Spare tire detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10000213-B2
Application number	US-201615058661-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2016
Priority date	Mar 2, 2016
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

A pressure of a spare tire of a vehicle is determined. Whether the spare tire is installed is determined based at least in part on the pressure. A vehicle subsystem is actuated based at least in part on whether the spare tire is installed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising a computer including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the computer to:
determine a first pressure reading of a pressure of a spare tire of a vehicle from a pressure sensor installed in the spare tire;
determine a second pressure reading of the spare tire at a predetermined period of time after initial activation of the vehicle;
determine whether the spare tire is installed when the second pressure reading is greater than the first pressure reading; and
actuate a vehicle subsystem based at least in part on whether the spare tire is installed.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle subsystem is at least one of a propulsion, a brake, a steering, a speed limiter, and a navigation subsystem.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to actuate the speed limiter to limit a vehicle speed to a speed threshold when the determined pressure of the spare tire is below a pressure threshold.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a repair destination when the pressure is below a pressure threshold and to actuate the vehicle propulsion and the steering to move the vehicle to the repair destination.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine operating parameters based at least in part on the pressure of the spare tire and to send a notification via a network to the repair destination with the operating parameters.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine whether the tire is present and to actuate the vehicle subsystem upon determining that the spare tire is not present.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine whether the spare tire is present in a spare tire housing and to actuate the vehicle subsystem upon determining that the spare tire is not present in the spare tire housing.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to detect a serial number of a pressure sensor installed in the spare tire to determine whether the spare tire is present.

9. A method, comprising:
determining a first pressure reading of a pressure of a spare tire of a vehicle from a pressure sensor installed in the spare tire;
determining a second pressure reading of the spare tire at a predetermined period of time after initial activation of the vehicle;
determining whether the spare tire is installed when the second pressure reading is greater than the first pressure reading; and
actuating a vehicle subsystem based at least in part on whether the spare tire is installed.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle subsystem is at least one of a propulsion, a brake, a steering, a speed limiter, and a navigation subsystem.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising actuating the speed limiter to limit a vehicle speed to a speed threshold when the determined pressure of the spare tire is below a pressure threshold.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising identifying a repair destination when the pressure is below a pressure threshold and actuating the vehicle propulsion and the steering to move the vehicle to the repair destination.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining operating parameters based at least in part on the pressure of the spare tire and to send a notification via a network to the repair destination with the operating parameters.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining whether the tire is present and to actuate the vehicle subsystem upon determining that the spare tire is not present.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine whether the spare tire is present in a spare tire housing and to actuate the vehicle subsystem upon determining that the spare tire is not present in the spare tire housing.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising detecting a serial number of a pressure sensor installed in the spare tire to determine whether the spare tire is present.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dudar Aed M
• Tseng Fling Finn
• Ghannam Mahmoud Yousef

Classifications

• G01C21/3415

  Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents · CPC title

• B60W10/04

  including control of propulsion units · CPC title

• B60W2050/021

  Means for detecting failure or malfunction · CPC title

• B60W40/12

  related to parameters of the vehicle itself {, e.g. tyre models} · CPC title

• B60C23/04

  mounted on the wheel or tyre · CPC title