Wireless bicycle trip meter

Electricity: measuring and testing – Electrical speed measuring – Including speed-related frequency generator

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C340S432000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06281674

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a trip meter adapted to be used in a bicycle for displaying a plurality of trip data of the bicycle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The environmental protection and the quality of the leisure time are much respected in the modern world. Therefore, the bicycle becomes a popular vehicle or sports instrument again. A trip meter for providing a plurality of trip data, i.e. the speed and the traveling distance of the bicycle, is mounted on the bicycle widely. Please refer to
FIG. 1
which is a diagram showing the assembly of the trip meter secured to the bicycle. A magnetic bar
11
is positioned on one of these spokes
12
and a signal transmitter
13
is secured to the forks
14
of the bicycle. A reed switch is positioned in the signal transmitter
13
. Each time the bicycle travels over a specific distance, the reed switch will generate a pulse signal due to the magnetic force of the magnetic bar
11
after the magnetic bar
11
passes through the signal transmitter
13
. The pulse signal can be wirelessly received by the trip meter
15
mounted on the handle of the bicycle. According to the frequency of the pulse signals and the diameter of the wheel, a plurality of trip data can be calculated, such as the speed, the time, and the traveling distance of the bicycle.
Please refer to
FIG. 2
which is a diagram showing the structure of the trip meter. The trip meter includes a bracket
21
mounted on the handle of the bicycle and a main body
22
secured to the bracket
21
. In order to use the trip meter more easily, the main body
22
is detachably secured to the bracket
21
.
Please refer to FIG.
3
(
a
) which is a block diagram showing the detail structure of the trip meter
15
. The trip meter
15
includes a signal receiving circuit
151
, a signal processing circuit
152
, a liquid-crystal display (LCD)
153
, and a battery
154
. The battery
154
supplies the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
through the signal processing circuit
152
. After supplying the power, the signal receiving circuit
151
can receive the pulse signal outputted from the signal transmitter and the signal processing circuit
152
electrically connected to the signal receiving circuit
151
can count a number and a frequency of the pulse signal and correspondingly generate an output signal indicative of a plurality of trip data. The LCD display
153
can display these trip data such as the speed, the time, and the traveling distance of the bicycle.
According to FIG.
3
(
a
), these elements are positioned in the main body
22
of the trip meter. When the user stops riding the bicycle, the main body
22
can be detached from the bracket
21
. The user can record the trip data shown on the main body
22
and store the main body
22
of the trip meter. In order to store all trip data, all elements must keep in action even though the main body
22
is disconnected from the bracket
21
. When the main body
22
is positioned near an electronic device which outputs a wireless electromagnetic signal, the signal receiving circuit
151
may be interfered by this signal and the pulse signal may not be received by the signal processing circuit
152
, thereby causing an error in calculating the trip data.
In order to avoid the error caused by other wireless signal, a timing function of the signal processing circuit
152
is added. When the signal processing circuit
152
does not receive any pulse signal, the timer starts. When the time interval is longer than a predetermined time interval, i.e. 10 minutes or 1 hour, the signal processing circuit
152
stops supplying the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
even though the main body
22
is secured to the bracket
21
of the bicycle. Until the user restarts to ride the bicycle, the signal processing circuit
152
supplies the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
again. No error occurs because the signal receiving circuit
151
can not be operated without power. However, the user may take a break during the trip and stop riding the bicycle. When the rest time of the user is longer than the predetermined time interval, the power supplied to the signal receiving circuit
151
through the signal processing circuit
152
is interrupted. The pulse signal of the signal transmitter can not be received by the signal receiving circuit
151
without power, so the trip date can not be recorded and shown on the display. On the other hand, when the rest time is shorter than the predetermined time interval, the signal receiving circuit
152
is still at work. Any wireless signal may interfere the operation of the signal receiving circuit
151
at this time. The signal processing circuit
152
may take the interfering signal as a normal signal and keep supplying the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
when the user takes a rest. Therefore, the wrong operation of the signal processing circuit
152
is avoidless by timing the time interval while the signal receiving circuit
151
does not receive the pulse signal of the signal transmitter.
In order to solve the above problem, the signal receiving circuit
151
is moved to be positioned in the bracket
21
. Referring to FIGS.
3
(
b
) and
3
(
c
), there are two methods for designing the structure of the trip meter. In FIG.
3
(
b
), the signal receiving circuit
151
is positioned in the bracket
21
. The bracket
21
further includes a battery
155
for supplying the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
and two contacting points
1563
,
1564
respectively connected with the contacting points
1561
,
1562
on the main body
22
. When the main body
22
is detached from the bracket
21
, the signal processing circuit
152
is disconnected from the signal receiving circuit
151
and the signal processing circuit
152
may not be initiated by other wireless signal received by the signal receiving circuit
151
. However, water cause a damage of these contacting points of the main body
22
so that the bracket
21
and the contacting point must be made of a water-resistant material. Compared to FIG.
3
(
a
), the trip meter in FIG.
3
(
b
) further includes a battery
155
and 4 contacting points
1561
~
1564
. The process of manufacturing the water-resistant contacting point is complicated and the cost of the trip meter will be increased.
In FIG.
3
(
c
), the signal receiving circuit
151
is also positioned in the bracket
21
. Two contacting points
1565
,
1566
are further added to connect the signal receiving circuit
151
and the signal processing circuit
152
. There is no additional battery in the bracket
21
for supplying the power to the signal receiving circuit
151
. The power of the signal receiving circuit
151
is also supplied by the battery
154
. Although the time and the cost for manufacturing the additional battery can be reduced, the process for manufacturing 6 water-resistant contacting points between the main body
22
and the bracket
21
is still very complicated.
In order to remove all the interfering signals, the applicant attempts to design a filter to be positioned in the signal receiving circuit
151
. However, these methods for removing signals are varied along with different signals and there are too many types of electromagnetic signals used in the electronic devices. A filter can just remove several types of noise signals and the signal receiving circuit is still interfered by many noise signals. If a circuit is designed to remove most noise signals, the layout of the circuit will be very complicated, resulting in that the manufacturing process and the cost of the trip meter will be increased. Therefore, it is tried by the applicant to deal with the problem encountered with the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A major object of the present invention is to provide a trip meter detachably secured to a bicycle for wirelessly receiving a pulse signal and calculating a plurality of trip data of the bicycle according to the pulse signal.
According to the present invention, the bicycle has a signal transm

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