A transmitter is configured to be attached to each of wheel assemblies provided in a vehicle and execute a process in accordance with a command included in a trigger signal. The transmitter includes a battery, which serves as a power source for the transmitter, a condition detecting section, which is configured to detect a condition of a tire, a trigger receiving section, which is configured to receive, as the trigger signal, an unmodulated wave having a received signal strength indication greater than or equal to a predetermined received signal strength indication, a transmitting section, which is configured to transmit a signal, and a controlling section, which is configured such that, when the trigger receiving section receives the unmodulated wave, the controlling section causes the transmitting section to transmit the signal in response to the unmodulated wave. The controlling section is configured to execute an accumulation process to accumulate reception time of the unmodulated wave from a starting point in time, and shift into a restriction state to restrict a response to the unmodulated wave when the accumulated reception time reaches a predetermined time.

A multi-antenna tire-pressure monitoring system with automatically positioning function includes tire-pressure sensors, a receiver and a central processing unit. The tire-pressure sensors are installed on tires of a vehicle, respectively and each tire is installed with at least one tire-pressure sensor. Each tire-pressure sensor has a signal transmitting unit, the receiver includes two antennas and a built-in receiver control unit. A first phase angle and a second phase angle are formed between the signals transmitted from each tire-pressure sensor and the two antennas, the receiver control unit receives the first phase angle and the second phase angle, and the arithmetic unit calculates phase-difference parameter values, to determine the positions of the tires, the signal receiving unit built in the central processing unit receives and displays the information calculated by the arithmetic unit of the receiver, so as to complete positioning for the tires.

An auto-location system locates a position of a tire that supports a vehicle. The system includes a sensor unit that is mounted on the tire and includes a footprint length measurement sensor to measure a length of a footprint of the tire. A processor is in electronic communication with the sensor unit and receives the measured footprint length. A driving event classifier is executed on the processor and employs the measured footprint length to determine the position of the tire on the vehicle. An auto-location output block is executed on the processor and receives the determined position of the tire on the vehicle and generates a message correlating the sensor unit to the position of the tire on the vehicle.

A tyre monitoring device, tyre monitoring system and method including a wireless interface having range determining capability and a processor. The processor: receives a command via the wireless interface from a second device of the tyre monitoring system; determines a range to the second device; and executes the command if the range to the second device is less than a predetermined threshold.

A method for detecting wheel units mounted at wheels of a vehicle and for detecting wheel mounting positions belonging to each of the wheel units is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: positioning a mobile communication device at a predetermined start position with respect to the vehicle, moving the mobile communication device from the start position along a path around the vehicle, receiving RF signals from the wheel units and measuring the RF signal strengths thereof by the mobile communication device when moving along the path around the vehicle, performing an analysis of variations of the measured RF signal strengths of the received RF signals depending on the position of the mobile communication device along the path, identifying the wheel units and identifying the wheel mounting positions based on a result of the analysis.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the technical field of automobiles and disclose a tire positioning method and apparatus, an electronic control unit (ECU) and a tire pressure sensor. The method includes: successively controlling, within a transmission cycle, one of L exciter sets to send a low-frequency signal, L being an integer greater than 1; receiving high-frequency signals fed back by N tire pressure sensors according to the low-frequency signals, N being an integer greater than 1; determining a correspondence between one of the L exciter sets and M tire pressure sensors according to the high-frequency signals, M being an integer greater than 1; and after a quantity of transmission cycles reaches a preset threshold, determining a tire corresponding to each of the N tire pressure sensors according to the correspondence between the exciter set and the M tire pressure sensors determined in each transmission cycle. The tire positioning method is accurate and reliable.

A method for detecting a change in location of the wheels of a motor vehicle, the vehicle having at least one central processing unit, and two wheel units which each includes an electronic assembly of sensors and which are each mounted on one of the wheels. The method including a monitoring step, during which a first pattern representative of the location of the wheel unit is established, when the vehicle is at a standstill, and an evaluation step, during which a possible first variation in each first pattern is measured to estimate if the location of the wheel has changed.

An embodiment apparatus for determining a tire position includes a receiver configured to receive a signal from a tire pressure sensor, a processor configured to determine the tire position based on a tire internal temperature variation of a tire and a strength of the signal received from the tire pressure sensor, and a memory configured to store data and an algorithm executable by the processor.

A tire pressure monitoring system used for a vehicle includes a sensor unit, a receiving device, and a control device. The sensor unit is provided at each wheel of the vehicle, detects tire pressure of the each wheel with a tire pressure sensor and transmits data of the detected tire pressure by radio waves. The receiving device includes a receiving antenna that is provided at an outside of the vehicle to receive the data of the tire pressure transmitted from the sensor unit. The control device includes a data acquisition unit that acquires the data of the tire pressure received by the receiving device.

A system for determining abnormalities of a TPMS that includes a pressure sensor that senses a pressure inside a tire and transmits sensed pressure data as a radio signal, a reception unit that receives the radio signal from the pressure sensor and measures strength of the received radio signal, and a determination unit that determines an abnormality of the TPMS based on the radio signal received, and the strength of the radio signal measured, by the reception unit.