Tire inflation pressure monitor and monitoring method

Details Tire inflation pressure monitor and monitoring method Tire inflation pressure monitor and monitoring method

2000-01-06

2002-03-26

Lefkowitz, Edward (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Land vehicle alarms or indicators

Internal alarm or indicator responsive to a condition of the...

C340S442000, C340S527000, C340S870030, C073S146200, C455S067150

Reexamination Certificate

active

06362733

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tire inflation pressure monitor that informs a driver in a vehicle of the tire inflation pressure and the monitoring method.
A wireless tire inflation pressure monitor that notifies a driver of a vehicle of the tire inflation pressures is known. As shown in
FIG. 8
, a typical tire inflation pressure monitor
51
includes four transmitters
53
and a receiver
54
. The transmitters
53
are respectively located in tires
52
and the receiver
54
is located in the body of the vehicle
50
.
Each transmitter
53
measures the internal air pressure of the corresponding tire
52
. Each transmitter also modulates signals to reflect data concerning the measured tire inflation pressure and transmits the signals from transmission antennas (not shown) by radio waves.
As shown in
FIG. 7 and 8
, the receiver
54
includes four reception antennas
56
, which respectively correspond to the four transmitters
53
. The receiver
54
also includes a reception circuit
57
and a controller
58
. A display
55
is located in the passenger's compartment and is connected to the receiver
54
.
The reception circuit
57
receives radio waves from the transmitters
53
through the reception antennas
56
. The reception circuit
57
demodulates the radio waves, which reveals the pressure data, and sends the data to the controller
58
. The controller
58
commands a display
55
to display information concerning tire inflation pressure based on the input data.
The reception antennas
56
induce voltage in accordance with the electric field intensity of the radio waves from the transmitters
53
. When the voltage induced by the reception antennas
56
is greater than a predetermined value, the reception circuit
57
detects the induced voltage and processes the voltage signal to produce the necessary data. When the voltage induced by the reception antennas
56
is smaller than the predetermined value, the reception circuit
57
does not detect the induced voltage. In this way, if the voltage induced by the reception antennas
56
is not high enough to be detected by the reception circuit
57
, the receiver
54
cannot receive data from the transmitters
53
.
Since the transmitters
53
are installed in the tires
2
, the position of each transmitter relative to the reception antenna
56
of the receiver
54
continuously varies when the vehicle
50
is running. The transmission antennas of the transmitters
53
and the reception antenna
56
of the receiver
54
each have directivity. Therefore, the electric field intensity of radio waves from the transmission antennas received at each reception antenna
56
continuously varies when the vehicle
5
is running. In other words, the voltage induced at each reception antenna
56
continuously varies and the reception circuit
57
may not detect the induced voltage. Therefore, the signal reception of the prior art receiver
54
is not stable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the present invention is to provide a tire inflation pressure monitor and a monitoring method that produce stable signal reception.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a receiver for receiving radio waves that carry data representing a physical state. The radio waves are transmitted by a transmitter. The receiver includes a plurality of reception antennas that respectively induce voltage signals based on reception of the radio waves, a synthesizer for synthesizing the induced voltage signals into one voltage signal, and a processing device for processing the synthesized voltage signal to obtain the data.
The present invention also provides a tire inflation pressure monitor having a transmitter located in a vehicle tire for transmitting data concerning the inflation pressure of the tire by radio waves and a receiver for receiving the data from the transmitter. The receiver includes a plurality of reception antennas that respectively induce voltage signals based on reception of the radio waves, a synthesizer for synthesizing the induced voltage signals into a synthesized voltage signal, and a processing device for processing the synthesized voltage signal to obtain the data.
The present invention further provides a method including: transmitting data representing a physical state by radio waves; receiving the radio waves and inducing voltage signals with reception antennas, respectively; synthesizing the induced voltage signals into one voltage signal; and processing the synthesized voltage signal to obtain the data.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3810090 (1974-05-01), Davis, Jr. et al.
patent: 5559484 (1996-09-01), Nowicki et al.
patent: 5889464 (1999-03-01), Huang
patent: 5939977 (1999-08-01), Monson
patent: 6018647 (2000-01-01), Fitzgerald

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