Patent Application
20100123402
The present invention relates to a bicycle control device, and more particularly to a bicycle control device for sensing the speed of the bicycle and lightness around the bicycle, in order to control the lamps and the lock of the bicycle.
With the increasing fuel price, more and more people living in the modern society choose not to drive a car or ride a motorcycle so frequently, so as to achieve the purpose of saving money and energy and reducing carbon. Riding bicycle and taking public transportation means are two alternatives for driving cars and riding motorcycles. Particularly, bicycle is not only a convenient traffic means, but also an ideal exercise apparatus. Therefore, various types of bicycle meters for sensing a bicycle's traveling information and a rider's body signals have been developed.
Taiwan Utility Model No. M327829 discloses an integrated control device for mounting on a bicycle having at least one lamp. The integrated bicycle control device includes a keypad, a microprocessor, a wireless transceiver, and a display unit. The microprocessor is electrically connected to the keypad for receiving signals generated by pressing the keys of the keypad and sending out a driving signal accordingly. The driving signal is then transmitted by the wireless transceiver to another wireless transceiver mounted on the lamp of the bicycle for controlling the on/off of the lamp. The display unit is electrically connected to the microprocessor for displaying the on/off state of the lamp on the bicycle.
Generally, assemblies mounted to the bicycle may include lighting components or various types of sensors. For example, speed sensors, head lamps, tail lamps, locks and warning units . . . etc. However, the components mentioned above work independently and lack cooperative functions. Therefore, a user must manipulate each component separately. When the user is not familiar with the operation, or forgets to switch on/off e.g. the lamps or the warning unit, the battery is out of electricity or the bicycle is stolen. As a result, it causes a waste of electricity, and also cause user to be inconvenient.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a bicycle control device, so as to integrate various components with a bicycle control device and provide some interrelated functions among the components. In addition, by means of sensing the situation of the riding bicycle the specific functions of the bicycle are executed correspondingly.
The means to solve the foregoing problems is to provide a bicycle control device comprising a speed sensing unit, a light sensing unit, a microprocessor, at least one lamp, a lock and a warning unit. When the bicycle is being ridden, the speed sensing unit detects the speed of the bicycle and generates a speed signal; the light sensing unit detects the lightness around the bicycle and generates a lightness signal. The microprocessor of the control device sends a command signal to trigger the lamp at a full light level or normal light level. Once the bicycle is being parked for a long time, the microprocessor turns off the lamp and triggers the lock to lock the bicycle, and turns on the warning unit simultaneously.
With the technical means adopted by the present invention, the speed of a bicycle and lightness around the bicycle can be sensed when a user rides the bicycle, so that the microprocessor may control the light level of the lamp or turn off the lamp. In that case, the user does not have to adjust the light level of the lamp manually according to lightness around the bicycle, so as to avoid some possible traffic accidents. On the other hand, when the bicycle is being parked, the microprocessor can determine to turn on/off the lamp in accordance with the parking time, and determine to lock/unlock the bicycle.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference to
When a user U rides the bicycle B, the speed sensing unit 12 of the control module 3 detects the speed of the bicycle and generates a speed signal s1 and sends the speed signal s1 to the microprocessor 11. The light sensing unit 13 detects lightness around the bicycle B and generates a lightness signal s2 and sends the lightness signal s2 to the microprocessor 11. Receiving the speed signal s1 and lightness signal s2, the microprocessor 11 generates command signals s31, s32 to turn on the head and tail lamps 211, 221 via the controller 212, 222 respectively. If the user U changes the moving direction of the bicycle B, with the manual control of the user, the direction sensing unit 14 of the control module 3 generates a direction signal and sends the direction signal to the microprocessor 11. When the bicycle B turns to the left, the microprocessor 11 generates a control signal s41 and transmits it to the left indicator lamp 231 via the controller 232. Receiving the control signal s41, the left indicator lamp 231 is turned on and flashes. When turning of the bicycle is over, the controller 232 turns off the left indicator lamp 231. Similarly, if the bicycle B turns to the right, the microprocessor 11 generates a control signal s42 and transmits the control signal s42 to the right indicator lamp 241 via the controller 242. Receiving the control signal s42, the right indicator lamp 241 is turned on and flashes. When turning of the bicycle is over, the controller 242 turns off the right indicator lamp 241. Furthermore, the light sensing unit 13 is installed inside the control module 3, and adjacent to the bottom of the control module 3, so as to prevent from influence of external light.
The rotating speed sensing unit 15 detects the rotating speed of the pedal 27 being trodden by the user U, so as to generate a rotating speed signal s5 sending to the microprocessor 11. The body signal sensing unit 16 may detect the user's physical situation and generate a body signal s6 accordingly. The body signal s6 is selected from a group comprising a body temperature signal, a heartbeat signal, and a calorie consumption signal. In addition, when a user presses the keypad 17, the microprocessor 11 may send the traveling information s7 to the display unit 18 for displaying.
