Patent Application
20160096403
This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Application No. 103134232, filed on Oct. 1, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a positioning method and system, and more particularly, to a positioning method and system of tires in a vehicle.
The condition of tires is corresponding to the safety when a vehicle being drive. For example, flat tires may occur when driving with low tire pressure, then result in car accidents. In addition, conditions of tire worn and tire run-out are also important information. Therefore, a tire monitoring system is often implemented to secure the conditions of tires.
However, tire wear between the front tires and the rear tires is significant different after a period of driving, so the front tires and the rear tires are often changed over and over. As a result, the tire monitoring system are easily get confused of the positions of tires. Therefore, a tire positioning method and system is required to keep the safety of driving.
The present disclosure is directed to a tire positioning method and a tire positioning system.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, a tire positioning method comprises: receiving four wireless signals transmitted by four tires of a vehicle by a wireless signal receiver, wherein each of the wireless signals comprises a uniaxial acceleration; identifying a tire of the tires at a first position according to the intensity of the wireless signals, wherein the tire at the first position is closest to the wireless signal receiver; identifying a tire of the tires at a second position according to the positive direction of the uniaxial accelerations when the vehicle make a turn, wherein the first position and the second position are both at the left side of the vehicle or both at the right side of the vehicle; wherein the positive direction of uniaxial acceleration of the tire at the first position is identical to the positive direction of uniaxial acceleration of the tire at the second position.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, a tire positioning system comprises: four peripheral devices, each of the peripheral devices comprising: a uniaxial accelerometer disposed at one of four tires of a vehicle for measuring a uniaxial acceleration; a wireless signal transmitter disposed at one of the tires of the vehicle for transmitting a wireless signal, wherein the wireless signal comprises the uniaxial acceleration; and a central controlling device comprising: a wireless signal receiver for receiving the wireless signals; and a processor for identifying a tire of the tires at a first position according to the intensity of the wireless signals and a tire of the tires at a second position according to the direction of the uniaxial accelerations, wherein the tire at the first position is closest to the wireless signal receiver, wherein the first position and the second position are both located at the left or the right side of the vehicle, wherein the direction of the uniaxial acceleration of the tire at the first position is identical to the uniaxial acceleration of the tire at the second position.
Further scope of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the disclosure, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
The present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals will be used to identify the same or similar elements throughout the several views. It should be noted that the drawings should be viewed in the direction of orientation of the reference numerals.
The peripheral devices 110, 120, 130, 140 respectively comprise uniaxial accelerometers 111, 121, 131, 141 and wireless signal transmitter 112, 122, 132, 142. The uniaxial accelerometers 111, 121, 131, 141 respectively measure a uniaxial acceleration of each tire 210, 220, 230, 240. The positive direction of each uniaxial acceleration C1, C2, C3, C4 toward inside the vehicle 800. In the other words, the positive direction of uniaxial acceleration C1, C2 of the uniaxial accelerometers 111, 121 toward the right of the vehicle 800, and the positive direction of uniaxial acceleration C3, C4 of the uniaxial accelerometers 131, 141 toward the left of the vehicle 800.
The wireless signal transmitter 112, 122, 132, 142 are respectively disposed on tires 210, 220, 230, 240 and respectively transmit wireless signals S1, S2, S3, S4. The wireless signal S1, S2, S3, S4 respectively comprise the uniaxial acceleration of each uniaxial accelerometers 111, 121, 131, 141. In another embodiment, peripheral devices 110, 120, 130, 140 may further comprise a tire pressure sensor, a tire wear sensor, or a tire run-out sensor, and the wireless signals S1, S2, S3, S4 may respectively further comprise tire pressures, tire worn conditions, tire run-out conditions of tires 210, 220, 230, 240.
The central controlling device 900 comprises a wireless signal receiver 910 and a processor 920. The wireless signal receiver 910 receives the wireless signals S1, S2, S3, S4 of the wireless signal transmitter 112, 122, 132, 142. The wireless signal receiver 910 and the wireless signal transmitter 112, 122, 132, 142 communicate by, for example, Bluetooth, WLAN, or radio frequency.
The processor 920 analyzes and computes the received wireless signals S1, S2, S3, S4. In one embodiment, the processor 920 is a computer of the vehicle 800. The processor 920 may further comprise functions of navigation, media, electrical door lock, or air condition.
In S230, when the vehicle 800 makes a turn, the central controlling device 900 identifies a tire of tires 210, 220, 230, 240 at a second position according to uniaxial accelerations of tires 210, 220, 230, 240. The second position and the first position are at the same side of the wireless signal receiver 910, for example, the left or the right side of the wireless signal receiver 910. The positive direction of uniaxial acceleration of the tires at the first position and the second position toward the same direction, for example, the right side or the left side of the vehicle 800.
of tires 230 and 240 are both positive. As a result, after the tire 210 is identified at the left front side LF, the tire 220 at the left back side LB is identified by the processor 920 of the central controlling device 900.
In S240, when the vehicle 800 makes a turn, the central controlling device 900 identifies tires at a third position and a fourth position of tires 210, 220, 230, 240 according to the magnitude of uniaxial acceleration ac1, ac2, ac3, ac4. The third position and the fourth position are both located at another side of the wireless signal receiver 910 of the central controlling device 900. For example, the first position and the second position are both at the left side of the wireless signal receiver 910, then the third position and the fourth position are both at the right side of the wireless signal receiver 910. In the embodiment, the third position is located at the right front side RF of the vehicle 800, the fourth position is located at the right back side RB of the vehicle 800. The uniaxial acceleration ac3 of tire 230 is larger than the uniaxial acceleration ac4 of tire 240.
In another embodiment of the disclosure, the central controlling device 900 may be disposed at the right front seat, the right back seat, or the left back seat of the vehicle 800. The central controlling device 900 may also identify the closest tire as the initiate of the positioning process.
In the illustrated embodiment of the disclosure, the positions of the tires 210, 220, 230, 240 of the vehicle 800 is identified after the vehicle makes a single turn. The identification process is made without scanning barcode, or manual setup which may cause accidentally mistake.
The disclosure being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103134232 | Oct 2014 | TW | national |
