Device, a tire pressure measurement device, a tire, a method and a computer program to obtain information indicating a tread depth

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10619992-B2
Application number	US-201615259288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2016
Priority date	Oct 6, 2015
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments provide a device, a tire pressure measurement system, a tire, a method and a computer program to obtain information indicating a tread depth of the tire. The device to obtain information indicating a tread depth of a tire of a vehicle comprises a transducer to provide acoustical signals based on electrical signals and vice versa. The device further comprises a control unit, which is coupled to the transducer. The control unit is configured to provide the transducer with a first electrical signal based on which the transducer provides an acoustical transmit signal. The control unit is further configured to obtain a second electrical signal from the transducer. The second electrical signal is based on a reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal. The control unit is further configured to process the second electrical signal to obtain information indicating the tread depth of the tire.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device to obtain information indicating a tread depth of a tire of a vehicle, comprising
a transducer to provide acoustical signals based on electrical signals and vice versa; and
a control unit, which is coupled to the transducer, wherein the control unit is configured to:
provide the transducer with a first electrical signal based on which the transducer provides an acoustical transmit signal,
obtain a second electrical signal from the transducer, the second electrical signal being based on a reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal, wherein the reflected version comprises a first reflection from an outer tire surface, a second reflection from a first reference location, and a third reflection from a second reference location, wherein first and second reference locations are different and are located in the tire between the transducer and the outer tire surface, and
process the second electrical signal to obtain information indicating the tread depth of the tire.

2. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter to transmit tire tread depth information to a receiver of the vehicle, wherein the transmitter is coupled to the control unit, and wherein the control unit is configured to provide the information indicating the tread depth of the tire to the transmitter.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the transducer is configured to generate the acoustical transmit signal based on a trigger from the control unit, and/or wherein the transducer is configured to generate the acoustical transmit signal and to receive the reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the transducer comprises an acoustical receiver to receive the reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal, and/or comprising a plurality of transducers configured to provide a plurality of acoustical transmit signals and configured to obtain a plurality of reflected versions of the plurality acoustical transmit signals.

5. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the transducer is configured to emit a burst of ultrasound as the acoustical transmit signal and to receive reflections of the burst as reflected version of the acoustic transmit signal, wherein the transducer is further configured to transduce the reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal into the second electrical signal.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine multiple reflections of the acoustical transmit signal in the second electrical signal, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the information indicating the tread depth based on a relative timing of the multiple reflections in the second electrical signal, and/or wherein the control unit is configured to further determine the information indicating the tread depth based on one or more elements of a group of temperature information, aging information of the tire, material information, type information, pressure information, road or ground surface information.

7. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the first reference location is at a ground of the tread, and the second reference location is at a carcass of the tire, wherein the carcass is located a non-zero distance from the ground of the tread toward the transducer, wherein the control unit is configured to determine information indicating a depth of the carcass from the transducer.

8. The device according to claim 1 being further configured to convert mechanical energy from tire deformation into electrical energy for powering the device.

9. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is part of a tire pressure measurement system.

10. A tire pressure measuring system comprising a device according to claim 1 .

11. A tire comprising a device according to claim 1 .

12. The tire of claim 11 , wherein the device is glued onto an inner surface of the tire or wherein the device is mounted into a fixture of the tire or a wheel carrying the tire.

13. The device of claim 1 , further comprising an interface to communicate information with another device to obtain information indicating a tread depth of a tire, and wherein the control unit is configured to control the interface.

14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the interface is configured to transmit and/or to receive information from another device using sound, light or radio frequency communications, and/or wherein the control unit is configured to collect tire tread depth information from a plurality of tire tread measurement devices using the interface and process the tire tread depth information from the plurality of tire tread measurement devices to obtain the information indicating the tread depth and/or wherein the control unit is further configured to provide the collected information to a further control component of the vehicle.

15. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to obtain information on whether to collect or to provide tire tread depth information via the interface.

16. A device to obtain information indicating a tread depth of a tire of a vehicle, comprising:
a transducer to provide acoustical signals based on electrical signals and vice versa; and
a control unit, which is coupled to the transducer, wherein the control unit is configured to:
provide the transducer with a first electrical signal based on which the transducer provides an acoustical transmit signal,
obtain a second electrical signal from the transducer, the second electrical signal being based on a reflected version of the acoustical transmit signal,
process the second electrical signal to obtain information indicating the tread depth of the tire, and
process the second electrical signal to determine information indicating a presence of water on the tire.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the control unit is configured to process one or more instantiations of the second electrical signal to determine the information indicating the presence of water on the tire by comparing a first instantiation of the second electrical signal before ground contact of the tire with a second instantiation of the second electrical signal during ground contact of the tire.

18. The device of claim 16 , wherein the control unit is configured to generate a warning for a driver of the vehicle in case the presence of water is detected on the tire.

19. The device of claim 16 , wherein the control unit is configured to adapt vehicle dynamics in case the presence of water is detected.

20. The device of claim 16 , wherein the control unit is configured to compensate a tread depth measurement based on a water film or layer in case the presence of water is detected on the tire.

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Darrer Franz Michael

Classifications

• B60C23/0493

  for attachment on the tyre · CPC title

• B60C11/243

  Tread wear sensors, e.g. electronic sensors · CPC title

• B60C23/0486

  comprising additional sensors in the wheel or tyre mounted monitoring device, e.g. movement sensors, microphones or earth magnetic field sensors · CPC title

• G01M17/024

  combined with tyre surface correcting or marking means · CPC title

• G01B17/02 Primary

  for measuring thickness · CPC title