If the bicycle B is being parked for less than one minute, the microprocessor 11 turns on the head lamp 211 and the tail lamp 221 at a full light level via the respective controller 212, 222. If the bicycle B is being parked for more than one minute, the controllers 212, 222 respectively turn on the head lamp 211 and the tail lamp 221 at a normal light level. If the bicycle B is being parked more than three minutes, the microprocessor 11 turns off the head lamp 211 and the tail lamp 221, and then sends a lock control signal s81 to lock the bicycle B and a trigger signal s82 to turn on the warning module 26.
If the user U removes the control module 3 from the bicycle B, the controller 252 of the lock module 25 switches on the lock 251 to lock the bicycle B. At the same time, the controller 262 of the warning module 26 turns on the warning unit 261.
With reference to
In this embodiment, a control module 3a comprises a microprocessor 11 which is connected with a wireless transceiver module 19. The wireless transceiver module 19 comprises an encoder and decoder 191 and a wireless transceiver 192, so as to receive signals including the speed signals s1, lightness signals s2, direction signals s4, rotating speed signals s5, and body signals s6, and then decode the encoded signals thereof. In addition, the encoder and decoder 191 is also adapted to encode the command signals s31, s32, the control signals s41, s42, the lock control signal s81 and the trigger signal s82 transmitted by the microprocessor 11, and emits the encoded signals by the wireless transceiver 192.
The lamp 21 comprises a wireless-transceiving module 213 including a decoder 213a and a wireless transceiver 213b, so as to receive and decode the command signal s31 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 212. Similarly, the lamp 22 comprises a wireless transceiving module 223 including a decoder 223a and a wireless transceiver 223b, so as to receive and decode the command signal s32 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 222. Similarly, the lamp 23 comprises a wireless transceiving module 233 including a decoder 233a and a wireless transceiver 233b, so as to receive and decode the control signal s41 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 222. Similarly, the lamp 24 comprises a wireless transceiving module 243 including a decoder 243a and a wireless transceiver 243b, so as to receive and decode the command signal s42 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 242.
The lock module 25 further includes a wireless transceiving module 253 comprising a decoder 253a and a wireless transceiver 253b, so as to receive and decode the lock control signal s81 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 252. The warning module 26 includes a wireless transceiving module 253 comprising a decoder 263a and a wireless transceiver 263b, so as to receive and decode the trigger signal s82 transmitted by microprocessor 11, and then transmits the decoded signal to the controller 262.
If the user U removes the control module 3a from the bicycle B, the controller 252 of the lock module 25 detects the removal of the control module 3a and switches on the lock 251 to lock the bicycle B. At the same time, controller 262 of the warning module 26 also detects the removal of the control module 3a and turns on the warning unit 261.
When the user U would like to look for the bicycle B, just need to press the bicycle location finding key 171 of the keypad 17, and then the keypad 17 transmits a bicycle finding signal s9 to the microprocessor 11. When the microprocessor 11 receives the bicycle finding signal s9, the wireless transceiver module 19 encodes the received signal s9 and emits the encoded signal s9. Once the bicycle B receives the bicycle finding signal s9, the controller 222 turns on the tail lamp 221 to flash and the warning module 26 sends a beep. After that, the lock 241 of the bicycle B is being unlocked, and the warning module 26 is being relieved.
Please refer to
Alternatively, when the speed sensing unit 12 detects that the speed of the bicycle B is not zero and the bicycle B is moving, the light sensing unit 13 detects lightness around the bicycle B (step 107). When it is determined that lightness around the bicycle B is insufficient, the light sensing unit 13 sends a light signal s2 to the microprocessor 11, and the microprocessor 11 generates a command signal s31 to turn on the head lamp 211 at a normal light level (step 108), and generates a command signal s32 to turn on the tail lamp 221 at a normal light level (step 109). Contrarily, when lightness around the bicycle B is sufficient, the head lamp 211 and the tail lamp 221 will not be turned on, and the speed sensing unit 12 continues to detect the speed of the bicycle B.
When the speed sensing unit 12 detects that the speed of the bicycle B is zero and the control module 3 is not being removed, the microprocessor 11 counts the parking time of the bicycle B and determines whether the parking time is less than one minute (step 110). If the parking time of the bicycle B is less than one minute, the microprocessor 11 sends a command signal s32 to the controller 222 to turn on the tail lamp 221 at a full light level (step 111). And the controller 211 also turns on the head lamp 211 at a full light level (step 112). After that, the speed sensing unit 12 continues to detect the speed of the bicycle B.
It is determined if the parking time of the bicycle B exceeds three minutes, and if the parking time of the bicycle B is less than three minutes (step 113), the microprocessor 11 sends a lock control signal s81 to lock the bicycle B (step 114). And then the microprocessor 11 transmits a trigger signal s82 to turn on the warning module 26 (step 115). The controllers 211, 221 turn off the head lamp 211 and the tail lamp 221 respectively (step 116). Alternatively, if parking time of the bicycle B is less than three minutes, the microprocessor 11 transmits a command signal s31 to the controller 211 to turn on the head lamp 211 at a normal light level (step 117). At the same time, the microprocessor 11 transmits a command signal s32 to the controller 221 to turn on the tail lamp 221 at a normal light level (step 118).
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof and the best modes for carrying out the invention, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
