: communicating identification information for the
tire monitor to the remote exciter; and associating the identification information with a
position of the tire on the vehicle.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein
step (d) comprises the step of displaying the tire
characteristic information and the associated position
of the tire on the vehicle.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
36 words
A method as claimed in any of claims 9 to
11, further comprising the steps of positioning the
exciter proximate the tire monitor and communicating
the data at a relatively lower power level to minimize
interference.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
42 words
A method as claimed in claims 9 to 12,
further comprising the steps of providing at the
exciter a receiver having a relatively lower receiver
sensitivity and positioning the exciter proximate the
tire monitor for reception of the data to minimize
interference.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
127 words
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 the steps of: (a) programming at least some tire monitors by (a1) activating a tire monitor with a
relatively low frequency signal from a
remotely located exciter; (a2) in response to the low frequency
signal, communicating identification
information from the tire monitor; (a3) associating the identification
information with position of a tire
associated with the tire monitor on the
vehicle; (b) subsequently detecting a tire characteristic
of the tire; and (c) conveying data indicative of the tire
characteristic to the controller by
communicating a relatively high frequency
signal for reception by the controller.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
45 words
A method as claimed in claim 14, further
comprising the steps of providing a remote exciter
having a communication circuit and positioning the
remote exciter proximate the tire monitor for
activating the tire monitor by communicating the
relatively low frequency signal from the transmit
circuit.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as claimed in claim 15, further
comprising the steps of providing a receive circuit at
the remote exciter and receiving the identification
information at the receive circuit.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, further
comprising the step of electrically coupling the
remote exciter to the controller and conveying the
position of the tire and the identification
information to the controller from the remote exciter.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
34 words
A method as claimed in any of claims 14 to
17, wherein the step of communicating the identification
information comprises communicating a
relatively low frequency signal when programming the
at least some tire monitors.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
142 words
A system for monitoring a tire
characteristic of tires of a vehicle, the system
comprising: 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 coupled to
the sensor and configured to transmit a relatively
high frequency signal in response to an activation
signal; a controller for providing the 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, a relatively low frequency signal as the
activation signal for the associated tire monitor.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 19, wherein
each tire monitor comprises an identifier containing
identification information and wherein the transmitter
circuit is configured to transmit the identification
information in response to the activation signal.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
42 words
A system as claimed in claim 19, wherein
the receiver circuit of the controller is configured
to receive the identification information and provide
the tire characteristic in association with the
identification information for each tire monitor of
the plurality of tire monitors.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
72 words
A tire monitor configured to be mounted on
a tire of a vehicle, the tire monitor comprising: a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the
tire and producing a signal; a high frequency communication circuit configured
to communicate a relatively high frequency signal in
response to an activation signal; and a detection circuit coupled to the high frequency
communication circuit and configured to detect a low
frequency signal as the activation signal.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
32 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 22,
further comprising a controller coupled to the sensor,
the high frequency communication circuit and the
detection circuit for controlling operation of the
tire monitor.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
31 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 23,
wherein the controller is configured to receive the
signal from the sensor and convey to the high
frequency communication circuit data for transmission.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
20 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 24,
further comprising a battery for providing operating
power for the tire monitor.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
30 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 23,
further comprising a low frequency communication
circuit coupled to the controller and configured to
communicate data when the activation signal is
received.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
21 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 26,
wherein the low frequency communication circuit
comprises a passive duplex data communication circuit.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
61 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 27,
wherein the low frequency communication circuit
comprises a coil response to an energy field from an
adjacent primary coil to produce an induced
alternating current (AC) voltage conveying data to the
controller, the controller providing a signal to the
coil to vary electrical properties of the coil and
convey data from the controller.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
21 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 26,
wherein the low frequency communication circuit
comprises an active duplex data communication circuit.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
65 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 29,
wherein the low frequency communication circuit
comprises a coil response to an energy field from an
adjacent coil to produce an induced alternating
current (AC) voltage conveying data to the controller,
the controller providing a signal to the coil to
produce an energy field from the coil to the adjacent
coil and convey data from the controller.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
29 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 26,
wherein the tire monitor conveys identification
information using one of the low frequency transmitter
circuit and the high frequency transmitter circuit.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
47 words
A tire monitor as claimed in claim 26,
wherein the tire monitor conveys identification
information in response to the activation signal using
the low frequency transmitter circuit and conveys tire
characteristic information in response to the signal
and the activation signal using the high frequency
transmitter circuit.
Claim 33
Independent Claim
93 words
A method for determining position of a tire
monitor in a remote tire monitoring system, the tire
monitor being associated with a tire of a vehicle, the
method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a radio signal from an exciter
to a tire monitor; (b) receiving the radio signal at the tire
monitor and, in response thereto, transmitting a tire
monitor radio signal; 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.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as claimed in claim 33, further
comprising the step of: (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) for all
tires of the vehicle.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as claimed in claim 34, wherein
the radio signal is transmitted from a single exciter
to all tire monitors of the vehicle.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method as claimed in claim 35, further
comprising the steps of: moving the single exciter proximate each tire
monitor prior to transmitting the radio signal; and maintaining the single exciter proximate the tire
until after reception of the tire monitor radio
signal.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method as claimed in claim 34, wherein
the radio signal for each respective tire monitor is
transmitted from an exciter associated with the
respective tire monitor and located on the vehicle
proximate the respective tire monitor.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein
transmitting a tire monitor radio signal comprises the
step of transmitting identification information for
the tire monitor radio signal.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method as claimed in claim 38, wherein
transmitting a tire monitor radio signal further
comprises the step of transmitting information about a
tire characteristic with the tire monitor radio
signal.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein
step (c) comprises receiving the tire monitor signal
and the position information at the exciter.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method as claimed in claim 40, further
comprising the steps of: manually entering the position information at the
exciter; and placing the exciter proximate the tire monitor to
receive the tire monitor radio signal.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for determining position of tire
monitors in a remote tire monitoring system, each tire
monitor being associated with a tire of a vehicle, the
method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a radio signal from an exciter
of a plurality of exciters to a respective tire
monitor of a plurality of tire monitors; (b) receiving the radio signal at the tire
monitor and, in response thereto, transmitting a tire
monitor radio signal including the data; 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.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 42, wherein step (c)
comprises the steps of: (c1) receiving at the exciter the tire monitor
radio signal transmitted from a respective tire
monitor; and (c2) conveying the tire data to a central
controller mounted on the vehicle.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method as claimed in claim 42, wherein
step (c) comprises receiving the tire monitor radio
signal at a central controller mounted on the vehicle.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method as claimed in claim 42, wherein
step (b) comprises transmitting at least tire
identification information as the tire data.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as claimed in claim 42, wherein
step (b) comprises transmitting at least data
indicative of a tire characteristic as the tire data.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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